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Title
My experience as an EL teacher in Singapore
Presenter
Radha Iyer
One of the challenges of being a Communication skills lecturer at Temasek Engineering School, Singapore, lies in teaching English to a very diverse body of students – students from China, Indonesia, Phillipines, Srilanka, India, Myanmar, Vietnam etc. along with a bulk of Singaporean students. They come from different cultural backgrounds and have varying levels of proficiency in English. They have to grapple with many new things at a time such as adjusting to the new country, new lifestyle, new teaching/learning environments and foreign ways of handling/using English language. However when they start their diploma courses in Temasek Engineering School, Singapore, they face lectures, tutorials and lab sessions. It is difficult to avoid a lock –step method especially when it comes to a lecture theatre full of local Singaporean students and International students (IS).Teaching all of them simultaneously, without making any student feel left out is a great challenge for the Engineering lecturers. The Communication Skills team set out to contribute in this situation by giving the students an opportunity to become sensitive to language use by providing a programme called English for International students (EIS). By raising their English Language awareness, we help the IS to adapt to their new academic and social life in Singapore.
The approach is holistic although in the latest run of the programme the focus was on two skills mainly, listening and speaking skills. In the listening skills we sensitized the IS (International students) to various strategies of effective listening by devising activities which were fun to do and yet of high educational value. The students were also taken out on an educational excursion where they listened to a technical presentation and demonstration. The last module held in the second term of this semester long programme was to enhance their speaking skills. Speech and drama were used to improve their speaking skills. A brief introduction of 'Singlish'(Singaporean English) was also provided to the International students.
One major factor that is also the guiding principle of this programme is addressing the human interest factor. Another is using authentic materials in an authentic manner. Yet another is motivating the IS to mobilize their underlying understanding of language use (them being bilinguals) and also their world view.
Throughout, the programme is supported by an online module on BlackBoard which helps the IS to keep in touch with the programme as well as the lecturers.
The senior students are also called upon to assist in running this programme. A group of Student Ambassadors comprising Singaporean as well as International students were trained to help the fresh IS. They provide useful support to the EIS programme throughout its duration.
The role of the lecturer, as is clear from above, is multi dimensional: “facilitator, information provider, planner, resource developer, assessor and role model” (Harden and Crosby,2000)
Technological innovations provide valuable support in achieving the objectives. More than 80% of international students attended various modules of this optional programme. But what is most satisfying for the lecturers is the general feel-good atmosphere which pervades the campus and the glimmer of hope in the eyes of the new students who at last seem to feel at home in their new campus.
Keywords:- ESL in Singapore, different cultural backgrounds, using authentic materials in an authentic manner
Reference:
Harden RM, Crosby JR & Davis MH (2000). The good teacher is more than a lecturer: the twelve roles of the teacher, Published in Medical Teacher (2000) 22, 4, pp 334-347
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