In March, I posted here about the five assignments that I was to finish long before this day. It is another matter that I have not yet finished all of them.
But as you can see that there is one assignment (the last one) - ES-344 that is on TEACHING OF ENGLISH. In a vast and diverse country like India where more than 375 languages are spoken and the culture is so diverse - there must be a common language for office works and the British gifted English.
However, I realized that the theories of teaching English do not only imply on a single language but they are most common and useful for all other languages.
Many people believe that teaching foreign languages to students across the world can be challenging for teachers, and I definitely agree. The cultural sensitivity, the contrasts in basic understandings about gender rights, the way of thinking and values are specific to each continent, and even for each nationality. For that reason teachers, who tutor international students should be extra tolerant, understanding and patient in the learning process. The best case would be if the teacher is bilingual and masters the mother language of the student. However, this is not the most common situation in courses with international students, especially if the class consists of people from several different nationalities. The good communication between you, as a tutor and the students is the key to the success of the course. The teacher should find ways to get into the students’ shoes and try using their logic when understanding the grammar, the vocabulary and the pronunciation which will give him/her ideas as to which exercises and methods will be the most effective. There are several things I recommend you to do to prepare yourself to be a better teacher to international students.
- Browse some information about the culture and the social practices in the native countries of your students. This will help you to have a better picture and idea of what their world is like and how they communicate with each other. Students will appreciate your interest in their traditions and will be eager to show you interesting sides to their cultures. As a teacher you can support them in expressing themselves in the language you are teaching.
- Translation tools always help. Dictionaries, online translation instruments, tables and all kinds of materials in different languages are especially helpful for teachers and for students. Imagine you are teaching English to a class with students from Spain, but you don’t speak Spanish. The learning process will be much easier and smoother if you use tools for fast and precise Spanish translation. Dictionaries are a very good instrument, but not all of them are up-dated with the new words in certain languages. Therefore, my advice is for you and your students to take an advantage of the newest tools on the internet for translations.
- Be up-to-date with the newest teaching techniques and be flexible in using them. Students are different and you will be a better teacher if you have an individual approach for each person. It is especially valuable when teaching students from different walks of life.
Teaching to a multicultural class is an experience of lifetime. It will broaden your horizons and develop your skills and qualities as a teacher and as a person.
0 comments:
Post a Comment