Abstract:

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops", says Henry Brooks Adams. The teacher is an effective leader, facilitating learning and managing the class room. This paper focuses on the attributes and the challenges of an effective and inspiring teacher of English Language Teaching (ELT). This paper has two parts -part one, dealing with the attributes of an effective teacher and part two on the roles of a teacher as a leader. The first part highlights on teaching as a noble profession, involving dedication, commitment and passion and it is not a mere job for salary. It showcases the teacher's skills of class-room management with effective techniques of verbal and non-verbal communication. Successful practical tips have been offered in this paper to achieve the goals and objectives of English Language Teaching, especially in Libyan Universities. It analyses the limitations experienced by the Libyan students at the personal, domestic, peer-group and social spheres and offers suggestions to bring out their latent talents and potentialities to the maximum use, in order to mould them as best citizens, well equipped with the power of English. However, these suggestions would help not only the Libyan students but also any learner of a foreign language. The second part of this paper deals with the roles of a teacher as a leader. Teaching a foreign language like English involves experimenting different approaches, methods and techniques in accordance with the levels of the learners’ understanding. The teacher’s role as a leader of class room differs according to the choice of teaching method. Hence, the different methods of ELT and the teacher’s role would be analyzed. A good teacher is not only a leader but also a guide and facilitator. The concept of teacher as a class room leader and a social leader would be highlighted. As Eugene P. Bertin has aptly said, "Teaching is leaving a vestige of one's self in the development of another. And surely the student is a bank where you can deposit your most precious treasures.