THE NEED TO EQUIP THE ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL) TEACHER WITH CURRENT PRACTICES FOR EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE

Education of the citizens of a nation is very important for the purpose of which every nation makes frantic effort to achieve using her vibrant citizens. Teachers are the agents of this education and as we are all aware, Nigeria is a multilingual nation and English is the official language of communication, language of business, commerce and industry among other functions. In schools, English language is taught as a second language and also the medium of studying other school subjects thereby making more pronounced its role in the school system. This research intends to investigate who a teacher is, then an ESL teacher, qualities of an ESL teacher, the current trends in modern language teaching among other objectives. The role of English language in Nigeria demands that English language teachers must be effectively equipped. Because English language is taught as a second language (ESL) in Nigeria, the teacher is referred to as an ESL teacher. An ESL teacher in this modern era needs to be equipped because of innovations in all fields of education. The avenues for such equipping include: sponsorship to conferences, seminars, workshops, on the job training among other trainings. Teachers are expected to be exposed to activities that will keep them abreast with modern technological applications in language teaching and learning. When this is done, better performance is expected of them in the job. When citizens of a country are able to acquire the necessary skills through education, they can easily apply the knowledge in diverse areas to connect the country to other parts of the world for cooperation across borders and boundaries.