Teach English in Renfeng Zhen - Jinan Shi

Teaching English to any group of people presents multiple challenges, such as evaluating students’ level of English, preparing a lesson plan, bringing various visual and audio materials, maintaining discipline in a class, finding suitable authentic materials, attending to individual needs within a group, making sure students are motivated and encouraged, etc. Typically, ESL teacher either travels to another country and thus finds himself/herself teaching English for a monolingual group, or he/she decides to work in the country of origin - the United States, for example, where he/she is being hired to teach multi-lingual classes for students from all over the world who chose to travel abroad in order to get their English education. Teaching English in either group will present some specific characteristics that should be taken into consideration in order to improve effectiveness of the learning process. Monolingual groups are groups of students who all share the same language, same cultural norms, and same background. The main advantage of teaching language for these students is the fact that students most likely would be facing similar difficulties while learning the language. Students of some Asian countries, for instance, might experience problems with grammar points such as the use of articles and past tenses, or pronunciation confusions, such as the difference between “L” and “R” sound. Another advantage of teaching English for monolingual students would be their shared culture and history. It will be quite easy to find topics of interest for class discussions, role-play, and other interactive activities. For instance, each country has a specific cuisine that can be chosen as a topic, or it could be a political or a historical figure. On a flip side, sharing a common language for monolingual groups can also be an obstacle to learning. Students are always tempted to speak in their native language, especially when they face a complicated task or when they don’t understand the material. The instinct would be to ask for help from their classmates, and it’s very likely they will be using their native language to communicate. Another disadvantage of monolingual groups is that most often, the studying process occurs in a non-English speaking country, which means that the students don’t really practice English anywhere but the classroom. As soon as they walk out of the door, they transition back to their native language. Inability to practice English throughout the day definitely slows down their improvement. Teaching English for multi-lingual groups is very different. Students don’t have a shared culture and language, which presents a really big challenge for the teacher. How can the teacher involve everyone in a discussion? It is highly important to find a subject that will resonate with the majority of students. Personally I would pick a culturally- neutral topics such as biology, technology, food, etc., and I would avoid culturally specific conversations, especially at the beginning stages when students are just getting comfortable with the teacher and with one another. Another challenge of multi-lingual groups is a wide array of various languages they speak, and those languages have a their own unique alphabet, pronunciation, and overall structure. For instance, some Roman group languages such as French and German, will have similar alphabet and some shared vocabulary and grammar points with English. However, most Asian languages are completely different in their alphabet, grammar, and pronunciation. So we can assume that Asian students will definitely experience a lot more difficulties with English language than Europeans, and thus they might need more detailed explanation about certain grammar points, more drilling exercises, and more practice overall. Fortunately, there are some advantages of teaching English in multi-lingual groups. The main advantage is that students are compelled to use English as means of communication, because this is the only language they share with their classmates. They will be probably more motivated to learn because they chose to immerse themselves in a situation like that purposefully. Another major advantage is that , assuming they are in the United States or Great Britain, students will have to use English everywhere else, not only in a classroom. This is the best practice of language they can get, as they will be using their newly acquired language skills with native speakers everywhere they go, for instance, when buying groceries, bus tickets, or asking for directions. Consequently, students who are fully immersed in English-speaking world will progress much quicker than students who decide to stay in their country of birth. To conclude, there are advantages and disadvantages that should be taken in consideration by ESL teacher when teaching English for both monolingual and multi-lingual groups. However, when properly addressed, disadvantages can be mitigated and advantages enhanced which will lead to students’ high levels of motivation and effective skill acquisition.