Teachers : Being realistic.

For the last week, we had to work in groups and prepare a presentation. Each group had been given a topic and my group had received a topic ‘Being Realistic’. First of all, let me define what ‘realistic’ is. Realistic means being sensible and understand what is possible to achieve in particular situation or showing things as they really are. Therefore, teacher should be realistic in bringing about success in English language learning among pupils.
There are many things that should be taken into considerations in order to be realistic in teaching. Firstly, in selecting activities, teachers should questions themselves when they want to select or design an activity to use with the pupils- e,g- “Will it be difficult for pupils to carry it out?”, “Is the language suitable for the level?”, “Which skills does it practise?”, “Does it create a good atmosphere?” and so on. By doing this, teacher will have specific, clear and explicit purposes in their mind and can deliver the learning successfully. On the pupils’ side, they will enjoy learning and process the learning more deeply.
Secondly, it is undisputable that motivation is an extremely an important factor in determining success in pupils’ learning. Therefore, teachers should be realistic in teaching in order to arouse pupils’ motivation. In this case, familiarity of the subject and their cultural background knowledge help to increase pupils’ motivation. When the pupils are familiar with the topic, they will eager to participate in the lesson to the maximum level. This is good in order to ‘settle down’ pupils who are restless or active and naturally pay attention during the lesson. For those who are weak in learning process, providing familiar topic and their cultural background knowledge enable them to ‘feel’ success and motivate them to further their learning to the fullest.
Teacher should also be realistic in term of providing support to the pupils. Pupils really need support or assistance in order to carry out the activities that they are not able to do unaided. When teachers provide support to the pupils, they will gain confidence and eventually able to function independently. For example, teachers can support pupils by giving pictures to comprehend text, gestures, related vocabulary and others. However, teacher should know how to adjust, reduce and match support to pupils’ understanding and experience. It is not appropriate to provide fully support the advance students. They might feel that teachers do not appreciate their own capability. Besides that, it might reduce the level of challenge and pupils might not experience learning progress.
Lastly, lesson planning is just a guide or reference to teachers for smooth and efficient teaching. Sometimes, what they have planned does not work at all depending on the pupils’ mood and classroom situation on that particular day. For instance, pupils might be passive in the morning lesson. If the teachers want to do reading activity, I am sure that they won’t give full participation. Teacher should be realistic by not continuing teaching according to the lesson planning, but being flexible by asking the pupils to sing songs or do physical movement activity. This will help to awaken the pupils. Therefore, teacher should be realistic and flexible in teaching in order to suit their mood and interests.