Teach English in Gaofengtou Zhen - Linyi Shi

The classroom is where all the magic happens. In the ideal classroom, students walk through the doors inspired, motivated, and ready to progress smoothly throughout the course of acquiring a new language. In reality, students can experience many moments of success, along with difficulties with the new language system. Students encounter obstacles that can be attributed to age, cultural background, general life experiences, level of confidence and self-esteem, and many other factors that are much more subtle, but can have a great impact in their learning process. For the purposes of this essay, I will focus on the experiences and challenges of the adult language learner. Although much of their difficulties are out of the teacher’s control, I will discuss how teachers are able to apply various methods and techniques to alleviate the problems that hinder the process of foreign language acquisition. In general, students excel in safe, positive learning environments, but not when students are facing problematic situations throughout. Of course, situations vary from student to student, and the teacher’s attitude does play a big role in setting the right tone, but when adult students come into the classroom with problems stemming from outside of the classroom, addressing these issues can be complicated. But, to start off, it’s important to mention that one of the most significant traits of adult students, I believe, is their self-motivation. The motive of an adult learning a foreign language is considerably different from younger learners because they have chosen to learn a new skill to improve some aspect of their lives. However, adults also tend to carry with them previous academic experiences, which could be positive or negative. This could create strong expectations regarding the teacher, the classroom, and their overall success in the course. If students have experienced embarrassment or humiliation in past classroom settings, this could produce high levels of fear and anxiety, especially when asked to participate in the lesson. Therefore, it is vital that the teacher remain sensitive to the emotional qualities of students. Similarly, a challenge that students encounter is when the native language interferes with the production of the target language. Quite often students will refer to the language they already know (L1) in the hopes that it will function similarly to the language being acquired (L2), but this is almost never successful. Students must genuinely step out of their linguistic comfort and be willing to make mistakes as part of the learning process. Of course, the native language will still be present in the pronunciation as students become familiar with the phonemes of the target language, but the grammatical processes of the new language cannot be founded on that of the native tongue and result in accuracy and fluency. As a result, teachers use creative exercise and activities to ease the flow of lessons. Aside from maintaining a friendly, patient, and relaxed demeanor, both teachers and students benefit from abundant preparation, especially with more complex concepts. For example, teachers use language that is simple and clear enough when providing instructions, and even pre-teaching tough vocabulary before beginning the lesson. Teachers must practice subtle behaviors such as remaining consistent with their teaching style. Using resources such as visual aids can significantly help in building rapport and checking to see that students understand the instructions of a task so that they are set up for success. Teachers can also include fun activities like role-play, pair/group-work, and controlled practice, to keep lessons interesting, at the same time maintaining control so that students don’t get too comfortable and observe a respectful level of discipline. It’s also good practice for teachers to promote creativity and to encourage students to communicate as much as possible in the target language. This is much easier to achieve when lesson topics are kept interesting, and at the same time carefully chosen to address the appropriate level of students. In summary, adult students face challenges that are specific to their age and life experiences, as well as other problems that are part of the general student experience. Nevertheless, a prepared and optimistic teacher can reach into the toolbox of methods and techniques that create a balanced learning experience.