Learning While Teaching

A handbook for language teachers looking for ways to improve or maintain their own level of English through classroom practice

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Do you know how to teach, but want to improve your proficiency in the language you are teaching? Or do you lack confidence in your linguistic knowledge of that language, and how to explain it to others? If so, Learning While Teaching provides you with the means to improve while you teach.

This practical handbook is designed for language teachers who teach a different language than their first language and want to improve their proficiency in that language. It is also designed for language teachers who teach their first language but lack confidence in their linguistic knowledge and ability to explain it to others. Learning While Teaching offers practical ideas and adaptable activities to help teachers improve their language level autonomously.

Part 1 explores how language proficiency and linguistic knowledge impact how teachers are perceived by their students, employers, and themselves. Besides helping teachers to enhance their language proficiency and build confidence, it explores ways of tackling different issues that language teachers face on a day-to-day basis (such as employers' and students' bias towards first language teachers). It includes anecdotal evidence from teachers coming from different countries and teaching contexts. This aims to help the readers relate to the subject matter and see it from different perspectives. Throughout Part 1, there are reflection tasks for the teachers to complete, and therefore log and track their development. They can then identify where they are in their career and what areas they still want to keep working on.

Part 2 is more practical. It focuses on how teachers can use lesson preparation, delivery, and the teaching community to enhance their language level. Each of the activities comes with a rationale, clear outcomes and a step-by-step guide. This helps explain how it can be integrated into the teaching process and routine, plus adapted for all teaching contexts. The activities will not require significant time to complete, and will gradually enhance the language level in those areas. At the end of each chapter, there is the opportunity to reflect on their learning, conduct experiential learning and evaluate what impact the activities may have on their future teaching practice and development plan.

Teachers can record the tasks throughout the book to demonstrate their continuous professional development. The tasks should help teachers clearly define their professional strengths and action points. Learning While Teaching is suitable for any in-service language teacher or initial teacher trainee who has a command of English at B1+ level on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). By reading the book, users will inherently find their level and knowledge of English improving.

It is part of the Teaching English series, which offers a mixture of methodology and practical ideas for teachers of English as a foreign language.