Teaching ESL is growing exponentially and with it ways in which it is being taught. If you have ever wanted to know what it is like teaching English as a Foreign Language you just might be able to do so without stepping foot outside your own house!
Do you find yourself thinking about taking a year to teach abroad but you're just not sure if it is something that you would like to do? Do obligations at home prevent you from leaving? Do you ever wonder what it takes to be an ESL teacher? Whatever your reasons, if you're just not ready yet to commit to taking that plunge and moving abroad for a year, there may be an alternative.
Access to the internet entails more than simply chatting on line with friends and family. The 21st century has spawned incredible educational growth for individuals across the globe. Internet use now encompasses the opportunity to attend online universities, whilst for others it is an opportunity to take courses in a variety of subjects, including learning English as a foreign language! In a somewhat surprising twist, however, instead of looking at the advantages of learning online allow us to look at what promises to be an interesting method of teaching English as a Foreign Language in the near future.
Companies like New English and Parent Student Teacher Organization (PSTO Network) are calling for English teachers to teach online courses. From correcting papers to conducting classes of up to six students at a given time, it would seem that online courses is becoming a reality for students whose schedules don't allow them to attend traditional in-class institutions. As a result, new opportunities to "travel the world" from the comfort of your own house are being offered to the right candidates. Banking on this technology are companies that are recruiting students and teachers alike, appealing to individuals who prefer this method of education.
According to New English, all you require to get started is the following: OS: Windows XP, CPU: (Pentium 4 or higher), HD: 100MB free space, RAM: 128MB or more, Internet Connection: Cable / ADSL, Sound Card: Full Duplex capability, Head set, USB web camera. While some companies require you to still have a minimum of a university degree, others promise high salary rates not unlike most work at home adverts common in North America. It is impossible to say which are better than others without applying to them directly. However, is it really as easy as it is made out to be to teach online?
Anyone who has ever taught ESL overseas or perhaps even another subject in a classroom in Western Society has inevitably come to experience the difficulties in doing so firsthand. The amount of time, patience, perseverance and skill required by any given teacher can not go unrecognized. Thus it begs the question whether it is possible to maintain the quality of teaching by doing so via a computer screen. Especially since, in South Korea alone, students just beginning to learn English for the first time require a lot more attention than the average intermediate student. A repertoire of mimicking sounds, body language and facial expressions are often necessary to convey even the simplest of ideas. Despite even this, without a Korean-English Dictionary, one can find themselves hopelessly lost in translation. Thus, the concept of teaching English to non-native speakers with little to no English background forces us to question the suitability of doing so by such means.
We need to take into account that online learning and teaching has been successful to date, for institutions such as the Open University, a well-established institution in the United Kingdom, and that online courses are becoming a part of academic reality at other schools, including Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Nevertheless, whether ESL can be effectively taught via this method or not, is open for debate. Despite the reality, that it would seem that online education is something we must accept, it also forces us to ponder our abilities as potential teachers and what skills must we evolve in the times in which we live today in order to effectually teach.
