Teach English in Sangcun Zhen - Zaozhuang Shi

Since inmemorial time all living species have managed to preserve themselves through very sophisticated ways of communication, starting at a cellular level with the apoptosis process in which a single deteriorated cell calls upon the others to commit mass suicide up to the most developed digital systems of interaction amongst humans. It has become very clear analyzing the cells and human behavior our kind has flourished and almost disappear at different time frames thanks to its common capacity to communicate with each other. Fascinated with this and having the natural ability for passing the message I endeavored in the broadcasting world for a little while falling in love with it. Many years past since and after a long life full, of wonderful experiences I concluded that time had come for me to pass some of my knowledge to newer generations. A question popped up - where should I start? as easy as a magician does it the answer was in my mind " back to broadcasting? ". As I wasn't so sure I had to look for solutions so, I went online and found you, gentlemen. A new page in my life was about to be written since I loved communicating I encountered that teaching English as a second language fitted me perfectly. Duly registered the enjoyment started with a curriculum wonderfully designed for what I was looking for. Starting with some history in the syllabus the classical method came to the fore roughly described as Grammar Translation a perfect definition for a method that required total fluency for the languages in question at the time: Greek and Latin. This method has endured through the times since its inception due to the popularity of the latter which had influenced government, academia, and businesses those days. It took quite a long time for scholars to realize that something was missing so, individuals like Pavlov, Gouin, Berlitz, James Asher and Jeremy Harmer all their premises put together gave way to the TPR Method or Total Physical Response widely illustrated in Jeremy Harmer's book ' How To Teach English ' where for the first time was enunciated the ESA method. Of the ten units that comprise the ITTT program, I have chosen to talk about learning to teach English skills for I think it reflects in its full dimension what teaching a second language is all about. Going back to the source I have to briefly stop to analyze how TPR works. It all started with Pavlov experimenting with animals particularly with dogs, when jingling a bell the dog salivated which it meant to him the dog was associating the sound to a feeding schedule using its left part of the brain; the experiment gave way to James Asher and Berlitz audio-lingualism, but it wasn't until Jeremy Harmer developed his TPR Method that the right part of the brain was used; therefore, adding movement to the teaching techniques. Someone might say that this has no correlation with the teaching of the four skills but for me adding movement implies fifty percent of the learning process because it reduces greatly TTT, implies mime and action, enhances listening, reading, speaking and writing all in a masterful way in the ESA Method. Teaching skills; therefore, takes care of the different abilities students should master such as phonetics, reading, grammar and writing with all it comprises. And how to teach skills? Well, it has been documented throughout the course in different ways beginning with the characteristics a good teacher should have, the level of the student's awareness, arrangement of the classroom according to its limitations, using the boomerang or patchwork approach as appropriate; a dosage of humor, a variety of subjects to keep motivation high, drilling in the study phase and last but not least a good role-play activation and feedback to ensure the whole session has been successful. In conclusion, as the world population grows in alarming proportions, the need for people gifted with the particular talents a good teacher embodies become more evident; I dare call upon those who feel they can leave a trail of everlasting gratitude to embrace the noble teaching practice not only in the language domain but in whatever field people may endeavor cause properly trained educators are in demand more than ever. A deeply felt thank-you to ITTT for allowing an older person like me to embrace a teaching career which I'll be reinforcing with more academic studies in due time.