Sloane Pellegrini’s How to be a Good ESL Teacher Sloane Pellegrini is a talented and experienced teacher who has touched lives, young and old, all across the globe. Specializing in teaching English as a second language, the only formal training Sloane Pellegrini received for her career was through being thrown into the field itself, starting with a gig at a private school in South Korea, and ending with a two-year contract in Saudi Arabia a neardecade later. Between those two contracts, she gained valuable teaching experience in Thailand, China, Japan, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, New York, Spain and United Arab Emirates. Now a private tutor doing home and office visits throughout New York City, Sloane Pellegrini shares some tips on how you too can be a successful ESL teacher.
Be Ready for Surprises Being an ESL teacher means you need to be quick on your feet, especially when you are working in another country. There will be ways in which both the classrooms and the schools that you work in are different than what you are used to; and being able to adapt quickly is a skill that will help you throughout all of your future endeavors. Be Open-Minded and Culturally Aware There are many things about a culture that you can read online or in a travel guide. Those are easy to prepare for because the information is presented to you on a preemptive basis. But there is plenty that happens when you are in another country that is hard to encompass in text. In those types of situations, keeping your wits about you will get you the most desired outcome, hopefully.
Connect With Your Students The first two aforementioned pieces of advice will earn you the respect of your students, however as a teacher it is important that you understand more about your students than what is just presented in the classroom. Be aware of their living situations and how such factors could be affecting their performance in the classroom. This will help you when reaching out to your students and pushing them to meet their goals. In order to make a significant difference in a student’s life, you need to understand where he or she has come from.