Time for reading: 3 minutes
Inviting guests to the lessons is beneficial for everybody
While it is easy to see the importance and the benefits of inviting guest speakers in the classroom with children, often unseen are the benefits for teachers themselves. When a teacher invites other teaching professionals to observe a lesson where a guest speaker offers real-world experience, these teachers may not know much in-depth information about a particular field. Thus, a guest speaker is educating the students, and they are also a resource for the teacher.
An excellent example of this was in a recent Geopolitics class. While teaching a class, I noticed that they needed some additional background in Czech Civics. While a lesson could have been prepared in which the required material was covered, I thought the students would benefit from a more interactive approach. So, I collaborated in planning a lesson with an English-speaking guest lecturer who had previously worked for the Ministry of Finance. In the process, I gained knowledge as much as the students did.
In the end, a collaborative effort to engage learners in the classroom with local guest speakers allows everyone involved to have the opportunity to learn or gain a new perspective on the subject material.
