TEFL Week 1!

Hello again everyone, William here! This week I started my first week of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). During this first week our professor, Professor Kim, paired us up with our tutees that we will will need to meet with for tutoring sessions multiple times a week. During these tutoring sessions, we will correct mistakes in their construction and production of the English language. Additionally, outside of class I hope to get to know my tutees by taking them to different spots in the Tallahassee area. In class, we learned that a major component of language acquisition is comfortability, so becoming friends with my tutees will enhance their tutoring experience. Furthermore, during our first week we have learned a great deal about teaching styles, grammatical structure, and the relationship between knowledge and skills in language acquisition.

It’s been very strange learning how to teach the English language because it feels as if I am learning a language (similar to how I learned Spanish), only the language is my native tongue. I find myself thinking about whether or not I am speaking “correct” English (AKA prescriptive English – academic language) in everyday speech. The classes are long, but have been extremely engaging, so I am intrigued for their entirety. Lastly, TEFL is equipping me with knowledge of how to make language acquisition settings for SLANG (the Registered Student Organization I will start in the fall) more inviting. For example, we learned about intrinsic and extrinsic motivations the other day in class (having a desire to learn because you are interested vs. having a desire to learn because of the potential rewards). I will employ this knowledge and other information I find useful for the construction of SLANG language exchange events. I am excited for week 2 of TEFL, and to begin tutoring and observing Second Language Acquisition classes next week!