In order to teach English in a foreign country you are not required to speak the language of the local country. This may seem hard to believe but consider the benefit for a second. The only way a student can communicate with you is through English. The students consult their dictionaries to ask you questions, they eagerly consult one another to try to form the right words. It's magic.
In most cases, if you are teaching the wee ones who have very little English experience you will most likely be put in a classroom with a co-teacher who speaks the local language or a teaching assistant will be assigned to you to provide some support. In some cases you may simply be the teaching assistant assigned to several classrooms where you will simply make the rounds.
Even if you do have local language experience, imagine you learning Spanish or French. Imagine entering a classroom where the teacher speaks to you exclusively in the language you want to learn. Imagine your frustration. You might even be so frustrated that you want to quit or you want to get a new teacher. Think about that for a moment and remember that frustration. Your students will feel equally frustrated.
Speak in simple terms. Don't try to impress yourself and your students by speaking in 3 syllable words. Don't speak in long sentences. Simplify your language. Simplify your delivery and slow down your speech and you might even get a smile from your students that tells you, "Hey, I can understand." This is a good feeling.
Here are a couple newbie mistakes.
Teacher enters classroom. Teacher is nervous. Teacher welcomes class and introduces himself. Teacher continues speaking for 10 minutes to tell students where he is from and how happy he is to be in whatever country he is now in. Teacher then continues for another 5 minutes to tell the students what his expectations are. Teacher then tells the students about all the things the teacher wants to do while in x country.
Teacher probably lost the students at hello. Surely there are more interesting ways to present this information to your students. Look at our lesson plan section or do some homework. Some teachers will try the previously described method with students ranging in age from kindy to adults... ouch.
Next, newbie teachers who are nervous often don't stop talking. They just go and go and go and go and go and students lose total confidence. They get scared to say anything when they are inundated with English.
Some teachers who are nervous talk really fast... your students will commonly get the deer in the headlights look. They might even start laughing like they understand and they will shoot nervous looks around at their classmates to see if they understand... no one wants to be the only one who doesn't know what's going on.
I recommend you take a local language course. Find out how difficult it is to learn another language. I think you will quickly find that the empathy you will learn from learning another language will serve you well in your classroom.
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“I have been teaching in Keelung, Taiwan for over 1 year now, and plan to stay at least another. Footprints Recruiting was an invaluable service for me, assisting in many ways to ensure I had a smooth transition. Without their support, moving to Taiwan would have been much more difficult, and my experience much less enjoyable. I have, of course, become friends with other teachers, both in my school and elsewhere, who did not come via Footprints Recruiting. Many had encountered problems, such as teaching at an unprofessional school, visa problems, housing problems, etc. I am grateful I never had any such difficulties. My experience in Taiwan has been wonderful.”
