Do you ever wish you could go back in time and advise your younger self on the ways of the universe—or at least on the ways of the classroom? These teachers do. Here, read about the many things English language teachers wish they’d known when they started teaching, and perhaps pick up a few tips to help save you some headache or heartache in the future:

I wish I knew…that giving students the opportunity to express their opinion in what happens in the classroom doesn't make me a powerless teacher.
-Rehab Rajab, EFL teacher 11 years

I wish I knew…to encourage my students to teach me some of their language.  They appreciate my struggle to speak it—especially pronunciation difficulties.  Plus, I think it emboldens them in their study of English and lowers the affective filter.
-Marion P. Belcher, teacher for 8 years

I wish I knew…how important it is not to talk over students—that it's OK to just wait quietly for their response. Eventually, it will come.  When I think back, I think I used to label students as shy and reserved when in fact it was my own fault, feeding them words I thought they should use because the silence felt uncomfortable or because I was too worried about losing precious time. 

I also wish I knew early on that where my students really need help is not with the basic grammar rules they've come across over and over again, but with the nuances that aren't talked about much in textbooks.  It's the nuances that get them mixed up.
-Colin Ward, teacher of ESOL 10 years

I wish I knew…and understood that all brains are wired differently and that we all learn differently.
-Denise De Felice, EFL teacher for more than 25 years

I wish I knew…the importance of being mindful of the many competing demands on my adult students’ time. Virtually all of my students work, and many have two jobs. Most are also raising families. Written homework is not always their first priority. I have found that it helps to place a lot of emphasis on listening to audio books as a tool for practicing pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary because this is something they can do while completing other daily tasks.
-Alexandra Lowe, ESL teacher 2 months

I wish I knew…that the basics have to be repeated over and over and over.  Covering grammar or vocabulary just once is almost useless.  Everything has to be repeated over and over in different ways, on different days until it is internalized.  At first I thought I was insulting my students by repeating so many times but in fact little confusions get cleared up, it gets easier and easier and the student's confidence builds. 
-Ann C. Cooper, ESL teacher 4 years, classroom teacher many years

I wish I knew…that I shouldn't use grammar in test instructions that had not been covered in class yet. When I went back through activities that I had created for my adult ed students over the years, I saw level-appropriate games and activities with level inappropriate directions.  I realized that although most of the activities had gone over well, it was mostly because I was able to model and show students what I wanted them to do, not because they were able to understand the directions. 
-Christina Indovina, ESL teacher 5 years

I wish I knew…to be mindful of my own listening preconceptions: to listen for what my students provide me rather than what I want to hear. I think, initially, I was not flexible enough and expected students to answer the way I thought the answers should be. Once I became more open to listening to varieties of answers and placed myself as a facilitator when students' answers were in all different directions, I had a more productive lesson. Quiet students started to talk more because they were genuinely interested in the content, and they knew they'd be listened to regardless. It's one simple skill that can empower students so significantly.
-Ariya Niphatthanaphan, teacher 2 years

I wish I knew…that a teacher should be considered a “facilitator” of learning and not a “spoon feeder.” I taught English as we would teach any other subject, filling down students’ copybooks with content to be rehearsed for standard examination, putting aside my learners’ learning characteristics. I soon learned that allowing students to voice their concerns about how they learned helped me readapt my teaching approach in order to fit a particular situation. I wish I had known that the “I” attitude is very limited in scope and that the “we” attitude, in which I form a partnership with my learners, is much more effective.
-Katia Hameg, EFL/ESL teacher 17 years

I wish I knew…that it would get easier, that I wouldn't always spend 2 or 3 hours planning for every hour in class.
-Kyle Butler, ESL/EFL teacher 3 years

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Thank you to Dr. Marcia Livingston, who originally posted the question “What I wished I knew about teaching ELLs before entering the classroom” on the Adult Education Interest Section e-list.