I interviewed Herbert Puchta at the recent ETAS AGM and one of the things he said was, … I’m sorry, I’ll repeat that in case you weren’t paying attention – I INTERVIEWED HERBERT PUCHTA, aren’t I lucky?!! This is the kind of advantages I get for being part of the wonderful ETAS organization (I’m the new Teen SIG coordinator, but I’ll try not to brag!)

Anyway, back to the story, Mr Puchta (or dare I say, Herbert?) talked about the response-ablility of students and teachers in the classroom. Now, maybe this has always been evident to you, but I have never made the link between responsibility and response-ability.

When you think about it, it seems obvious, especially in a EFL classroom, I have various responsibilities, of both a pedagogic and organisational nature, and of course students have responsibilities as well.

Both sides also have response-abilty, the abilty, and even the obligation to respond to the other, not simply by answering questions, but also by answering needs.

It is my duty as a teacher to respond to the mood of my class, as well that of individual students, to respond to gaps in their knowledge, to current events, to so many things.

Thanks to Herbert Puchta it became clear to me that a good teacher not only has responsibility, but also response-abilty, and it is our duty to use this ability.