118. Reflection: Training on Effective Communication for Managers

The more I know, the more I want. I am a self-proclaimed training junkie. I don’t miss training opportunities when one knocks at my door. I love attending training sessions, as much as I love delivering training to teachers. So this time, I took part in a two days training titled “Effective Communication for Management Practitioners”, organized by Lead International Pvt Ltd.

Yes, this was for the managers. But wait a minute. Am I not a manager? I manage classroom all the time. I am the supervisor and I give instructions to my students. I am a manager. And for a teacher, just like a manager in a corporate house, the skill of communicating effectively to the students is essential. I can’t underscore it enough. (But, isn’t that a common knowledge?) And, since I teach Business Communication to the undergrad students, this was a perfect chance for me to brush up my own theoretical and practical knowledge on the subject.

Our facilitator was Mr. Anand Tuladhar – an entrepreneur, a teacher and many more, a very calm and charismatic person, evidently because of his tons of experience in the real world. The sessions were packed with discussions and activities, tweakable later for my own classroom. I also learnt a few new techniques, especially on giving feedback and problem solving.

From a trainer’s perspective, I observed some ‘tricks’ to keep the participants motivated and focused. One was keeping chocolates and cookies on each table. This was a great consideration. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Similarly, asking a participant to hand over the certificate to another friend can be a fun way to end the program. However, the training was interesting for me because I got to meet people from the ‘different’ world. It was different because not all the participants were teachers. Teachers have a very sad life. I’m kidding but it’s not entirely false. Our world revolves around classroom, textbook, checking assignment, exam paper correction and grumbling about students. We have a very boring social life. Not pathetic like so many assume, but definitely boring. Even when we get drunk in parties, we are the most boring bunch of social outcast around. So, it was a welcome change to meet people from different profession – restaurant accountants, business development manager, entrepreneur, client relation managers, interns and students.

So, at the end of the day, I learnt something, had lots of fun and made new friends. Totally satisfying. King’s College and Lead International Nepal – please continue your great work! Some more pics:

117. Do you want your students to like you?

Originally published on ELT Choutari, December 2014 issue.

Do you ever wonder why you like some teachers and why you absolutely dislike others? Why some teachers inspire you and why some sap your enthusiasm? And now that you are a teacher yourself, do you ever wonder why some students love being around you and why others try to dodge you when they see you coming?

Back in my school days, I remember being fond of my English teacher. He was into rock music and horror movies. I liked my Nepali teacher too. He was ‘haudey’ and friendly. He also told funny jokes. I liked my head-teacher because he had a visible halo of intelligence around him and looked like Morgan Freeman with chubby cheeks.

Students like teachers for various reasons. For a teacher’s absolute authority, command over the subject, confidence, personality, character, even gender, age and background. Or because the teacher does not nag students for grammatical mistakes… doesn’t pressure the students with assignments and deadlines. In college, we liked teachers who gave us notes. A friend liked Sociology ma’am because she was unmarried. My female friends liked a teacher because he had a unique British accent. There could be so many reasons.

So why we end up liking (or disliking) a teacher? There must be some explainable reasons. In this article, I claim that one of the reasons is non-verbal communication between the teacher and the students.

Here’s the complete article !