Statement of Teaching Philosophy
With the advent the Internet, foreign languages become ubiquitous.
People become speakers of another language even before they are aware of it.
Under such a circumstance, students naturally become members of the global
community and are exposed to different languages and cultures. As both an
English as a Second Language (ESL) and Mandarin Chinese teacher, I believe
my role is to help my students develop language proficiency as well as form an
appreciation of the cultures embedded in these languages so that they can better
prepare themselves to become competent citizens in the global community.
As a language teacher, I adopt the 5Cs (communication, cultures,
connections, comparisons, and communities) Standards of the American Council
on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). This statement will briefly
present how I my teaching beliefs are guided by the 5Cs standard and how I will
teach with it as a framework.
The fundamental role of languages is to communicate. Therefore I will
always make communication as the pivot of my teaching. To fulfill my teaching
goal of promoting my students’ communicative competence, I will use task-based
agendas, engage my students in meaningful real-life tasks, and integrate their
development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. In particular, I
appreciate the use of small group work. As a frequently applied form of
communication, my students develop language competence and
intercommunicative skills through reciprocally helping and learning from each
other. The personal and social interactions occur through communication are
even more important than the role my teaching plays.
I believe cultures are inalienably associated to languages. Therefore,
when I teach English and Chinese, I am not simply teaching literacy; instead, I
should also teach the cultures embedded in the languages. For example, before
asking my students to read a passage or story, I always prepare them with
relevant background knowledge. In addition to providing contexts of the work and
its author, this pre-reading activity serves a major role teaching the cultures
embedded in the text. In another instance, I always search and provide the
etymology of the vocabulary as an extension of teaching it. I also encourage my
students to do the same task on the own. Some of them are excited to find the
word tea is one of the few English words that come from ancient Chinese with
international commerce. These types of culturally relevant tasks not only make
the learning process more meaningful, but also help my students to build
personal connections to the text and the language.
Students’ exposure to languages and cultures naturally leads to making
comparisons of their native and foreign languages. I believe these comparisons
are beneficial for forming an insight of language and culture of their own. As a
language teacher, my role should also include developing my students’
1
understanding and appreciation of different languages and cultures. For example,
essays and passages written by native speakers of English and Chinese often
vary in structure and explicitness. It is generally believed that English has a more
straightforward style while Chinese expresses implicitness and tactfulness. By
making comparison and analyzing these and other differences, my students will
finally develop a more through understanding of both languages. In addition to
simply discerning on an article in their second language easy or difficult to
understand, I wish my students could think about the underlying reason that
emerge in making comparisons.
Finally, as a language teacher, I understand that it is imperative to provide
a safe and supportive community of language use for my students. As a nonnative speaker of English, I have the anxiety of using my second language to
communicate even after I acquired advanced language proficiency. In addition,
the sporadic errors and hesitation can still leave me embarrassed in front of my
native English-speaking professors. Therefore, I understand that is natural and
always acceptable for my students to have anxiety and guards on the use of a
second language. On the other hand, I understand that if my teaching is to be
successful, I must ward off my students’ unwillingness and anxiety of second
language use. To lower the influence of these affective factors, I will give
adequate communicative support and sufficient response time to my students. In
other words, I will define my teaching role as a facilitator or the host of a Salon.
Along with this, I will encourage the use of their first languages when I am
teaching. It is unwise to forbid using a language if the language serves for
learning and communication.
2