“I’m insecure, and you’re only making it worse.”
Teaching ESL is sometimes a difficult balancing act. We must understand the point to which we can push our students, and consequently the point at which we must back off. Generally, students can comprehend much more than they give themselves credit for. As a teacher we have the responsibility to get the most out of our students, and to spur them on to the success that we believe they can achieve even when they can’t see it yet.
BUT…
There will always be students out there like me. Students who shut down when they are forced to be more vocal than they prefer. As a child, I would have rather had my right arm chewed off by a rabid monkey than to speak in front of my class. I was terrified and paralyzed by the prospect of opening my mouth. As an teacher I can now look in retrospect and confirm what I was thinking all along those many years ago at Centerville Elementary School: An attempt at forcing some students out of their shell is actually counterproductive.
Granted, some will be all the better for such prompting, but not all. It is a given that in a language classroom, there will be some amount of required speaking. But we as teachers must know and respect that line where, when crossed, we alienate our students because they are not comfortable.
Don’t put them in an awkward situation. Your students won’t (usually can’t) tell you: “I’m really insecure, and you’re only making it worse.”
Go to the next:
What They’re Not Telling You (3 of 10)
