Teach English in Enyang Zhen - Bazhong Shi

When working as a teacher, one might find a classroom full of students who have varied personalities, different cultural backgrounds and other ways of thinking and acting. Because of this, the teacher in charge of this king of groups must keep in mind that each group is different and has specific necessities and approaches. To satisfy this needs the lessons should be flexible and adaptable to meet the students' demands and in order to include every one of them and help them learn in their own way. The English language is a global language which arises interest for several different groups of people. As a EFL teacher, the students will inevitably come from other countries, having different traditions, ideologies and personality traits. As the leader of a diverse group, the teacher should be aware of this and modify its way of acting and addressing the students, as well as its way of teaching and leading the lessons in order to make the students comfortable and add a sense of belonging and involvement to the class. It is very easy to make mistakes and fall into inappropriate behavior that seems adequate in our own culture but might not be ideal for the customs of another culture or ethnicity. In order to avoid this kind of slips and errors that are unintentional, the teacher should maintain a healthy and active communication with the class, inquiring about their traditions and in what way could its behavior have a better fit with them and their way of acting. Rapport between the students is very important and should be made on the first day of class, dedicating time to establish a good relationship, getting to know the students and make them feel comfortable with you right from the start. Some of this differences might be very small and almost unnoticeable as some might be very big and important. Either way it is important for the teacher to be respectful and attentive to this slight changes. For example, it is common for students in Mexico to address their teachers by their first name, even from a very young age the students do this. This is not seen as disrespectful or impolite as this is how teachers introduce themselves and encourage students to call them directly by their name. On the other hand, students in USA are used to calling their teachers by their last name. Calling them by their first name rather than their family name could pass as disrespectful and ill-mannered. For an asian student, this could pass as a specially rude way to call their teachers, as they are used to treat their mentors and teachers with a lot of respect and formality. When working with asian students, it might be specially challenging to get them to be participative and open as in their regular classes they are used to work mainly individually and to remain silent and quiet throughout the lesson, having their teacher as the main focus and only paying attention to what he says. However, in an English class it is common to have group discussions, team work and role play activities, things that could seem uncomfortable for the students. The teacher should create a safe working environment and nudge for the students to build confidence and interact with the group more. These are just some examples, however each group in unique in its own way and has varied needs and demands. Nevertheless, the teacher should foresee these cultural differences and previously prepare a tactic in which s/he can respectfully include the students’ culture into the lessons