Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to share with the interested readers some, pragmatic and experienced out of the book rules, which were created by us, three young teachers, who were confronted with a different educational/student environment than the one we learned in school and than the one we were prepared to face when we were to start teaching English as a Foreign Language.

The theory we learned in school was just pure theory and wishful thinking we could say, and the reality was a different one. The modern learner, be it high school or university student, is more knowledgeable than it used to be when it comes to English, is vivacious, spongy like, willing to absorb hands on information and more than that, he/she is not theory based but pragmatic based.

Teaching English as a foreign language is a highly developed skill. A great deal of research has been done, and although much remains to be done, some good and bad practices have been defined. While nobody will expect us to be experts, confidence in the classroom will be the biggest asset, and having a framework within which to feel comfortable will, in its turn, be the biggest aid to bust our confidence as young teachers and not only. To help with that, we came up with Some Golden Rules. Teaching is a complicated process so it is never possible to give absolute rules, which will ensure success. It is, however, according to our experience, possible to make some useful generalizations, which should only be breached very occasionally, and always with a good reason. If, at any time we are teaching, we find things are not going as we wished, we should ask ourselves if we were breaking any of these rules. It will, in most cases, be wiser to maintain these general guidelines, however difficult it may seem at a particular moment.

Keywords:

Pragmatic, modern, teacher of English, rules, theory, practice.