Post by Dr. Gonzo on Oct 9, 2006 5:31:07 GMT 7
Pinched unashamedly from www.englishdroid.com
A diplomat, it is said, can tell you to go to hell in a way that makes you look forward to the journey. A DOS likewise has to inform teachers they are crap in a way that makes them feel they are highly valued. This is particularly true after lesson observations.
The usual procedure is to praise the lesson extravagantly at first, then gently steer the teacher towards realising how crap it was.
At the end of the class, as the bored, baffled students file numbly out, say, “Thank you, Craig! That was very interesting.”
Note: interesting is suitably ambiguous.
Let the teacher sweat a bit for a day or two, just to remind him who the boss is. Then call him in for a cosy chat. Put him on the sofa. Sit at right-angles to him in the armchair. Smile a lot in a faintly menacing way.
Do not be tempted to blurt out immediately, “That was crap.” The time-honoured approach instead is to ask him which aspects of the lesson in his view went well. When he lists all sorts of things that were in fact atrocious, frown in a slightly puzzled way. Nod and smile politely.
Then it is your turn. Heap praise on the one or two things that were not totally disastrous: the teacher's neat handwriting perhaps, or the stick people he drew on the whiteboard. Contrast these with your own feeble squiggles.
Next ask, “Which aspects do you now think you might have handled differently?”
Teachers are not usually brass-faced enough to retort, “You tell me.” If you have created the proper aura of the confessional, they will unburden their souls. They know they were crap. The lesson was a calamity. (Sob.) Have some tissues to hand.
Some teachers will try to bluff it out (especially if they have read the advice given elsewhere in this web site). They will say something like:
“I thought, all in all, it was a pretty sound lesson.”
Agree a little too promptly. Of course. Absolutely. But didn't he think there were perhaps one or two little...
This could become a deadlock. Neither side will make the first move. In that case you must grasp the nettle and ask him about the worst part. For example:
“How much speaking in English did the students do during the lesson?”
or
“Who talked most of the time - them or you?”
or
“What do you think they actually learned during the lesson?”
The last one is a good question for the kind of popular teacher who plays games all the time and thinks that is the Communicative Approach.
In the hands of a skilled interrogator, a suspect will not only confess to lots of things he did not do, but feel much better for it afterwards. He will be joyful at having given the interrogator what was needed. The teacher should likewise end up confessing that he is hopeless and feeling that you, the DOS, have helped him realise this. He will be profoundly grateful. He will love Big Brother.
A diplomat, it is said, can tell you to go to hell in a way that makes you look forward to the journey. A DOS likewise has to inform teachers they are crap in a way that makes them feel they are highly valued. This is particularly true after lesson observations.
The usual procedure is to praise the lesson extravagantly at first, then gently steer the teacher towards realising how crap it was.
At the end of the class, as the bored, baffled students file numbly out, say, “Thank you, Craig! That was very interesting.”
Note: interesting is suitably ambiguous.
Let the teacher sweat a bit for a day or two, just to remind him who the boss is. Then call him in for a cosy chat. Put him on the sofa. Sit at right-angles to him in the armchair. Smile a lot in a faintly menacing way.
Do not be tempted to blurt out immediately, “That was crap.” The time-honoured approach instead is to ask him which aspects of the lesson in his view went well. When he lists all sorts of things that were in fact atrocious, frown in a slightly puzzled way. Nod and smile politely.
Then it is your turn. Heap praise on the one or two things that were not totally disastrous: the teacher's neat handwriting perhaps, or the stick people he drew on the whiteboard. Contrast these with your own feeble squiggles.
Next ask, “Which aspects do you now think you might have handled differently?”
Teachers are not usually brass-faced enough to retort, “You tell me.” If you have created the proper aura of the confessional, they will unburden their souls. They know they were crap. The lesson was a calamity. (Sob.) Have some tissues to hand.
Some teachers will try to bluff it out (especially if they have read the advice given elsewhere in this web site). They will say something like:
“I thought, all in all, it was a pretty sound lesson.”
Agree a little too promptly. Of course. Absolutely. But didn't he think there were perhaps one or two little...
This could become a deadlock. Neither side will make the first move. In that case you must grasp the nettle and ask him about the worst part. For example:
“How much speaking in English did the students do during the lesson?”
or
“Who talked most of the time - them or you?”
or
“What do you think they actually learned during the lesson?”
The last one is a good question for the kind of popular teacher who plays games all the time and thinks that is the Communicative Approach.
In the hands of a skilled interrogator, a suspect will not only confess to lots of things he did not do, but feel much better for it afterwards. He will be joyful at having given the interrogator what was needed. The teacher should likewise end up confessing that he is hopeless and feeling that you, the DOS, have helped him realise this. He will be profoundly grateful. He will love Big Brother.