Teach English in Dongcheng Zhen - Changsha Shi

The world is becoming a global village and as English is an official language for many of the countries, it is a need for people to learn English in order to be able to make communications and networking. While learning English, it is important to get a good teacher using good teaching methods. However, it is not an easy task to teach or learn English in a country in which people mainly use their mother language which is not English. In Myanmar, likewise, there are many obstacles for students to improve their English language skills even though English was taught since their kindergarten. Myanmar formal education system is a teacher-centered education and it becomes an obstacle for the students to learn and improve their English skills. Even though students have been learning English throughout their student life, for most of the students, their English skills are not reach to a certain level of satisfaction because of the education system. Until now, many of the classes in the school use the method of teachers explaining the lessons and students listen to it. Then, students read all the lessons word for word by-heart in order to be able to take the exam. There is no creative thinking and practicing the knowledge that they’ve gain from school. Thus, it is difficult for the students from Myanmar to be able to improve their English language skills through formal education system. Currently, the government is gradually changing the education system from teacher-centered to student-centered education but it will take time for both teachers and students to get used to it. One option for solving this problem can be having more ESL classes as non-formal education. Moreover, lack of resources such as teaching aids and teacher trainings are also a huge challenge for the teachers in order to train the students affectively. Many of the classes in state schools still use only test book for their students to teach English. The schools do not provide other teaching aids such as visual learning tools and audio machines. Many of the English teachers used to teach with teacher centered approach and it is a need that they are trained to teach with student centered approach and to develop the ability to use different teaching aids. Moreover, teachers’ trainings are also in need so that the teachers can be more creative and the lessons are more affective. Non-government organizations in the country are providing free ESL trainings but they can reach only to few areas. If the teachers are being trained or if the students can join the ESL classes outside of the school, the improvement of their language skill will be speed up. As there is a saying, “Practice makes perfect,” another factor which block the students for improving their English language is lack of practice. As a Myanmar community, students only use their native language in their daily life. Thus, the students do not have much opportunity to practice English and the language skill that they develop during the class. Because the students do not get to use the knowledge outside of the classroom, it is easy to forget the lessons that they were taught. It is important that teachers and parents to develop a channel for the students to practice their language skills both inside the classroom and outside the class as well. All in all, students and teachers from Myanmar still have many obstacles to overcome in order to improve their English skills and teachers also have to upgrade their teaching skills especially by joining the teachers training, utilizing of teaching aids and developing the culture of student-centered approach. It is not only a duty of students to try hard but also the responsibility of the teachers, parents and the government to provide a quality education to the students.