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Educators play an enormous role in contributing to growth and development in the world we live in. Not only do they come as superheroes who stand in front of the classroom but we have them in every learning environment including boardrooms. However, this summative task will dissect ways ESL teachers can build confidence in the classrooms. Psychology Today describes confidence as belief in oneself, that one has the ability to meet life's challenges and to succeed—and acting in a way that conveys that belief. Being confident requires having a realistic sense of one’s capabilities and feeling secure in that knowledge. The sense of security as a teacher comes from a number of daily rituals that include; planning ahead, cultivating a life of studying, knowledge of national educational policies, being patient, networking with other educators and being part of trade union; 1. Planning Ahead As an ESL teacher, regardless of the ages that you teach, its very vital to plan teaching content earlier in advance. This allows room and time to organize appropriate teaching and learning materials for the students. The process can include printing and laminating visual aids, worksheets and finding more engaging content like video and music, to draw students attention. 2. Cultivating a life of studying There is an old proverb when translated from the Shona language means studying never ends. This is true and applicable to the life of a teacher. Everyday comes with its own hurdles, so as a result teacher should constantly read and research to find out ways they can be better in offering impactful lessons and solving problems that arises in the classroom. Through reading, they will be able to know how to build a metaphoric triangular relationship between themselves, students in parents (applicable to kindergarten and young learners). 3. Knowledge of educational policies Policies are set of frameworks set to govern and protect certain areas of interest. They often different from country to country that one may reside and work in. From the context of an ESL teacher, its very important to request and familiarize with the educational framework of the country (China, Thailand, Czech Republic, Cambodia) they could be teaching as its not the same with their place of origin. For instance, in China, kindergarten kids are not allowed to learn phonics in public schools until they are in elementary school. As a result, ESL teachers will need to be mindful when teaching phonics to students since its their first time ever learning it. Furthermore, knowledge of educational policies will also help teacher to effectively plan lessons that are effective and important for the level of students being taught. 4. Being Patient Teachers need to understand that students are different and as a result, their learning capacity wont be the same. When care is not taken, teachers tend to be hard on themselves as they would like to see their lesson objectives being met by students. Teachers should never feel ashamed to come up with new strategies, activities and games for the class to drill the vocabulary. This process can only happen if teachers reflect and record the outcome of each lesson.
