8/14/2019 My ESL Teaching Philosophy

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Mr. Tiger

PSE 6699: Capstone in Post Secondary Education

Dr. McNellis

April 28, 2009My ESL Teaching Philosophy

As both a teacher and a student, my most satisfying teaching experience in classroomcomes from a disciplined relationship between the teacher and the students. The learningenvironment that the teacher fosters in the classroom with plenty of materials, demonstrations,and discussions to tie the lessons into the needs of students in their daily life, I believe, developsthe essential relationship. When the teacher knows how to motivate learners; how to address their curiosities; and how to lead them towards subject matters in language teaching that enhanceseffective learning. A successful teaching eventually makes the teacher satisfied in his or her

profession as well. I, therefore, believe teaching means to expand learners local knowledge the ideas and background knowledge to their mutual advantages in their social world. As anEnglish as second language (ESL) teacher for undergraduate English classes at the University of

Nepal for a couple of years, I have earned an experience in teaching. I also believe that effectiveteaching is not only to communicate the content (what) but also to help the learners understandthe process (how) and rationale (why) of their learning.

For me, language teaching is an interesting job. It helps the learners connect their viewsand or thoughts with the family, the community and the whole world. Language has power whenone uses it in social domains. In this regard, language teaching can connect and separate, liberateand oppress our social world. I believe the purpose for language teaching should be to educate,not to school learners. I taught courses like English Communication, Introduction to Linguistics,Computer Assisted Language Teaching and Literature for Language Learning. In my shortexperience of working with English as second or third language learners in Nepal, I alwaysfound them excited to learn English language. These courses provided my students anopportunity to exercise language learning items using technology in which students individuallycarried out a small project work on various assigned and independent topics, for example, how towork with multimedia, especially sound files with English native speaker accent. They not onlylearnt the various linguistics and grammatical concepts but also developed skills on how to use

language eventually as a tool of communication in the school and the outside practically.Upon arriving to Troy University as an international student a year ago, I got a wide

exposure to English learning environment among native speakers of English in the classroomand the outside, and that gave me an insight to understand language repertoire in formal andinformal settings. Besides, my English language classes at Troy have further widen myunderstanding of language acquisition and pedagogy that the teacher uses in non-native setting.Working with international classmates and colleagues as a team work and or a group work, I

8/14/2019 My ESL Teaching Philosophy

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earned a noble experience about how a teacher successfully links up his or her experience,subject matter and learning pedagogy in the limited time of the class. In addition to Englishcourses, I also learnt how a mentor blends students experience, backgrounds and culturesskillfully in terms of learning styles, materials, goals, needs and contexts of the learner fromthose education classes I took at Troy. Now, I have further developed a roadmap from the classes(both taken and observed) at Troy about how to integrate my experience, skill and effort to bringout the most practical usage of language teaching and learning in the context of Nepal.

In my reading, I found that exams and home works in language communication classesshould not come directly from the text books. Rather these works solely depend on how andwhere the learners produce the most appropriate language usages in the class, the community andthe work. I understand the teacher should bridge the gap between the goals of class and needs of students in any language class. The most unacceptable teaching experience of mine in theUniversity of Nepal was the traditional national level examination system in the undergraduateand graduate programs. I never found any appropriate coordination between the teachers and theBoard to evaluate students actually proficiency of subject matters. Instead, the students alwayswere given tremendous pressure to prepare these exams, especially by rote learning andmemorization. By contrast, I was thrilled to find professors at Troy as autonomous persons in theoverall evaluations of students achievement throughout the semester. Also the students wereexpected to present their scholarly and practical understanding of the subject matter rather thanwriting directly from the text books.

In this context, I believe the job of language teacher is to provide opportunities for students to use language and to understand how language is used by others. And I believe thatuses of language and the consequences of its uses should be enjoyed, explored, and critiquedthoroughly in the classroom and beyond. For these goals, our teaching pedagogy has the

potential to build the bridge between what the learners have and what they need for next level of understanding.

I also think that language teaching lessons should be meaningful using technology thatfits into language production and usage so that learners motivate to learn. In this regard, my goalof ESL teaching for my students in Nepal is that they be inspired to employ language creativelytoi) use language for social purposeshome, community, business; ii) understand howlanguage and individuals undergo through cultural and social processes; iii) examine andevaluate all forms of language (written, spoken, heard and viewed; and iv) understand theinfluences of technologies on languages, individuals and cultures.

Thank you.