"The ultimate goal of language teaching is to be able to comprehend and produce it in unrehearsed situations, which demands both receptive and productive creativity." (Brown, 1994b, p. 8)

"Methodologies like communicative language teaching embody certain principles based on theories of language and language learning. Those principles are external to the teacher. In addition, teachers need to develop their own internal principles which represent their beliefs about how successful learning is accomplished. . . . Teachers need to continuously reflect on and evaluate the principles they teach from." (Richards, 1998, p. 2)
 

Here are a few of my "internal" principles:
 

1. Besides the students themselves, the teacher is the single most important element in the language classroom.

• The curriculum, the syllabus, textbooks, lesson plans, audio and video, computers, etc. can only assist (not replace) the teacher.
• Teachers have the power to affect the lives and futures of their students in many ways.

2. There is no one best teaching method.

• Different students have different interests and different preferred learning styles and strategies, and every group of students is unique.
• Every teacher has unique abilities, talents, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Use an "enlightened, eclectic" approach. (Brown, 1994b, p. 74)

3. There is no such thing as a perfect textbook.

• All textbooks need to be adapted to the students' needs and the teacher's style.
• All textbooks need to be supplemented with other materials.
• "Good teaching involves more than the presentation of textbook material. It involves the transformation of content . . . into effective means of learning." (Richards, 1998, p. 1)

Here are some suggestions based on my principles, experience, and observations:
 

4. Set a good example for your students.

• Find ways to show students that English is a language and not just a school subject.
• Show students that learning English is useful and not too difficult.

5. Use as much English as possible in class.

• Students "absorb" language through meaningful use and repetition.
• Use English greetings ("Good morning, class"), instructions ("Please open your books to page 57"), polite expressions ("Excuse me?"), and other common expressions ("It's a beautiful day, isn't it?") instead of Korean during the lesson.
• Repeat, reword, or use visual means (e.g., drawings, pictures, gestures, acting out, etc.) instead of translating everything into Korean.

6. Don't always "teach as you were taught."

• "Teachers need to find out how learners learn best, according to the preferred learning strategies and at the same time encourage them to explore different approaches to learn. . . ." (Richards, 1998, p. 1)
• Try to use a variety of techniques, activities, tasks, exercises, games, etc. in every lesson.

7. Make learning English a positive experience for your students.

• "Classroom techniques have a much greater chance for success if they are . . . fun, interesting, useful, or challenging. . . ." (Brown, 1994b, p. 20)
• Make them want to continue learning on their own.

8. Don't focus too much on any one area (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, reading, speaking).

• Try to integrate the four basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening as much as possible in classroom activities. "Often one skill will reinforce another." (Brown, 1994a, p. 219)

9. Don't try to teach too much all at once.

• "Don't under teach. In a successful lesson, students have opportunities for extended practice of one or two important learning items. These give students the take-away value of the lesson. In order to achieve this, teachers should do more with less rather than pack too much into a single lesson." (Richards, 1998, p. 2)

Brown, H. Douglas. (1994b). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

Richards, Jack C., & Lockhart, Charles. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richard, Jack C. (1998). What makes a good language lesson? 1998 Thailand TESOL Conference handout.