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Things You’ll Learn In An Online TEFL Course

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Craig
Craig
6 years ago

What are your thoughts on a student centered program for kids that are more introverted? Does this still work as well for kids that aren’t as inclined to speak up in front of their peers or in a group? I know that as an extreme extrovert I agree that this program would work fine for kids like myself (when I was young), but I wonder if that’s best for kids that are less interested in the social interaction portion, but still have to learn English for some reason or another.

bestteflbro
bestteflbro
6 years ago
Reply to  Craig

That is usually a common talking point when student-centered learning pops up. At one point or another these kids will become adults and it’s imperative for them to develop some type of social skills among their peers. Whether minimal interaction or not it’s good to put them in groups among their peers and utilize the new content to product outcomes to their benefit. A student centered classroom almost guarantees that all of the students will have a chance to practice what was taught rather than the teacher calling on 2 or 3 kids to answer a question then hand out… Read more »

SteveT
6 years ago

Are there any benefits to familiarity with conversational or written language of the students? I find that a bit of language learning delivers a lot of cultural understanding, but it isn’t the only way. Most TEFL teachers I’ve bumped into were in Japan, where I’d learned some spoken language. I think I have almost as much Thai cultural understanding from immersion without much spoken Thai, but it isn’t the same. Thoughts?

bestteflbro
bestteflbro
6 years ago
Reply to  SteveT

In most cases, or at least out here in Asia, our experience has been that trying to communicate with the students in their native language won’t motivate them to speak. If you were to speak Thai to the students it will only encourage them to speak more Thai with you rather than English. Communication would be more effective, but given the 1-2 hours a day you have with them that will be the only time of the day that they will try to speak English. 9/10 of these kids don’t use English once they walk out of the classroom.

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