I took part in an intensive Teaching English as a Foreign Language workshop at the weekend. It forms part of a longer course that leads to a TEFL qualification. The tutor, John Nelson, was inspiring and experienced as a teacher and offered great insights, ideas and challenge in a spirit of support. I noticed how valuable it felt to have a tutor, a mentor, a leader with us on our learning journey.
John wasn’t simply a detached expert who stood and pointed us in the right direction. He was committed to ensuring that we were able to grow and succeed in our work. He engaged with us – tuned into where we were, what mattered to us, what we could already do well, what we were struggling with or could improve – and helped moved us forward towards where we wanted to be.
At one point, John role-modelled a teaching session by enabling us to use basic greetings in an alien foreign language from scratch. At another, he gave us very specific feedback. I discovered that I can explain complex concepts simply…and that I can improve my teaching by engaging participants creatively in conversation around a topic first. I have grown in awareness, ability and confidence.
So what are some lessons here for leaders, trainers, facilitators, mentors and coaches? The points that stand out for me are: (a) intention – a commitment to helping others to grow; (b) relationship – working with others as people, not as objects to be done to; (c) expertise – crafting and using what we have to move others forward and (d) freedom – a willingness to experiment, laugh and play!
I've also just spent a weekend in a TEFL course ... must be something particular to TEFL teachers since I experienced much the same. Good to hear your reflections.
Thanks Iole. Interesting timing! Yes - I wonder if TEFL teachers have to be particularly creative to reach across languages and cultures?
Great post - thanks for sharing about your recent experience and the summary of your 'lessons learnt'. We can all do with being reminded of these important points.
Sounds like a great experience Nick. But what do you see as the difference between a teacher and a trainer? I started my career, many years ago as a TEFL teacher and have moved on to teaching/training people in interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills. I still teach people face to face and online, but I consider myself a trainer.
Hi Jackie. That's a good question. In the UK, 'teacher' tends to be associated with the education system (e.g. schools and colleges) and 'trainer' with sports or work-orientated learning (e.g. courses and workshops). Some people also associate 'teaching' with imparting of knowledge and 'training' with skills-based practice. I don't think the distinctions are that clear in practice. It's more about context.
Thanks Adrian. Yes, it was a great experience. I think the qualities you describe are probably true of all good training!
Great to see this here. I am a coach with a background in teaching, training and management in the EFL sector, and often reflect on how useful the skill set is that I bring from my teaching and training days to my current work.
Thanks Elaine. Do you have any examples that illustrate how your background in EFL has influenced your coaching?
Thanks SK. Yes, the teacher was a good role model.
Thanks Nick. I also trained as an EFL teacher in the late 1980s, many years before becoming a coach and consultant. I've often thought about how much that I learnt at that time has been relevant and useful for coaching. Focusing on facilitating learning, rather than teaching, a student centred approach, focusing on questions and stories were all themes with EFL teacher training then which have informed coach development as well.
Thanks Tim. Those are all great examples of similarities between EFL teaching and coaching.
Hi Katherine. Wow - I hadn't realised so many EFL teachers had gravitated into coaching! :) My own background is in coaching and community/organisation development. I can see how learning from those fields can, similarly, enhance my EFL practice, including in many of the areas you have mentioned here.
Hi everyone! I loved reading this, Nick, THANK YOU - and all your comments! My EFL background has really influenced my coaching & therapy practice. I didn't realise we were such a posse!
Hi Jackie! Yes, I am wondering now if there are any coaches out there who didn't come in through an EFL route. ;) I'd love to hear how your EFL background has influenced your practice. Do you have any examples you could share?
Great article, a great deal of my contacts and coachees are teachers and I am married to one.
As someone who works in language teaching and has worked to bring the insights of coaching/mentoring into language learning, I can say that there are still fundamental differences in the way that learning is approached. In language learning, we were trained to bite-size learning input to maximise the learning effect & avoid undesired effects like confusion or frustration. Something didn't work? Adapt so it does. The intent behind why is clear but the responsibility for learning was placed too much in the hands of the teacher and learners were treated with "kid gloves" and as passive recipients of learning content. In leadership development or team building, the goal is often to explore and work with the reactions of the learners to the topic at hand and develop a way forward from there. The participants' active input is essential to learning success. A much more "adult" way of approaching learning.
A leadership development colleague believes in designing learning activities so that they provide learners with the opportunity to "fail appropriately". By that, he means that the activity or exercise is at first difficult enough so that the learners don't quite achieve what they set out to do, while also having an inbuilt mechanism to allow leaners to work out for themselves what went wrong and achieve the activity. The insights gained from the first failed attempt are used as a springboard to examining new approaches to solving the task. This approach is anathema to the "softly softly" approach of language teaching. I use this technique explicitly to help people explore learning styles and how to cope with frustration.
Thanks Donal. Interesting perspectives! Yes, there is always a risk in learning initiatives (whether teaching, training, mentoring, coaching etc) that the teacher, trainer, mentor or coach takes on too much responsibility for the learning task. A healthier approach, in my experience, is to co-create the learning experience with participants, including co-contracting about goals, methods and respective roles and responsibilities. It also involves reviewing and adapting on route, e.g. as participant awareness, confidence, skill etc. develops over time.
Designing learning activities that provide opportunity for 'failure' can be useful, e.g. in terms of developing resilience, responsiveness, action research skills, problem-solving, innovative thinking and practice etc. I think it depends on the maturity and stage of learning of the participant/group. Setting up people to fail carries important ethical as well as practical considerations. I believe, therefore, it needs to form part of the co-contracting up front.
Absolutely agree with you on the co-creation of learning content. This is what I do when my learning teams are willing to do it. It tends to work really well with areas of specific work-related vocabulary, where the learners are themselves experts in the technical vocab and I help them organise it in a polished logical order. It does depend on their level but often on the relevance of the topic and the felt need - the more urgent something is, the more motivation and willingness there is to take over responsibility as co-creators. Often, learners don't have a well-defined goal or need, just simply to "learn the language". The "setting up to fail" element is, you're right, something to be careful about, but, without wanting to expand too much on the topic, it is done very carefully and is intended to provide a "eureka moment". I mentioned it only as an example of the different basic learning principles between language learning and L&D.
Absolutely Nick. Different methods are great. I also like to instruct my learning groups on the methods I use and how they are supposed to work and why I chose a particular sequence of activities. And get them to feed back on how they actually worked (or not) for them. I make it clear that every method has its ups and downs and that there is always a positive intent behind something that can work (or not) to different extents. I find this honesty about the 'tricks of the trade' creates a more honest and open atmosphere and a more equal partnership in the learning process.
Sounds a wonderful learning and CPD experience.
Thanks Annie. Yes, it was. Refreshing and inspiring!
Thank you for sharing. My role balances both factors and it is great to see the similarities overlap!
Hi Kate. You're welcome! Do you have any examples you could share from experience?
It's what makes a teacher. Only when you have those skills, qualities, attitudes can you really encourage and understand development. Great teaching is about planning relationships listening collaborating and promoting self efficacy in others. Doing an advanved teaching qualification goves you additional tools to meld theory practice and personal style/experience into a congruent and coherent model. Made me the educator I am and the learner I continue to be.
Hi Steven. Educator-learner is a good combination!
Teachers are fantastic at improvisation. Whereas, most Trainers are methodical to the point of constraint. We can learn from each other.
Hi Robin. I think that probably depends on the teacher or trainer and the context within which they are operating, including e.g. culture, curriculum, learning goals etc?
Thanks for sharing this article! I was a classroom teacher who transitioned into L&D/OD and I can concur every point. One thing very important for both is the purpose of your content. Teachers are very well trained in imparting the why, mainly because they usually deal with students who are 'forced' to be in that classroom. Trainers aren't always unlucky, but we also deal with a resistant audience every now and then. So making them understand how your content benefits them is always a good idea.
Thanks Joyce. Yes, I encourage participants to reflect on what they would find most useful and to be curious about how they might achieve it through the learning experience...including what they are willing to take responsibility for to make it happen.
Within a business, subject matter, target audience, method of delivery and time restrictions, culture all play an influential role. There is however a lot of room to bring classroom techniques into the virtual environment and opportunity for trainer as well as learner to adapt.
Hi Allan. Could you say a bit more about what 'bring classroom techniques into the virtual environment' could look like, perhaps with an example from practice?
Thank you for this article. As an L&D facilitator and more recently studying to be an ESL teacher, I have direct experience of the differences and similarities. For me however, learning and teaching is primarily about process, content is obviously important, but without process it can be dry. In addition, adult learners behave differently from children and youth in the learning context, so points B and C are integral to a partnership approach. Needless to say, a commitment and willingness to continuous improvement make for great learners and teachers!
Thanks Samantha. Interesting to hear that you are travelling on a similar career journey to my own. I think that, alongside process, qualities such as presence and relationship can also be very significant to learning experiences and outcomes.
The above conversation is interesting! While I am a professional L&D facilitator, I am also a visiting teacher (technical courses) at the University for over 30 years. I find that my classes at the University are usually full because I bring to the classroom, the skills that I have learned in professional training. One of the best methods to use in my experience has been engaging the classes by the way of active participation and interaction.
Hi Natraj. That is good to hear. I sometimes hear criticism of university teachers because, in some cases, they are knowledgeable in their subject but not necessarily capable of conveying it well or engaging others in it.