Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in ChangshA Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Nantong Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Learning English could be quite engaging and at the same time totally challenging for people of different ages. There are many factors that can either stimulate or demotivate a learner. In this essay the role of parents in English learning process and the ways how they can help would be discussed. First of all, it’s essential for both parents and a teacher to understand that their collaboration will have a huge impact on the learning process of a child, a teenager or even an adult whose parents are still alive. When a teacher and parents communicate well, they build trustful relationships and have double influence on a student. There are many examples proving the necessity of the collaboration in my teaching experience. Currently there is a 9-year old student who is significantly changing his attitude to English and stops resisting our face-to-face lessons which he used to hate silently. Thanks to his mom, who is also my former-student, he finds English more and more fascinating and is willing to explain what he wants to say in English. Moreover, he even started teaching his younger 5-year old brother some simple English words. With that said, a parent can help and inspire a student to learn just simply by talking to him/her at home every day, involving more English in a daily life of a student through fun and joy. His mother sets an example for him, plus we always share ideas on how to motivate him more and implement some. She always texts me in English and he sees it. Starting from this month, my student himself started to text me in English. Another good approach for parents is to give a student freedom and independence, especially, when travelling abroad, in particular to English speaking countries. It’s said that the most productive way to learn a language is to live in the country of its origin. An example of the boy and his mother also shows that it works well. During their first trip the student was nervous but mostly silent. The next trips his parents let him interact with others and now he can buy a drink or some food, ask for directions or explain what he wants to a foreigner in English without his parents around. Also, parents can assist a student with his/her homework or constructing sentences in English. For instance, the mother and I decided to find a pen pal for the boy which is always an extremely motivating idea. We helped the boy to write short messages and sometimes translated what his pen pal wrote. Unfortunately, the kids didn’t find a lot in common and their conversation didn’t last long. However, the boy lived through that experience and it’s not an exception that he would look for friends with the same interests on his own. Discipline is another aspect with which parents can help a student. It’s mostly the issue of young learners who are not used to discipline and homework completion yet. My students’ parents who check their homework or readiness for our upcoming lesson contribute to a student’s learning process and with time see good results. Parents can help a student by providing all the necessary equipment such as coursebooks, workbooks, notebooks and essential stationary. It is also worth stating that parents’ approval can influence a student. For instance, my adult student was not successful in English at school but her parents have always wanted her to speak it fluently. She sensed their disappointment and stopped trying to learn totally disbelieving herself. She might have partly overcome the fear of failure and is learning English slowly at the moment. Recent support from her parents has transformed her into a more confident and motivated English learner. To conclude, there are many approaches that can be used by parents to help a student learn English and if they play an active role in his/her life, they will implement the greatest part of varied methods. A teacher can assist parents and give some tips on methodology or extra materials as well as parents can provide essential information about a student character or behavior to a teacher and control the learning process from their side. Caring parents will always help build a very solid foundation in English for the future life of their child and continue encouraging him or her lifelong.
