Teaching English As A Second Language: Help Others Learn And Grow
Teaching English As A Second Language: Help Others Learn And Grow
English as a second language is the study of making English understandable to students who don’t speak it as their first language. It’s estimated that more than 5 million people in the United States are learning how to speak English, and they need help, which is where ESL teachers come in. Teaching ESL can be an immensely rewarding and satisfying job because you not only teach your students valuable skills like how to read and write in their new language, but also help them grow personally by meeting new people and forming social bonds.
The keys to success in teaching ESL are the same as any job: hard work, dedication and a strong commitment to the profession. Teaching ESL is no different. In addition to these basic requirements, however, an ESL teacher needs more specialized skills. These teachers must have a few specific traits:
1. Patience - An ESL teacher needs to be very patient with his or her students. It might be easy for native speakers of English to speak the language without thinking about it, but that’s not the case for second-language students. You’ll need empathy to understand what they are going through and know that progress will take time.
2. A Sense of Humor - Learning a new language is difficult. Sometimes you’ll feel like all the progress you’ve made has been wiped out, and a sense of humor will get you through those rough patches. Having fun with your students makes them more comfortable and involved in their studies, which leads to better retention of material.
3. Flexibility - Because every student learns differently, every class needs to be different too. You won’t be able to find a “one size fits all” style for teaching ESL, so being able to change your method up from class to class based on what works best for your students is essential.
4. Decent Computer Skills - Put a computer on every student’s desk and you’ll give them the tools to practice their new language in a fun way. You don’t have to be an IT expert to get these computers set up, but you do need basic computer skills so that you can help your students with the software.
Teaching ESL is one of the most rewarding jobs out there for those who want to make a difference in how people communicate with each other. It can be difficult at times, but it will be worth it once you hear from your students how much your classes helped them.
English Language Academy is a leading provider of English as second language training programs. The Academy offers certification courses for the TOEFL and TOEIC exams and sells products to help students improve their English language skills.
Teaching English As A Second Language: Help Others Learn And Grow
The most important thing you can do as an ESL teacher is to show your students that you believe in them. You don’t need to be fake or overly positive, but believing in your students will reinforce their beliefs in themselves and make them more likely to succeed in their studies. After that, you’ll want to find ways to engage your students in whatever activities you plan so that they are more likely to complete the work. You might not always be able to get your students to participate, but you can get them to show up.
What you need to do as an ESL teacher is find ways for your students to learn English. An important part of this process is that you make it fun for them. If you can do that and foster a love for learning English, your students will be more likely to participate in classes, projects and extracurricular activities. This involvement will help build their confidence in themselves and help them succeed later on down the road when they need to communicate with native speakers of English.
The more confidence your students have, the more likely they are to succeed when they go back to their own countries. Before you start class, be sure that you know what material you’ll teach and then figure out how to teach it. As an ESL teacher, you should also be prepared to keep learning yourself. There are always new things that will make it easier for you to interact with your students in the best ways possible.
ESL teachers might not always get a lot of appreciation for their efforts during the school year, but if they give back after class by helping their students read and write in English, what they’ve done will be remembered later on down the road as worthwhile work.
How to Teach English as a Second Language?
Teaching English as a second language can be a demanding job under the best of circumstances. But learning to teach is also the first step in learning to learn. Some people will feel confident teaching others because they have understood what it means to be a student, which gives them a deeper understanding of how it feels to be in that position.
But for most people, being an ESL teacher is something completely different than being a student. If you’ve never taught English before, you’ll need help from someone who has taught English before. You can ask your local language school or community college if they know any veteran teachers. A school or community college might also be willing to do an internship with an ESL teacher. They can help you get comfortable and familiar with the teaching methods in a way that’s helpful to you.
When people are learning, they tend to get bored very easily. The more confidence you have, the more likely they are going to stick with it even if they feel bored at times. But if the material is boring, no matter how much confidence you have, you won’t be able to motivate your students in a very productive way.
It helps to make the material interesting and fun. You can do this in many ways: by varying the classes, offering scholarships to top students or running competitions based on the material that you’re teaching. Learning materials should also be presented in a way that’s easy to remember so that your students will be able to practice what they learn at home, which is a very important way of improving their English speaking skills.
This teaches your students how to communicate with native speakers of English in real life situations too. The more realistic these situations are, the more likely your students are going to be able to use their new skills when they are back at school on another day.
ESL teachers need to remain calm and focused. It’s easy to get upset with students when they don’t understand or seem like they aren’t trying, but it’s important to remember that you have been there before. The key is to be patient, which isn’t always easy for people who don’t have a lot of experience teaching.
If you do your homework first, plan for every class and follow up with your students when you are done teaching them, your lessons will be more powerful and effective than if you try to wing it on the day of the lesson.
Conclusion
It’s important to keep in mind that teaching ESL isn’t just about the students. You also want to know what you’re doing as a teacher and be able to give your students constructive feedback. If you don’t know where you stand, it will be hard for you to motivate yourself and your students to improve their English speaking skills so that they can communicate with native speakers of the language.
There are many ways for ESL teachers to improve their English language skills and avoid mistakes when they teach their classes on a day-to-day basis.