Funny Things Teaching ESL as a Foreign Language

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Being a teacher in another country is quite challenging, especially if it is our first time teach English in a non-English speaking like China. I have been teaching English as Foreign/Second Language in China for more than 1 year. I am enjoying my life in China no matter how hectic my schedule is especially when it comes to teaching children and helping students to improve their pronunciation. My students are astounding - they are better than older people when it comes to studying English.

One gloomy winter day, while our city was experiencing a cold winter Sunday, We had"COUNTRIES" as our topic. Students needed to know famous food of each famous country and at the same time they needed to know how to call those people living in that particular country.

First, we read our book because there are some line/ sentences they needed to know and at the same time they can formulate their own sentences using the given pattern.

Lesson: Country

China " I am from China. I am Chinese. I love dumplings."
Thailand " I am from Thailand. I am Thai. I love rice."
Brazil " I am from Brazil. I am Brazilian. I love black beans."
Mexico " I am from Mexico. I am Mexican. I love burritos."

My students are great students, they are fast learners. They understood the lesson easily. As part of the lesson plan, assessment is usually given by teachers to test their students. My lovely and clever 5 students needed to say again the given pattern based from the given picture and at the same time they needed to translate the name of the country in to Mandarin (PutongHua) with the great help of my Assistant Teacher.

My assistant pinpointed the name of the country and all students needed to mention the Mandarin of it.

Asst Teacher : America
Students: ... in Chinese.
AT: Brazil
S: ... in Chinese
AT: Japan
S: ... in Chinese
.
.
.
AT: Thialand
S: Teacher, Taiwan is not a country. It is part of China.
(I helped the Assistant Teacher. I mention THAILAND)
S: ... in Chinese
.
.
AT: Hungary
S: "E LA" ( Mandarin of hungry)
Students said their answer in very loud chorus.
(I helped my Assistant Teacher in this part and she translated "Hungary" in to Mandarin.

Teaching language is challenging and stressful however it can also be our stress reliever.