Job Discussion Forums

[struelle]

Has anyone seen notable changes in your students, especially if you're in contact with them over a long time?

I'm quite amazed at the maturity level of some of my senior students now, compared to the beginning of the school year. I teach many classes so I don't see the same students often, but several individuals stand out as having matured a lot.

The most remarkable changes I've seen are major increases in self-confidence, especially in using English. It is very nice to see students who now can confidently express themselves to a native speaker, use creative ideas, take their own initiative to learn, and recall new language from previous lessons (ones that I long ago forgot). In many cases, these were the same students who were quiet and shy at the beginning of the term.

My role as an English teacher is very limited in the big picture of the school system where at, but I feel I've helped inspire confidence in these students. Given that the school system here does the opposite, like in most of East Asia, it is nice to see a change for the better.

Just my 2 cents,

Steve

[Mike_2003]

I certainly see clear changes in my students, but as I teach one-to-one that's not so surprising. As you suggest, the biggest leaps seem to be in confidence; just making them believe they can deal with situations in English rather than passing the problem down to their subordinates. On this issue, I've just taken on a new student, a top level manager at one of Turkey's biggest banks. His English is excellent but he lacks in confidence. It'll be interesting to see how he develops over the coming months.

Mike

[dmb]

I've had the same class for the past 7 months. Now we know each other better they try to take advantage of my good nature. Ty to get out class early, coming late, mobile phones, etc. They also seem to be more immature, but this might be because they were a little bit reseved when they started. Still, one more week to go and they all get sent to the factories.

[ls650]

[Wolf]

There's this one freshman class I've taught since September. When I first got them, they had never had a foreign expert teacher before, or even seen a foreigner up close before. They were shy to talk, and have stilted answers. Now, class participation is almost universal, the use of Chinese during group assignments is dying away, they aren't afraid to speak their minds in class. Their spoken English has improved as well, in many cases.

It's great to see. I'd love to be able to see them through the next three years until they graduate, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen.

It's still rewarding though.

[Roger]

Confidence? How do we measure it?
And, why do our students lack confidence in the first place???

This is a claim often made here - our students acquiring "confidence" as a consequence of our sympathetic work.
I don't want to downplay anyone's contribution here, but as a teacher and a multilingual student myself I wonder whether a ESL teacher has the key in his or her hands to instill in their students more self-esteem. I rather doubt it though I agree that we temporarily lift their timidity. But timidity is NOT what ails our students - it's a mental condition analogous to depression - a total inability of relating to others, of being spontaneous, of responding naturally.
This is a problem that therapists should tackle, not teachers.

We can help by identifying the cause of this crippling lack of self-confidence.
One cause can safely be eliminated: It's not the foreignness of English. It's not English at all. The lack of self-confidence in students extends to all subjects. If we succeed in making our students feel "good" during our lessons, this does not mean we are empowering them permanently. They will feel as bad once they have to prove themselves in the presence of their own teachers, or in the presence of other foreigners.
This is nothing but battling symptoms, not eradicating the cause.

The lack of self-confidence should be tackled at a far earlier stage, namely at grade 1, and it should be done by their teachers. Most of their teachers lack tact in dealing with students, they don't treat them as individuals, and their education system doesn't foster a sense of excellence, but rather it worships the communitarian ideal of "all together, no one standing taller than anyhone else".

Their own teachers set a very bad example by never using English in a meaningful way. To me, this is a sign of immaturity and lack of seriousness.

Their teachers need treatment much more badly than these students!

[denise]

Roger--It sounds like you're referring to students who have as a general personality trait low self-confidence. Maybe some of the other posters were referring to students who, outside the classroom and in their own language, are perfectly social, chatty, able to form and express opinions, etc., but who clam up in the language classroom. These students (the latter) CAN be helped by teachers, and I do feel that teachers can claim some degree of credit for bringing these students out of their shells.

I have seen changes--students who initially showed a good work ethic but who doubted themselves and just wouldn't speak, but who now come up to me at parties, in the hallway at school, etc., and initiate conversations. It has happened with a couple of students in particular who have made it through my program and are now taking college courses--maybe making it all the way through gave them the confidence to open up and trust their own abilities. (And since they're no longer in my program, I certainly do not want to take any credit. The students I'm thinking of had the ability all along, but didn't trust themselves.)

d

[Echo]

I happened to be covering a class today for a teacher who was ill, and one of the students was a girl who was my student when I first started here, a little over 2 years ago.

Now, I remember (lets call her Mary) as a shy, introverted 18 year old who was staggering through pre-intermediate mainly because she religiously memorised grammar rules and could cite them verbatim, as well as fanatically listing the Chinese definitions of all English word that she came across. In fact, she could compose a far more literate text-message than I, and in less than half the time. Asking her to communicate ithrough a medium other than her thumb, however...

This afternoon, however, she was active, vocal and even able to go against the group consensus - and state her reasons why! She was easily the best student in the class.

When I was her teacher before I never doubted her potential, just her willingness to reach it. Now she is doing so, and I was blown away. I like to think that all the times I told her "You can't learn to speak English unless you choose to speak! Don't be afraid of making mistakes..." etc. had at least a small effect on her (outstanding) progress.

It makes me wonder what has happened to so many of the others I've seen...