Teach English in ShanggAng Xincun Jiedao - Shanghai Shi

1st Language vs 2nd Language AcquisitionWhile there are a lot of rewards teaching english as a Foreign Language, it is a challenging occupation. For many teachers, teaching grammar is a difficulty that they didn't anticipate. Non-native english speakers often find some aspects of learning correct english grammar difficult to comprehend. One especially tricky task is distinguishing between tenses that exist in english, but may not exist in their language. When I first came to Korea, the system in my school was one where the Korean teacher would teach the grammar and I would focus on the speaking and pronunciation. The flaw in this is that even the Korean teacher had difficulties in putting grammar rules into the action of speaking. I worked with my director and co-teachers, emphasized and explained how I needed to be involved in the grasping of the grammar. After agreeing with me, we slowly but surely saw measureable improvement in their comprehension of grammar. Along with grammar teachers also struggle with helping students learn correct pronunciation. Like tenses, this is difficult to convey because not every language has the same pronunciation characteristics. If a teacher is a native english speaker, he or she doesn't always think about how to pronounce something because it was learned unconsciously. Yet a teacher needs to slow down, explain information in a way that others can understand, and focus on the tiniest of details. Another aspect and challenge that a TEFL teacher must understand and combat is that there is a distinct difference between adult learners and children. Adults have spent their whole lives developing their native language skills, and helping them apply new things they've learned can be incredibly labor intensive because habits are deeply entrenched. One of the loftiest goals a TEFL teacher can set for themselves is getting their students to think in english. Thinking in another language is often the culmination of years of study and is difficult to achieve because students often think in their own language and then translate words and phrases into english. Doing this can be confusing for both the teacher and the student because phrases or sentences that are translated are often done so using rules and patterns that are present in their native language but not acceptable for the english language. Since being in Korea, I have had a few classes of adults that I have taught for more than a year. Seeing the change in a student?s efficiency after they finally embrace and grow comfortable in thinking in their second language has been very satisfying. When teaching younger students, students can often become overly dependent on their teacher. This is a problem because it encourages students to seek the teacher's help in solving problems as opposed to taking the time to learn a solution on their own. Situations like this can be avoided if the teacher doesn't automatically answer every single question. Because teachers are giving instruction in english, it can be challenging for students to understand what is expected of them. This seems to be a common occurrence in the classroom. In order to avoid this situation, it's important for the teacher to be very clear when conveying tasks. For students of all ages, speaking slowly, clearly, using gestures, writing information on the board, and miming can reach students and help to pre-emptively avoid confusion. Other ways to guide students include using visual images and modeling the behavior expected of students. Sometimes, students can feel lost and overwhelmed. After all, learning a new language can be intimidating. Ensuring these students stay in the course is another challenge that teachers face. To help address this challenge, instructors can build community with the course by engaging students in group activities. If a student is connected to others in the class, he or she will be less likely to give up. Furthermore, if a teacher makes a point of checking for understanding before moving on to another topic, the students are less likely to be lost. While there are many challenges to teaching english as a foreign language, the reward of helping a student learn a new language is worth the effort.