Training 1.3 (Eng): The Key Elements For a Good Teacher/Trainer (Part1)

Training 1.3: KEY ELEMENTS FOR A GOOD

TEACHER/TRAINER (1st part)

You are a professional teacher/trainer ? You want to become one?  Is there a topic  you know better than most people? Are you able to correctly transmit information  ? To make someone visualize a concept? To use layman terms to explain something complex and or theorical? Do you have good adaptation skills? What are the required comptences to be successful in this sphere?

In a previous article, I have already breached some of these aspects but I only gave an  overview for people to have a general idea on the role of a trainer/teacher. In any training that can be respectfully called as such, the teacher is one of the essential elements and is worth spending a few moments on the topic.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A GOOD TRAINER/TEACHER?

In the education system, there is a saying that goes like this: "To be a good teacher, you have to be a "parent", a "friend", a "psycho-educator", a "social worker" and even sometimes a "babysitter". Well the role of a professional trainer is a little bit like this as well. Only the names, or the labels, change depending on the clientele that we have in front of us. And believe me, it can be varied! I know for my part that I can give a class to professionals in early afternoon, give schooling help for teenagers by late afternnon and have another couple or group of people sitting around a table with a bottle of wine in the early evening.

One of the best qualities, if not the most important one, for a teacher is his adaptation, his ability to adjust himself to his audience. There are not two people out there who learn exactly the same way or at the same rhythm, so that says it all. The more a teacher will be able to « mold » himself, his teaching, to his audience, the more efficient his training is going to be because it will become personalized and people who follow it will be able to put what they have learnt immediately in practice. 

If you always oppose and/or fight changes because they make you feel uncomfortable, maybe teaching or giving trainings is not made for you. Although, on the other hand, the adaptation skill is something that can be worked on and improved or developped. Some people are born with it but if not, it is not a total loss.

How to help yourself develop those adaptation skills? The answer is simple; get out of your comfort zone as often as possible. Experience things you are not used to do, do various activities with different people, hang out with people not belonging to your usual crowd, discover cultures and other places. Explore different beliefs, but do it all while having fun doing it. Confront your own limits and you will ask yourself afterwards why you had set them in the first place. In a word, broaden your world while having pleasure discovering new things! The bigger your life experience is, the easier it is to adapt yourself.

The second main quality of a good teacher is his knowledge of the subject. This may seem obvious but I can assure you that, unfortunately, it is not always the case. If we are not at ease to talk about a subject, it is only because we either do not know it well or not at all. If we are well versed in a subject, it is much easier to express ourselves and give our point of view. The more we know our subject the easier it is to explain it.

A vast knowledge of the subject also allow us to adapt our teaching to our audience. We can make one type or another of exercises, organize specific activities, or manage role plays that represent appropriate reality  of the subject under study.

This being said, even if we know our subject very well, we will always be confronted to difficult questions or situations in which it will be hard to give an answer. It is practically impossible to know everything on a specified topic. In these occasions, personally, I recommend to be honest. If we do not know the answer to a question, well, we do not and we should admit the fact. That is by far a much better attitude than trying to impress people and answer just about anything. If you try to anser a question to which you do not know the answer, you are gambling your credibility away. If your student realises that you have fooled him, it will be extremely hard for you to regain his trust. 

On the other hand, if you simply admit that you do not know the answer but you make a note of it and tell the student that you will get back to him on this next time, this practice will not only allow you to deepen your knowledge on the topic but will assuredly gain you the respect and admiration of your audience.

Make it a regular practice to verify what is going on in the sphere of your topic. Always keep your knowledge updated, take time to do reseach! Do your homework! J

And with this I conclude the first part of this article. The second one will be here soon, I promise! J

Follow us on Facebook! Subscribe to the Newsletter (on the left-hand side of the FB page, right below the "Communauté/Publicité" tabs). Visit our site. Read our blogs on communication!

Louis Carle

Director,

Formation Linguistique L.C.