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Teachers

Teachers

Date: May 22 2009

Themes: School

Grammar: Count and Noncount Nouns

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Remember that awesome history teacher you had in high school, the one who told all the funny stories and inspired you to read everything you could find about the Battle of Waterloo and the last tsar of Russia? Or how about that awful math teacher who smelled weird and always gave you poor grades?

Good or bad, teachers often make a strong impression on us. But what makes a good teacher, and what makes a bad teacher? Listen to the dialog and find out what Devan and Marni think.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Marni

Devan

Devan

Marni:  So, what do you think makes a good or a bad teacher? You’re in school right now, right?

Devan:  Yes. And I have good and bad teachers right now.

Marni:  OK.

Devan:  Well, I think what makes a good teacher or a good professor is if they really care about what they’re teaching. Like there’s some teachers that just seem completely detached.

Marni:  Right.

Devan:  Teachers that just assign a lot of busy-work I feel like that’s a cop-out sort of, you know?

Marni:  Yeah, absolutely. Well, I’m probably a little biased since I am a teacher. But I’m at the elementary level so it’s a little different. But I agree, I don’t like to assign busy-work because it doesn’t inspire kids to learn. But I look to someone…you know, I try to be a mentor to kids and really get them excited about learning. I don’t…I don’t want to be too strict, but…

Devan:  Would you say you’re a pretty easy-going teacher?

Marni:  I am in some respects but I definitely have my limitations and I’m very firm. I like to say firm but fair. But I think that I had a lot of bad teachers in my growing up, so I really strive to be a good teacher.

 

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Discussion

Devan is in college right now and has both good and bad professors. For her, a good teacher is someone who is passionate about their subject and doesn’t assign a lot of meaningless work.

Marni agrees with Devan’s ideas about what makes a good teacher. She teaches elementary school children and tries to be firm but not too strict. She thinks it’s important to inspire students and be a mentor to them.

Want more about teachers? Read Devan or Marni’s blog posts about this conversation. Or check out the Ebaby! teacher blog.
What do you think makes a good teacher or a bad teacher? Can you describe the best teacher you ever had?

 

Comments

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Karen

China

actually ,i have no more feeling about it.But i think ,if you want to be a good teather the firstly you would to be the friends for your student.It is just my opinion.

03:26 AM May 23 2009 |

larrychen

larrychen

China

In my opinion, what makes a good teacher is whether they really care about what their students get from their lessons. I have had some good teachers, who taught us how to be a good person in the society as well as the important of what we were learning right now!

I respected such teachers, as they were not only teachers on my school work but also the mentor of my life.

02:51 AM May 23 2009 |

tonkin

Viet Nam

"Teaching is more than a piece of paper or a position. It is a need that develops in the heart. It is a gift, not a learned action and only a true teacher can understand the feelings and needs that come from teaching."

I am heartfelt contemplating the above-quoted saying. I put it on top lines of my TESOl document. I am plannig to be teacher. 

02:50 AM May 23 2009 |

Ca_Brazil

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

I do think some people born to do something..teaching is not easy…i mean for the good teachers !...like every sort of work the people who loves to do it doing great but if they dont like it..dont really care about…so i had a few very good teachers…the ones that i remember were engaged with the subject and inspired me to learn more.

12:50 AM May 23 2009 |

mukashi

mukashi

Myanmar

Before I met my first professor in college I pray everday that I don't want strict professor. Luckily my professor is very kind and easy going teacher. But now I want not only easy going teacher but also strict professor. I need strict teacher to progress my studies. Now I am very easy going student I think.

12:24 AM May 23 2009 |

AQ

AQ

Finland

i totally agree with ryo3T =)

08:36 PM May 22 2009 |

AQ

AQ

Finland

i have one teacher who hates me and i hate her too…haha =D

and i know why…i didn't like her to begin with…always looking at me while explaining things to the whole class and especially when explaining things about russia!! 

her lessons were always sooo boring that i usually fell asleep for a half an hour until my friend who was sitting in front of me woke me up =)

she acted as if she didn't notice that but that affected my marks…if i got 9 at the test, i would get 8…

luckily i will get rid of her after a week, haha =D

 but i will definitely remember her for the rest of my life…=)

08:33 PM May 22 2009 |

suzon

Viet Nam

i still remember when i was in university, my Advanced Maths teacher firstly appeared funny. His shoe had big hole at the tip, and his white shirt turned into gray. His pair of trousers wasn't ironed and he always seemed sleepless. He didn't explain much, just giving out the points and sometimes assigning a lot of busy-work.But i think he's not kind of cop-out person. Our lessons took a lot of his time and Maths becomes his own purpose for the whole life.Maths always needs practice and finally i found him a great teacher.

06:37 PM May 22 2009 |

shashanknew

India

firstly a teacher should be sincere about his teaching. teacher should have a proper planning,conceptual knowledge,easy communication & last but most imp thing motivating personality….and yes he should have standard study material or links to provide a reference to his student and patiance & understanding is must…

03:00 PM May 22 2009 |

levitabris

levitabris

China

I  think a really good teacher is also a good learner. A good teacher must understand the feeling of being a student. Not just stand on the stage and blah blah~They have to create something interesting in their class. And sometimes a teacher can be the student of  his or her student. Wherever there is knowledge can be learnt, there is a teacher.

 

My favorite teachers are all bad boys or bad girls in their student life. Not the nerds who only care about their grades. 

 

" You should be shameful  when you are  cheating. But there is no doubt that you can remember most answers of the questions that you cheat in."

12:29 PM May 22 2009 |

freewilly87

Germany

The best teacher I ever had was my English teacher. She was strict but friendly and I think that should be the goal of a teacher to combine both of them like a milkshake. You should not exaggerate one of them but I also think that it is very difficult to find the right balance especially each class is different.

 

12:28 PM May 22 2009 |

Radiowagner

Brazil

For me a good teacher could to transmit the mensages with stillness and to be facilitators, stimulating the students.

12:26 PM May 22 2009 |

giska

Congo, Democratic Republic Of The

Teacher must captive the attention of students that what I think more important. Even if he gives a lot of homework. When I was a student a like to be teach by a professor who captive my attention by teaching.

IT's a good lesson because every body are concern!

11:45 AM May 22 2009 |

clutchmann

clutchmann

Hungary

Imagine, if you have been a teacher for 30 years and you have been teaching the same thing. Is it easy to teach this subject for 30 years?
I think it is a quite difficult task to keep your lessons on easy and exciting way because it can be so boring for you.

11:21 AM May 22 2009 |

vague2008

vague2008

Yemen

anyway,teachers are the main reason of making kids or u know ,students get excited about school,see imagine if ya having a bad or so strict teacher in ya school,u would defnintely hate his class or the subject he's teaching as a result and vice versa, bad teachers >>bad generations.  at the end i'd like 2 thank E-BABY for the lesson Laughing

09:02 AM May 22 2009 |

kornel 25

United Kingdom

Hi Everbody:) I think that good teacher shoud be between strict and easy-going person:)I will be goog english teacher in  the far far future:)

08:51 AM May 22 2009 |

chenjiaosong

China

i think our teacher is your said , teacher love the good students, don't love bad students, but when we grow up , bad student become an excellent man, i think our teacher have a flase watch students.

08:38 AM May 22 2009 |

green greener

United Arab Emirates

Nice topic. I admit that I met both bad and good teachers during my studying time; some of them left a good trace in my life with their inspiring, advising, and caring way. Definitely, the teacher who encourages you and gives you an attention is also the one who you’ll never forget. I would like to mention some of the teachers who affected me; there was a zoologist teacher who really I like because of her kindness, her attractive greeting when she met me and her way of showing love to us. Another teacher was an English teacher who I also love; she was our supervisor too; when I met her in her room, she was happy, praised me in front of other teachers and when my mother met her, she started telling her that I’m a good person…

08:21 AM May 22 2009 |

Liaa

Liaa

Russian Federation

I had a lot kinds of teachers in my growing up. I had a teachers who really care about their subjects and their students. I had a teachers who hated their work and us. But I have to say Ebaby! teachers are really cool!

 

 

 

08:17 AM May 22 2009 |

bicodede

Malaysia

wery pretty dialog :)

08:01 AM May 22 2009 |

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