MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

by: Betzaida Ortiz

Learning English as a Second Language has become a challenging tasks for the students now-a-days. They hardly understand the need and the importance of learning a second language. Therefore, teachers must encourage the students to understand the importance of learning a second language and have them look at it as a need for many opportunities in our society.
My teaching philosophy is to foster learning. Learning takes place in many different circumstances. Although everyone is capable of learning, a student's desire to learn is a vital necessity to effectively mastering new concepts and skills. Humans have multiple learning styles: some learn best in lecture atmospheres, some are motivated by discussion, and others absorb best when the lesson is more practical and leads the students to use their creativity. The classroom setting can encourage or reduce learning depending on the dominant learning style of each student. Accommodating different learning styles creates an atmosphere that is beneficial to learning. Students take many of their learning habits from the teacher. If the teacher doesn't show interest in the subject and a passion for learning, students are less likely to put forth the effort to learn in that class. A teacher must convince students of his or her knowledge and capability before they will show a willingness to learn.
My job, as a teacher, is to create an atmosphere that fosters learning. I am a teacher because I have a passion for guiding students through the learning process of ESL and I enjoy going through different experiences day after day. One of the best ways to foster ESL learning is to demonstrate those feelings to my students. I encourage learning by creating a relaxed environment for students, stimulating conversation about concepts being presented and organizing material in a way that makes it easiest to understand. I believe that becoming a facilitator makes learning fun and entertaining and will help the students interact with each other and feel more confidence towards the ESL learning process. Therefore, I make sure should emphasize that everything students are learning fits together to their understanding of the real world. Finally, I believe that respect for my students is one of the most important things I can show, not only to encourage their openness to the material I am presenting, but also to inspire them to respect each other and all other humans.
One of the most important concepts I hope to impart to students is that learning is a process that never ends. For me, the learning process includes improving myself professionally. I want to learn more about formal learning theories to expand my understanding of how learning takes place. As I continue to give classes and always having on mind the different population of students received at schools every year, I intend to improve my difficulty and confidence in front of classrooms and be able to experiment with different methods and means of presenting information to my students in order to improve their learning atmosphere and be able to make the difference in a particular way in the life of each and one of my students.