TEFL Xi Ning

One of the hardest parts of learning a new language is having enough confidence to speak out loud the things that are already in your head. I experience this quite often with some of the students that I have taught in the past. I am generally quite shocked at how much a person really understands and how much they can read and write when I have never heard them speak until they are forced to speak because of no other alternatives (ie. facing a person who can only speak english). Generally the language student is too shy or embarrassed to speak or they are perfectionists and want to make sure their grammar is perfect before it comes out of their mouth. I have experienced this myself with learning the chinese language. When I first arrived in china, I didn't have any language and was living in an orphanage where the children had no mercy on me. I was in a position where I was forced to speak because they didn't speak english. Because they were children, I had an easier time learning the language because their vocabulary was at a much lower level. They had no mercy on me though! As I stumbled through grammar, sentence structures and vocabulary blunders, they would just laugh and laugh! I thought to myself- if I ever teach english to people who are learning it as a second language, I will always try to have a good way of encouraging them to speak- not shame them into a place where they don't want to speak anymore. Fortunately, my skin is pretty tough and through two years of training with these children, I was able to pick up the language. I feel like if I ever went to another country, I would have the confidence to speak and use what I have learned right away no matter if people laughed at me or not. As I have taught english in the past, I have discovered that when students are encouraged and feel confident enough in the classroom to speak, they will most likely speak outside of the classroom as well. One of the ways that students feel most encouraged is by creating a classroom environment in which there is no pointing fingers or blame. If the teacher models this kind of behavior, the students will follow suit. If the teacher praises students for their efforts and doesn't shame them, they will know that they are safe to try and make mistakes without feeling like a failure. Dolly Jesusita Young writes in an essay, "Regardless of method, we know that learners need to adopt attitudes and strategies that pay off in terms of low anxiety, high motivation, and ultimately in the ability to convey information and communicate ideas and feelings. One of the current challenges in second and foreign language teaching is to provide students with a learner-centered, low anxiety classroom environment." Dolly Jesusita Young, Creating a Low-Anxiety Classroom Environment: What Does Language Anxiety Research Suggest?, (The Modern Language Journal, Volume 75, Issue 4, Winter 1991), pages 426. As I was reading through this article, I was reminded that the classroom setting is so important as we want foster an environment that is conducive to building people up, not tearing them down. If students are stressed out about whether they are going to mess up, how other students view them or if the teacher is going to get angry every time they make a blunder, then no one will ever dare to open their mouths. We need to continuously be aware of the anxiety levels of the students and try our best as teachers to make language learning a fun process. Language learning not only helps a student learn another language, but this process could also help build them up as a person. Building confidence in students is key to successful language learning. If we can encourage and see the value of each student as a person, they will also build confidence in all aspects of their lives.