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Establishing Rapport Firstly, a teacher must desire to establish a rapport with students. The instructor should seek to establish (put in place) a good relationship with her/his students plus encourage the students to do likewise amongst their classmates. This will be conducive to the total learning experience. Rapport is established when a channel of communication is opened and within that channel a comfortable relationship is begun and developed. It is obvious that a teacher must prepare for his/her class by having a good knowledge of the material he/she will be teaching. However, another area of preparedness to keep in mind is preparation for the purpose of demonstrating a positive teacher?s image to the students. The type of picture (image), which is presented when entering the classroom, and the manner in which greetings are done with the students are of manifest importance. The teacher needs to be mentally and emotionally prepared for his/her teaching session, especially the first time he/she is meeting his/her students. First time impressions are very important in laying a foundation for building rapport. Getting to know the students on a first name basis is a good thing. In addition to that the teacher should attempt to learn each student?s background, such as where he/she is from, what interests they have outside the classroom, etc. Also, if the teacher tells some stories about himself/herself this will be beneficial. The student will feel that he/she is being let in on an area of the teacher?s life. Rapport is a two way street. The teacher should project a relaxed body language along with showing a warm, friendly demeanor. A teacher who has a relaxed body language plus a smile on his/her face is saying to their student, ?I?m approachable?. Obviously approachability is involved in the process of building rapport. By being approachable teachers signal that they are accessible to their students, which means they feel they can come to their teacher for help. During class time, one way that the teacher can connect with the students is to comment on praise-worthy things. When an individual student or the class shows improvement or accomplishes a particular task, the teacher should not let it pass by without mention. When a student hears the words ?well done?, or ?keep up the good work?, it certainly is encouraging and will definitely have a positive effect in the establishment of rapport. Furthermore, when a student approaches the teacher and has a question or offers an opinion, the student needs to feel he/she is being listened to. When it is seen that the teacher is concentrating on what they are saying, then there is an unspoken message being communicated to the student that says you are important and what you are saying is important. This is another valuable tool for establishing and building rapport. Additionally, the classroom plays an important part. If the classroom has a comfortable feel to it this will influence the atmosphere in the classroom. A comfortable environment is an enjoyable environment which in itself has an effect upon students in that they want to be in the classroom wired in to the learning experience. Finally, the students need to have a connectivity amongst each other which can be accomplished by sharing some personal background information along with engagement with activities in the classroom. As this happens, relationships and friendships hopefully will begin to develop, which will be beneficial to the establishment of rapport and to the learning process as a whole.
