So You Want to Teach English, Too?

“I can speak English well and I want to teach this language to others,” a female friend of mine once said determinedly. I smiled but no word sprang from my mouth. This sort of noble intention is worth welcoming. Because wanting to share knowledge and skills with others is really a fine dream. She must be encouraged to make it a reality. For when it has been realized, the pleasure of augmenting income and of seeing significant improvement in language learners is beyond words and imagination. The teacher is pleased; the students are satisfied and more confident as well. In this way the teacher has equipped them with necessary skills to enter a larger community and to enhance their careers.

However, merely knowing the language is not enough to enable someone to teach it. There are some elements which a will-be teacher, whether he is a native English speaker or a non-native speaker, should be familiar with:

First of all, there is the English language itself. This language is of no single variety or dialect. There is the English used in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and so on. Observing it used by American and British, you cannot fail to notice some points of minor differences in spellings, while major differences can clearly be identified in pronunciation, vocabulary, and to a lesser degree, grammar. Whichever, you will have to make sure that you have sound knowledge of its sounds, forms, and structures before you teach. Needless to say, an educated native speaker will not have any problems with all these elements. But for the majority of non-natives, they may become obstacles calling for great efforts to overcome.

As a non-native teacher, you may now ask, “How will I know that I have an adequate knowledge to teach English?” This surely is not an easy question to answer. You have to take an internationally standardized test like TKT module one from University of Cambridge ESOL Examination. But for the time being you can assess yourself against the following criteria. These criteria only show the minimum requirements:

• You can understand an educated native speaker when he speaks on general subjects, using everyday vocabulary and common expressions carefully.
• You can use common expressions spontaneously when needed and can also talk on prepared topics such as for class interactions and classroom situations.
• When encountering non-technical prose written in simple language (such as reading materials you find on this site powered by Triond), you can directly grasp the meaning without translating, except perhaps for one or two occasional vocabulary.
• You can correctly write sentences, short simple letters (business or personal) and paragraphs, especially the kinds of paragraphs you would develop orally for your classrooms.
• You can not only tell the difference between English and your native language, but also have a working command of English sounds-patterns (sounds, stress, rhythms and intonation) and grammar.
• In addition, it would definitely be useful if you know its culture, geography, history, art, social customs, and contemporary civilization.

Secondly there are knowledge and skills pertaining to teaching activities and learning experience. They are commonly known as pedagogy, andragogy and educational psychology. In short, you need to know a sound approach, systematic methods and effective techniques to be employed in your teaching practice.