Teach English in Chucun Zhen - Weihai Shi

English is certainly becoming the global language of the present and future. Globalization has made English a dominant element for communication. For this reason English as a global language acts as a “lingua franca”, a common language that enables people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities to communicate. English is now seen less as an optional “foreign” language and more as a core skill for people around the world. No wonder that more and more quality English language teachers are sought after. They play a very significant role in helping the students in overcoming their fears and keep their motivation at a high level all the time. Before teaching the language learners a teacher has to put herself/himself in the students' shoes and think from the learners’ perspective. In doing so, they can better understand students as individuals and make each lesson more engaging and meaningful for everyone involved. To acquire a good English language level, learners need to acquire expertise in the following four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. In this regard, the Teacher plays a very prominent role in language learner’s achievements. For this reason most teachers take on variety of roles within the classroom such as controller, prompter, resource, assessor, organizer and ect. The role of the teacher has been changing dramatically during the past few decades, reflecting a more student-centric classroom. Therefore teacher roles can be discussed with learners as a part of student preparation. It helps teachers to create a positive classroom environment. Learning is most useful and engaging when the classroom climate is one of welcoming mistakes as a natural and positive part of developing and improving new skills. By creating a mutually respectful classroom that embraces a diversity of ideas, thoughts and cultural differences, students can articulate their thinking judgment-free even if those thoughts may differ from others’ beliefs. Listening is often a neglected skill. There is a good saying in English “No one is as deaf as the man who will not listen”. So, the teachers should make students to realize that listening is one of the key receptive skills and it is one of the most important aspect of the language learning. The listening skill needs to be sharpened so that they are able to understand English conversations and thus reply and give their opinions. It is the duty of the teacher to improve the students' attention and concentration skills to the maximum extent. Speaking, in English is a very important part of the language. But of late language learners of different levels develop a sort of a fear to speak in English. The teacher should come to their rescue and promote oral communication in English by lowering the language anxiety and nervousness in the classroom created by the self-doubt of being teased for making mistakes. Teachers should use enjoyable and meaningful activities to create a relaxed atmosphere thus helping students have an interactive role within a harmonious environment. They should be constantly motivated to speak in English rather than in their native language. Reading is an important communicative process. The very nature of reading encourages the brain to work harder and better. Reading skills are crucial for academic and professional purposes. Reading helps students build vocabulary, develop the comprehension ability and revisit words they have learnt in class in a different context. Thus, the teacher has to help the student master the skills of reading. To develop the reading skills the English language teacher should give a few reading tasks in the form of stories, descriptions and narrations. The learners can be allowed to follow the different methods of reading such as skimming and scanning. Writing skills seem to be the least popular and most difficult skills to acquire in a foreign language. Nevertheless, they are crucial in the development of English language skills. Writing can be practiced through typing on gap fill exercises, worksheets, reports and resumes. Later these can be examined and edited by the teacher through the teacher’s console. The English language teacher has to advice his students very frequently to brush up on their grammar skills. One of the fastest ways to improve writing is through feedback. In this process, the language teacher needs to point out the errors and also help the language learners correcting them. The teacher should also motivate the students to make a conscious commitment to strive for better writing constantly. Lately, teaching English as a second language is a great challenge. It requires constant efforts. Due to the exceptional importance given to the English language knowledge, it has become compulsory on the part of students to master it. As teachers of English, it is our role to help students understand the astounding importance of the English language across the globe and it is our duty to play a critical role in developing the four skills of English language among the language learners.