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Teach English in Laoying Zhen - Xinzhou Shi

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

Everybody believes they know what teachers do. We all had teachers in our lives everyday for several years. The role of a teacher seems straightforward to outsiders: teach. However, teachers and those in the education field know the role of a teacher is so much more than simply educating. Furthermore, the role of an English as a Foreign Language teacher is even more complex. In my opinion and experience there are five major roles of an English as a Foreign Language teacher: Educator, Motivator, Support System, Role Model, and Advocate. Being an educator is one of the more obvious roles that teachers take on. Our first and foremost job is to teach our students the content we were hired to teach. In my case that is English as a second or foreign language. This course and my college education, degree, and certification has prepared me to educate my students to the best ability. In order to successfully fill this role I must know grammar, phonology, linguistics, and all other aspects of the English language. However that is not the only knowledge an English teacher must know to be a good educator; one must also be knowledgable in pedagogy. As an educator I must know HOW to educate, not only what. This includes classroom management, evaluations, methodologies, lesson planning, and so much more. The next role an English as a Foreign Language teacher fills is motivator. I have found that if a student is not motivated, either intrinsically or extrinsically, they will not learn to their greatest capability. Some students will come to a teacher completely motivated, in that case it is a teacher's job to maintain and protect that motivation. In other circumstances, students find themselves in an English as a Foreign Language class with no motivation. This is when a teacher's ability to act as motivator is crucial. In this course motivation was discussed a lot. A teacher must be willing to find what students care about and what interests them and use that to motivate them. It is also good to show students why learning English would be good for them personally. Teachers acting as support system is crucial for some students' learning. In my previous teaching position I had many students that were without strong support systems at home, whether they were separated from their families, had families or friends that did not understand what they were learning in school, or had very little friends or family. I often found myself stepping to be their number one fan when they needed a cheer or the person they could vent to when things were hard. In order for students to learn they must be comfortable and safe, so often times we teachers need to support them to make the classroom environment conducive to learning. One role that is very important to me as a teacher is that of role model. Teachers are in their students lives as much as their friends and families, sometimes even more. Because of this we hold a very important job: being someone our students can look up to and aspire to be. This is made even more true as English as a foreign language teachers; we are often-times the first or only English speakers the students are exposed to, as such we need to act appropriate, friendly, and intelligent. Furthermore, one can not expect students to learn effectively from someone they do not respect or view as a role model. Finally, the last role that teachers must fill is advocate. This role is similar to being a support system to students, but different in that instead of supporting the child directly a teacher must support their students outwardly as an advocate. This role is particularly important in two different groups of learners: young learners and multilingual learners. Young students are of an age that is not respected or deemed old enough to advocate for themselves. Students that are English language learners in multilingual classrooms are are often living in English speaking countries and thus unable to advocate for themselves. I have found myself in countless situations advocating for my students both in and out of the classroom. However, one can never stop at only advocating for their students, but also teaching them how to advocate for themselves and giving them the tools-- language and communication skills-- to do so. The role of a teacher, especially an English as a foreign language teacher, is large and demanding. We often must put on several different hats in just one lesson, students deserve teachers that are willing to not only educate them, but also motivate, support, model, and advocate for them. This is a difficult task, but it is one I try to fill tirelessly and happily.


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