English B HL Mr. Glover Chae Eun Lee Report on Ways of teaching in Overseas Family School Written by Second language specialist, Chae Eun Lee As the IB courses mainly are learned and taught with English, ‘language’ became a bigger issue for those who do not speak and write English as fluently as mother tongue. For this reason, this report is mainly going to be talking about the difficulties the second language students normally face and how they are taught in international school. The report will also provide some suggestions that could improve the ways in which the students are taught in Overseas Family School. When second language students first come to the new school, they are not familiar with both the environment and the language. They may need to strive harder than first language learner, as they have to learn a language from the start. Whether English is their mother tongue or not, in IB the expectation is the same for all of them. Most of times the teachers expect the students to ask questions in order not to waste time explaining all the details when majorities could have understood everything except for few. However, if the task was only briefly explained the students are likely to miss out some of the important parts or finish the assessments with poor marks thoroughly as they did not get the task at all. During English class, teachers use idioms frequently for discussion and explanation. Many of the idioms come from culture and tradition aspects and use of idioms or other complex phrases could lead to the confusion to some of the students who are not familiar with the language used. Even students are asked to write letter to their friends and use idioms that friends normally use. It is certainly difficult task for the second language students unless they know deeply about the cultures of various countries. Furthermore, on the first day of the school, the student has a helper who can help him/her with finding classes and explaining about the school. I, speaking English as a second language, could barely speak any words in English and teacher put me into one group with a friend who has same nationality. It is easier and comfortable to the students when they are with the people who can translate all the tasks and help them with. As they depend on the peer helpers, they tend to learn the language slowly and would not be able to learn to face the obstacles on their own. Although there is certain responsibility for the students to have, teachers are the only one who can help the students to solve their language problems. In order to create an effective class and relationship between the teachers and students, I recommend the teachers to encourage students to ask questions by including more class discussions and presentations. Also it helps the students when teachers explain the meaning of idioms and give some of the idioms lists or sites that students can look up. Most importantly, even if the fastest way to understand the tasks and get involve in the discussions is getting help from a person who can speak home language but the teacher should advise the students to ask questions and take time and explain the tasks in a spare time so that the students will be able to get along with students with
different culture and countries and actually be able to improve a lot more than getting support and help. By the time second language students migrate to another country, it comes pressure for them to learn new language and adapt to the new environment at the same time. Letting the students to confront the difficulties on their own but with understanding and regular communication with the teachers, the learning and teaching will be more effective than ever before.