ESL Teaching: Keeping the Fire
By Charles Murray
There are times when ESL teachers, much like any other teachers, can question their own efficacy as teachers. This can lead to doubting one’s abilities, as well as feelings of hopelessness about one’s performance as a teacher. Any ESL teacher who cares about giving the best-quality instruction they can to their students will face this dilemma at some point in their careers.
I would advise that if you have found yourself doubting your own abilities as a teacher, you needn’t feel depressed, but rather positive, for the uninspired teachers who do poorly in teaching are the ones who don’t question their own performances. The very act of doubting means that you care about teaching and the education of your students. Questioning one’s progress is the sign of a healthy mind which is trying to grow.
Whenever I hear an ESL teacher say: “I’m just an English teacher,” I always know that person is not serious about teaching. It’s much same when I hear teachers say, “I’m just here for the money, I’m not trying to change anything.” These are uninspired and lackluster phrases which let us all know that teaching ESL to Koreans, or anyone for that matter, is nothing special to you. Hence, your dreary attitudes will be on display to your students, (you can never fool the students!) and they will not look forward to attending your classes. I have queried many students, as well as my Korean wife Myong, about whether their ESL teachers use any class greetings, such as, “How are you today?” or “What did you do today?” and most told us that their teachers, Korean and foreign, never asked them how they were, or what they did on the weekends. Many, they informed us, didn’t even bother to say “hello” but simply told their students, robotically, to open their books to such-and-such a page and began the class.
It may sound trivial to some, small things such as class greetings, and basic questions like, “How is the weather today?” or “What is the date today?” but I beg to differ. Establishing a rapport with your students is one of the most important things a teacher can do. And to actually “care” about what they tell you – that is best of all. Attitudes are contagious; people who emit a negative mood will be received with a negative mood. And nothing galvanizes young minds more than a teacher filled with positive energy and a lust for life.
Humor is an indispensable tool in any form of teaching, and it makes students pay attention with more focus. My eighth grade history teacher was telling us about the Quakers in Pennsylvania in one class, and he went on with grave, deadpan delivery to say, “And, of course, we also had the shakers, the bakers and the takers.” He was so serious in his tone that it took me a second or two to get that he was, in fact, joking. One time, he told us how Daniel Boone, after killing three black bears one after the other armed with just a knife, went home to be horsewhipped by his wife for being late for dinner (which was not true!). My teacher, Mr. Schwamberger, was a livewire for sure, and it was small anecdotes like this that made us students always pay more attention in his class, if for no other reason than to hear what strange and colorful comments he would make.
I’ve found humor to be a great motivator, and I’m always on the lookout for new ways to make my students (1st grade through adult level) laugh. One of my 4th grader’s last names is Shin, so I call him Ee Sun Shin, Korea’s greatest military hero, and the kids love it. When students do well, I say “Oobi doobi” and “ooh-wah” and it gets them energized and playful. I was asked by one of my adult students what Oobi-doobi means, and I told her it was a nonsensical utterance Roy Orbison used in one of his songs. “Ooh-wah” was a shout of spirit we used in the United States Army, which is also used in the same way in Korea, so my wife told me.
It is important to be silly sometimes. German-American sociologist and famous author Eric Hoffer discussed in his book The True Believer how the greatest intellectual minds must have repose, and just be plain foolish sometimes, if they are to keep their minds sharp for serious intellectual pursuits. Albert Einstein and Orson Welles were both known to be hams, (comical, silly people) much to the surprise of many onlookers.
Nothing motivates me more than hearing the laughter of my students as they use English to respond to something I said. For example, in my 5th and 6th grade class, I have a boy that likes to heckle this one girl sometimes (he has a crush on her). I said to him, “Oh, she is your Jaagi!” (sweetheart). The class roared with thunderous guffaws as the boy explained that he didn’t like her. Scientifically, it has been proven that when human beings laugh, their minds are more alert. I told one class that I would create a taekwondo gorilla to defeat King Fu Panda, and then asked them who they thought would win the battle, and they became very engaged, and everyone had an opinion (about 80 percent said my taekwondo gorilla would win!).
If you simply go to your class and teach a given lesson with nothing of your personality added, then realistically, a robot could replace you. What’s the difference? But if you tap into your own sense of humor, and pay attention to what makes your students laugh, you will find that you are, in fact, teaching with fire!
If you do this, you will find teaching an endlessly fascinating and rewarding experience. Learning some Korean is really advised as well. The “English only” school of thought in ESL teaching doesn’t work unless you have very advanced students. If you’re going to teach in a foreign country, take the time to at least learn the basics of your host country’s language. This helps to show the students that you don’t know everything, and that, in fact, they can teach the teacher as well. I speak Korean at a low-intermediate level, and I am by no means fluent in the language, but what I have learned is that by using what I know, my students warm up to me much faster, and are less shy about talking. One day we were talking about potatoes, and the word for potato in Korean is kamja. So I drew a picture on the board of kamja namja (potato man) and the kids laughed heartily. When my pronunciation is wrong, the kids love to correct me, and I encourage this. I want them to know that I am not a great, flawless English teacher, but someone who can learn from them as well. Everything we do or don’t do will affect these kids’ lives, and we can all feel that we did our part if we remember that everything, no matter how small, can have a positive effect.
Photo by MaryKay Severino