4ever Discovering
My first semester as an ESL teacher
As you probably already know I am teaching in Taipei! I teach Grade 2 and Grade 3 ESL.
I've been teaching these little ones since August and I have seen HUGE improvements in their English abilities.
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I made a vblog about my teaching here in Taipei, but I didn't really touch up on the actual TEACHING experience. The vblog is more about the activities we do in the classroom and my lesson planning.
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So, I decided to do a little write up to follow the video !
I think I will answer the two questions I get most often:
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- What have been the biggest challenges teaching ESL?
One of my biggest challenges teaching ESL has been making a connection with some students... honestly, it is hard to connect to students when you cannot communicate with them verbally. Using gestures and symbols is fun and all but it is hard to build a teacher-student bond. If they cannot communicate what they like what they don't like- it's hard to plan a lesson based on their interests. The way I've been "overcoming" this obstacle is by just being patient, friendly, and kind. Hopefully those students will eventually open up and start speaking up. Which worked!!! After establishing routines
(and practicing them over and over again) and the students began to feel familiar with the ESL classroom and comfortable hearing English everyday! Most of my students are participating on a daily basic, but I still have that one shy nervous girl that I want to reach, and see that she is comfortable in the classroom.
How are the Taiwanese students compared to Canadian Students?
I guess the most popular phrase will be ..... kids will be kids everywhere.
I came to Taiwan expecting an easy first year of teaching. I thought that Taiwanese children were angels and hard-working.... and some are... but like in Canada and probably everywhere else in the world... some are not! So boy, was I wrong and I'm kind of happy. This past semester has taught me so much about my teaching methods and the strategies that I want to use. I have learnt sooooo much about classroom management and strategies to help students with behaviours. Just like my students, I am learning everyday! Somethings work... and somethings really don't work. I think the main thing I learned this semester was just because it worked with one class... doesn't mean it will work with another. I have 2 completely different classes, and I have to manage them completely differently. So, short answer... kids will be kids everywhere. You have all sorts of students here : quiet and shy, silly and weird, emotional and hyper, and they all put a big smile on my face everyday. (OKAY- almost everyday)
"In Spring, I can see colourful, beautiful Miss B".
"In Spring, I can see Handsome Ryan." (Ryan is holding the whiteboard)
Leave me a comment or a question to answer for my next teaching blog :)
