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The content of Unit 1 is divided into two sections. The first of these deals with the role of the teacher, and details nine distinct roles that the teacher can play in the class. The perfect ESL teacher should be competent and comfortable performing in all these roles as well as able to flow between as the needs of the class dictate. Though individual teachers are likely to possess personal preferences (naturally shyer teachers are less likely to want to play the 'controller' role for instance), competence is all of them affords a teacher a greater degree of flexibility. This allows them to adapt to a wider range of students' learning styles and thus making them a more effective teacher. Mastery of multiple roles also opens up the possibility of more varied activities in the ESL classroom, preventing lessons from becoming stale and repetitive. Section 2 deals with the learner and outlines the two main aspects of them. The first being the character of student, including more basic characteristics (such as age and personality, particularly nervousness) as well as more effusive qualities (culture, prior learning experience and motivation). All of these qualities summate into the learner themselves and must be acknowledged and respected by the teacher. These qualities are particularly important to consider in small classes, where the teacher has more time to spend with individual learners. A teacher who learns these qualities about a given student is in a better position to adapt his or her teaching style to the learner's needs. Second, it gives broad outlines of different stages of language learning and thus what generally to expect from a student of given level. Recognizing a students language level is essential to the delivery of language learning and an ESL teacher must strive to his an optimum level of difficulty. If a lesson is either too easy or too difficult, students can quickly lose motivation. This, obviously, impedes their progress. There is also a brief run-down of the different primary motivations that language-learners are likely to have. While whether a given student is studying for a good grade or planning to move to a different country is unlikely to affect lower ability students, it possesses increased importance in higher level classes. If a teacher knows why a given learner is studying the language, he or she can tweak the lesson plans. For example, if a learner is planning to live in a specific country, a teacher might place a little more focus on cultural understanding or if a student is learning primarily out of interest in languages, a teacher may include interesting tangents with which to pique student interest. Though not exactly huge changes, small changes such as these enhance the learning experience and can provide subtle ways to increase class motivation.
