Using what I learned in TEFL

The other day, during Shari's* lesson, I caught myself in the middle of trying to elicit an answer from her. And again, that evening during the lesson with Sophia I found that I was not only eliciting answers from her, but I was also subtly correcting her English by mirroring her. Both eliciting and mirroring are skills I learned from TEFL. The funny thing about each situation was not necessarily the fact that I caught and acknowledged myself using TEFL skills (although that is pretty funny), but that I was actually using them in the first place.

In the TEFL course I went through, one of the first things we were taught was how to "elicit" an answer from a student. As opposed to asking the student outright if they know the answer, (something that is not reliable as more often than not the student will just say "yes") eliciting allows you, as the teacher, to really check their comprehension. As we learned, simple eliciting techniques can be anywhere from asking the student what she did that day, to asking her whether or not what she said was correct.

When I caught myself doing it, I had asked Shari to write "made" and she wrote "mad;" to which I asked: "Really? What does that [poingtingto mad] say?" She then said "mad," corrected herself (by adding the 'e') and we continued on. (Coincidentally, I have caught my Thai teacher eliciting the answer out of us on numerous occations by asking the class whether or not another student's answer is correct. It's certainly weird, and oh so very fun, to be on both sides at the same time!!)

What was really cool (if you'll allow me the use of that slang) was that during the TEFL course it was kind of hard to practice understand what eliciting meant. I wasn't sure that I was going to retain the information. However, looking back, I realize that I've been eliciting answers from students since I started teaching. Somehow, without even realizing it was happening, I really did integrate the information we received in the short four week course. Now, seeing it "in action" is really amazing, and I finally understand how it works!!

The same, if not more, can be said for mirroring: a process of correcting the students. For me, especially in the one on one groups, the hardest part has been to not correct all of their mistakes all of the time. Especially with Shari, who wants to get everything correct every time, I have to remember, especially when she is reading out loud, that she doesn't need to get every word right. It's not only time consuming to do, but it is also really tiring.

The other day I think I frusterated the both of us by trying to be too exact with my correction. I was repeating every single word she was saying incorrectly (which was a lot because she's just learning how to read) and it became pretty cumbersome. I think I was mostly frustrated because I know she knows the material, it just didn't feel like she had made progress that day. Interestingly enough, the next lesson, I found myself trying to correct her by mirroring as opposed to direct correction. I also let many of the words go, and reminded myself to focus on the "target language" (another TEFL skill). Once again, mirroring is something we learned in TEFL and something I did without thinking about it. Instead of correcting the student when she says "Yesterday I go to the market," you say, "Oh, so you went to the market yesterday, how was it?" Theoretically, and in actuality, the student picks up on the mistake and corrects herself, as opposed to the teacher always coming down on the student. Unsurprisingly, mirroring worked a lot better!

This also has been an invaluable lesson for me in terms of the crossover of being a teacher and student. It has allowed me to remind myself to go easy on myself (especially when I'm pronouncing Thai); and has helped me try new things with Shari when teaching her how to read. (For instance, I'm having her read a lot more to herself as opposed to out loud because I've finally experienced first hand what it feels like to be able to comprehend something in your head, but not necessarily be able to express it.) All in all, I think that one of the greatest things about teaching has been to watch, and be a part of, the learning process. Both as a teacher and as a student.



*NOTE: The names of my students have been changed.