Teach English in Datong Zhen - Chongqing

There is a great deal I have learned from this course. A wide variety of topics have been discussed, analyzed and studied throughout this course and to detail all of them would take several thousands of words! First and foremost I have received an insight into what makes a good teacher and what my role as a teacher will be. I have also learned about the differences of teaching different students; not just different levels and ages but also students with varying degrees of enthusiasm and motivation as well as students with different backgrounds (be it a school class or a group of business people). There is a host of different ways to approach teaching english as a foreign language. Through the years of personal experience built up by various english teachers who have compiled this course, it seems definite that the Engage, Study and Activate method is the most effective, whether it is done in ?straight arrow?, ?boomerang? or ?patchwork? lesson plan format. During this course I have had the opportunity to practice this method and gained experience in preparing imaginative ways to present all stages of a lesson to a class of any level and I look forward to applying these skills when I begin teaching. The complexities of teaching english vary from how to conduct oneself as a teacher and how to manage a class to how to make lessons diverse and interesting at all times ensuring the maximum amount of student interaction, activity time and talking time. However, teaching english is not just about managing a class of students efficiently but also how to effectively introduce new target language, vocabulary and grammar. Not only was this looked at great length but I found the two example lessons on ?how to? and ?how not to? present language to a class very interesting and helpful and it gave me a lot of food for thought for when I start to teach english. Lesson planning is a teacher?s bread and butter as it gives structure and organization which is not only helpful to the students but is fundamentally expected of a teacher. The unit on lesson planning and the practice of this crucial skill is something I plan to put into action from my very first lesson. This combined with the comprehensive examination of how to teach all the skill sets as well as pronunciation and phonology have given me the confidence to apply this knowledge and methodology in all of my lessons. Although I do not know where I will be employed, I am aware that no two schools are the same and resources and equipment will not be available at every institution. With the information I have received during this course I feel certain that I will be able to utilize whatever resources are available and with the additional reading and internet resources provided in some units, I am sure I will be able to keep my classes consistently relevant, helpful and engaging for my students. In additional to all of the above, I feel that the units on grammar have been both thorough and informative and have given me the perfect foundation on which to expand my own personal knowledge of english grammar and how to teach it to different levels of students. In short, all facets of teaching english as a foreign language have been covered in this course and many aspects of teaching that I had not previously considered have been brought to my attention and studied in detail. I found the section on teaching business english and the idea of using needs analysis and needs negotiation before starting a business class, inspiring and I feel ready to take on any such endeavor based on the tuition I have received during this course. As a result I can?t wait to start my teaching career, wherever that may be, and put my new knowledge into effect.