Job Discussion Forums

[chrissy76]

I'm just curious to read others philosophy on teaching and "giving back". Do you really have such an opportunity to do so with teaching ESL?

I'm going into the field very soon, and am considering making a career out of it.

Looking forward to reading your responses!

[william wallace]

When I first started teaching in China in 1995 the students hung on every western culture anecdote,but now they often couldn't care less. Also, extraneous grammar rules,etymology etc are not much of interest now-They now just want me to be a sounding board for their practice gab fests.

IELTS is still one area where they do listen (10 years as Examiner and lecturer),and it is a joy to impart knowledge.I've come to find,for myself, that teaching is a sheer joy-As log as I actually do teach.

[wfh]

Selfishly, one of the most satisfying aspects for me is seeing my own progress, trying new methods, my own development as a teacher, gaining experience and knowledge. However that's probably to be expected at this stage, as I'm a relatively new teacher.

When it comes to the students, well, for me the satisfaction comes from seeing them develop over time. Due to the set-up of my current job I honestly don't know how much impact I have as an English teacher, aside from the few I get to focus on (at their request) but seeing them grow and change, and building a relationship with the students gives me great satisfaction. There's a huge turnover of staff at my place of work, and one of the most important parts of my job is that I feel I give them a sense of continuity, and they know I'm committed to them. Gaining their trust and confidence, and building the teacher-student relationship is a really satisfying part of my job.

[Lhenderson]

[Jetgirly]

I teach in a public school, and my ESL responsibilities are as follows:

- Fifty-five minutes of ESL every other day, to four Korean students in Grade 8. They are considered to be Level Two (out of five, on a locally-developed scale)
- Fifty-five minutes of ESL every other day with one Grade 4 student from Uzbekistan. He is considered to be Level One.
- Normal ESL responsibilities in the context of teaching regular junior high Language Arts and Social Studies (ELA and SS are combined into seven fifty-five minutes periods per grade per four-day cycle), which is approximately nine ESL students per class of twenty-eight. Most students are Levels Four or Five, a few are Level Three.

When I read this question, I initially thought, "My work with the Korean students is definitely the least rewarding. Why? Hmmmm... I think it's because their English level is so low that our communication is really basic and, frankly, boring." But then I thought about my most rewarding work, and it is with the Grade 4 student, who has the lowest English level. So clearly it's not the depth of our communication. I realized it's just that with the Korean students it's give-give-give... I put so much effort into planning engaging lessons, finding authentic, relevant resources, hitting on multiple intelligences, differentiating for interests and levels, etc... and the students are content to just sit there. They are "international" students who have been sent to Canada by their families to get a Canadian education. Maybe they resent being sent here and they're responding by doing nothing. I don't know. However, the Grade 4 student, and the students in my ELA/SS classes (even the junior gang members from Vietnam and Lebanon [those are the only real countries with organized gangs here]) give BACK. They participate in class. They say good morning to me in the hall. They're open to student-centered learning (which, by law, is how I must run my classes). It is SOOOO rewarding to see students ENJOY learning. I choose a lot of resources connected to immigration, cuture and national identity to connect with my ESL students in Language Arts, and it's SOOO rewarding to see students take something from that short story, novel, play, movie, painting, whatever. Just the other day I had a student from Brazil say that he wouldn't want to be served at McDonalds by an employee wearing a turban. This was in response to a short story he read in a group... which included students who had close ties to the Sikh community. Hearing them work through their issues warmed my heart. You WILL do good work as a teacher... but you can only do so much. Don't blame yourself if it doesn't work out with a certain group of students.

[Mike_2007]

I work with adults. Most of them have their lessons paid for by their employer and one or two of them don't really care too much about impoving their English skills. The vast majority, however, are very eager.

Obviously, the ones who are chosen for my courses are the ones who are in positions at work which require them to use English with some degree of regularity. This means that they can actually put what they've learnt in the classes into practice.

From time to time one of them will receive a promotion to a job where English language skills are of primary importance and you know that you've helped them towards that goal in some way. Many of them travel on business and it's extremely rewarding when they come back and tell you how well they managed with their newly-acquired confidence in English.