Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

I'd like to briefly explain why I should be chosen to teach ESL and the way I would teach this subject.

I know the subject matter well, always important when you plan to teach others.

Multi-lingual.

I am also fluent (or near-fluent) in at least two other languages, in addition to having at least some understanding of many more languages.

Learning a language well typically requires a non-trivial effort, and the fact that you put in that effort, as evidenced by your proficiency in it, is generally very well received by native speakers of that language.

It is a very good ice-breaker, and I have used it to good effect in classes with students from several different countries.

If required to follow a syllabus, I would, of course, do so. If expected to create my own syllabus, I would create one using the philosophy outlined below.

In broad outline, some of the main characteristics of the English language, compared to other languages, especially other Western languages, are that it has a very large vocabulary, while the grammar is relatively easy to learn, at least at an elementary level.

Accordingly, the vocabulary takes on a greater importance than grammar.

Another reason why I would emphasize vocabulary is that it is the way I learn foreign languages myself. It builds motivation. When you understand all or most of the words in a sentence, yet cannot understand the sentence as a whole, it becomes a mystery you want to figure out.

Emphasis on vocabulary.

I would encourage my student(s) to learn as many new words as possible. There are close to a million words in the English language. The average teenager learns several new words per day over several years. That is a lot of words to catch up with for an adult learner.

I would teach them how easy it is to look up words in Merriam-Webster's dictionary on the internet by typing in http://www.m-w.com/ in their browser.

If they object that they don't know how to spell it, I would encourage them to give it their best shot and try. Chances are they get a list of suggestions, if they did not spell it correctly the first time. Another possibility is to google it. If it is wrong, Google will respond with "Did you mean " followed by Google's best guess.

English-only dictionaries preferred

I've noticed that most of my Korean students have hand-held electronic English-Korean dictionaries. This is very good, given how important vocabulary is.

An English-only dictionary, such as Merriam-Webster's, would be even better for a number of reasons. It forces you to think, and function, in English, and it makes it easier to ask for help from any English-speaking person.

Case in point. I had mentioned that we have in the Western United States still, remnants of the Black Death that ravaged most of the world in the Middle Ages. We have it in the form of bubonic plague that still infects a small number of people every year. My students claimed they were protected because they had been inoculated as newborns against smallpox.

They showed me their dictionaries, which said, they claimed, that smallpox and bubonic plague are the same disease. Since I don't know Korean, and cannot even read Hangul, it was difficult for me to discuss the definitions in their dictionaries. Either their dictionaries were not as good as I would have thought, or we misunderstood each other.

This kind of uncertainty does not arise when you use an English-only dictionary. If you are not translating anything, only trying to understand a text written in English, it is best to work as much as possible with English-only tools.

Go slow with grammar.

Some of the rules of grammar can make anyone's head spin, like the difference between "shall" and "will", at least if you have to come up with a set of coherent rules.

I would hate to have to try to explain to a class of beginners, with very limited vocabulary, what the difference is.

I would postpone as much as possible any grammatical topic that is causing debate or uncertainty among native speakers and instead focus on the other extreme, which is where native speakers unanimously and instantly recognize that a certain usage is incorrect.

Grammar is still important.

I would use a writing sample to get a clear picture of what my student(s) have the most problems with. The more often they make a particular mistake, and the more glaring it is (i.e. no native speaker would make that mistake), the more I would prioritize it in my teaching.

For example, when I had a group of adult learners from Korea recently, I noticed that there were two types of mistakes that dominated their writing.

The first was not using the right tense, past or present, and not being consistent in using one or the other.

The second mistake had to do with the definite and indefinite article, which one, if any, of them to use, and when.

I would take a newspaper article and edit it to let them practice this.

If you can eliminate just those two types of mistakes, they will begin to look and sound a lot more proficient.

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