Wojtek Graniczewski

New roles, competencies and skills

of language teachers

EAQUALS CONFERENCE – BUDAPEST 2014

What is a modern language teacher?

A guru? An entertainer

A master?

What is a modern language teacher?

A professional well-trained

to deliver educational

services (foreign language

training and communication

skills) to customers who

want to buy them

http://thewindingascent.blogspot.com/

Sales and front office staff go out of their way to make potential clients …

► read our advertisements,

► look at our website,

► phone the school,

► visit the school,

► go through placement tests,

► believe that we are their best choice

And then our dear clients are taken over by the teachers …

► mostly well-trained in linguistics,language teaching

methodology and techniques

► mostly no training in other fields (alternative hard

skills) and little professional training in soft skills

Everything around us is changing.

► the market

► students’ expectations

► organisational structures,

► styles of management

► technology

► modes of delivery

► communication channels

What does it mean to language teachers?

HARD SKILLS vs. SOFT SKILLS

HARD SKILLS: specific, teachable abilities

that can be defined and measured (writing, typing,

maths, reading, using electronic devices, etc.

SOFT SKILLS: personality-driven skills like

etiquette, getting along with others, listening,

engaging in small talk, etc.

http://www.investopedia.com/

What new hard skills should teachers learn?

► professional hardware and software

► use of professional on-line sources

► use of new communication devices

► moodle and blended teaching

► new ways of continuous assessment

► new types of teaching activities

► bridges between classroom and life

But that is not enough.

The traditional division into separate departments is disappearing.

Role culture (pyramid) replaced by project / task culture.

Book-keeping outsourced. All other staff form one team.

We are all in the PR and Student Services Department.

THE NEW, MORE EFFECTIVE MODEL:

Teachers must be made aware of the following:

► getting new clients through traditional advertising is extremely difficult

► the market is confusing as all schools claim they can deliver the same

► each staff member must acctively contribute to the corporate image

► educational institutions are being replaced by training businesses

► the role of the teacher has to be extended and modified

► new skills (and areas of training) are indispensable

Teachers must learn to:

► use the language of needs of the clients (their students)

► ask open questions, listen to answers and reflect on them

► communicate clients’ needs to the school’s management

► keep the students satisfied and motivated for more

Teachers need training in PR and marketing

What soft skills should teachers learn?

► interpersonal communication

► constructive critical thinking

► emotional literacy

► cultural awareness

► social intelligence

► understanding of multiple

intelligences

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Intercultural communication

aims to share information across different

cultures and social groups

describes communication processes

and problems that naturally appear

within an organisation made up of

individuals from different religious, social,

ethnic, and educational backgrounds

sometimes used synonymously with

cross-cultural communication

seeks to understand how people from

different countries and cultures act,

communicate and perceive the world

Critical thinking

process of analysing, evaluating and

applying information gathered from

observation, experience, reflection,

reasoning or communication to reach

a constructive conclusion

disciplined thinking - open-minded,

clear, rational, informed by evidence

commitment to using reason

in the formulation of our beliefs

www.learntoprepare.com

Emotional literacy

ability to understand one’s emotions, listen

to others and empathise with their emotions

ability to express emotions productively

to be emotionally literate is to be able

to handle emotions in a way that improves

one’s personal power and quality of life

It improves relationships: evokes positive

feelings between people, makes co-operative

work possible, and facilitates the feeling

of community

Cultural awareness

basis for one’s ability to interact effectively with

people of different cultures and socio-economic

backgrounds

cultural competence comprises 4 components

(a) awareness of one's own cultural worldview,

(b) attitude towards cultural differences,

(c) knowledge of different cultural practices

(d) cross-cultural skills

developing cultural competence results in an

ability to understand, communicate with, and

effectively interact with people across cultures

Social intelligence

ability to understand and

manage men and women,

boys and girls and act wisely

in human relations

competence to understand

one’s environment optimally

and react appropriately for

socially successful conduct

capacity to effectively

negotiate complex social

relationships

Multiple intelligences

a theory that differentiates

intelligence into specific

"modalities", rather than

seeing it as dominated by

a single general ability

proposed by Howard

Gardner in his book:

Frames of Mind: The Theory

of Multiple Intelligences

Initially Gardner chose eight

abilities to be considered as

specific intelligences