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Teach English in Shanhe Zhen - Jincheng Shi

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Shanhe Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Jincheng 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.

It is usually intimidating and scary at the same time for teachers to teach beginner students. Teachers may not know where to begin or what to do exactly in order to hit the ground running. I was once in this situation when I came to teach English language in China. During my 20 hour long flight from my country to China, my mind was all over the place trying to figure out how I was going to accomplish the task of teaching Chinese students a new language which is so different in many aspects from their native language. At first I thought I was going to use sign language or employ the services of an interpreter. At some stage I decided that I have to learn Chinese language first so that I can be able to effectively communicate with my beginner students. However, with time I discovered how wrong I was about teaching beginners, it is actually an interesting experience. The teacher must employ the necessary methodologies and techniques that are needed to effectively teach this class. It is important for the teacher to understand that there are different categories of beginner students. There is a group of beginners who have absolutely no knowledge of the English language. Then there are those who have been exposed to the language previously but because they did not continue learning they have become ‘rusty’. In most cases these students ask to be put in the category of absolute beginners. There are categories of adult beginners and young beginners with the former being made up of individuals who are highly motivated as they would have made the decision to learn English language themselves. The young beginners, on the other hand, are usually not as highly motivated as the adult beginners because the decision to learn English language might have been forced on them by their parents or guardians or they are just learning it as part of their school’s curriculum. Comparatively, young beginners tend to understand the language faster than their adult counterparts. Then there is a category of beginners without Roman alphabet. This group requires much attention and work on basic literacy skills in order to grasp English language. My experience is that these groups are not mutually exclusive; students might actually belong to two or even three of these aforementioned categories. It is important for teachers to be patient, clear and realistic in their approach when teaching beginner students. There is need to use simple language in giving out instructions. The teacher must always revise with the students as much as possible to make sure they understand what they are being taught. Students must also be given homework to ensure that they keep on practicing English language even when they are at home. In any class set up there are weaker students who always lag behind, it is the duty of the teacher to ensure that these students keep pace with the rest of the class. This can be done by pairing the weaker students with stronger students as well as giving them extra work to ensure that they catch up with others. In my experience I discovered that there is no need to know or use the students’ native language in the class. In fact the teacher must discourage the students from using their native language, they should always try to communicate in English, that way they will gain more confidence and experience in using English language. It is important for the teacher to always motivate the beginner students to ensure that they are encouraged to continue in their journey of learning English language. Whilst it is important to correct students when they make mistakes, the teacher must avoid over correcting them as this might scare them away from trying and giving contributions in class. In order to keep the class active and interactive the teacher must ask a lot of questions. There is need to always praise students and encourage them to always try their best. Furthermore, it is always important for the teacher to focus on those things which are easy rather than the difficult ones. These are the basics that can be employed when teaching beginner students. It is a journey for both the students and the teacher, therefore, there is need to go step by step ensuring that no student is left behind. The teacher must create a relaxed environment where each and every student is comfortable as this will help them to grasp concepts and also to make contributions.


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