Teach English in Zhengcheng Zhen - Linyi Shi

Teaching English to unilingual and Multilingual groups can be a rewarding experience, however, it might be very challenging for those who are beginners in TEFL. Monolingual is a group defined as people who share the same Mother Tongue. Monolingual groups learning a new language usually tend to rely on each other to overcome their own common challenge, but on the other hand, they may find very hard to expose themselves to practice a new language with native speakers. The Multilingual is a group defined by people belonging to different countries or having their own specific mother tongue despite their country of origin. Multilingual groups usually put more efforts to learn English, because the majority of this group has a common motivation to learn English as a bridging language to communicate and express themselves in a multilingual environment, in this case, the challenge of the inexperienced English teacher is that each student learn on their pace and have their own particular difficulties in the learning process. A good method of teaching English to non-native speakers can guarantee an effective and delightful experience of both Monolingual and Multilingual groups. This Essay has the purpose of presenting three different effective methods among many that have been proved very reliable. A. Learning English through activities in pairs. Learning English through activities in pairs creates a safe environment that helps the students to feel more comfortable and confident to speak and practice the lessons in front of the class. B. Speaking English at all times while teaching. Refraining from speaking any other language rather than English, creates a conditioning mindset that helps the students to speed their fluency by having a constant practice. C. Reading and Writing Reading and writing activities’ approach enables the students to receive, retain and retrieve information effectively. A. Learning Through Activities in Pairs Who never blushed when asked to speak of subjects we are not so sure about? It can be quite a challenge for those who are introvert, but learning through activities in pairs create a safe environment that enables the students to feel confident to speak out and practice what they have been learning as they listen to themselves and others it becomes easier to realize mistakes while writing, speaking and correcting it in a timely manner. A safe and comfortable environment develops in the students’ mind the confidence that they need to carry on in their learning process, it is strongly advised to use this method whenever is possible to help the students to obtain the confidence to learn appropriately. These practical activities can be performed by; 1. Ice breaking time, getting to know each other. 2. Small dialogues, greetings, sharing personal experiences. The introduction of this method will certainly provide confidence, sense of achievement, and the students will likely grow autonomous. B. Speaking English at all times while teaching. Teachers are strongly advised to speak English at all times, in doing it, the students will be exposed to an environment where their concentration and all their senses will be focused on what the teacher is explaining. Sometimes it may happen that the teacher knows the mother tongue of the student who is having a hard time to understand the subject, it may be a temptation to the teacher to help the student to understand the subject in question if it is explained in the students’ language, but even then, the teacher is not encouraged to do it, because in doing so, may cause the teacher to lose control of the class reducing his/her teaching performance. In order to help the teacher to keep focused on speaking English at all times in class, some examples can be followed: 1. Interacting with students asking questions in English about their weekend. 2. Trying to know more about the students by asking clear and simple questions. 3. Involving the students by inviting them to read work activities at the whiteboard. 4. Engaging students by playing games that encourage speaking practices. Speaking English at all times enables the students to overcome their personal challenges to speak in public and mitigate the fear of committing pronunciation mistakes. C. Reading and Writing Reading and Writing is another important method to enhance the students’ vocabulary, increase students writing skills and gain reading consistent fluence. There are many ludic ways to encourage the students in performing these activities: Reading: 1. Reading a short story based on the students’ topic of interest. Ex: Cooking recipe book, 2. Online books with audio aid. Ex. Poems, Romantic books. Writing: 1. Writing daily schedule, diary, short events, poems, short notes, an invitation, etc. Reading and writing are excellent tools that the teachers can use to increase their teaching performance and provide the students with enough confidence to be fluent in English. In conclusion, Monolingual and Multilingual Groups are very common groups that the TEFL teacher has to be always prepared to teach because these are basically the two main categories of students in TEFL classes. Although it may appear very challenging for TEFL teachers at first, once they obtain the necessary experience, TEFL teachers can use their valuables skills to teach successfully in any other context. The three methods suggested in this essay of Learning English through activities in pairs that creates a safe environment and help the students to feel more comfortable and confident to, refraining from speaking any other language rather than English which creates a conditioning mindset that helps the students to speed their fluency and reading and writing activities’ approach that enables the students to receive, retain and retrieve information effectively are the most commonly used methods in TEFL classes and it has been proved very effective methods of teaching English. Being an extraordinary TEFL teacher requires perseverance, love and extreme dedication to achieve tangible results and a great sense of fulfillment, it is hoped that the methods here presented may usefully help any TEFL teachers to achieve this excellent teaching level.