ESL: Making Mistakes

I have often had students that will be talking to me in English, and then stop in mid-sentence and just stand there with their mouth open, thinking of what to say. It gets frustrating for me because I can’t help them with a word, or thought , if they don’t complete the sentence. Some students are so scared of making a mistake they would rather do nothing than taking the risk of making a mistake. Making mistakes, in fact, is how you learn. Think of it, when you learned Math you did something repetitively until you were able to make no more mistakes. The most important thing is learning from your mistakes and trying to avoid them in the future. When I lived in Korea I had to ride the subway often. I was surprised when I sat down and the people next to me would get up and sit on the other side of the car. I first thought that they were rude, but realized that it was Korea and most people in Korea are very polite and helpful. Then I had wondered why they were not wanting to sit next to me, I had taken a bath, I did brush my teeth, I had no idea what they were hesitant to sit next to me. After talking to some of my friends I realized that people didn’t want to sit next to me because they were scared they might have to speak English. What if I said, “hi”, and they had to answer me. They were so used to being graded on their English, they thought if they made a mistake they would be embarrassed and I would ridicule them, like their teachers had. That is why an ESL classroom has to be like a cocoon and risks had to be taken and students can’t make fun of other students. What if mistakes weren’t made, wouldn’t that mean that people didn’t try unless they were 100% sure they would never make a mistake. Mistakes are necessary to learn. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes when learning English. The most important thing is to continually trying to improve your English ability.