I need to wait ...

After starting the STG program, I find myself worrying about how I teach. Am I doing it the right way? Is it effective? How can I make it better? Are they actually learning something? Etc. Yes, I think too much, which makes life a lot more stressful. Unfortunately, the more I reflect and think about my teaching, the less confident I become. For example, I tried to change my lessons by increasing student speaking time. I’m not that talkative, as you can tell (if you’re in my class), but I have a tendency of interrupting my learners. When they make a mistake at the beginning or middle of a sentence, it’s really hard for me to wait until they finish the sentence to make the correction. So, I end up breaking the flow and I try to get them to self-correct or point out the error. Edit: Actually, after thinking about this for a bit more, it doesn't seem like I'm really breaking the flow because the corrections I gave were pretty concise. I didn't explain the reason why the utterance was incorrect or go on about the grammar rules. At times, the learner asked me why he had to use the past simple with 'two years ago'. And, I think I made the explanantion short and simple. Also, I tried to increase wait-time, but I hate the awkward silence or pause. That’s why I have a tendency of giving feedback right away or asking another question. I have a huge problem giving feedback (positive) too soon! Unfortunately, that prohibits students from giving more extended answers. I need to give my learners more time to think. What annoys me is that even though I’m aware of the changes I need to make, I’m unable to actually make those changes.

One of the reasons I enjoy teaching my adult learners is that they’re motivated to learn and practice. They’re not shy about speaking English. They take classes because they want to improve, and I’m pretty sure they pay out of their own pockets. And the classes aren’t cheap, from what I’ve heard. Because they’re motivated, it’s not difficult to get them to speak. As mentioned before, it’s probably my fault that they don’t give extended answers all the time.

One of my ELLs complimented me this week. He told me that my positive feedback gave him more confidence to speak English. He’s much more comfortable using English. He doesn’t know why but for some reason he thinks he’s able to speak better after receiving compliments from me. It made me feel good about myself as a teacher. I was building up his confidence at the very least!

Something I was pondering about. Is it possible to make a one-on-one lesson not teacher dominated?