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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Uneasy...
Uneasy...
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mari3lla
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Uneasy...
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I �m Mariella. I �m an ESL teacher from Italy. I think I need your help to feel more self-confident with my English. I was really good at it when I was younger and I graduated and then I had experiences abroad and I could practise it. But now...I �m not so young, I �ve three children, separated, and as a teacher I �ve just the money to arrive till the end of the month and I can �t think of a journey or of a course.
When I teach I feel pretty good (my students are 11-14 yo) but when it happens that I have to face mothertongue speakers...well, just the words can �t come out of my mouth (I �m also rather shy) and I feel stuck and uneasy.
Please, I need your advice: what can I do?
Thanks and a big hug, Mariella
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3 May 2012
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libertybelle
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Find someone on Skype and speak together.
Practice makes perfect and I �m sure no one is judging you.
We are often too critical of ourselves - that �s the greatest hindrance!!
good luck
L
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3 May 2012
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olaola
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...I know that in some towns there are english speaking clubs, where people meet to speak in english and get to know each other... you could join one of them, if you are so shy as you say, trying to speak to someone you don �t know on the web might be difficoult... |
3 May 2012
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almaz
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Mariella, I had the same problem with French: I taught it in mainstream for 20-odd years but found that the longer I saw the language as simply a �job � rather than something I genuinely found constantly challenging and fascinating (as in the early years), the less confident I was when speaking to native French speakers. I �m not a particularly shy person (dammit, I used to see myself as the life and soul of any party in France when I was a student). About half-way through my teaching career, I started teaching English (EFL) privately, as well as French in the secondary - as a result of which I found that the one informed the other, and I saw how problems establishing and maintaining any level of fluency and accuracy in a foreign language were common to all of us, teacher and students alike.
I gave up teaching French some time ago to concentrate on teaching English, my mother tongue, to the best of my ability, but, oddly perhaps, because of my experiences as an English teacher, I now find that my thirst for the French language has been revived and I �m perfectly happy to speak, read and even write French without feeling remotely embarrassed or inadequate - although I am perfectly aware of my shortcomings. Being interested in, and being able to effectively teach, your own language does have its advantages when teaching (and learning) a foreign language. |
3 May 2012
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languaria
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Hi Mariella,
is there perhaps an adult education center in your town? They normally offer really cheap educational leaves during the school holidays (1 week = 5 days = 40x45min - in my school you would have to pay 110 � for such a course). With a little luck you catch a course with a native teacher. You are forced to speak English all day long on an advanced level and you will overcome your shyness because all the other students are esl-learners, too.
Have a nice weekend, hugs,
Petra
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3 May 2012
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blunderbuster
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Petra, the native speaker is not always the better teacher. My English classes are better than my German classes..... ;o)
Mariella, listen to online radio (like NPR), that will keep vocabulary from disappearing. Also, have you thought about initiating an English table in your region?
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4 May 2012
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mari3lla
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Thanks everybody for your encouragement and your precious advice.
Have a good weekend, Mariella
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5 May 2012
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