Teach English in Nanmuda Zhen - Aba Zangzu Qiangzu Zizhizhou —

Teaching English as a foreign language in a foreign country gives rise to many hurdles and challenges. One has to consider a number of factors related to the people of that country. Many countries have a blend of different ethnic groups, that will also make it very necessary to understand the different cultures and religions. Apart from this, other considerations that would need to be looked into would be the general political atmosphere and the economy of the country. Although we would probably not be too involved in a country’s political and/or economical arena, however, that would affect the students we teach, either directly or indirectly. If they are children, their parents and families are likely to be affected, and if they are adults, they could be directly involved or affected by these situations. Either way, the lesson plans should not include anything in this area as it could be offensive or taken in a different light by the parents or the students. It would therefore be imperative to know how to steer away from any of these sorts of situations when teaching. In certain countries, there could also be racial discrimination that is prevailing, and it would always be in the best interest of the students and the teacher to avoid any links to this in the classroom. When we look at cultural and religious aspects, these are elements that affects students directly, be it children or adults. Culture and religion are something they grow up with daily and is very much present in them. In some cultures, there could be gender dominance and so this could give rise to some sensitivities if not handled properly. Therefore, it is extremely important to know and understand this to a good degree. They key is to not offend any ethnic group within a class and to be impartial. The students should not be put in a spot due to lack of understanding the cultural or religious issues. Languages of certain nationalities could cause more difficulty in learning English due the phonetics and alphabet of the native language. Furthermore, the students would speak their native language during all hours of the day, and only English is spoken during the class. This would probably give a much slower momentum in the classroom and the syllabus design should be constructed to accommodate this. One must pay attention the possibility of awkwardness or embarrassment the students may face during oral activities. Poverty levels in a country also plays a big role. Young Learners could also be working with their parents when not studying, to help make ends meet, and so have very little or no time to do much homework for instance. Their hours may be filled and are perhaps too tired at the end of each day. Therefore, we need to understand this and to adjust or avoid making the students feel pressured or overloaded. We also need to consider that some students may want to learn English and are doing it on their own initiatives. This could probably be older teenagers or young adults who, being curious and via social media and the internet, have formed a realization of the importance of learning English to better their future aspirations. However, they could be doing this entirely by themselves and without any support from their families who don’t see the need for the wider scope of possibilities that are out there. Its quite difficult to understand this, but it is about the mindset of certain nationalities. As stated in the above paragraphs, these are some of the more distinct difficulties that could be problematic for the students, especially if the teacher is not well informed of the sensitivities of the nationalities and culture of the students in various countries. The best approach would be for the teacher to obtain as much information as possible prior to starting work in a new country.