English teachers can be compared to Channel Managers whose job is to develop, service and grow relationships with their Channel partners. They are also responsible for training and developing their team.
In the world of teaching, the Channel Managers are the teachers and the Channel partners, the students. The teachers are involved in training and developing the English language skills of their students. They do this by initiating the learning process and then stepping back to allow the students to continue and finish the process thus allowing them to be responsible for their own learning.
Caleb Gattegno devised a method of language teaching called The Silent Way. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible allowing the learners to produce as much language as possible on their own merits.
The English Language Teacher adopting this method, becomes more of a facilitator whose role is to shadow the student and only give input where and when necessary. Gattegno believes that an effective lesson is one where 90% of the time the students are speaking.
Although the teacher’s role is changing, there is little risk of them becoming redundant. A native teacher will always be in demand to perfect pronunciation and to resolve any linguistic problems that may occur in the classroom.