Teach English in Qinghe Zhen - Yuncheng Shi

The only way to effectively learn a language is to want to learn the language. Sounds simplistic, but it is the starting point and the guiding principle behind the whole process. There are many things that we learn based on duty. We may reluctantly learn to make our bed as children whether we consider the task pleasant or not. In the Army no one asks if new recruit is motivated to go through the drills. But in learning a to read, listen, speak, and write a language effectively there must be motivation. Some students will come to the class with a clear idea of what they want to learn and why. It may be for business, or for a trip they want to take, or they are moving to a new country. Or they are immigrants to the country of the target language. Maybe they just enjoy learning and realize that another language will widen their horizons culturally. This is the delightful student. Hopefully, he will join in with the process of making the curriculum and be eager to work on his weak areas. He is participative and his enthusiasm will be contagious, and you can pair him with the weaker student in the learning activities. But what do we do with the reluctant student? The one with low self-esteem, the shy one, the one who hates to be in front of the room or to make a mistake in public? Maybe it is his personality, or maybe it is a part of his reserved culture. He doesn’t want to “lose face”. Making mistakes is part of the learning process, and this is most definitely true in language learning. There is no way to get around it. Therefore, the classroom must be a warm, accepting environment where everyone works together on a joint learning mission. The teacher is key to making this rapport. They must know when to correct and in what manner. They must be sensitive to each individual student. No one likes to be interrupted while speaking--much less with corrections on their pronunciation or verb tense. The exciting thing is that the student is communicating! That’s great! And if they are more conscious of getting their point across than being grammatically perfect, then they are on their way to learning the new language. There are different ways to correct the mistakes later if need be. The correction or clarification may be good for the whole class, if done as positive reinforcement. Of course, maybe the grammatical point is the object of the Study session of the class. That is why the class starts with the Engage session, to get the students to loosen up and begin to think in English before tackling any particular point of study. It goes back to the principal of motivation. A bit of humor and lightheartedness is good for us all. If we, as teachers, know how to laugh at ourselves then the students take the cue. They realize that no one is expecting perfection of them. The idea is to be learning. Truthfully, to learn a language well will be a lifetime process. It also involves learning a culture or cultures and is not mathematical science. This is true, especially when speaking of English, which is the first language of diverse countries, as well as a key communication language of business, governments, commerce, tourism, entertainment and internet. If our students feel that the classroom is a safe and friendly environment. If they can enjoy the Activated sessions where they can role play and act out situations and learn to chuckle as their own silly mistakes without it being a blow to their self-esteem. If they feel encouraged by their progress--whether it´s in long strides or short steps, then we, as teachers, can feel confident that our students will be successful in their goals. And hopefully our classes will be a springboard to further learning outside the classroom. If we have helped our students have self-confidence and they are motivated to continue to learn, and we have provided learning opportunities for a good foundation, then they should be well on their way.