As a TESL trainee in IH, I divide my classmate to three groups. Group one are native speakers and part of them have three to nine years teaching experiences in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Group two are three Koreans who speak English less than six months but are qualified to take TESL training. I, the only one in the third group, have had very few chances to speak English since 1997, but have worked on the methodology of English learning for Chinese since 2000. I find that native speakers don’t have overall advantages to be an ESL teacher. Although English is their mother tongue or some of them have teaching experiences, they still feel nervous, make simple grammatical mistakes, or spelled words incorrectly in teaching practice. Their examples release my stress and help me reconsider my strengths to be an ESL teacher. Compared my Korean classmates with native speaking classmates, the Korean classmates speak English less fluent, but their teachings are well organized and they skillfully use tools such as OHT, cards, pictures to compensate for their language weakness. Through training with them, the best lesson to me is to focus on and intensify my strengths.
As a Mandarin speaker who has had very few chances to practice English since 1997, I can’t speak English as fluent as my native classmates. However, my strengths are exclusive. First of all, I know the gaps of learning English for Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, and I have studied on how to bridge these gaps for them since 2000. I believe I am able to combine the skills of TESL and mine to help them learn English efficiently and effectively in the near future. Secondly, I have worked in a variety of industry; my experiences of project management and factory management provide me skills of how to be a great leader or coach in the classroom and how to be assertive to move students to do activities stage by stage. Thirdly, through my frustrated and over twenty-year-long English learning experience, I know how to encourage students instead of disappointed them and how to be a sensitive to their problems when they sometimes stock in the classroom. Fourthly, I understand the assumptions and procedures in this TESL training. Then I compare these methods with my research on the English learning weakness to Chinese. I benefit not only from the teacher training but also from the comparison of both methodologies. Fifth, even I am not a native speaker; I still have a good sense of humor to create a friendly and relaxing atmosphere for students. I was quite happy when my instructor pointed this out because I didn’t notice it and didn’t take it as strength. The most important strength of mine is that I am very considerate to students. My own experiences of English learning is frustrated and depressed, I sincerely want to help my students to minimize the pain of English learning. Hence, I keep asking myself questions like “If I am a pre-intermediate or elementary level student at the age of sixty, what the most difficult obstacle to me on reading, listening, or grammar etc.
It is also great that I have learned what my weaknesses are through this TESL training observation of peers, experienced teachers and tutors. Lesson plan, similar to business plan I did before, is a very practical and essential tool to prepare teaching that I need more time to master it. I still don’t understand assumptions, evidence for achievement of objectives, and teacher’s aim very specifically. Moreover, My Chinese system interfere my English system, hence, my sentences sometimes are meaningless. When I worry about my English fluency, I can’t present my teaching material smoothly without stocking. I hope some non-native teachers or tutors are willing to share how they have worked out solutions on this problem. Thirdly, I am very weak to apply CCQ in my teaching practice. I am often skeptical whether a question is a CCQ or a general question, so I am lost of the function of CCQ and how to use CCQ to check if students understand target language of my tea ching. Fourthly, I was out of time control twice in last four teaching practices. I have to condense my material more precisely to meet timing and watch out my TTT when I want to add in some unplanned material. Finally, it is a big challenge to me on how to correct students’ errors without interrupting my lesson plan and forgetting what to teach on each stage. I haven’t worked out even on solution, but I believe it is helpful to practice in front mirror at home.
The best lesson from this classroom is to focus on and intensify my strengths instead of adopting others’ advantages in the period of TESL training. It is better to trust and make use of my excellences, and then for me to stabilize my teaching style. It is a large bonus to learn from other classmates’ strengths, but I probably don’t have time to digest theirs in this very intensive training. In order to be a more qualified student teacher, my best weapon for next two weeks is to put myself in a student’s position as much as I can when I prepare my teaching.
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