What makes a good online language teacher?

My name is Sean Cook and I am the owner and founder of Ciao Languages.

As a business owner, I am accustomed to wearing lots of different hats. I am involved in the details development of learning materials, shaping of learning goals, marketing, budgeting, social media. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!

But, when I stop to reflect on what is my biggest contribution to the growth of Ciao Languages, I always think, “It’s finding great teachers!”

I have been an EFL/ESL instructor for many years, but it was not until 2003, when I opened my first language school in Sassari, Italy, that I actually had to delegate teaching to other people. It was an incredibly difficult moment for me because I had to learn to take the back seat, observe and see what I could do to assist other teachers in their growth.

As a language teacher, you are always trying out new things, analyzing your lesson’s impact and then making corrections. But when you delegate a teacher to take on a course, though, you have to allow and encourage that teacher to do those things and entrust them with the process of shaping the foreign learning experience of their students.

Over the years then, I have developed a list of qualities that I look for in a teacher. When I meet with a teacher to interview her as a potential instructor for my students, I look for a combination of qualities – a perfect storm of good traits.

So (drum roll), here are the qualities that I look for in teachers:

Enthusiasm and Passion: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

Learning to speak a foreign language requires a great deal of determination through the up, downs and plateaus of the “learning zig zag.” When people decide to learn something new, they rarely appreciate how difficult the task is going to be. An enthusiastic and passionate online teacher will help them refind and rekindle the spark that initially inspired the student to undertake the adventure of learning a language. The good teacher is a joyful warrior who leads the charge and inspires her students with her example.

This is especially true of online learning because of the nature of Zoom calls. During a Zoom lesson, you are cut off from half of the person’s body, so you have fewer body language clues to go on; the voice sounds different and at times – even if the connection is great – there is an imperceptibly slight delay that leads to people hesitating before speaking. A good online instructor has such an abundance of enthusiasm and passion that they are able to cut through these distractions and make their presence felt.

When I interview a teacher on Zoom, I look for someone who makes me forget we are on Zoom.

Genuine Curiosity about People: Ted Lasso said, “Be curious, not judgmental.” A judgment ends a conversation, whereas a question opens it up. Opening up a conversation, nurturing it and maintaining it over time is an essential skill for a good language instructor. If you are asking the student tons of questions, you are getting her to speak and to use what she has learned.

In doing so, you are also motivating the student to learn the language better so they can better express themselves.

So, when I interview potential teachers, I look for people who are curious and seem interested in hearing about what other people have to say. People who are already thinking of what they want to say while you are talking, people who interrupt with non-sequitirs and one uppers – these are people who might be good teachers in a university setting, perhaps in giving lectures. They might even be good racconteurs, but they essentially want us to listen.

An online lesson, on the other hand, has to be interactive so that the student gets lots of practice in. There are times during the lesson in which the teacher has to explain something, but the true heart of the lesson is when the teacher encourages the student to put new structures and lexical items into practice through guided conversation. It’s a complicated process that a good listener and curious soul will achieve more easily than the incurious.

Empathy and Patience: Empathy and patience are the cardinal virtues of the teacher.

As native speakers of their own language, our teachers have not gone through the difficulties that we have in learning their language. Therefore, they must be able to put themselves in the shoes of their students, be sensitive to when they are getting frustrated.

This trait also makes a teacher good at knowing when to let up a little and do something fun. Some teachers always correct mistakes, but there may be times when a student needs encouragement and not criticism. A teacher’s superpower is her ability to read these situations correctly.

So, when I interview a teacher, and I hear them speak compassionately about someone or express concern about people’s feelings, I feel very reassured!

Knowledge of their Language and Experience

Until now we have spoken about traits that make people great or natural-born teachers. Human qualities can be learned, but truly great teachers come by them naturally and in abundance.

Technical knowledge of how a language works and how to explain it to a student, though, is something that a teacher learns through study and practice. A truly great teacher is knows her grammar really well and is able to explain how different forms and vocabulary are used in accordance with the dictates of the context.

We language teachers divide the language skills into two macro areas: production and comprehension. The productive skills are speaking and writing, whereas the comprehension skills are listening and reading.

There are also many subsets of these areas that go into the building up of solid productive and receptive proficiency in a foreign language and your online language teacher needs to know them so that she can properly single out the skill to work on and find ways to practice it.

Conscientiousness: A good language teacher is dedicated to maintaining appointments, correcting homework and preparing her lessons. The hallmark of the good teacher is that even if she has taught something a million times, she still takes time to prepare for her lessons. A great teacher is supernaturally reliable.

Imperfection: When I was in high school, I had a teacher whom I will never forget. His name was James Erikson. He was funny, enlightening, good at seeing kids’ potential, incredibly creative and knowledgeable. However, he also thought he was God’s gift to Beaverton High School. Though his pretence was unbounded by the very borders of the universe itself, we all loved him for exactly who he was. He had a personality that was his and there was no gainsaying it.

It is not easy to get a bead on a person’s personality during job interviews. It’s something that comes out over time and it is something deeply humanizing that well all connect with.

A Vision of the Whole: A truly great teacher, like a good ship’s captain, has her eye on the horizon and puts everything in the perspective of the students’ ultimate aims.

Is this the moment to push, or to back off? Should we focus on listening comprehension or reading during this lesson? Do I need to correct this student’s conjugations or does she just need to practice a bit more at home? Has the student truly understood or is she just saying “yes” to get me off her back? Over the course of the hours remaining, how much time will I need to dedicate to each concept in order to cover each one adequately?

Language teaching is like juggling. There are lots of considerations and they are all important. The whole package is going to be a teacher who is able to see the forest for the trees and help their student see it, as well.

Applying at Ciao Languages: If you are reading this and are interested in becoming an online language teacher with Ciao Languages, great! You now know exactly what I am looking for in our interview!