Question:
A friend of mine is going abroad to teach ESL but has no experience or
training. If you could recommend one book for her to take as a resource
book for teaching ESL, what would it be?
Answer:
I get this request all the time! Folks wander into my office and say,
"I've gotten a job teaching English in ______(fill in the blank with your
country of choice)______ and I wondered if you could recommend a book that
would tell me how to do it." Alternative: ". . . and I wondered if I
could observe a couple of classes before I leave next week."
The people I'm speaking of have NEVER taken a course relevant to what
they're about to attempt. To me it's analogous to dropping in on a
doctor's office and saying, "I've decided to take up neurosurgery because I
think it would be fun. Could you recommend a book that would show me the
ropes? And would it be all right if I sat in on a couple of your
operations and just observed?"
Well, as you can see, this attitude, when presented to me--an ESL
professional with 25 years' classroom experience who considers herself
still a novice in many ways, still learning--this attitude really pushes
all the wrong buttons with me! It's all I can do to keep from being rude.
And I NEVER give them permission to sit in on classes. I'd only do that if
they were demonstrating that they really wanted to learn by enrolling in an
appropriate course in our program
Submit Your
Own Answer!
