Teach English in Yexie Zhen - Shanghai Shi

How Teachers Can Increase Their Confidence In the ClassroomTeaching with confidence is vital if one is to inspire confidence in one?s students as well. There are numerous resources available, like websites, resource books, course books, and multimedia, just to name a few, that will help teachers teach and increase confidence in their classroom. Thousands of websites like 1-language.com which has games, quizzes, chats and forums and Education Guardian: TEFL which is on the website of The Guardian and helps TEFL teachers plan lessons around news stories. There are also numerous resource books such as Elementary Communication Games and Essential Grammar in Use that a teacher can use in planning lessons; course books like North Star, and dictionaries, not to mention movies, music videos, and songs that can be played (if the classroom has proper equipment or the teacher can provide it) to complement any topic. Any one or combination of these types of resources can help a teacher increase their confidence in the classroom but to use them effectively, always come to class prepared, take time outside of class to arrange lessons, and never underestimate the students. Coming to class prepared every session is vital to increasing confidence in the classroom. One way to come to class prepared is to take a Needs Assessment on the first day of class to find out where each student is in their language learning. From this, a teacher can structure classes according to the language skills, topics, and themes the students demonstrate their need to learn. If, according to the Needs Assessment, the majority of the class wants to learn grammar or pronunciation, a class schedule can be prepared. This is when the teacher lists a topic (i.e., social situations, etc.), the language used (i.e., small talk in english, ordering food, etc.), and the materials (i.e., a segment of a Friends episode with a scene of two people making small talk at a restaurant, a resource about teaching small talk, a food menu, etc.). Taking a Needs Assessment allows the teacher to quickly evaluate where the students are and structure the work accordingly. This is one way any teacher can come to class prepared and increase confidence in the classroom. Of course, the best way to come to class prepared is to take time outside of class to gather and prepare lessons. There are thousands of resources for the TEFL teacher to use in lesson preparation; one just has to know where to look. Websites like Dave?s ESL Café, resource books like Basic Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy and William R. Smalzer, and dictionaries like Hip Hot! A Dictionary of 10,000 American Slang Expressions (guaranteed to show students how hip you are!), all come in handy. There are of course thousands more than just these and when using resources, keep in mind that any activities garnered should fit the students? level of knowledge while engaging their interest. For instance, a lesson on asking for services rendered can be structured as a lesson about community and ways that each of us can build our community by getting to know and expressing our needs to shopkeepers, dry cleaners, and even each other. Getting students involved and incorporating their ideas as well helps build the classroom community and inspire their confidence too. Another way to prepare effective lessons is to talk to other teachers and see what works for them. They could have teaching methods and ideas that might surprise you. All of these and many more are resources that can help any teacher increase confidence in the classroom. The most important means of increasing confidence in the classroom, however, is to never underestimate your students. I was once teaching a lesson on antonyms and synonyms and on the board I wrote ?their,? ?they?re,? and ?there.? ?These,? I explained to my chinese students whom I imagined were hanging on my every word, ?are antonyms.? It was not until my second class that day when one of my students pulled me aside and said quietly, ?Um?those words are homonyms.? I turned and looked at the board in astonishment and turned red right down to my toes. Clearly, the students were way beyond these types of words ? even knowing what they were while I demonstrated that I clearly didn?t - and were only waiting for me, the english teacher, to catch up. Needless to say, I learned a valuable lesson that day and how not to underestimate my students or their abilities. Had I come prepared to class, I would have known (or been reminded since this information was lying dormant in my memory) that those words were homonyms, not antonyms. And had I been truly cognizant of my students? abilities, I likely would have known that they were far beyond learning the differences between ?their,? ?they?re,? and ?there? and planned a more challenging lesson instead. Never underestimating one?s students and preparing level-appropriate lessons ahead of time will go a long way towards increasing teacher-confidence in the classroom. In summary, if a teacher wishes to increase their confidence in the classroom, it is vital to come to class prepared by taking the time outside of class to put together solid lessons that demonstrate the teacher knows at what stage their students are, thereby never underestimating them. By taking a Needs Assessment the first day and relying on that to structure courses that are level-appropriate while inclusive of engaging topics and themes, a teacher can come to class prepared thus increasing classroom confidence both for the teacher and students. Taking advantage of the myriad of resources available to the TEFL instructor such as websites, resource and course books, dictionaries, and multimedia, just to name a few, will aid in lesson-preparation. Finally, by collecting students? ideas and really listening and knowing one?s students, a good TEFL instructor knows how not to underestimate them and by inspiring student confidence, can increase their own confidence in the classroom.