Dr. Richard Day Speech

The Education of English Teachers
By Dr. Richard Day


Dr. May gave a speech about the education of English Teachers. He explained professional knowledge source continuum, The knowledge base, and four models of language teaching education. When he explained “how teachers were taught foreign language,” he mentioned two kinds of knowledge; experiential knowledge and received (acquired) knowledge. He insisted that teachers should know English to teach English. Then, he mentioned that there are four parts for knowledge base. They are content, pedagogic, pedagogic content, and support. Content means knowledge of subject matter and pedagogic means teaching knowledge regardless of content. Pedagogic content includes both. Required and elective courses depend on the university. He said that he was disappointed about that point. Next he talked about models of language teaching education. They are apprentice, expert, rationalist, and case studies. In his speech, I sympathized about the busted class. Actually I also had same experience. There are two main factors, which are internal factor and external factor. Internal factor includes poor or faulty planning by the teacher, state of mind of the teacher, and the risk factor. When I teach, I tend to be affected by my emotion and feeling on that day. If I have problems, it was not easy for me to control myself. External factor includes the day before holiday. In that case, students tend to be excited and distracted, and the atmosphere of the class is likely to be noisy and tumultuous. That why the busted classes come to happen. The impact of the busted lessons is immediate and powerful. He mentioned that teachers reported their feeling such as frustrated or upset, and the impact is often long-term. To recover from the busted lesson, Reflection is the best way.
The most impressive words he mentioned is “We can learn from failure.” He said the busted lessons are an integral part of teaching and it is probably a waste of time and energy to try to prevent them from happening in the first place. As he suggested, I think I have to recognize the busted class and take it for granted.