STARTBODY

Teach English in Dalin Zhen - Chengdu Shi

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Dalin Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Chengdu Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.

During this course, we have learned that there are a variety of ways to teach the young learner. These variations ultimately provide for more or less motivation on the part of the student in the classroom. The teacher also has to be motivated, and the proper and timely use of games, singing, dancing appropriate for the targeted age group all contributes to the success of that motivation. As a student who learned a foreign language in my adult years, I now recall the methods used in the classroom while I was learning. They mirrored the engage, study and activate methodology spoken of here. There were a multitude of using authentic materials and although it seemed intimidating at first, it was quite helpful in getting us to see language combinations, slang, etc. Especially using authentic material in the listening and speaking realms were so very important. The teaching themes were also very important. As we learned each block of information, the theme made it easier to study. For example, the food theme consisted of a week of talking about trips to the grocery store, paired with food vocabulary. The week ended with a potluck where the foods of the country were cooked and as we ate, we had to tell our teachers about the food, how it was made, and even how it tasted. The situational method was also used. We had to role play as if we were in a store and were looking for certain items to bake a torte. The situational syllabus allowed for great speaking time aiding in the preparation of the oral proficiency exam we took later. I still have my own completed course work for each theme. I do think motivation is still very subjective. Take for example, how to motivate learners in the ESA framework. I found that these courses asked many questions about which activity would be assigned to which portion of the engage, study and activate methodology. The portions may be pretty well laid out, but within each portion there can be subjectivity. For example, during my own language studies, in the study phase, we were presented with some authentic material. We then had to do a worksheet then do a drilling exercise. In this course exam answers, I found that many of the questions using this methodology often had, for example, presenting the authentic material, then drilling with vocabulary and going over words that would have posed a problem, then filling out a worksheet. For me, I can understand this way, but after learning a language and clearly seeing how this method was employed on me, the unsuspecting student, I would say that motivation in the classroom working around themes is almost based on how the teacher presents it, the teacher themselves, and the personality of the student themselves. Based on my experience as the captive learner, I had a motive to learn to excel in my military career. Some of our Russian teachers held biased attitude towards me as a woman, others as me being an American ( who are often thought of as lazy and not wanting to put forth great effort in our formal studies) in general. Other instructors were a joy to be in the classroom for. So I was not necessarily motivated by my own desires. But the motivation was fostered by what I was learning, and the way it was being presented. During themes I liked, the use of authentic materials, the use of video, the use of debate and class room discussion to prepare us for our speaking exams made me more interested in knowing the cultural considerations of my target language. After studying this material, I also realize the motivation is largely on the instructor, if they choose to accept that portion of the role they play as educators. As facilitators, mentors, counselors, instructors, they have to realize they and their attitude can make even the slightest positive or negative influence on the learner’s motivation. In our case, our teachers came to this country from Russia with their Russian mentality that students have the obligatory responsibility in life to study, learn material and be superb students in all academia regardless of it they like it or not. Our teachers did not pay that close of attention to their role in the motivating factor; therefore it was largely up to us, the military students. But once we understood the culture boundaries and lexicon that the instructors operated within, we understood our teachers were the way they were, and we actually embraced the coldness. Overall, the motivation to learn lies within both the teacher and the student. Each entity has their own reasons for the amount of motivation they bring to the learning environment. Each entity has to take responsibility for the other party not learning or not feeling as if the material was learned, as well. Though there are many different resources, such as the internet, peers, tried and true games, arts and crafts, and all the aids can help foster this communication between the student and teacher, the motivation still comes from the heart, mind, spirit and soul of the human interaction that comes from the classroom or learning environment.


ENDBODY