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Teach English in ShuAngdian Zhen - Nantong Shi

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How to help students to overcome stress when they learn English Robert Rierson Stress as defined in a medical or biological context is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness or from a medical procedure) (https://www.medicinenet.com) . It can have a huge impact on how we learn and our ability to process information. An effective teacher will provide ways for their students to overcome the effects of stress as they teach thus facilitating the learning process. In this essay, we will discuss how the learning processes can be facilitated by the reduction of stress in students. While illness or medical procedures can effect learning, to the English learning environment, they are external factors that cannot be eliminated in the learning process. We can do our utmost to ensure a healthy learning environment but student illness is not something the teacher can affect. Here we will concentrate on factors that the teacher can provide assistance and management control over. First and foremost, it is necessary to provide an environment that encourages rather than discourages the learning process. Second, the teacher should assist the students to identify physiological factors that cause their stress and determine ways to mitigate their effects. Finally, the teaching environment should provide a social situation that is welcoming, warm and friendly. When these factors are used together, they can effectively reduce the students stress and provide an environment that facilitates learning. In many cultures in the world, learning is accomplished through shame-based teaching. The students are discouraged from making mistakes based on a shame-based methodology and thus learn correct answers. While this teaching method is used throughout the world, it is not the most effective method of teaching and can actually impede learning, especially in a language classroom where vulnerability is a necessary part of learning. In order to provide a helpful learning environment, the teacher should provide a “safe” classroom where encouragement to succeed is the rule rather than the exception. This can be accomplished through encouraging feedback and discouragement of “making fun of” or “put downs” from fellow students. The teacher should constantly encourage the students to try, to fail, and to learn through their failure. The teacher should set this example and expect it from all students in the classroom. As I teach my students, I use the example of a child learning to walk. A baby doesn’t wake up one morning and instantly start walking upright just as an English learner doesn’t instantly start speaking English like a native speaker. There is a process of failure, of trying and trying again. A baby first pushes itself up, then it learns to crawl. It will fall and fail many times in this process. Finally, after a multitude of failures in crawling, it will push itself up and take its first step. It should be noted that the first step is literally that, a single step, before the baby falls down again. Only through repetition of failure, do the muscles, balance, feet, legs, arms and the whole body begin to work in cooperation and in that process, the baby actually walks. The analogy is similar when learning English or any language. Practice, repetition and failure are all part of the learning process. Just as the baby is supported and encouraged by its father, mother, or family, so must the English learner be supported and encouraged to try, fail and try again. While there are other methods of teaching, a safe, encouraging and accepting place where failure is not the end but the means to the end is the most effective way to reduce the stress of learning. Second, it is important for the teacher to recognize stress factors in the students and assist the students to recognize those factors so that they can take action to mitigate the effects. While this is a skill which is important in managing the classroom, it is also a life lesson that when students learn, they can apply to all aspects of their lives. In the education process, stress in the form of anxiety, worry, lack of attention, headaches, upset stomach or other problems create impediments to learning. It is important that the teacher help the student recognize the triggers for stress and find ways to navigate through the moment. Outside the classroom, the students should get plenty of rest, eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and make time for relaxing activities, hobbies, interests, etc. Inside the classroom, the students must keep positive attitudes, accept failures and their own imperfections, learn and practice relaxation techniques, etc. (https://my.cleavelandclinic.org) The teacher can assist with this by starting classes with breathing exercises to help relax and calm students. Assisting the students to recognize stress factors and then immediately taking action to mitigate the effects will provide life lessons to the students. Finally, it is important for the teacher to provide a social atmosphere where students feel at ease, at home and relaxed. This can be accomplished by using humor to defuse a tense situation. By providing a home like environment that is safe for failure, the teacher creates a social atmosphere and helps the students reduce stress from external sources. Care must be taken to not develop dependencies where the student becomes dependent on the teacher however. This can serve to limit the learning experience for the student and may cause permanent harm to the learning. Stress, when used correctly can be a motivating factor causing one to affect change for the better. Stress when used effectively can create positive change. A perfect example of this is when coal, exposed to heat, pressure and time (stress), is turned into a diamond. However stress in a learning environment is more often destructive rather than creative. Teachers must be aware of student stress factors and create ways to reduce and eliminate these factors for an effective learning process.


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