In all fairness to our teachers, clients are not informed about our teaching standards and protocols. Meaning, clients complain based on their personal preference, interpretation, and feelings. Therefore, a conflict in opinions and claims are likely. To solve this disparity, we invalidate complaints that are not covered by our policies and standards, but reprimand teachers who do not abide by these standards.
So if your company tries to reprimand you for a customer complaint that is not covered by any existing standards at the time when the violation is made, be happy because the complaint has no basis.
But anyway, as I said, some of these complaints are brought about by a teacher’s teaching skills. The complaints listed below are the most common.
1. No variety in activities
Most, if not all, of our newly hires are not legit teachers. They come from different fields, and most of them are just “passing through.” In other words, they’re just using the job as a filler because either they’re waiting for a better job opportunity, or they’re planning to go abroad.
As a consequence, we design our training programs to suit the trainees’ level of expertise and experience, which in this case is low level to none. That said, our lessons touch only on the fundamentals of online English teaching. These “fundamentals” include basic techniques and strategies, written spiels to memorize, and basic lesson planning.
At first, trainees respond well to what we teach them. Their classes may not be outstanding, but at least they can “carry a tune.” But as they go along, we notice that most of them get stuck in their old methods, and they don’t make an effort to be better, or to at least try other techniques.
For instance, during training, trainees are taught the simplest way to teach a dialogue, which is to read it together with the student. Since this technique is very convenient, they stick to it and apply it in all their classes, meeting after meeting.
The result? Boring and uninteresting classes.
2. Not focused in class
Aside from the monotony of applying one technique over and over, another common complaint is the teacher’s lack of focus in class.
During training, we teach newly hires to multi-task. They should learn how to type, browse through the Internet, and teach or talk to their student at the same time. At first, new teachers find this to be challenging. But as they develop their multi-tasking skills, they incorporate other activities that are not related to their job. Some of these activities include the following: texting, chatting with their friends, or even doing their nails.
Here are several instances when teachers provide their students with the wrong information.
Teacher: “Remember, ‘putted’ is the past tense of ‘put.’”
Student: “Teacher, what does ‘it’s got all the bells and whistles’ mean?”
Teacher: “It’s noisy. Bells and whistles make a noisy sound.”
Gasp!
Now this is something I can’t easily forgive. If you’re an English teacher, you’re expected to be an example. So as much as possible, you need to make sure that you’re prepared in all your classes. Take note that the operative word is “prepared.” Your students trust and expect a lot from you. And if you break this trust, your credibility goes down the drain.
4. Talking too much
Everytime I handle newly hires, I ask them why they want to be an English teacher. One of the least acceptable responses is “to improve my communication skills.” I remind the trainees that it’s not their skills that need to be improved but their students’. While some of them adjust their goals, others don’t seem to get it.
Many teachers still talk a lot and don’t give their students as many practice opportunities as possible. When they ask a question, they end up answering their own questions (with the exception of low-level students). They talk too much, and don’t really care about whether or not their students learned from them.
5. Thoughts are not clear and organized
In our company, we listen to our teachers’ sound files regularly. Some are impressive, but some make us go “What is he talking about?” The instructions are not clear, or worse, they further complicate and confuse the students. Also, the teacher has a lot of clutch words or fillers such as “uh,” “okay,” and “all right.” And the worst of all, the lesson doesn’t have a structure.
Is it possible that the teacher did not prepare for his lesson? Possible. Is it possible that the teacher was very nervous he forgot what he was supposed to say? Could be. Is it possible that the teacher was sick? Uh huh.
Now the question is, what should he / she have done better?
