Destroying The Teacher

Author A. C. McLean, in Destroying the Teacher, indicates that fear is a negative factor in the classroom, preventing or hindering students from learning. He asserts that ESL students will learn more effectively if there is a reduction of coercion by the teacher. At the training center where I volunteer, the trainees come from another culture to begin a two-year training program. Prior to coming they have had very little or no exposure to Americans or Europeans. The students come from an Asian educational system which highly uses rote learning and includes the fear of being shamed. One of my main objectives as a teacher is to reduce fear in my classroom: fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of losing respect from the teacher and peers, etc. To overcome these fears I use encouragement and reinforcement to a great extent. I praise correct responses much more than acknowledge incorrect responses. It is not until students are at ease in the classroom that I

When I start teaching the new students in the Beginner class, I use a lot of techniques utilized by the Total Body Response (TPR) method of teaching a language. I learned about these techniques in a book called English in Action by Wally Cirafesi. Cirafesi states that the TPR method reduces anxiety in the classroom because the students learn to view the teacher as one who will be helping them complete the tasks, not challenge them to perform. (p. 12) I have found TPR to be an effective tool to introduce the beginning level vocabulary and to develop a supportive rapport with the students. When using TPR, the teacher models the actions and speech that is being taught, then the students perform what the teacher did or said. Later, the students take the role of the teacher asking the other students to perform the tasks. In my classes the students have fun while doing