09 February 2009
English Language Officer Will Discuss Strategies for EFL Class
February 10 webchat with regional English language officer Damon Anderson
What builds confidence among students in an EFL classroom?
On February 10, at 1 a.m. EST (06:00 GMT, 14:00 Beijing), join the February English Roundtable with Damon Anderson to explore your suggestions for confidence-building strategies in the EFL classroom. Damon Anderson is the regional English language officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Many students have the motivation to study English, but lack the confidence to use the language, even in the protected environment of the classroom. One result of this is a quiet class, or one in which students do not readily respond to prompts and questions from the teacher, or one in which the students are seemingly disengaged.
What could be the reasons for this lack of confidence? Could it be the teacher’s heavy focus on correctness, rewarding only grammatically and syntactically correct responses? Could it be because mistakes are seen as negative and cause the one who makes the mistake to appear foolish or to lose face with the rest of her/his peers?
What builds a student’s confidence to use English in and outside the classroom? Is it success with communication in English?
This webchat will take place at http://statedept.connectsolutions.com/englishroundtable. No registration is needed. Simply choose “Enter as a Guest,” type in your preferred screen name and join the discussion.
The transcript of this webchat will be available on America.gov’s webchat page, where information about upcoming webchats is also available.
