Bohdan Feshchak is a young educator from Kyiv, Ukraine. His main scientific scope lies in the field of ESL teaching techniques. As well, Bohdan is interested in building ESL business techniques all around the world. History of peadagogy is his favorite subject to think about in his free time from teaching. E-mail: feshchak.bohdan96@gmail.com

Introduction

Well, you’ve done it. You moved to a strange place somewhere abroad, where they only started using the Internet 5 years ago and traditions are still very strong. To a place where children (and adults, it’s true!) see other culture as unimportant. You wanted to help these poor children who deserve something more than farming in their futures. What’s the best way to teach English in this kind of situation?

We all know that good learning depends on the environment, the teacher, the material, the learner’s ability to study, and his or her motivation. Let’s comment on each of the issues:

Environment

The learning environment in developing countries is often far from ideal. If the learners’ families are farmers, for example, their children can spend the entire day working in the family fields and not have enough time to learn the grammar topics you set the previous lesson. This hard physical labor is something they can be proud of, and there’s nothing wrong with it.

This is their life: don’t tell them it’s worthless without technology. I always try to explain to them how their lives can change gradually if they get a good education. I’ve never tried to teach them anything but the facts – the world is changing, and I’m here to help them to keep up with the times. If you want to be a good teacher, it isn’t enough just to teach them English. Try to give them some rules of modern life they don’t know about. Using English, of course.

Try to make your classroom as bright as you can. It should preferably have some pieces of art, especially modern art, which encourages abstract thought and inspires them to think. It’s what they need, isn’t it?

You, the teacher

Sometimes, being the most modern doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to be successful.

My friend Anna, for example, is all about fashion. When she taught children in rural Africa, she thought they would all love her. She was young, wore a long red dress and big sunglasses – everything that would inspire boys in Europe to study English hard. But it didn’t work with kids from the small villages.

They rejected her style because they wanted somebody that would understand them and be as much like them as possible. In effect, she tried to be a role model for something they didn’t want to become.

Every day, you’ll look out your window and see the problems these people (and your students!) must face. Train yourself not to become pessimistic, but to stay strong until things become better. When I taught in a rural school, everything seemed terrible – there was bribery everywhere, the level of education was really low, and people didn’t do anything about it. But my team and I dedicated a lot of effort to make the process work. The results were good – the teachers understood what was damaging their school and how to improve things. Now that school has improved the whole district.

So, as you can see, your lessons should be outstanding all the time. No excuses. I’d also recommend that you go there with colleagues. That way, you’ll never be alone and you’ll be able to support each other, especially in the conflicts that may occur.

Material

Try to take everything good that you have with you. It’s obvious that children from rural areas may not have money to pay for Cambridge books or books from another high-quality publishing houses.

Therefore, the best idea is to find a funder who’ll help you, or pay yourself. I don’t mean you must cover the cost of everything, but pay for at least part of it. Just make sure that they really are in need before you spend your money, as anything can happen in life :)

Furthermore, if you’re planning to teach for more than a month, organize a library of foreign languages. If you’re reading this article, the chances are that you live in a city. So take some good books with you – those kids will be delighted to read something new. When I traveled, I took some practical books as well as motivational psychological literature that would motivate them to work on developing their communities.

The ability to learn

If you’re not convinced that everybody can learn, why are you teaching? It seems to me that every teaching process should begin with the following affirmation: They’re great learners, I’m a great teacher. Without this, you’ll suffer from teachers’ burnout very soon.

And never underestimate the children’s abilities! I’ve seen a lot of cases where teachers from cities (or other countries) were big-headed and thought that these children were just about cows. A teacher once said to me: ‘It would be great if they would at least learn how to get to the airport.’ But the reality is different – children from areas like this are often so hard-working that you feel sorry you can’t give them more than you do.

Motivation

We all know, of course, that motivation can arise internally or externally. Some teachers say that you should focus more on inner motivation because the results from students are fascinating. But I don’t believe that’s always the case.

A lot of people from the poor regions want nothing more from their lives than enough to eat – so give them the tools to help them to become good at their jobs in the future. You’ll also work as a coach or trainer there – caring about the students’ development outside the classroom. The fact is, the children appreciate that even more than their knowledge of the Present Perfect.

Make their education as personal as possible. Forget about discussing only English-speaking countries. For a native, this may sound a little bit weird – how can this be, you ask, surely they came tolearn more about the English world? But reality can be different. I’ve been teaching Slavic children for the last four years, and they aren’t really interested in London or Newcastle. Teach them about different cultures around the world. Global English isn’t just about metropolises like Washington or London, it’s alingua franca that is used as a means of communication between different nations.

So, do you still want to teach in a village?

Good luck!

Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.