Here - EnglishAgenda - British Council

Learning a new language and reflecting on the process of doing so can be anextremely useful component of a teacher development course. Of course, the newlanguage could be learned online but this experience would have less value interms of professional development. I act as moderator for an initial teacher trainingcertificate and trainees on its courses all over the world are very appreciative ofthe insights learning a new language face-to-face gave them about such humanattributes of the good language teacher as empathy, a sense of humour, patienceand the ability to interact informally with the learners. It is appreciation of thesehuman attributes (Tomlinson, 2008) that is a pre-requisite for the personal andprofessional development of the trainees and I think they can only be trulyappreciated through reflection on live experience.ReferencesTomlinson, B (2008) The good language teacher. Folio 12/2: 20–23.Tomlinson, B (2013a) Second language acquisition, in Tomlinson, B (ed) AppliedLinguistics and Materials Development. London: Bloomsbury, 11–30.Tomlinson, B (2013b) ‘Materials development courses’, in Tomlinson, B (ed)Developing Materials for Language Teaching. Second edition. London: Bloomsbury.Comments on Part 2 | 127