Teacher as Facilitator

Another term is over. Each term brings its own special moments, and this one was no exception. The last hour of the class was a teacher's dream time.

In Canada, ESL teachers who work with adults hold as their ideal a mental picture of themselves as facilitators. The students have the job of studying and learning; the teacher must provide them with a steady supply of relevant tasks that will help promote that learning.

Then, if things go right, the instructor steps back while the students step forward. They work with confidence, knowing their teacher is at their side and on their side, a living resource who can be called upon for a wide range of help and support.

For the last hour yesterday, my students didn't need me. It seemed the perfect culmination of the term. I had helped them build their confidence and encouraged them to forge the bonds that made it possible to work steadily, sometimes alone and sometimes together, in their common struggle to get control of the English language.

In that final hour, they were demonstrating their independence from my careful guidance, and their readiness to move on. It was deeply satisfying to be aware of the three groups as they focused on preparing for the speaking exam while I sat at my desk tackling some of the dizzying array of term end tasks that lay before me.