Reflecting on 'The Practice of English Language Teaching'

    This semester I decided to read 'The Practice of English Language Teaching' by Jeremy Harmer. It is an ELT methodology handbook with over 400 pages of materials, ideas, and wisdom for any aspiring or practicing English teacher. This book has so much content that it would be impossible for me to review or summarize all of it, but in my reflection I wanted to share my thoughts on this resource and what I like most about it.

    Over the course of this semester this handbook has truly become my most frequently used resource for ELT studies. It compiles all topics that you could find most important for English teachers. Every assignment I've had to write I could rely on it to contain the knowledge I need for my writing. It explains the backstory behind the English language, the structure of the language, ELT methodology, grammar, vocabulary, theories on students, teachers, and classrooms, how to manage feedback, how to teach skills, how to plan lessons, and much more. Every English teacher should have access to this book, because it explains the basis of every aspect of ELT. It is impossible to have all the knowledge in it memorized, because of its length and how packed with information it is, but having it in your back pocket for when a question arises is incredibly valuable. While it might be missing some details and there will always be other resources that will be able to expand the knowledge from this book, this resource is an amazing starting point for where to begin your journey with ELT literature.

    The part of the book that I found most interesting was the chapter 'Describing Teachers.' It is often discussed how to be a good learner, what students at school should be like, but I believe there is not enough focus put on how to be the best teacher you can be, at least from the general public. I personally find reading about being a teacher the most motivating, because I feel excited to challenge myself to learn from as many tips as I can and be the strongest version of my teacher self that I can be. There's five sub-chapters in this part of the book: 'What is teaching?', 'In the classroom', 'Rapport', The teacher as teaching aid', and 'Native-speaker teachers and non-native-speaker teachers'. If one had read my previous blog posts or essays, it might not be hard to guess, which sub-chapter was my personal favorite - 'rapport.' I believe the connection with students is one of the most important aspects of teaching. When students like and respect you, they will be more willing to absorb knowledge and will actually associate class with positive feelings. I loved how the chapter gave practical advice about how to establish rapport. Though some of the tips might be obvious, it is still a good refresher. The tips could be boiled down to respecting students, being even-handed, listening to students, and recognizing students. These might seem like just the basics, because they are, but even from my own experience I know that many teachers do not even pay attention to these simple points. One of my favorite parts of this chapter was also the notion that having good rapport derives from the students' perception, which is very important to remember. You cannot make your students love you. You have to be true to yourself, while giving your pupils the respect they deserve and creating the best possible environment for them. Forcing yourself to seem likable might backfire, so you need to be careful about that. These tips are very valuable to remember in order to try to work on your teacher persona and how you can keep your own standards of yourself high for your students.

    In conclusion, I highly recommend this book to any aspiring English teacher. It is the perfect starting point for exploring ELT literature. It has a wide range of topics and aspects, which will allow anyone to understand the world of teaching and learning better. It will be an ideal catalyst to other, more advanced books that will talk about concepts in more detail. There's no need to look for various resources, when this book contains all the basics a GPTE student might need, which is why I recommend having this book in your back pocket highly.