Personal and Professional Development for TESOL Teachers
Getting your students involved in the lesson has always been a challenge, regardless of the experience you have as an EFL teacher. At times, you may be fooling yourself or just a victim of wishful thinking, believing that you are doing a grand job because a couple of the kids in the class seem to be fully engaged in what you are presenting, but the rest may not be so involved. The trick is how to get everyone on board.
In many classrooms, teachers avoid topics like climate change because they fear conflict or discomfort. Yet avoiding difficult topics does not teach students how to communicate about them—it simply postpones the problem.
Fromm believed the great paradox of modern life was this: people crave freedom, yet fear the responsibility that freedom demands. In response, they retreat—into systems, hierarchies, labels, and roles that offer security at the cost of authenticity. TESOL teachers know this tension intimately.
