Teach English in Xinsheng Jiedao - Chongqing

I think the biggest lessons I've learned in this course have been in relation to how one teaches rather than what one teaches. Of course the grammar is important, perhaps the meat and potatoes of what we need to impart to our students, but I thoroughly enjoyed that there was so much emphasis on the art of teaching itself. For example, the concept of an engage stage seemed so foreign to me. This was definitely not a method in practice when I was actively a student. After time however, I began to see the value of waking students up and getting their minds into the right mode before bombarding them with new information. I am especially sensitive to this now as I have returned to Italy after several months away and I notice it usually takes me 5 to 10 minutes to warm up before I can communicate effectively in italian. I often struggle through those first 10 minutes and wonder how I will ever speak this language and then, magically, it all begins to click. It seems almost like stretching, before an exercise class, in that your muscles need some time and some light work so the oxygen-rich blood can arrive in the right areas. I will absolutely incorporate that initial engage stage into my teaching from now on because I have a real sense of empathy for students and their need to adjust to simply being in class. Another effective unit on the art of teaching was the one in which we watched the 2 different classes. It was such a beautiful demonstration of how not to teach. To see what a contrast there was between the two classes was so eye opening. I also appreciated having a visual example of what the pace looks like in an effective class. It seemed to run like a well-oiled machine in which the students were very comfortable with overall layout of the class. They knew what to expect and what the teacher was asking of them. The quick transitions from one activity to another were impressive as well. Most of my teaching will be one on one here in Italy, so I won't necessarily be constructing classes where that feel and flow is so necessary, but I love the idea of trying to incorporate it into my teaching regardless of the scenario. The final thing that made a strong impression on me was the emphasis on increasing student talking time. On the surface it seems like an obvious goal, but I appreciated the repeated emphasis on this point. I also liked the oft repeated suggestion to incorporate a lot of pair work. Having been in my students shoes a year ago, learning italian, I know what a class looks like where there is too much emphasis on learning grammar and not enough emphasis on speaking. One very talented teacher I had, although it took me a few weeks to adjust to his teaching style, had a brilliant way of turning the correction of homework into a speaking activity. We sat in a big circle and if someone didn't answer the question correctly, he would go from one person to the next until someone finally got it right. Occasionally this would go on for 5 minutes, which is a long time in a language class, but everyone had to at least take a stab at getting it right and by the time someone finally did, everyone in the class had spoken two sentences, often off the top of their head. It also added a real layer of humor to the class because he was very dramatic in his praise, or his displeasure, but often like a court jester. Regardless, having that memory in my head, and then seeing student talking time addressed so frequently in the course, made me realize that any activity can be adapted to include students speaking more, and ultimately, this is the real goal of teaching a foreign language. If a new language were a car, the language would be the car itself, but it doesn't do one any good to build this car, and then not have the confidence to drive it. Every time you allow a student to speak in class and utilize what they have learned, you're letting them take their new car for a test drive.