When I was working total-time at a language schoolhouse in London, I would take two classes a day. Each class had up to xv students, and lasted most 3 hours. The classes would change every month, which meant that with every month, I'd meet about 30 new faces. That was 360 new faces a year; and 3,600 new faces in the 10 years that I worked at that place.

That was my state of affairs – I'm certain every teacher has different pedagogy circumstances. But, there is no doubt that as teachers, we get to meet many different individuals in our classes all the fourth dimension. They come and they become, and for that brusk menstruum of time that they spend in the confines of our classroom walls, we go to know a lot about them, sometimes quite intensively, before they disappear into the real world to live their existent lives.

For some teachers, this ebb and catamenia of students might simply be a confirmation to them that there is no demand to get personally involved and invest too much emotion into the job. Just for many of united states, teaching is non simply something nosotros do to pay the bills (or we certainly would have jumped ship and institute a better-paying profession by now). Nosotros teach because we honey the connections we make with our students and we have pride in existence able to make a difference, to inspire, and to help and guide them along in their journey. We teach because we intendance.

How tin can we show them that each and every one of them is an individual that matters to us, an individual with their ain stories, interests and lives. How tin we show them that nosotros care?

ane. Think their names and who they are

It may seem uncomplicated just it can make a big difference. Information technology is said that a certain British Prime Minister was well-loved by the press because he would accost each of them by their names and remember little pieces of data virtually them.

Our names are what place usa as individuals and separate us from others. Our names validate who we are and what we correspond. Sometimes when faced with a grade of xl students, each with names are seem hard for yous to pronounce, it can feel daunting, just remember that your attempt to think their names can go a long fashion.

If you need help trying to retrieve your students' names, read my peak tips here.

2. Find out why they are in class and why they need English

On Business English and ESP courses, it is the norm to do a thorough needs analysis with the clients before training commences. This ofttimes involves finding out what the educatee can do and would similar to do in English. The needs analysis would cover questions virtually the advice situations in which the students need English and the skills they would need practice in e.g. Which of the following situations exercise you utilize English in? – Presentations; Meetings; Negotiations; Phone calls; Emails; Socialising; et

Conducting a needs analysis seems less commonplace with General English courses, unless you count the obligatory needs assay when the student arrives at the school, with some teachers falling into the trap of assuming that students of Full general English are simply learning English for no credible reason.

This is, of course, non truthful. Every private is in form for a reason, and this goes beyond the need to pass an examination or fulfill a university module. Some might want to be able to understand English language popular music or films, some might enjoy being able to participate in the global conversations had on multi-histrion video games, and others might relish the ability to haversack around the world and getting to know beau travellers via the English language.

Notice out why your students might need English and what they would like to practise with this communication tool. Who practice they see themselves speaking to and how can this ability better their lives, both in the present and in the hereafter? Only when we know more about their needs and their wants tin can nosotros tailor our courses to suit them.

iii. Heed

We sometimes come up into form with a lesson programme filled with perfectly-timed activities, and we jump from lesson stage to lesson phase trying to fulfill those lesson objectives. I once observed a teacher terminate a group of excited students from sinking their teeth into a discussion about cars (which was conspicuously motivating for them) in order to get back to completing the tasks on folio 32 of the coursebook.

In the hustle and bustle of our everyday working lives, the personal information that our students offer up in gap fill activities are merely grammar and vocabulary practice and the discussions that they have are but fluency practice. A instructor once said to me that we are in class solely for the purpose of language improvement and that pastoral intendance is not our responsibility.

But and then much is divulged in those few hours we have with our students, and if we took the time and try to listen, not simply to the accuracy of tense usage and the suitability of their collocations, but to the information about themselves they are revealing to us, nosotros can larn so much virtually our students every bit individuals and make a connectedness with them as a swain human existence.

Because caring for our students does not merely mean caring well-nigh their linguistic communication ability. We care because it makes our classes fulfilling, both for our students and for ourselves.