Crafting A Compelling ESL Teaching Philosophy Statement To Ensure Your ESL Teaching Career A Success

23rd February 2024

It does matter in which corner of the world you’re teaching as an ESL teacher, you will face one common question either from your interviewer, peers, or students- “Do you have your ESL philosophy about teaching statement?”

To answer this question efficiently you can start reflecting on your ESL teaching practice and come up with your own ESL philosophy of teaching statement.

In our blog post, we will help you find out your own ESL philosophy of teaching statement effectively and an example for you to understand better as well.

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So, without any further delay, let’s get started.

What is ESL Teaching Philosophy Statement?

In simple terms, the ESL Teaching Philosophy Statement is a summary of how and why you teach as an ESL teacher. Developing a personal ESL teaching philosophy requires self-reflection on your ESL teaching journey. You can consider asking questions to yourself like-

• What was the reason behind you becoming an ESL teacher?
• Are you good at teaching in physical classes, virtually, or in hybrid mode?
• What’s your additional skill? (Which you can inculcate in your ESL teaching to improve your teaching quality)
• What’s your teaching style? (Instructor or Facilitator)
• How much test result of your students matters to you?
• Do you like promoting or taking part in a bi-lingual teaching and learning environment?

Answering this kind of question will help you to create a strong ESL teaching philosophy statement.

Importance of an ESL Teaching Philosophy

There are several benefits of having an ESL teaching philosophy. Lets’ get to know it one by one benefit in detail:

1. Reminder of Maintaining Consistency

To become a successful ESL teacher you need to maintain consistency in your teaching. However, on your teaching journey, you may lose consistency sometimes.

For example: You are teaching grammar lessons and your students not paying attention to the class. Due to this, you might get irritated and you just teach and finish your lesson quickly without considering the fact whether students understand that lesson or not.

However, if you have written your ESL teaching statement then it will act as a reminder to maintain your teaching goals, maintain discipline, and maintain continuation in lessons while teaching.

2. Help You Becoming a Reflective Teacher

Developing your ESL teaching philosophy will help you reflect on - “How effectively you want to teach your ESL students?” and at the same time you will also reflect on the most important reason -” Why do you want to teach as an ESL teacher?”

One of the best ways to become an effective ESL teacher is by having self-reflection on a regular basis. Writing your ESL teaching philosophy will help you to focus on even minute details of ESL teaching which ultimately help you to become a successful ESL teacher.

3. Help You To Understand Yourself

One of the best to improve yourself and guide your ESL teaching career in the right direction requires a better understanding of yourself. Consider focusing on what you have learned through your teaching experience and through your research and translate that learning into our future teaching experience.

4. Makes You a More Credible Professional

Most ESL professionals make decisions based on their principles. However, if you don’t have strong teaching principles, chances are you will be diverted from your ESL teaching professional goals. So you must focus on creating a strong ESL teaching philosophy statement that will keep you on the right track to achieving your professional goals.

5. Helps You In The Interview

When you’re appearing for your ESL teaching job interview there’s a high chance that your employers will ask for your ESL philosophy of teaching statement. So it’s better for you to start developing a personal ESL teaching philosophy even before landing an ESL job interview.

How To Write an ESL Philosophy of Teaching Statement?

The process of developing a personal ESL teaching philosophy can seem to be daunting for both aspiring and experienced ESL teachers. Pursuing courses like Online TEFL Courses will make your ESL philosophy of teaching statement process easier because you will get feedback from top experienced trainers.
 

Let’s get to know some of the effective ways of creating a strong ESL teaching philosophy statement:

1. Remove Distractions: Create a distraction-free environment before creating your ESL teaching philosophy statement.

2. Make Notes: You can use a notebook, diary, or even digitally to make notes about the following questions:

• What is your philosophy of classroom management?
• What are your academic goals for ESL teaching?
• What kind of communication do you prefer in your ESL classroom?
• How are you planning to help your students achieve language learning goals?
• What kind of teacher do you want to be and how do you want to be remembered in the future?

3. Use Affirmations: You can consider writing down some affirmations and practice to be fully focused on becoming an effective ESL teacher. Affirmations you can use like-

• I am the best ESL teacher.
• I am a responsible ESL Teacher.
• I will achieve all the academic goals that I have made.

4. Keep it Simple

Try to write your ESL philosophy of teaching statement in a simple and easier-to-understand language and write it in a short paragraph. The simpler you make your teaching statement the easier it is for you to understand and follow.

Examples of ESL Teaching Philosophy Statements

Let’s get to see an example that will help you to create your ESL philosophy:

“I am an ambitious and helpful teacher who likes to work with every kind of student because the right to education is for every student. I believe every student can learn a foreign language if they get the right support and direction. I am willing to use various interactive and engaging ways of teaching methods to make the language learning process for students easier and more fun. I always incorporate real-life interactive examples to make the language learning experience for students more realistic.”

Developing a Personal ESL Teaching Philosophy Has Become Easier

To be a professional ESL teacher and continue to grow on your teaching journey, it’s important to craft an ESL philosophy of teaching statement. Doing so will help you establish a better, more coherent teaching style and be able to express your beliefs about ESL education.

To grow your ESL teaching career continuously it’s very important for you to know how to write an ESL philosophy of teaching statement. By doing so, you will be able to express your principles and beliefs about ESL education and it also gives you an edge over other ESL educators.            

Lastly, taking courses like Online TEFL Courses will help every ESL teacher define their teaching, cover vast topics related to language acquisition, and develop an effective ESL teaching philosophy.

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