Digging Deep for the Teacher Within

We all have those classes that we would rather not have. You know the one I'm talking about. That class with zero personality. I have had quite a few of those actually. I remember wishing that a tsunami or tornado would hit, or even an alien aircraft would come and vaporize everyone. I would pray for anything to cancel the class or at least postpone it. I know you are thinking, oh come on, it couldn't have been that bad. Well I am telling you that it was worse. How can one cope with such classes? How can an ESL teacher survive? When all hope is gone and hangman just doesn't quite cut it anymore...

Remember why you are there

Sometimes we as ESL teachers have to remind ourselves why we wake up each day and put on our good shoes. Sometimes we have to remember the first time our lesson fell into place and everything just clicked. Sometimes we have to dig deep down and search for the teacher within. Remind yourself that you are not responsible for only making entertaining lessons, but for making meaningful and educational lessons as well. I know some teachers that only survive by making their students laugh, but when those teachers get home, they ask themselves "what in the world did I just teach". If you remember that you are there in front of that class to teach English and not to be a clown, you will do just fine!

Plan for the worst and then plan for worse

You know that saying, there's no such thing as a bad plan. Well I disagree. You know when we plan not to plan because we are just that great. That's a bad plan! Never underestimate the power of a well-thought out lesson. It can save you a million times over. It is very easy and quite simple to deviate from a plan if something doesn't go your way, but how do you deviate from a "no plan"? It simply just makes the class or lesson even worse. I normally try to anticipate any and everything that might come up during a class. Sometimes, the best student in the class is absent and you are just left with the unmotivated and untalented individuals. You should plan for that.

Just because they like you doesn't mean they like your class

We all want to be liked and loved by our students. I can't imagine anyone who would want to be hated. Right? It is easy to fall into the cycle of planning lessons and condoning certain undesirable behavior in order to be liked by our students. It is ever so tempting, because we all remember how much fun we had when we were in school and being taught by that teacher who just let us do whatever we wanted. But if we asked ourselves what did we learn from that teacher, the answer would be hard to find. Just remember that students will laugh in your class and smile every time they see you, and then when the student questionnaire gets passed around, they will trash you behind your back. They like you, but they just don't like being taught by you.

Back to zero personality

So, if you have to face that class with no personality, you should consider the following. Are your lessons balanced? Do you spend enough time explaining activities and giving directions? Do your lessons accommodate a wide range of learning styles? Are your lessons both teacher and student led. Are your lessons communicative and interactive? Do you remember to smile? Do you in fact have a personality yourself? Do you know what you are talking about? How much time do you spend planning lessons? Do you teach exactly from the textbook? Would you want to be taught by you?

5 steps on how to handle a large esl class

Group Task at Unpad

As an esl teacher myself, it has been my experience that some teachers get quite nervous when dealing with a large number of students. If one does not know how to effectively convey instuctions and stay calm, a group of 50 esl students can be a nightmare.

Step 1 – Assert yourself and let them know you are there

The first thing you should do when facing a large esl class is simply say in a very clear and assertive voice the appropriate greeting for the time of day such as good morning. Then ask the students how they are doing in order to get them to focus on what you are saying and quiet down. Now you have established your presence.

Step 2- Put the students into small groups of about 4-5

This really works wonders because the teacher can effectively increase the student teacher ratio whenever he/she works with any group in particular. At first, maybe the ratio was 1 to 50, but now when you meet each group of students, the ratio is 1 to 5 at least.

Step 3- Never stand still during group activities

In order to keep the class as a whole under control, it is important that the students feel monitored and not just left to do as they please. The more you interact with each group, the better the students feel. The students will feel like you pay more attention to them as individuals and not just a large class.

Step 4 – Assign jobs within the groups

I usually give students in the group a specific job or responsibility such as timekeeper, recorder, captain, helper, etc. This normally makes the students feel like they are in charge of something thus improving their behaviour , confidence, and focus. Of course the teacher is the monitor.

Step 5- Have fun

Remember that the students look to you as the teacher to set the pace and mood of the class or lesson. So try to stay positive, smile, and have fun while you teach. The students should have fun and be interested if the teacher does as well.

Loyal and motivated students

It is nothing like seeing eager and motivated kids waiting to get their next English lesson. I have one student in particular"Adil" who is so motivated that he comes almost 2 hours before the lesson begins. Sometimes, I have to send him back home to rest so he won't be so tired before class. Regardless of the activity that we do, he remains just as eager. He is such a great student to have, because sometimes as teachers we find ourselves lacking the motivation to keep teaching. Students like Adil remind us why we wake up in the morning. Ciaci VIP English is alive because of the students and I am thankful for that.

Study English with Native speaker

I recently had a conversation class at a company called PT. Pridhana Eka located in Bandung. The students were great. We went over how to greet people and get to know them. I really enjoyed conducting conversation activities with them. Perhaps I enjoyed it too much. Working at CIACI VIP English is great.

Super race of English speakers

I remember when I first started teaching English at EF, or shall I say first started learning English, hehehehehe. Boy was I devastated when I realized that as intelligent as I thought I was, I knew absolutely nothing about my own language. What the heck was the present perfect tense? If I had been on who wants to be a millionaire, I would have had to phone a friend. But then again, who would I have called? The average native speaker does not know much about English grammar, but I like to think that we get along just fine although severely lacking in English knowledge.

I remember sweating bullets in front of my "students", tons of bullets. I'm surprised that I am still alive today and didn't die due to dehydration. Everyday, I arrived at work super early so that I could crack open those grammar books and study away and after about six months of that my confidence soared and things started making sense. At that point, I started to become proud of being an English teacher. I was actually able to answer my students' questions with the correct answer instead of saying that is just the way it is. Before I knew it, other teachers started coming to me for advice on how to plan their lessons and teaching grammar the correct way.

I remember hanging out on several occasions with other teachers and could not believe what our drunken conversations were about. We would talk for hours about different grammar points, vocabulary, tenses, and so on. Right then and there I realized that my life would never be the same, that I would become this person that could only have a meaningful conversation with other ESL teachers. The first time I went back to America for a visit and went back to my "hood", my homies looked at me like I was literally an alien from another planet. They could not believe the words that came out of my mouth or maybe how the words came out of my mouth. I felt like a freak. I enjoyed talking about English more than just about anything else.

I remember when I first started teaching TOEFL and thanked God that I was born in an English speaking country. At that time I realized that we as ESL teachers are in essence creating a super race of English speakers that can not only effectively communicate but can actually correct a native speaker and tell him/her why he/she is wrong. We are teaching people how to speak better English than we do. Is this crazy or what? In this age of globalization, the native speaker of English reigns supreme because of his/her "mastery" of the international language. But if you really think about it, studies have shown that the average business email written by a native English speaker is completely and utterly structurally unsound. We (native speakers) know this to be true and I am worried that the secret may get out to the rest of the world. Just imagine a day when English is truly spoken by just about everyone, will native speakers be able to have an ESL post or will we be undercut by the products we have created? A super race of English speakers that will take over the world. Just some food for thought i suppose. Please forgive me if this blog has many mistakes. I am just a native speaker after all. :)

Have you ever wondered?

It is amazing no matter how much things tend to change some things will remain the same. I have taught English to many people over the years and I find it absolutely amazing how some students expect for me to give them a magic English pill that will allow them to somehow speak English fluently without even studying or participating in class. No matter how many times I tell them that they should be more active in learning, they just seem to never get it. I don't know about you, but that drives me crazy.