An English Teacher's Experience as a Student at AIEP • American Institute for English Proficiency

English as a Global Language

English is a global language. In every country worldwide, it is guaranteed that we will always find someone who can speak English, making communication so much easier. Many individuals from non-native English speaking countries enroll or attend trainings for English language classes because they feel that they lack adequate English language proficiency. They also feel that even if they spend time to visit an English-speaking country, they are not able to notice much improvement in their skills in using the English language.

Different Learners, Teacher Adaptation

Generally, I noticed that kids and adult English language learners are highly motivated to learn English. Based on my experience as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher, these learners enroll in on English classes voluntarily. I really noticed that they have supportive family members who extend their help in learning the English language. As a teacher, I need to consider that these learners come from different backgrounds and have different proficiency levels in English. I also need to be patient as these learners progress differently in any language skill. Within the course of learning, they slowly become confident in using English words in phrases, and then finally, being able to construct simple sentences.

Understanding Key Concepts to Teach English

In my experience, what stood out were the topics on the eight parts of speech and the comprehension activities. Having a good foundation on the eight parts of speech helped me identify grammatical errors in a sentence easily. When we know the role on what each part of speech plays in a sentence, it will help us understand the sentence better and punctuate it correctly. This will show us how the words relate to each other in a sentence. Comprehension exams, on the other hand, helped me improve my ability to process the given auditory information. One of the necessary component skills in reading and writing development is our ability to listen to spoken language.

Reading as Essential Element

Reading English language requires a great deal of effort and determination on the part of the learner if he or she has less or no reading habits. For learners who have this keen desire to improve their English skills, they must have the habit of reading. Reading newspapers, for example, will help train our brain to be mentally active. Comprehension adds meaning to what a person is reading. When I give this activity to my students, I always remind them that their skill in reading comprehension will happen only when the words read are not \ just merely words that they see in the text, but they should read the words as thoughts and ideas. To check if the students understand what they have read, they will be asked to answer questions pertaining to the what I asked them to read. Once comprehension is integrated, reading becomes more fun and enjoyable.

Information Access on the Internet

There was no internet access yet in my middle school days, so I know that I was missing out a lot of information. We only used encyclopedias back then, and as years went by, these encyclopedias become outdated. Today, online classes are made possible because of internet connection. It is a fact that internet usage has become unavoidable in our lives at present. We find it very comfortable to access any information that we need. Access to information becomes unlimited; however, we need to use our internet access appropriately. This will help us make our lives easier and allow us to improve our quality of life.