Confidence is something that many students lack especially in something that they know nothing about; something that is of mystery to them. For many years, especially being in high school, I lacked that confidence-especially when it came to speaking in front of the class. Once I got to college, things changed a little for me. I became more outspoken, more determined to participate in the classroom.

In my case, it took years for me to build that confidence in speaking in front of the class. After years of practice though, you do become accustomed to it and it does get easier. I always hated the teachers that would call on me, or make us do oral presentations, but thinking back on it, I am thankful for that. In the end it really did help me out because now I am a lot more confident in speaking in the classroom, or just in front of many people in general. There are some teachers/professors who know what they are doing, and know how to go about building confidence in students. Then, there are others who are just ignorant and could care less, and make some students feel stupid or make them feel like they do not know what they are doing. This would be unacceptable in any class room environment, but especially in a class room of foreign students who do not know the English language. Building confidence in this type of environment is crucial, and is essential.

There are many ways to build confidence in a class room full of non native English speakers. I think the most important way to start out teaching a class full of non native English speakers, is to show them that you recognize them; you appreciate them. You can do this by recognizing their achievements; acknowledging what they do. Also, every time they do something right, you give them praise, and tell them “good job.” When they do something incorrect, that is ok-you just have to give them constructive criticism, or say something like “That was great, but it is really this way..” or “You say it this way.” So try to wean out the negative and bring in the positive. In other words, make every negative into positive. This way they can feel good about themselves no matter what. Building confidence will not happen over night-it may take months, even years, like it did in my case. Although my case was different because that was building confidence in speaking in front of the class, but you still can take the same approach to both situations.

Another way of building this confidence for the non native speakers of English(or any students for that matter) is to ask them their opinion. Students feel included and feel important especially if a teacher is asking them their opinion. If you are talking about something, or giving out an assignment, you can just ask them what they think or how they feel. Talking about feelings is very important as well. I think students feel more engaged and accepted if their teacher asks them how they feel about something.

In general, to make a student feel more comfortable in any type of situation, you have to expose them to their fear, whatever that fear may be. If it is speaking English, or getting up in front of the class to do presentations. The more they have to do it, the more comfortable they will become, and that is how the confidence will be built in the end, combined with how the teacher responds and acts towards their class. Both aspects are very important in building confidence in a class room.

Jessica Veira