What qualities should a good language teacher have?
Daiane: The first and the biggest quality is that they are a native speaker. When you’re trying to learn another language, they might not have the right accent or they might give you [a mix of different accents]. Another point is that a teacher should [be open-minded], not prejudiced or [arrogant], about themselves or their language. I understand that it’s something that happens, and if you don’t feel comfortable with your teacher, you won’t learn and you won’t improve. so , those are the two main qualities.
+Vocabulary – arrogant (adj.) – someone who is arrogant thinks they are better or more important than other people and behaves in a way that is rude and too confident
+Vocabulary – prejudiced (adj.) – someone with an unreasonable opinion or feeling about someone or something, especially hatred or fear of a particular group of people
Jaime: So I think the biggest one — the one I miss the most in Spain, is that English teachers, they tend not to be native speakers, so I think the first but obvious quality, is that they should be close a native speaker if not a native speaker, because one of the first things you notice is about a language teacher is the accent when they try to speak. Another one is being communicative and engaging. I think being funny and creative is an important part of learning a language.
+ Vocabulary – engaging (adj.)(interesting / exciting / motivating)
+ Vocabulary – communicative (adj.) (good at communicating and sharing information often)
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Thanks to Daiane and Jaime for the answers!