Teach English in Laiyuan Zhen - Jinzhong Shi

I have been teaching for the past 5 years and I think teaching is the most rewarding career I have ever had when I compare to my other jobs. I am not only experienced in teaching English but also in teaching drama courses. I am teaching multi-age group students, from Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to primary level including Stage Drama Courses. Firstly, I would say that throughout my career's experiences I myself have learnt a lot. It is because I have developed my teaching abilities and learnt many other useful skills. For example, I have not only helped my students to gain confidence but also helped myself to feel more confident to a point that I am now able to successfully teach TRINITY level courses. I have also learnt that as a teacher, I may need to change my role at times and talk to my students as friends to understand them better. This can also help me in understanding individual students' needs and adjust my lesson materials and activities accordingly. Secondly, based on my regular classes, I would say my greatest strength is providing a friendly and loving environment to young children because I think these young children engage and learn better when they are in loving and caring environments, therefore, I create and ensure that my classroom reflects this. My other strength is that I am very passionate about teaching drama classes and working with students to perform a great stage show in front of a large number of audience. Also, I think that teaching is one of the most rewarding job as we teachers can be the reason why the kids smile after receiving praises by us or helping them with building more self-confidence. Moreover, shaping the future generation into skillful characters and being an inspiration to others only comes with teaching. It is a teaching and learning process where teachers and students work together at their best levels and develop a strong rapport. Furthermore, throughout my teaching career, I have experienced all kinds of classes such as playgroups, one to one home tutoring, small and large classes and as well as monolingual classes. Well, most of the time the classes have always been fine since they understand English however, I had a little trouble at the beginning of monolingual classes but as I started seeing them and understanding the students, I often involved games to arise more interest of the students. Currently, I am teaching Music and Theater classes and EYFS. For each, I need to perform different duties such as the following: for M&T classes; performing an Art is really all about allowing students the opportunity to engage in their imagination and once they are engaged they are capable of doing so many things. Through that process, they find courage, great strength, good presentation skills (i.e. introduction, facial expression, characterization, gestures, movement, eye contact, projection & stage presence) and they can do much more than they thought they could do. Moreover, Drama brings fun into the classroom and students learn so much while they are having fun and they start identifying different objects through pictures, arts, and crafts. I strongly believe that drama helps students to improve their English and enhance their speaking and writing skills as they have to use their vocal techniques & expressions to enhance their story such as pace, pause, emphasis, mood or emotions, and script writing helps them to be more creative and imaginative. And for the EYFS; these kids are very young. They are usually between 3-5 years old. EYFS is very much play-based i.e. learning and developing through play-based activities and exploring as much as possible. According to my knowledge and experience, I would say play is the best form of learning because through the experimentations the kids can understand why certain things happen, for example, mixing different colors together or writing letters in sand can help letter formation. Another thing that I think every teacher must remember is to have FUN with EYFS students because play is the best form of learning for early age students. These children develop more rapidly during the first five years of their lives than at any other time. Therefore, while making my class materials, I also consider motor skills & Montessori styles ideas and activities. I usually use these materials during free play times. My idea behind Montessori is to evoke independent learning, cultivating a love for learning and enhancing a child’s social interaction. Most of the times, I let them use these materials on their own so that they can develop their independence and creativity with the activities. As I have seen many children are very much dependent on assistance, therefore it’s my job to begin them on a journey of self-reliance. In short, my objective is to focus on ensuring that young children are learning through play and exploration. As well as encouraging students to develop imagination, get actively involved in learning and make decisions.