Adam wrote a great question on the survey page:
How can I build my teaching charisma?
And here’s my reply:
The trick to this, and we always tell this to our teachers in workshops, is…
“Fake it till you make it!”
Try and think what you think the ideal Genki English teacher would be like. How would they move? How would they react? How would they praise the kids? How would they be in the serious bits and the fun bits?Then just try and be that persona.
Some days when I’m on the road and been travelling all night I just don’t want to be Genki, but I just put on my best smile and switch into the mode.
And it works.
Plus eventually it just becomes second nature!
Be genki,
Richard
P.S. Disney do a similar thing with their theme parks. They don’t hire workers. Everyone is hired as “Cast Member” to act the part of an amazing genki Disnleyland helper, even if they don’t feel up to it that day, they play the part. This can be a great tip if you are hiring new teachers!
Thanks for your awesome reply!
I think that the material is fundamental in creating charisma in the classroom. If you believe in what you’re teaching and are having fun with it then it all comes “bursting” out with the kids. Their reaction feeds this enthusiasm and when you see their faces after a song such as ‘superhero’ … priceless.
Well can I say I have been doing this all my life and it got me a job teaching in china, cool. And being Genki is been a way life for me, but the real question is how to get this all to work for 20 year old students. They know all there ABC’s and been doing english for 12 years but still want to play games and not baby games but competived games . So any help out there would be most helpful.