Using word clouds for teaching English
- Vocabulary
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- Tips & Strategies
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17.04.2024
ELT teaching is not only about knowledge of a language and the newest teaching techniques. ELT has a psychological dimension too.
In this article, we are going to talk about emotional intelligence and its importance for successful English teaching.
First and foremost, we are about to clarify what emotional intelligence is.
Emotional quotient (EQ) or emotional intelligence (EI) is the capacity to recognize, understand, express, regulate, assess, and utilize emotions in order to interact and connect with people positively and productively.
The capacity to see, comprehend, and regulate one’s own emotions is just as important as the capacity to express and regulate emotions in others. Some experts even state that EI is much more important for succeeding in life than IQ.
It is hard to tell whether it is true or not, however, we do agree that an English lesson can’t be successful with a teacher who lacks emotional intelligence and therefore can’t connect with the students properly. And vice versa, it is hard to manage a class where nobody has ever provoked EI and put a strong emphasis on developing it.
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Join our courseThe main question remains the following: how do we know whether we are emotionally intelligent or not?
Well, here are some of the main markers of emotional intelligence:
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According to research, there are four distinct emotional intelligence levels:
Now, more and more we see an increasing attention to EI within ELT. The reasons for that are pretty simple. EI is proven to reduce bullying and promote academic success for students in addition to enhancing health and well-being.
Here are some more reasons why promoting EI is crucial:
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Activities that encourage conversation and idea exchange help students with developing their emotional intelligence. The following strategies should definitely be included in the teacher’s toolkit of exercises for boosting confidence and EI:
Dos | Don’ts |
Promoting positivity | Getting angry and shouting |
Providing with freedom to express feelings | Restricting emotional responses in the class, avoiding adjustments to the situations. |
Suggesting solutions | Punishing for mistakes |
Verbalizing needs and aims | Constantly changing aim, objectives and principles of evaluation. Being sure that students don’t have to know all the details. |
Reflecting | Making students obey |
Does emotional intelligence help to deal with anxiety?
Is restricting students’ expressions a part of EI?
Do group activities promote EI?
Arina Kravchenko
Author
Teacher of General English & IELTS
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