Hi Sahar,

This is a very wise saying. From my experience of a learner I completely agree with you. When I was a child I had a tallented teacher who has completely changed my life. She didn't impose her knowledge on us, but rather invited us to the House of Enlightment. Thanks to her I started to show interest not only in her subject, but in many others too. Later on, I was lucky enough to have had many gifted and great teachers, but nobody could compare with her, as she just made wonders... She opened us to ourselves, lead us to our minds.  So I'm happy that you are trying to follow this way, this is what real teachers should be about.

Well, you asked whether a teacher should have one of the mentioned roles. It should be a combination of  them  all to my mind.  Besides having the basic general qualifications as all GE teachers have, BE tutor should be quite aware of the:

• business surroundings and settings in order to be a good coach for students and trainer for some specific professional situations,
• general economic trends in order to be able to lead students' discussions, judge articles on the professional topics, etc.
• basics of business communication skills, and some specific skills, like writing a business report, reading the profit and loss accounts, and so on.

This is just a simple list which could be improved, as some other main things could be added on to that.

Anastasia

Hi everybody,

Our role as a teacher now is 

an instructor, who gives not only information(knowledge) but directs leaners to solve problems and to make decisions ;

a manager who concentrates  leaners to find several and risk decisions to problems

Friends,

In our classroom, we have to take different roles-teacher, facilitator, motivator with democratic principles

padmasani

Dear Padmasani and Fazira,

Thank you for contributing to this thread. I do agree with you that a teacher is a combination of all roles, especially the one of a leader. In our complicated era of information technologies teaching decision-making is of great importance.

If you have some great examples of good teachers who succeeded to combine all these roles, you are welcome to share with us!

Anastasia

Hi all,

True enough a teacher should limit their role to guiding,facilitating,monitoring... but in large classes it will be a hard task.One may say a teacher could encourage groupwork but  then will there be enough time to personalize learning?

    Dear all,

    I think Abdelillah is quite right. It's challenging to personalize learning when you teach large classes. But still a teacher him/herself should set an example of a successful person. If you are a successful professional your students will be more motivated.

Dear all,

I quite agree that it's challenging to teach large classes but that's why simulations and project work come in to facilitate the learning/ teaching process.

I totally agree with Padmasani on describing the trainer as "motivator with democratic principles". Democracy in the classroom is very important, though sometimes the activites are teacher controlled, but we should never forget the professional experience students come with. After all, we are teachers not practitioners. Being democratic and flexible would lead to an effective course, both for the teachers and learners.

When I started teaching Business, I often found myself learning from the students: authentic examples, situations they encounter at work and solutions to problems not written in books but gained by practice and experience. I used to be nervous but now I leave the floor for the students to share their experience and I become the learner, yet with control of course :-)

Have you had any similar experience to that? Do you believe that the role teacher plays is affected by the current environment: time of the day, mood of the learners, lieu of training, etc

 Sahar

Dear all,

Thank you for your lively discussion of the topic.

I can't agree more with Abdelillah that teaching large groups is a heavy load on the instructor's shoulders. Not only that but as Sahar implies that the environment and personal issues interfere a lot with the teaching process. That is why I think Gulshan's words are particularly relevant that a teacher "should set an example of a successful person" to keep students motivated.

Through my personal experience as a student I can still remember quite a few tutors who managed to inspire the audience up to a hundred students through their own dedication to the subject, their knowledge and strength of character. I do believe that teachers should be strong personalities who have their own viewpoints, who don't get influenced too much by the surroundings. Of course, my vision is very much idealized, but I was lucky enough to meet such people in my life, and I believe that's what teachers should be - more than just tutors, but leaders who can teach originality, integrity and assertiveness. If all teachers strived for giving more than just their subject but teaching students some virtues, I believe world would be a better place... But in order to do so teachers should be worthy enough to be role models for students.

So I would say even if you have a large group, if you are a qualified dedicated teacher with your personal outlook, I am sure students will feel that, and will 'mirror' your attitude to the subject.

And what do you think?

Anastasia.

 Hello everyone, 

I was in my Masters, when one of my professors gave us the text below

"I've come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a student's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal, in all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized." Haim Ginott -

I totally agree with the text. We are what we want to be, not only in our classroom, in life too.

Dear Anatevka,

Welcome to our forum! Thank you so much for sharing this inspirational saying with us . This is really a must for everybody to read in their Master's, that's true. Personally I would put it in front of my desk to see each time while preparing myself to enter the class.

Hope to hear more from you! You are welcome to share your teaching experience with us in our business forums (for example, in 'Sharing our Experience' thread).

Anastasia