Teaching in Summertime #ielts #learnenglish

Hi from Teacher Joseph!

Summer Update

Historically June July and August are quiet months. In Europe its summer and many people are away on holiday, universities are closed. Teachers are seeing a slight drop in their student bookings and have more time to come to the forums and perhaps advertise. Its also a good time to sort out websites and blogs.

If a teacher reduces a language to become a commodity (in other words if a teacher views his job only as a way to earn money) then everyone is reduced down to something which is being bought and sold, the teacher, the student  etc. and his teaching practice will not be successful. People are not commodities and language isn´t either so there needs to be a balance of “giving” as well as offering free help to those who need it. A good teacher will be raising up his students to empower them, not to try and use them to get money. its unethical. There´s good months and bad months, just like any other job.

Teachers do need to earn but they also need to realize the world is not always about buying and selling. I often help students who have a quick question or need something correcting free of charge. Having said that,   I´ve been approached by many people on Facebook  who simply don´t want to pay for lessons. Pleading with me to teach them free. I think a good teacher knows from the initial enquiry or from the first lesson who is serious about learning. There are a lot of time wasters, on both sides teachers and students. I am pleased to say though that I have met many wonderful people and I think the system of Skype Teaching works well, but people should monitor Teachers more to see exactly what their ratings are, to ensure quality at all times or even do some kind of random survey or checks.

I´m happy to help.

Joseph