> Much like any field of endeavor, ESL can eventually show signs of
> wear and tear on a teacher's powers of concentration, enthusiasm, and
> delivery. The major problem, from what I have observed, is merely a
> normal process of erosion which practically all humans experience
> with both time and repetition. When I was teaching (only) grammar day
> after day, I began to recognize signs of wear and tear on my
> attitude, not to mention that of my students. Of course, practically
> all ESL students positively abominate the subject of grammar. Ergo,
> if it indeed affects them in such an adverse manner, then why not the
> instructors as well? After all, we are not gods. Then again, there is
> no rationale to this when considering a teacher's commitment to
> fostering the highest educational standards of his/her students.
> Nonetheless, how many of us are willing to own up to the fact that
> we, the stalwart conveyers of knowledge, DO arrive at the stage where
> we resent the seemingly endless repetition of our sworn educational
> task. On the other hand, accepting that repetition is, indeed, a
> paramount necessity of the learning process, I have noticed, while
> reading the complaint sections of various online ESL teachers'
> sources, some instructors located in places such as China and Korea
> mention their deep depression -- even thoughts of suicide. In turn,
> most of the readers have suggested counseling, mental therapy,
> suppressants, long-distance running ... even a serious return to God.
> Still others have placed the blame on a desperate desire to return
> home to Mommy. I truly empathize with these desperately unhappy
> folks, yet I begin to wonder whether their unenviable plight is
> really a combination of (a)boredom via workload repetition and
> (b)residing in a land where English-speakers are rarely found to help
> make the wounds of loneliness more tolerable. Can the gig really get
> to the point of abetting psychologically destructive thinking? Who is
> REALLY to say? As for this veteran of 13+ years of experiencing both
> the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of ESL, my dear wife has
> learned to carefully hide all weapons before I return home from work!
> VIVA ESL!

My sympathy to all the foreign English teachers who have to teach grammar in the Orient!

We, all the people around the globe, never learn a course of grammar before we learn our language. We learn our language arts through practice. We know how but not why. Grammar was defined by scholars for the foreign learners. In order to master the grammar of a language, one has to learn the rules and use them frequently. That's the way I teach the course.

It may be monotonous and fruitless. But through proper examples and practice, students should feel the fun not the pain under pressure. Unfortunately, the students in the schools we are teaching do not have enough time to digest the rules and taste the results. I would suggest that all the 'native' teachers insist to teach the aural part, and let the local teachers take the grammar or written part. I found most of the qualified Chinese were quite conversant with the grammatical rules and uses.

Alex Wu