Teach English in Quxia Zhen - Taizhou Shi

As I have spent time as a volunteer ESL teacher, I thought it would be helpful to reflect on my experiences prior to TELF training and since/ There are definitely things I would do differently in the future on the basis of my newly gained knowledge. I am not certain that volunteering is the correct approach when it comes to this sort of course. It places several restrictions on the teachers and they rely solely on the funding provided by the program. On a similar note, teachers do not necessarily gain any formal training, much of the training is done at their own expense and may therefore result in subpar teaching. I was asked after sometime volunteering in a local church program to teach the level one ESL course. Previously I had been volunteering to participate in conversation with higher level students in order to help them improve their pronunciation and assist them in gaining the necessary vocabulary to complete everyday tasks while living in an English speaking country.I was an inexperienced teacher at the time, but given the right tools, access to course materials, and the prior knowledge of the class, I felt confident I would be successful in taking the additional load. I used course materials provided by the programs coordinator, as well as outside source materials to enhance their experience. The goal of this particular course was to aid them to be able to complete everyday tasks including; mailing letters, shopping, medical visits, and interacting with their children's teacher. I had trouble sticking to the lesson plan provided in the course materials. I found it dull and unengaging. As a result I ventured off the paved path to hopefully engage my class in the work of learning English. I had noticed several of the students had not actually learned the materials but simply memorized the correct response. So there was not any improvement and some of the students had not moved beyond the level one class for this reason. In my attempts to veer off the pathways of course materials, I strayed a bit too far and the students that were behind fell even further behind. But the rest of the class was showing marked improvements with the new adjustments. They were much more engaged in the lessons and more willing to speak durning class time. They became friends with their classmates and spent time together outside of class. This fresh start seemed to excite them and then as a result thrilled me as well. Each week there was a new class assignment which usually involved a little reconnaissance work on their part. Prior to these lessons, they had been leaning on more proficient english speakers to do their necessary tasks, but this forced some independence. I asked each student to keep notes on the various places they went. If there were places or situations where they discovered their English skills were not sufficient, they then had to be prepared to report on those situations in the next class. Wether that meant they spoke to a store clerk or the mail man, they were to document their encounters and report back to the class. As a class we would help them assess what transpired. Another favorite activity was having each student share, in English, a little bit about their lives and interests. From these activities we formed games and role play activities that allowed the students to engage each other and gave everyone speaking opportunities. At the end of the semester, after having expended so much time away from the course materials, I found I had no clear method to take a solid assessment of their overall progress. While they were much more confident speaking, their grammar and composition skills were very much lacking. I knew they would be unable to complete the course assessments and this troubled me. On top of that, the students that I had noted earlier that were so far behind the rest of the class, never showed marked improvement. All things considered the program coordinator was happy with my results as many of the students did move on to the level two class without any significant challenges. Being a volunteer teacher meant that I had limited resources to pursue any further training of my own. In addition, I had to pay for all of the supplementary materials I chose to use. Had I been able to acquire further training I would have been better equipped to correct problems as they arose. I would have been able to stick with the course materials while still keeping the class engaged and excited. I could have made better use of the materials I had access to such as, visual aids, or playing more games geared around the lessons for that week. I would have made some time to work one on one with the particular students that were behind while the rest of the class was studying or reading. I currently feel I have the tools necessary to help students improve their English while at the same time keeping a balance between course materials and outsourcing or improvising outside the established curriculum.