METHODOLOGY

"Eclectic", remarks Atkinson (1988, p. 42), "is one of the buzz words in TEFL at present, in part due to the realisation
that for the foreseeable future good language teaching is likely to continue to be based more on common sense,
insights drawn from classroom experience, informed discussion among teachers, etc., than on any monolithic model of
second language acquisition or all-embracing theory of learning...". One problem with this position is that your
"common sense" and your "insights" are apt to be different from mine. Another is that "discussion among teachers",
though valuable, is often a futile exercise in the blind leading the blind. No one with some knowledge of pedagogy and
psychology would advocate a "monolithic model" of anything in teaching today. However, unless one has some
theoretical foundation to one's knowledge, one cannot construct a methodology of anything--including of foreign
language teaching. The aim of this paper is to examine rudimentarily such foundation, and to propose an eclectic
approach to teaching English to speakers of other languages.
"It appears counterproductive to dissect language in the same way that biology students might dissect a frog" (Maurice
1987, p. 9). Learners do not expect curriculum designers and teachers to dissect language on the basis of pure
linguistic science, but they do expect them to dissect language on the basis of applied linguistics and psycholingui

. . .
learners. But there are methods, though successful with a majority of learners, which fail with individual learners--not
through flaws in the method, but through inappropriateness for an individual's style of learning. The variables are too
many to confine learning/teaching to any one method for groups as well as for individuals. Let us now comment briefly
on some currently used methods, listing their pros and cons in light of an eclectic approach. The Methods The
Grammar-Translation Method (also called the Classical Method) has as its fundamental purpose reading classical
literature ("good books representing the best in our culture") which it considers superior to the spoken language.
Communication is not its goal. The primary skills it develops are reading and writing. The teacher is the authority. No
errors are tolerated. Native language equivalents exist for all target language words. Comparative analytical techniques
facilitate learning. Form precedes meaning and, therefore, is learned first. Deductive application of explicit grammatical
rules are the way to learn structure, and structure must be foremost in the mind of learners. Audiolingual techniques
(such as rote memorization and drill) are preferred for learning verb co
. . .
Eclectic approach
In the move away from teachers following one specific methodology, the eclectic
approach is the label given to a teacher's use of techniques and activities from a range of
language teaching approaches and methodologies. The teacher decides what
methodology or approach to use depending on the aims of the lesson and the learners in
the group. Almost all modern course books have a mixture of approaches and
methodologies.
Example
The class starts with an inductive activity with learners identifying the different uses of
synonyms of movement using a reading text. They then practise these using TPR. In
another class the input is recycled through a task-based lesson, with learners producing
the instructions for an exercise manual.
In the classroom
A typical lesson might combine elements from various sources such as TPR and TBL
(the examples); the communicative approach, e.g. in communication gap activities; the
lexical approach, e.g. focusing on lexical chunks in reading; and the structural-
situational approach, e.g. establishing a clear context for the presentation of new
structures.
TEACHERS ROLE
" If we want students to learn, we must show them how. Teachers engage in non-
fiction inquiry choose their own topic of study, research it, craft a final report and
present their findings. In my staff development work, I encourage teachers to
follow the "gradual release of responsibility" model (Pearson and Gallagher 1983),
explicitly presenting learning strategies and then gradually handing over
responsibility while modeling and guiding."
A good teacher knows when to act as Sage on the Stage and when to act as a
Guide on the Side. Because student-centred learning can be time-consuming and
messy, efficiency will sometimes argue for the Sage. When students are busy
making up their own minds, the role of the teacher shifts. When questioning,
problem-solving and investigation become the priority classroom activities, the
teacher becomes a Guide on the Side."
Motivating Children: Going beyond
Bribery
How to Motivate Children to Want to Learn English
I'm sure you've all been there. You're standing in front of a class of glassy-eyed
children, or, even worse, a class of students who are just plain ignoring you. How
can you motivate the children and get them back "into" your class? One sure-fire
way to get your students to be motivated is to offer then small prizes or treats to
do the task at hand. Oh yes! You will have a class full of highly motivated,
participating children. They might even learn something from the activity.
However, by giving the children prizes and treats to motivate them you'll end up
with an empty pocketbook and a class full of students who are only motivated for
the material prize, not because they want to learn (which means they probably
aren't getting much out of the activity in the first place). There are many other
ways to motivate your students and you won't have to keep a stash of "prizes" in
your classroom to do it.

Be More Than Just a Teacher
No matter what your class demographics are, there is one sure way to motivate
your class into participating: Get them interested in you as their teacher and the
interest in your subject matter and class activities will soon follow.

You're not just a teacher, you're a person too. Sometimes children tend to have
the mentality that teachers are just teachers. They exist in school and nowhere
else. However, if you let them see you as a person and not just a teacher, you
might see a change in how they react to your class and class activities. If they
respect you, they will respect the class and be motivated to participate in whatever
it is you have for them to do. Of course, that is so much easier said than done.
Here are some things you should think about when trying to figure out how to show
your human side:

Keep Yourself Motivated
Think back to what classes you like best and why. If the teacher was bored and
didnt make the subject interesting, then the children often didn't like the class
either. To keep yourself motivated, change your activities to things that you are
excited about. If youre not excited and motivated about the activities you have
planned for your students, its time to get some new ones.

Be an Individual
Don't be afraid to talk about your interests outside of school. Look for
commonalities between you and your students and capitalize on them. For
example, if you like the same types of music as a lot of your students, bring in
some CD's and let them listen to music when they are working on projects. Make
sure the words are in English so that the children can take in some English
language into their subconscious.

Have fun and be silly
Seriously. Talk in a crazy voice or be daft and make them wonder what you'll be up
to next. Some teachers frown upon the idea of playing the clown and having fun
because they think it is time-wasting and that it is not their role to be an
entertainer. If it is not in your personality to be a big kid, then you cannot fake it,
and that is OK. If you use fun games and ideas your classes will still be enjoyable.
However if you are a big kid at heart then you will find that joining in, playing with
the children and generally acting up and being enthusiastic will come naturally to
you and is all part of the fun of teaching. It is not clowning around for the sake of
it, it servers to keep a fun and happy learning environment, and this alone can
motivate your students. If your children can laugh with you, and if they LIKE you,
they'll be interested in what you're doing up there in front of the class.

Encourage
When you're frustrated with your class because they don't seem interested in
participating, it's quite easy to forget that even when they do something small, you
need to keep encouraging and to stay positive. The number one way to demotivate
children is to have a negative or neutral attitude. If the children do not feel
encouraged and good about learning then they will not feel motivated to learn.

Make your students Active Learners
Think back to when you were in school. Did you like to sit at a desk and listen to
the teacher drone on and on. This type of passive learning is BORING and
demotivating. Active learning doesn't mean the children need to by physically
active throughout the class period it just means that you design your class period
around having them actively participate in the learning process. There are lots of
things you can do:

Play Games
Implement games that have the same outcome that you might have them reach by
doing a worksheet. For example, if you might normally give them a worksheet to
write the correct verb next to the picture illustrating the action, have them instead
practice their verbs by doing the action for the word you say or the word on a card
that you hold up. Likewise, you could do the action and have them write down the
word. You may access free samples of fun classroom games in the resource box
below.

When you play games, you can use points and competition as a motivator, but not
for kids under six who may find the competition too stressful. For them, just
playing the game is motivating enough. You can also sometimes award extra
credit, but use it sparingly so that it remains "extra" and a special reward. Also if
you use it too much, children can have so much extra credit that it sways the actual
grades too much.

Get Them Moving
Movement is a vital component to motivating children. The best way to prevent
children from zoning out is to get them up out of their seats at least once each
class period. Even if you just require them to come up to you instead of you going
to them for help, the movement can help get them out of the trance that they
sometimes get from sitting in one spot too long. Grouping the children for study
projects and activities helps as well. If you can, let them move the desks around or
sit on the floor to change things up as well. Many games involve movement
without the children needing to leave their seats, such as miming, moving certain
body parts and passing things around as part of a game or race. Therefore even
teachers with large classes and no space to move can use this technique, albeit to a
more limited degree.

Get Their Hands "Dirty"
Well, not literally, but the more hands-on activities you can do the better they will
learn and the more likely they will stay interested in the activity. If you're talking
about the words to describe fruit, have each student bring in a piece of fruit and
use the fruits in games. It is much more motivating and effective to be handling
real objects, or learning with pictures than copying down lists of words from the
board. If you are discussing how to put a sentence together, have them construct
their own sentences (alone or with a partner) and write them on the chalkboard.
You can also intentionally make mistakes to encourage them to look for the "right"
way. If you do this you should warn the children so that they are on the look out
for your deliberate errors, otherwise you could do more harm than good.

Stick to a Schedule
Creating a schedule for your students help them know what to expect in the class
and will help them stay organized as well which will lower the frustration level for
children who sometimes struggle in school. It is very difficult for frustrated children
to stay motivated. If they know that every Friday is a vocabulary quiz, then they
won't have to wonder on Thursday if they were supposed to study last night. If
they have weekly assignments due on every Wednesday, then you don't have to
spend the majority of the class time reminding them that the weekly assignment is
due. This schedule should be clearly explained to the children as well as posted in
the classroom.

You can also have a mini-schedule that outlines how each class period will go. For
example, each class period you might do vocabulary exercises and games for 15
minutes and then move on to the main activity of the day. It also helps children if
you post a daily "plan" on the chalkboard so they know what will be expected of
them each day when they walk into the classroom.

Variety is the Spice of Life!
With that all said, it's also important to change things up within the schedule. For
example, if you spend the first 10 or 15 minutes each day doing vocabulary
activities, make sure you vary these activities so they don't get boring and stay
motivated. If you see that the children of one class don't respond to an activity,
avoid it in the future and stick to the ones they like. It's also important to realize
that some groups of children will be motivated by certain activities that the next
group of children will literally detest. For example, one group might really like role
playing activities while another group would rather have a tooth pulled.

Another way to create variety is to keep changing the pace. Play a game that
wakes the children up and follow it with a calm game so that the students do not
get too excited. Then play a fast game so the children do not become so calm that
they start to become restless and misbehave or drift off.

Give Them Options
If you spend long periods of time with your class, or if you have a mixed ability
class and have to split your teaching time between groups, then the following ideas
may help when the children have some free or unsupervised time in your class.
Having a collection of fun learning activities for them can motivate children that like
to waste time and be a time-filler for children that like to make trouble.

Get a variety of activities for the children such as educational board games,
crossword puzzles, sudoku puzzles, art projects anything that they can learn
something from that they would also find fun. For older kids, you can make a
competition to complete a packet of activities to get extra credit points or put them
on a team to be the first to complete a series of tasks.
If you have a facility where you can send children to watch a film in English that
would be most beneficial. Otherwise have suitable English reading material such as
comics, or teenage magazines about cars for the boys and dating and makeup for
the girls! If discipline is a problem then the children will have to work individually
at their desks in silence, but at least they will be engaged in the activity.

One Last Idea This really motivates younger classes of children up to age
12, but it can work with all ages. Plan an end of the term program so the children
can show off what they've learned to their parents and anyone else who attends the
program. You can do it right in the classroom and have the children play games,
recite poems, whatever you can come up with to have them showcase what they've
learned to their parents.

Because this is such a successful strategy you can even put on two performances,
one in the assembly hall in front of the whole school, and one in front of the
parents, perhaps in the evening or immediately after school. You should find that
your head of school is very open to this as it gives him or her an opportunity to
show off too!

So, there you have it. There are lots of ways you can motivate your students to
WANT to learn and to pay attention without bribing them with tangible gifts that
become more important to them than learning the material.

How to be communicative?

There are several ways to improve personal communication in different conditions. First,
it is useful to have clear and precise goals which you want to achieve with personal
communication. Apart from that it is important to be motivated for successful
communication because motivated individuals are much better at activating their
communication capacities and other potentials. A high level of motivation, with clear and
precise goals, should then be directed at the elaboration of the communication strategy
and a detailed planning of certain types of communication . Finally, a certain level of
motivation should be maintained over a longer period of time, constantly having in mind the
set communication goals, and invest the necessary effort in order to achieve the
communication goals in every contact with every group or individual which are
important for those goals.
Feedback is important for improvement of the instructors personal communication in
distance education. It is useful to constantly evaluate the level of personal
communication skills, as well as the consequences of personal communication
activities. Apart from training in communication skills and working on them personally,
observing particularly successful distance education instructors is also recommended, as well
as personal application of appropriate principles and techniques which proved as successful
in such role models.
Communicativeness of a lecturer, instructor, trainer and mentor is particularly important in
e-education, because of numerous obstacles in communication channels conditioned
by imperfections and shortcomings of computers and the Internet as the
communication channel. Only with appropriate knowledge, skills and motivation will it be
possible to have successful communication with the participants in complex LMS systems,
and related to complex educational demands and methods of work which the participants
have to overcome.
The Role of an English Teacher in the Middle School Classroom



Thesis statement: The teacher plays several kinds of roles in order to
improve the students English level.

1 Introduction.
2 The teacher plays many roles in the middle school classroom.
A. The teacher is a controller.
B. The teacher is an organizer.
C. The teacher is an assessor.
D. The teacher is a participant.
E. The teacher is a helper.
F. The teacher is a prompter.
3 Conclusion.





Abstract: For the IT and all kinds of mediums are developing quickly An
English teacher is not the only way for the students to get their
knowledge. The difference between a teacher and a student is not that a
teacher is more knowledgeable than a student, but that a teacher can
develop a students intelligence, mood, character, vitality and personality.
Education is not merely culture teaching, but stimulate the creation of
people and wake up peoples emotion so that people can act freely and
voluntarily, Pan(2002)said. Teachers are related to peoples growth
closely. Peoples development changes with time. These changes make
more demands to teachers. Yu(2005) said. The English teacher not only
teaches the students to study English, but also how to improve themselves
in various aspects. So, the role of the only controller of an English
teacher could not meet the need of the development of education, and
she/he must be the controller, organizer, participant, helper and
prompter.

Key words: The roles of an English teacher, controller, organizer,
participant, helper, prompter, assessor.







I Introduction
The 21st century is full of high-technology and high competition, and the
requirements of English talents are different from the past. Nowadays,
learning English is more important. The English teacher not only teaches
students the knowledge, but also teaches students how to study and how
to use their knowledge. As a second language which the students must
study, English is not so easy and interesting for every student. Many
students feel that studying English is very dull and very difficult. And day
by day, they lose their heart in learning English. But now, English is very
very important for the young people. If they want to go to universities,
they must pass the English exam. If they want to go abroad, they also
must pass all kinds of English exams. And if the teacher only teaches the
students and answers their questions, the students could not study
English better. So, the English teacher should change their roles in the
middle school classroom so that the students could study English easily
and well.

2 The Roles of the English Teacher
1. Controller
As a controller, the English teacher controls the class fully. The teacher
tells the students what they must do, when they do it; what they must
study, when they should study. He/she also controls the students as to
when they should speak English and what kinds of English they should
speak. In many middle school classrooms, especially in the country middle
school classrooms, the English teacher first tells the students what they
will learn in that class, then teaches the content in the English book and
asks the student to read, or do exercise and so on. We also hear the
teacher say: now, do the exercise by yourselves, and if you have
questions, you may ask me. In this way, the students may pay their
attentions to what the teacher say, and all the students study the same
knowledge in the same way and at the same time. It is also very effective
in learning new lessons and new sentences. But the teacher should make
sure that all students pay their attentions to what hes said. However, the
role of an English teacher as the controller controls all the class, and the
students have less time to speak English and it is not good for developing
the students abilities of using the language. So, the teachers should give
their students much time to speak English.

2 Organizer
It is very difficult for an English teacher to play the role organizer. If the
teacher organizes the class-game well, the class-game is successful. Before
the teacher asks the students to do the exercise, the teacher must know
that if the students do not know what they should do, they will waste all
the time of that class. And the students who know less English do not
know how to take part in these games. They may do those games in
Chinese. It is not effective too. So, before the class-games, the teacher
must see that every student knows what he or she should do. So, at this
time, the teacher should give an example, and then, ask some of the
students to do that. If it is a dialogue exercise, the teacher could give some
students the roles of this dialogue, and then ask the student to do the
dialogue in the classroom. For example, when learning THOMAS EDISON
in Unit 11 of Book 3 of Junior English Book, the teacher may ask the
students to play Edison, Edison s mother, Edison s father and so on. And
other students are reporters, they may interview the mother and the
father, learning Edisons hobby; they may interview the teacher, learning
the study of Edison; they could also interview the doctor, learning the
progress of saving Edison mother and so on. For example, (Sa is
interviewing Edison father.)
Sa: Excuse me, please, Im on China Daily, are you Edisons father?
F: Yes, nice to meet you.
Sa: Pleased to meet you too. We all know your son, Thomas Edison, is a
great inventor now. Can you tell me what he was always doing when he
was a child?
F: Yes, when he was a child, my son was always trying out new ideas.
Sa: can you give me an example?
F: Ok. One day when he was five. I saw him sitting on some eggs. I asked
him why he was doing that. But he didnt answer. Instead, he asked me a
question.
Sa: what did he say?
F: Hens are able to have chicks. Why cant I? he said.
Sa: Could you answer his questions at that time?
F: Im afraid I couldnt.
Sa: Oh, thank you very much.
F: Youre welcome. Goodbye!
Sa: Bye!
(Sb is interviewing the doctor)
Sb: I know you are a very good doctor. You saved Edison mother, can you
tell us what happened that day?
D: That day, Edison mother was ill. I was asked to go quickly. I went as
soon as possible. When I saw her, I said that she needed an operation at
once. But I wasnt able to operate.
Sb: why?
D: Because it was night, and the light in the room was very bad. I couldnt
see clearly enough!
Sb: what should you do then?
D: Edison thought hard and had an idea. His father owned a large mirror.
Edison took all the lights in the house and put them on a long table. Then
he put the big mirror behind them, so there was enough light.
Sb: Could you see clearly?
D: Yes. I operate on his mother at once and she was saved.
Sb: Great! By the way, what do you think of little Edison?
D: Very clever!
In this way, all of the students take part in the class-game and remember
the sentence style. So the teacher pays attention to the role of organizer,
making sure that every student understands. If it is necessary, the teacher
can do that in Chinese. And it is also necessary for the teacher to spend
much more time on thinking of how to organize the students when they
do the preparation.

3. Assessor
The main work a teacher should do is assessing the learners study and
knowing whether they study well. If no, the teacher should change the
way he taught. There are two ways for assessing: correcting and feedback.
When a teacher is correcting the students mistakes, he should pay his
attention to the way he speaks, and do not cut short the students.
Otherwise the students may lose their hearts and dare not speak English.
Feedback is assessing the students work when they finish it. The teacher
should approve the students advantages while he points out the
problems and tells them how to deal with those problems. Ever since they
are enrolled into schools, students are trained in learning methods and
habits. In this way, they will switch from the passive position to the
initiative position, so as to lay a solid foundation for further studies.
Learning to use dictionaries is one of the most basic skills in English study.
Teachers should guide students to learn to look up new words in the
dictionary. Different dictionaries are designed with different purposes.
Students are guided to choose suitable ones. Out of
dictionariesstudents can learn pure English, because lots of language
items are from original books, newspapers or magazines. Students need
guidance on how to preview new lessons. The purpose to preview is to get
to know new words, language items and the content preliminarily with the
help of dictionaries and reference books. Students may feel it too difficult
or unused to it at the very beginning, but day after day, if they insist on
using the method, they will enjoy the happiness of previewing new
lessons. This is one way to probe. Based on their own preliminary preview,
they are able to study with problems and to raise deep level questions in
class. So teachers can organize lessons at a higher level. At the stage of
introducing new lessons, teachers should try every means to arouse
students interest, motivate their desire to take part in the study process.
During this procedure, teachers design situations for teaching of either a
language item or a sentence pattern, and presenting tasks, to make
students realize their lack of knowledge. Students motivation to learn will
be generated in this way. So they will be eager to get involved into the
learning process. Teachers guiding role is necessary for new English
learners. At the stage of guiding, teachers work as guiders, guiding
students to form good learning habits and as promoters, promoting
students to love learning English

4 Participant
Participant is that the teacher thinks of himself as one of the students
and takes part in their games, not that he/she looks at the students at the
platform. It could enliven the atmosphere of the class and offer the
students chances to speak to someone who knows more English. By taking
part in the games by the teacher. there is no love and there is no
education. The love of the teachers is that the teacher understands the
students spiritual world, learning to think as a student and studying
together with the students. At the same time, the teacher may get
something which can help him when he explains the problems to the
students. For example, when teaching THE NECKLACE in Unit 18 of Book 1
of Senior English Book, the teacher may ask the students to give a further
end of the story.
T: When Mathilde heard what Jeanne had said, she simply couldnt
believe her own ears. The lost necklace wasnt a real diamond necklace.
How she regretted that she hadnt told Jeanne what had happened then!
She was too sad to say a word. But she thought for a while and felt it
wasnt a bad thing, because it made her a hard-working woman.
S1: Mathilde was very sad when she heard that. dear me! then she fell
to the ground. When she stood up, she kept on laughing and saying
Necklace. She was mad at last.
S2: Jeanne was so moved that she took Mathilde home and gave her a lot
of money. With the money, Mathilde and her husband started a new life
and lived happily.
Through this discussion, the students give free rein to their imagination
and exercise their speaking; the teacher learns more about the storys
end. But as a participant, the teacher should be careful to control the
class, he should give the students much more time to speak and discuss.

5. Helper
To the students, a teacher is a dictionary, a tool book and a computer.
Whenever they meet problems, they will ask the teacher to help them.
When students do oral communication games, reading and writing, they
will meet with many many problems; they will ask the teacher to help
them understand them. Besides, ones confidence and attitude determine
if his English is poor or well. So, when the students lose their heart in
learning English, the teacher should say something to comfort them; when
they make advances, the teacher should praise them; when they have
problems, the teacher should help them in time. Loving the students, the
teacher should be good at getting into the students emotion world. To
get into the students emotion world, the teacher first should be the
students friend and feel their happiness, anger, grief and joy. The
teacher should create favorable conditions that help in time, and
recommend some favorable English readings and magazines to the
students and tell them some reading skills in the class to improve their
reading speed.
6. Prompter
Prompter is a teacher role which makes the student the center. He lets
them study by themselves. Teachers are to lead and encourage students.
Yang(2005). Nowadays, in China, professionals analyze teachers roles
mainly in two aspects: from microscopic point of view, teachers roles in
learners development: from microscopic point of view, teachers
expectations of learners. The former beliefs tend to be abstract, but the
latter expectations always show out their concrete qualities, and their
impact on learners development. Teachers expectations of learners and
their impact result from the process of interaction between teacher and
learner. During the process, teachers constantly insist on influencing the
learner according to their own expectations, and the learner will step by
step develop himself as the teacher expects. Teachers roles will affect
everything the students do in the classroom, whether these are implicit or
explicit. And teachers deeprooted beliefs about how languages are
learnt will pervade their classroom actions more than a parceled
methodology they are told to adopt or course book they follow.
A British educational theorist Pajares thinks that the teachers beliefs
have a greater influence than the teachers knowledge on the way. They
plan their lessons by depending on all kinds of decisions. They make their
general classroom practices. Social constructionists also find that the
teachers beliefs are far more influential than knowledge in determining
how individuals organize and define tasks and problems, and are better
predictor of how teachers behave in the classroom.
Social constructivists find that an effective teacher creates a learning
atmosphere which is cognitively and affectively expanding; a learning
atmosphere which enables the learner to become a more adequate and
knowledgeable person. It is clear that this kind of approach places great
emphasis upon what the teacher as a person brings to the teaching
learning relationship and how the learner can be helped to develop as a
whole person by the provision of a supportive learning environment,
which allows individuals to develop in their own way. Aspirn and Boy
express it. pupils feel the personal emotional structure of the teacher
long before they feel the impact of the intellectual content offered by that
teacher. This obviously has particular implications with regard to
teachers views of themselves since a teacher who lacks selfesteem will
find it impossible to build the selfesteem of others. This is equally true
when it comes to conveying dignity and respect. Thus, the language
teacher needs to convey a sense of selfconfidence when using the
language, at the same time respecting learners attempts to express
themselves and their views in the language.

III. conclusion
Now teacher work with students who are actively planning and
managing their own futures. Teachers prepare students for a range of
career path ways and help them develop the skills habits and attitude they
will retain over a lifetime of learning. It is a more challenging role for
teachers now that the expectations are more complex. The teachers role
influences teachers consciousness, teaching, attitude, teaching methods
and teaching policy. The teachers role also strongly influences teaching
behavior and, finally, learners development.