Philosophy

This first section examines the findings from Sarah’s reflection on her philosophy. She said she is supportive to newcomers coming into Canada to learn English and this has always been at the core of her approach to teaching ESL for many years. Sarah said that this was because of her parents’ experiences when they immigrated to Canada and were only able to work at “random jobs because of their poor English skills.” She remarked, “I wanted to help people like my parents. They’re immigrants. Now I want to help immigrants learning English” As Sarah noted, “it’s a chance to help people.”

In addition to this influence, Sarah also noted that when she made a trip to the country of her parents’ birth, she was “further transformed as a person” because of her realization that her home language (not English) was her “cultural core.” Sarah explained, “looking back, this was the most influential experience of my life. I was thrilled to meet my family and roots. I was instantly captivated and proud of my cultural background.” Further, as a result of many more trips back to her parents’ country, she said that she realized she wanted “to be in a position to help, and encourage other people like my parents who came to Canada with no English.” Sarah then noted that in order to help her students integrate into Canada, she would have to be able to build their confidence when learning English because “they are in a foreign country, which adds to their feelings of insecurity.” She continued, “If I am encouraging and supportive, I see so much more enthusiasm, comfort, and willingness. I think I play a huge role, aside from their peers.” Thus, she said, if her students say “that they really remembered my class and that I supported them and gave them a lot of confidence,” she feels she has done a good job.

Sarah remarked that she must teach a lot of students with a wide range of cultural backgrounds, and so reflected that she must be flexible to be able to adapt to all the different cultural varieties in her classes. She recounted a few examples over the years that always reminded her of her need to be flexible and adapt to a situation quickly. For example, during one semester a few years ago, she said that a new student was suddenly sent to her class in midsemester and “changed the whole environment in the class.” From the moment the student entered, he was much more outgoing than all the other students and immediately “wanted to voluntarily introduce himself” without being asked by Sarah. This was off-putting for her as she had already set up her classroom atmosphere so each student “felt safe and encouraged as they practice their English in a calm and relaxed way.” However, Sarah said that the new student brought more energy into the room, and it impacted the other students in a manner that surprised her. She remarked, “As I started to go about the lesson, their behavior changed, they were willing to participate more. I was even a little rattled because my students were all very active. They’re usually a good class and participate, but it was more.” Sarah said she did not know if this was a good thing or not, but then the new student suddenly “became more withdrawn from that day on.” Sarah said she began to wonder if the “confidence exhibited by the new student that I thought existed at the beginning might have been something I had interpreted wrong.” She continued, “Not that I had that expectation he would be quieter, or did he just become who he normally is?” Sarah said that this was a lesson that adaptability is very important for her as an ESL teacher, so she can change things around if necessary to adapt to her students’ needs rather than her own feelings.

Principles

This section presents Sarah’s reflections on her principles directly related to the teaching and learning of English as a second language, the second stage of the framework. Regarding language teaching in general, Sarah mentioned that as an ESL teacher she takes on the role of cultural expert. Next, she expressed that it was her duty as a teacher to build her students’ confidence in and motivation for language learning. Sarah remarked, “I just want to help learners feel confident. I don’t want to be the person to bring their confidence down. You know I am trying to build, build, build.” She said that she believed that if her students are confident, they can learn more. Sarah noted that this is her most important belief when teaching L2 speaking, and that she has spent most of the past ten years teaching this skill.

Sarah said that she has two main principles regarding her teaching L2 speaking. The first one is that vocabulary development needs to be continually promoted. For example, for a task in which students have to make a list of materials which are needed to make something, Sarah said that she pushes her students to try to create a list of materials of something they are less familiar with so as to help them learn new vocabulary. She remarked, “I see it as an opportunity for them to learn more than just the easy ones.” Sarah’s second principle when teaching L2 speaking is that she believes that students need to focus on their sentence structures, and more specifically to use complete sentences. She said that she believes that this is especially important since her students tended to “revert to using simple one-word answers when they are talking amongst themselves.”

In terms of second language learning, Sarah expressed that she believed that two components are necessary in an L2 speaking class. First, she said that a harmonious and cooperative classroom is best to help the ESL students with their learning. In addition to a cohesive class, Sarah also stated she believed students needed to feel a sense of security and trust when learning a language. She explained, “My approach is always to first gain their trust, that I will not be judgmental, that I will not be critical, only constructive.” Sarah said that this was especially true when she teaches lower ESL proficiency level students because “speaking is a sensitive matter and a source of insecurity for a lot of our lower proficiency level students.” As Sarah expressed, because language learning can create insecurities for learners, gaining their trust and being aware of those insecurities will “help students during the process of learning ESL.”

Gaining her students’ trust as discussed here is in line with how Sarah said that she provided feedback to her students: “I would say I don’t comment on accents or anything like that. I comment more on things that will make a difference in understanding like pausing or intonation or being monotone.” For example, with lower proficiency level classes she said that she “might correct things that I find interfere with meaning or understanding,” but that she does not want to “undermine their confidence.” For higher proficiency level classes, she said that she believed in correcting their grammar errors more because they “already have achieved a certain level of confidence in their ability.” Sarah said that she believed that all second language learning has to do with confidence because “if ESL students have issues with their confidence it is very difficult for them to speak in a second language.” As she further explained, “It’s the confidence thing. So I always think of that as a basis for second language learning.”

Sarah then noted that she always tries to encourage students when she is teaching so that they can do better, and she does this by trying to be “more delicate with my vocabulary and expressing what they need improvement on.” This is how she tries to adapt herself to a situation, rather than berating any students, because she has so much empathy for all her students. As noted earlier, such flexibility comes from her own experience learning her parents’ first language, and Sarah remarked, “at home, I was never judged when I spoke my L2 [meaning her parents’ first language] and made mistakes, and I was always encouraged by my parents.” This is something Sarah said that she reflected on with her students, and she also said that she finds them “inspiring because they are living in a foreign country, learning a language on their own.” She said that she tries not to judge her students if they are not doing well on a presentation or if they are making mistakes; rather, she tries to be empathetic to their different experiences and backgrounds and thus the need for her to be adaptable as much as possible to help them. Sarah said:

Theory

This section presents Sarah’s reflections on her theories of practice regarding lesson planning and delivery procedures and the different choices she made about particular skills to teach or not to teach. When discussing her lesson planning, she mentioned that she writes lesson plans on a weekly basis. Sarah also noted that she is required to send them to her supervisors in the institution where she works. That said, she also pointed out that she does not obtain any feedback on her plans and that she thinks it is just an institutional requirement, “a checklist they check off.” Sarah continued, “They are reading our content, but not from a teaching point of view like, ‘oh, this is a good lesson’ or ‘I think you should put these people in partners.’ Nothing like that. They just tell you, ‘oh I haven’t seen your lesson plan posted. Can you please submit it?’”

Sarah then remarked that in her institution some teachers get together to collaborate and share their lesson plans because of the lack of feedback, and she said that she likes this collaboration. It is important for Sarah especially when it comes to planning for tests and quizzes because supervisors require them to have “the same tests, quizzes, and number of assignments.” However, she said that she does not always plan the exact same quizzes or tests because the students may “reveal the test to the class that follows of the same level because they will take the same test.” So Sarah said that she changes her plans if she thinks they need to be changed.

Following on from this, Sarah said she felt that in language teaching, spontaneity and flexibility with the lesson plan should be welcomed. She said this is important for her because if a lesson task takes longer than she had planned, then she wants to allow it to proceed rather than follow her plan in any fixed manner because she does not want to “disrupt their creative flow.” Additionally, Sarah said that she “mentally plans in the event that the class is getting off topic, I will always try to ride the wave of spontaneity, especially if it encourages them to speak.” She said that she does this because her “main goal in every lesson plan is to have my students practice speaking English.”

In addition, when Sarah plans her lessons, she said that she is sensitive to her students’ abilities and needs. Thus, she looks at the students she will be teaching in each lesson first before making plans, so that they are not overly anxious about what is required from them. Sarah remarked, “Certain things I try to understand first before I demand something of them or before I jump in and try to push them to speak.” She said she tries to get to know her students in detail in the first few weeks of the semester and try to understand their emotional well-being so that she does not try to demand too much, “especially from my sensitive students,” in any lesson plan she writes. Sarah explained, “if a student is shy and I can see that they are struggling, I will either approach them and join their discussion, and prod them, lead them, and then once I feel that they are OK in the group setting, I will walk away.” Thus, she said that she always tries to plan activities that do not pressure her students too much and that she will act “as a guide and supporter” for her students.

Sarah also pointed out that language learning must be interesting for her students, so she tries to plan topics they can relate to so that they remain motivated. She continued, “If their topics are not interesting or relevant to them, then I am not going to get them to be motivated or excited about something.” Sarah again pointed out that her overall goal when planning most of her lessons is to “Just to get them to speak in English, that’s it. That’s my goal because in our program, the temptation to speak in their L1 [their first language] is always just there.” Sarah said again, as noted when discussing her philosophy, that she cannot stop thinking of her parents when she approaches her lesson planning. Indeed, she said that when she first began as an ESL teacher, she asked her parents detailed questions about their experiences learning English as a second language, and this gave her “a sense overall of what students might be looking for in an English lesson.”

In addition, when planning her lessons, Sarah pointed out that the classroom environment is something that impacts all her classes. She remarked, “I carry responsibility for how the rest of the day goes for everybody. If it’s energetic and it’s upbeat, if it’s lively, if it’s encouraged, I think they’ll carry that on all day.” Sarah said that she realized this some years ago when an incident occurred in one of her classes “where a male student from one country suddenly asked a female student from another country, who had a covered face and was wearing a religious dress, why she had dressed like that for class.” Sarah noted that she was “shocked that this was coming up” and “for a moment I did not know what to do.” Then she decided to quickly write the word “religion” on the whiteboard and asked the female student if she would be comfortable answering the question that the male student had abruptly asked her. Because they were new ESL students, Sarah said that she really worried that some students might have been offended by the question, but to her relief the female student stated that she would answer the question. Later, Sarah said that she took the female students who were religiously dressed aside and explained to them, and “I apologized if it made them uncomfortable.” The students said they understood the situation and were OK with it.

This incident caused Sarah to reflect on her own feelings about trying to plan for respect in the classroom, and she said that she decided not to allow any students to be disruptive or rude to her or to other students in her classes. She remarked that as a result of this incident she plans to take any disruptive students outside the classroom immediately so that she can explain quietly that such behavior is not acceptable in her classes.

Practice

This section presents Sarah’s observed practices of three of her lessons during her tenth year of teaching. She noted that for her a typical lesson opened with her creating a harmonious and cooperative classroom that would help her students with their learning. For teaching specific language skills, Sarah said that she thinks vocabulary development is most important for language learning. So she said she develops tasks in each lesson where they discover new vocabulary rather than use the same words that they know all the time. Sarah remarked, “I see it as an opportunity for them to learn more than just the easy ones.” She also said that when teaching L2 speaking, her students need to focus on their sentence structures, specifically when using complete sentences. She said that this is especially important since the students tend to revert to using simple one-word answers when they are talking amongst themselves. In addition, Sarah said that she always tries to incorporate a cultural component in each lesson, but this is sometimes difficult because she is required to follow a set curriculum with an assigned textbook.

For her first observed lesson for her EAP intermediate level students, Sarah said that she was going to focus on vocabulary building as well as going over what they did the previous week. Sarah said that she also planned to introduce a new unit called “skills and talents,” with her main goal to teach the difference between a “skill” and a “talent” in case they were confused about this. She said that she would also try to get them to “talk about their own skills and talents, if they have any, which they all will say they don’t.”

Sarah began the lesson by showing a chart based on the previous week’s presentations. One column showed the positives and another outlined what needed improvement. She shared feedback to the whole class rather than individual students as she expanded on points outlined on the chart. Then Sarah handed out self-evaluations about their own presentation which they were to complete at that time. However, because some students were exhibiting difficulties understanding some vocabulary and what was required of them, she spent more time explaining the vocabulary and the assignment requirements. She then deviated from her original plan and assigned the self-evaluation for homework. During the remainder of the lesson, Sarah was observed to be constantly checking for her students’ comprehension and also used humor as the students talked about their own skills and talents. Excerpt 1 illustrates this.

As can be seen in Excerpt 1, Sarah showed and continued to show great enthusiasm for each student’s personal talents and/or skills as she asked them to share their ideas with the class.

The two observed lessons that followed continued with the same pattern as the first lesson, each starting with a review of the previous lesson, and both continuing with the same topic of skills and talents. Excerpt 2 provides an example from the beginning of the third observed lesson that illustrates this pattern.

As can be seen in Excerpt 2, Sarah attempted to remind the class of where they left off from the previous lesson by reminding them of the topic of skills and talents. She also utilized a PowerPoint slide with instruction notes and page numbers as visual support for her instructions. When her students had completed their activity, Sarah then took up their answers using words of encouragement such as “good” and “excellent,” and she also exhibited her interest in the students by asking follow-up questions about their skills and talents.

In addition, Sarah was observed on several occasions in all three lessons providing students with lots of support as she often circulated the room while they were completing exercises in order to get a sense of their progress and find out if any help was needed. Excerpt 3, taken from the first observed lesson, illustrates such an occurrence. Sarah had just completed instructing students on how to complete the self-evaluations about their presentations and was circulating the room when she noticed that one of her students might have been struggling with the activity.

In Excerpt 3, Sarah noticed that her student was struggling, and so she intervened to provide some support by giving examples of presentation components, using positive feedback, thus giving the student some reassurance. In all three observed lessons, Sarah checked for her students’ comprehension, had them work together in either pairs or small groups, gave positive reinforcement, exhibited humor and enthusiasm, focused on helping develop vocabulary skills, reminded them to write and speak in complete sentences, and used PowerPoint presentations.

Beyond Practice

The following section reports Sarah’s critical reflection beyond practice and beyond the technical aspects of teaching to illuminate a broader outlook that encompasses social, emotional, and interpersonal components of practice. She noted that she always wanted to make sure she is developing and evolving as a person and “a teacher with strong morals.” Sarah said that for her a cultural approach is really a “moral” approach because of her parents’ experiences when they immigrated to Canada, and this had “a big influence on me as an ESL teacher.” She noted that when she was growing up she had to take on different identities, which was confusing at times because one identity was within her home, based on her parents’ culture, and there was a very different identity in her grade school as a Canadian student. Sarah remarked: “So there were lots of things that were very confusing. And now that I am a teacher, I try to keep those at the back of my mind that my students are kind of facing the same battle about who they are, separately, and then who they have to be in class in North America.”

Now, as a result, Sarah said that she builds on the cultural component consciously in her lessons. She reflected, “there are times where I will throw in anecdotal things to express what I might perceive as ‘Oh they are going to misunderstand that because I know that that’s not part of their culture.’” Thus, she noted because she is aware that she herself is continually evolving that she also knows her students are also evolving but in a new culture different from the one they are used to. This was not always the case for Sarah because in her early teaching years she was very “textbook and organized and every day was exactly how I said it would be.” However, because of her experiences she realized that such an approach of teaching the textbook all the time “doesn’t work for me or them” and that it is not what they really need. Sarah said that her initial views probably came from her teacher training, which focused mainly on teaching the skill areas of ESL such as reading, writing, speaking, listening, and grammar. She said that although these are necessary, they are limiting because they “all focus just on the language skills and not the students.” Sarah noted that this is what is usually written about teachers and teaching in the field of TESOL because it “always emphasizes the methods but not who you are teaching.” For example, she said that she finds it more important to “teach the student something about themselves or reach them on a personal level.” Sarah also noted that there is so much more to teaching students ESL in Canada and stresses the need to introduce a cultural component to their development as language learners. She said that it is important for students who come into the North American culture to be able to adjust to and learn about it. Thus, Sarah remarked that students who learn a language must also learn the culture: “to learn a language, you need to understand the culture.” She then reflected that she would like her legacy to be that she “cared about the students’ education and that I cared about them and that they learned something while in my class.”