Chandler, United States TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

Teaching special groups Types of classes So far, we have looked at teaching groups of adult students of general English. sooner or later however, you are likely to come across other forms of teaching which may require slightly different skills. In this unit we will look at these more specialized groups. Teaching beginners The term 'beginner' tends to strike fear into the hearts of inexperienced teachers. However, many teachers claim that teaching beginners is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable aspects of EFL teaching. Because the term 'beginner' has such a range of connections, it is often helpful to think in terms of categories of beginner. Bear in mind that these terms aren't mutually exclusive, and that many students will fall into two or even three categories: *The absolute beginner-students who have no English at all. *The false beginner-students may have studied or been exposed to English previously but have not retained much language. They will probably be able to produce a few simple structures. *The adult beginner-adult beginners will often have made their own decision to learn English and as a result will usually be highly motivated. *The young beginner-younger beginners often lack motivation as they haven't usually made the choice to study and cannot see the benefit of learning the language. Younger beginners do tend to pick language up more easily than their adult equivalents. *The beginner without the Roman alphabet-such students will need a lot of initial work on basic literacy skills. A lot of reading and writing practice is necessary. Tips for teaching beginners Methodology and techniques 1 Teaching beginners required special skills and psychology. 2 Be aware of your students' needs. 3 Have clear and realistic aims-don't try to do too much too quickly. 4 Adapt to suit your situation. 5 Arrange the classroom. 6 Be as visual as possible. 7 Take care with your board work. 8 Control your language. 9 Give clear, simple instructions. 10 Pace your lessons. 11 Use choral repetition. 12 Use pair and group work. 13 Ask lots of questions. 14 Encourage students to speak English in class as much as possible. 15 Don't use the students' mother tongue even if you know it. 16 Revise constantly. 17 Homework is important. Possible problems 18 What can you do with a mix of real and false beginners? The reality is that both have very similar needs. Many false beginners will ask to start from scratch anyway! 19 How can you help weaker students? Pair them with stronger students. Give them extra work to allow them to catch up. 20 What if you cannot get through all the planned material in a single lesson? Don't rush through it. Save it for next time or for revision purposes. A common mistake teachers make is going too quickly. 21 What if you run out of material in a lesson? You really shouldn't but if this happens, simple review activities and games can be used as fillers. 22 What if students cannot understand the tape? Play it again. Listening skills take time to develop and students should gain as much exposure to different accents and speech patterns as possible. If the students still can't understand after a number of listenings, the teacher can give out the tape script (usually found at the back of the course book) or read it out more slowly. This should be the final option. Motivation 23 Do not over-correct. 24 Do not have the book open all the time. 25 Be sensitive to your students. 26 Respond to your students as individuals. 27 Create a relaxed and supportive atmosphere. 28 Praise and encourage. 29 Focus on what is easy, not what is difficult. 30 Explain your methods. Teaching Individual Students In recent years the EFL industry has seen a large increase in demand for one-to-one lessons, particularly in the business world. Students feel that the course can be more specifically geared towards their own needs and wants than a group course could. Individual lessons also have a number of advantages for the teacher; no mixed levels, usually highly motivated students, needs can be clearly defined, developing a close relationship with the students, etc. Teaching individuals can have drawbacks, however, and almost all teachers comment upon the loss of classroom dynamics and tiredness. Obviously as there is only one student, some activities become impossible to do. 1-1 lessons are usually less formal and the teacher will often be the partner of the student, helping/prompting/working with him/her. Suggestions *Many activities from course books! *At the initial meeting complete a needs analysis from. *Find out the students' specific language problems. *Exchange telephone numbers (1-1 lessons are notorious for cancellations) *Maximize on the students' interests and experience. *Use a variety of activities and techniques. *Find out about any practical problems that could interfere with the lesson-workload location, etc. *Sometimes students say that they only want conversation. Free conversation is fine for a portion of the lesson, but not for all of it. Guided conversation, vocabulary building based on a topic or theme, or material based on grammatical problems experienced by the student, should constitute the rest of the lesson. Even though there may be little or no reading or writing involved, there is still an objective to the lesson and the student gets practice in conversation, goes over old material and learns new things as well. *Try and arrange a combination of what the student wants and what you think she/he needs. Suitable 1-1 activities *Short stories. *Articles from newspapers, magazines etc. *Horoscopes. *Quizzes, e.g. Are you in the right job? *Idioms. *Taboo words-see Michal Swan's Practical English Usage. This is often requested by various students-when they travel abroad they want to know if people are being polite or swearing at them! *Discuss relevant, topical news items. *Personal history, e.g. their family, education etc. *Listening, e.g. telephoning, different accents (especially foreigners speaking English). *Various relevant topics, e.g. age differences, cultural differences, womens equality. *Goal-orientated activities. *Pronunciation-perhaps record the student and replay and concentrate on the most obvious mistakes made and highlight and correct later. Also work an intonation. *Postcards-about a topic, e.g. art, architecture-either ask the student to bring her/his favorite postcard or discuss the ones you have taken to the lesson. *Conduct the individual lesson like a group lesson, with grammar points, vocabulary and some conversation. *Videos. *Music, e.g. a pop quiz. *Phrasal verbs. *Photographs, e.g.family, friends-the student's and yours. *Recipes. e.g. ask the students to tell you how to make your/their favorite local dish and practice vocabulary for food and using imperatives. Homework Some teachers give students homework every lesson and some students cannot cope with homework because of pressure of work/other studies. Sometimes teachers give the student a newspaper article to read before the next lesson. Students often enjoy reading English books, and swap books with the teacher and then discuss the plot, style etc. Sometimes, teachers ask students to prepare a short oral presentation on a topic of the student's choice, or one that has arisen during other work in the course. Checking *If you are using a newspaper article, pre-read and prepare any potentially difficult vocabulary and structures. *If the passage is long, number either the lines or the paragraphs for easy reference. *Prepare a gap-fill or comprehension questions about the article. *Over prepare-always take too much material to the lesson-you can always use it in a subsequent lesson. Individual students do tend to get through materials more quickly than groups. Teaching children It is perhaps fair to say that teaching children can be one of the most rewarding of all student classes to teach. Children possess an innate curiosity, which is in itself a motivating factor. From an early age children are accustomed to listening to their parents and other family members patiently repeating single words while the child focuses on real objects, people or activities taking place. The parents talk about the child's ability routine and its surroundings repeatedly. The parents may chant, sing or play rhythmic language games such as "Patty Cake" etc. The child's early efforts at speaking are greeted with excitement while mistakes are not only overlooked but also enjoyed and imitated. Some features of the parent's or other's speech might include the following: *A slower and more clearly pronounced delivery. *use of a higher pitch and exaggerated intonation. *Lots of repetition. *Reference to child itself, its current activity or its subject of focus at the time of speaking. *Positive responses to the child utterances irrespective of pronunciation detail. We can see then that by patient repetition, positive encouragement and frequent praise the child develops a sense of self-esteem and is less self-conscious about potential mistakes. This is an essential part of the language-growth process. We can move from the early formative years to the child in the classroom. Wile the professional teacher will be aware of the concepts mentioned above some other aspects come into play in the classroom environment. We have already mentioned the "curiosity" factor, but at the same time a child's span of attention or concentration is much less than that of an adult. Children will also often seek teacher approval. It is important for children that the teacher notices them and shows sings of appreciation for what they are doing. Children need frequent changes of activities, which are exciting and fun to stimulate their curiosity. They generally have short attention spans and get board easily if they just have to sit and listen or if activities drag on too long. The teacher's role is of primary importance here, because the children will look to the teacher for guidance and it is unlikely that they will have any motivational considerations outside of that provided by the teacher. Basically keep it fun, varied and at a good pace. Try always to relate activities to the childrens' own interests. In the classroom The classroom in which children are taught has its own dynamic, irrespective of the physical conditions in which the teacher finds himself/herself. It is always possible, with a little imagination to make the classroom environment a pleasant and welcoming place. For example it is possible to improve the classroom environment with posters, cartoons, children's own artwork, etc. A cold, grey, institution-type environment can have a very negative effect on motivation. Most of these comments are also true for adults too! The lesson Some do's and don'ts for teaching children: *Always use English as the language of instruction. *Don't cheat by using their native language. It removes the motivation i.e. "If I wait long enough, I will hear it in my own language, so why make the effort to understand?" *do speak slowly, in short and direct sentences. *Do act out meaning using props/objects/picture cards or gestures. *Do give clear demonstrations of the response you require. *Don't put an individual child "on the spot" to produce language or a response. It simply increases the child's anxiety level and lessons their language learning capacity. *Do be prepared to make fun of yourself, by use of mime/gesture, etc. Children like to see adults behaving in a silly way. It enhances their own self-perception and it is also fun! *Be prepared to come down to the physical level (i.e. height) of the children, by squatting next to their table or chair, or by sitting with them on the floor. *Get children to draw and colour. They like this even if some are not very "good". Get them to label in English. *Always have plenty of paper, pencils, rubbers, rulers and colour pencils/crayons available. (Better to avoid felt tips, ink pens, paints etc. with the very young ones!) *Play simple games. Or turn simple oral exercises (e.g. naming objects, pictures, actions etc.) into individual or team games. Children love competition and winning or amassing points or rewards. *Keep sets of smiley or other reward stickers to give out as rewards for good work and behaviour. Class discipline/management Children, by definition, have high energy levels and it is inevitable that from time to time the teacher may have to deal with disruptive behavior. As with all students the mood of the class and the individuals within the class will be determined by many external factors. For example: family life, peer group associations, individual personality traits etc. it may therefore be useful to take account of the following comment: The behavior and attitude/personality of the teacher is perhaps the single most important factor in the classroom and can have a major effect on the discipline. Before considering how to discipline, we need to think about some of the reasons why such problems may arise. Some are given here: *Problems at home/outside the classroom. There is not too much you can do about this. The best thing you can do if you feel this is the case, is to make your schools administration aware of the problem and let them follow it up. *Attention seeking. try giving the student the attention he/she craves. Make him/her your assistant (to hand out copies, clean the board etc), or group leader and involve him/her as much as possible. *Peer pressure. Try changing the dynamics of the classroom by changing the seating arrangement or by mixing up pairs/groups. *Boredom. This is usually the teacher's fault and the major cause of discipline problems! Make your lessons fun, varied, lively involving and interesting. Don't let activities go on for too long. *Lack of consistency from the teacher. Always be consistent and fair. Treat each student the same. Bear in mind that it is much easier to start off firmer and gradually relax control than it is to regain control when it has been lost. Some don'ts to bear in mind *Don't be inconsistent. Children are very sensitive to unfairness. *Don't issue threats. Teachers who threaten terrible punishment and don't carry them out are doing both the class and themselves a disservice. *Don't raise your voice. It is counter-productive and merely generates antagonism. *Don't have "favorites" in the class. *Don't break code. If the class is supposed to arrive on time then so should you. *Never threaten or inflict physical violence. *Make yourself familiar with the codes of conduct/discipline of the institution in which you are teaching and don't exceed them. If you don't like them, don't take the job in the first place! To summarize, teachers of children should be especially aware of the life-continuum. They are in the position of "In Loco Parentis" and should therefor be aware of all the duties and responsibilities that that entails Educational psychologists have used the metaphor of a bath sponge to illustrate the capacity of children to absorb language input and when pressed lightly the input is reproduced without any apparent relevance to lexical or grammatical rules. However, you shouldn't assume that learning is a direct consequence of teaching. Despite potential discipline problems, many teachers find teaching young learners to be the most rewarding of all their language teaching experiences. Business English/English for specific Purposes (ESP) A growing amount of English teaching world-wide is to business people. It involves an increasing amount of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), for example teaching hotel staff the type of language that will be useful to them professionally, or teaching the language of law to lawyers. However, while these specialist areas are still developing, it is still more likely that you will find yourself teaching general English to professional people or teaching business content and skills through the medium of English to pre-professionals. A lot of teachers have initial fears about teaching "Business English" arguing they have no experience in the field. While knowledge of business is very useful, it is definitely not a prerequisite to teaching English to business people. It is more a case of adapting to a different approach from the one you would use if you were teaching a general English class in the school. The type of language that learners need is often in areas such as telephoning, introductions, presentations, etc. Remember that you are not there to teach them to be business people (they already are!) but to teach them Englias. Teaching can take place in a number of ways: *One-to-one. Teaching one-to-one requires a different approach to working with a group. *In-company group. An in-company group may study before work starts, during the day or after work. *In-school group. A group of business people from the same company or from different companies may come to a language school to study. For all the above, "clients" (a common term when referring to learners from a company) may study intensively or over a longer period of time. Clients The type of clients you are likely to meet can vary immensely. Ages can range from early 20s to mid-50s and quite often the older generation has had little or no previous language learning experience. Younger learners not only tend to pick things up more quickly but they have usually learned some English at school. Often groups are small around four to six, although you may get groups of up to 12 and of course one-to-one. One of the problems of teaching business people is that they are often tired. If you are teaching them in the evening after they have been working all day (in some cases from as early as 7am), it is unrealistic as you would normally do. You may have to compromise and make the material less challenging or cut down on input. In extreme cases, you may turn it into a conversation class. Attendance is sometimes sporadic with company courses and if the course is at the company, there is always a chance your clients may be pulled out of a lesson at any time. Homework may also be difficult for them due to pressure of work, family, etc. Another of the problems you will come across is the diversity of levels within a group. Groups are often put together according to job type or for economic reasons, not necessarily according to language ability. In such cases you need to challenge the stronger learners so they don't get board and at the same time try not to lose the weaker ones. A secretary may well be in the same group as his/her boss and you have to be careful not to make him/her look foolish in front of his/her employees. Group dynamics are very important. Not all learners will be motivated to study English, although the vast majority will be. A number of them will have been "required" to learn. Failure to do so could well result in them losing their job or not getting a promotion. Commonly lessons are held outside work hours and set into the client's free time. Motivation can depend on the attitude and support of the company itself as well as the enjoyment level of the class. The balance of business people learning English is pretty evenly split between men and women, although this obviously varies from company to company and country to country. What they need Before you can begin any course you have to find out what the students want and what they need. There is often a difference. you also have to balance the client's wants and needs with those of the company. A lot of business people still need basic grounding in English rather than anything too specific. This doesn't mean you cannot draw on their own work environment to make the course relevant to them. Often they will know the terminology and vocabulary directly related to their work but are unable to put it into a proper sentence or do not know how to use it. You need to have a general understanding of the client's job, this will help you to understand the areas of English that the students require. Needs analysis and planning the course After initially testing your clients to get an idea of their level, your next step should be to give them a "needs analysis". This can be in the form of written questionnaire for the client's to complete or simply an informal chat with the clients and/or training manager. A written questionnaire to be filled in by both you and the client will ideally include not only client's to identify specific objectives of the course and get them to prioritize them. For example, Ms. Horvath, a marketing manager, may want to prepare herself for a presentation of her company's new product at an international sales conference. It is a good idea to include a "Needs Negotiation" session in the day 1 lesson plan (plus time for introductions and some language input, e.g. question forms and an intonation/diagnostic activity to test for skills fluency and language gaps). Explain to the group the rationale behind the Needs Negotiation and that, although you have their details individually, the group as a whole needs to establish priorities. Being able to discuss the course content sometimes comes as a surprise to clients who are simply happy to accept what the teacher gives them, thinking the teacher knows best. It can be therefore, difficult to get clients to define their own needs. The "needs analysis" may take place in the learner's native language and be translated if the clients are od a very low level. A needs negotiation session should include: *getting each participant to state (1) precisely what they use English for in their jobs and (2) what they will need it for in the future; *a feedback session where everyone shares this information publicly; *a discussion of the findings and agreements on common needs, and *telling them you will give them a plan next lesson with as much attention to individual needs as possible, but obviously focusing on overlaps. Planning the program After the pre-course assessment of needs and ability from the questionnaire responses and negotiation with the group, begin listing suitable materials, e.g.: Situation/topic Language Material 1. Socializing with clients Offers, requests, small talk I at the Deep End 2. Presentations Introducing oneself dealing with questions Business Objectives Having given your group a draft timetable for the next lessons, usually covering the first 15-20 hours (don't plan too far ahead), you need to demonstrate the relevance of each activity/topic to their individual needs. Stress that the timetable is flexible and extra needs should be stated as the course goes on. Any individual whose needs are not satisfied within the program (e.g. only one student might need business letter practice) can be catered for by encouraging extra self-study. However, long the course is, recap on objectives, highlight the aims of each activity, evaluate progress and ask for feedback Mid-course evaluation About halfway through the course, set some work that participants can do individually. Take each student out for five minutes to elicit their reactions so far and their needs for the remainder of the course. This gives credibility to your claim to take individual needs seriously, and gives you a double check on how the learners feel about the course. Materials There is an abundance of material on the market for teaching business English and a lot is now widely available worldwide. This varies from general business English books to vary specific books, for example, English for Banking. A high proportion of these also come with accompanying tapes. A number of videos specifically made for teaching business people are now available and although quite expensive, can add variety to a course. Authentic materials are invaluable when teaching business groups. Anything you can obtain from the company-e.g. faxes, letters, company reports, and publicity material-will prove very useful. Other sorts of authentic material, such as articles from business magazines and newspapers, are always good sources. World-wide there is now also a wide variety of magazines such as The Economist, as well as the local English language papers. Finally, the students themselves are an invaluable source of material. Note that any material presented to your students should ideally be typed and professional looking. It is a good idea to hole-punch it first so they can add it to their file. Things to consider Before you begin Find out as much as you can about the company. What do they do? Who are their competitors? If you are teaching at the company, find out how you get there, who you should meet, what facilities they have (e.g. whiteboard, chalkboard, tape recorder, etc), what the contact telephone number and address is etc. Your expertise Remember that you are not an expert in the client's field of activity or business, but that you are an expert in the English language, and the teaching of it (regardless of any personal doubts you may have!). Be prepared to use your "ignorance" to advantage by getting the learners to rectify that by explaining their work etc. in English for your edification. This is real communication. If you do happen to be a qualified accountant or engineer and you are teaching accountants or engineers, feign your ignorance and do not try and impress them with your knowledge of the subject or job! Similarly,if you happen to be competent in the learners' L1, don't show this off! Establish the fact (or fiction?) that you need to communicate with them in English. On arrival On the first day, take everything you need (photocopies, board pens etc)-better to be over-prepared than under! It is also worth allowing yourself plenty of time to find the company on the first day, punctuality is important. Don't bank on there being a tape recorder. Dress the part. At least until you learn the appropriate dress code, wear formal smart clothes. However good your teaching, you will initially be judged on your appearance as much as a representative of your school. If you speak the local language, use the formal language from when you greet the staff initially. Take your cue from them. It is always worthwhile establishing a good relationship with the reception and administration staff. They can be very helpful with facilities and organizational necessities. During the course Keep a record of attendance, material covered, details of the lessons cancelled, any problems (e.g. lateness). Always tell your employer if clients want to reschedule lessons or change the program in any way. Never gossip about the participants to other people in the company. Casual remarks made to the other students or the reception staff have a tendency to get distorted and to rebound on you. Use the opportunity to make the course relevant by seeing the students at work and using examples of faxes/letters/telephone calls they send or receive. After the course you will probably be asked to write a post-course report that should be done promptly. This will normally include details of course content, student evaluation, test/attendance percentages, plus suggestions for further study. Remember companies have high expectation and usually pay more than individuals for their courses. The monolingual and the multilingual class In a multilingual class the students are from various different nationalities. Such classes are normally found in countries where English is the native language and the students are either residing there, or are there specifically for the purpose of learning English. As students in multilingual classes are from different countries, they have no common language except English. This can be an advantage for teachers as the students are forced to communicate with each other in English and not their native language. It can also be an advantage that students from different countries bring greater variety of culture and ideas to the classroom. As students are usually studying in an English speaking country, they also get more exposure to, and opportunity to use, the language. Monolingual classes usually take place in the students' home country and cannot offer the same advantages as multilingual classes. However, as the students all have the same language, it is likely that they will all have the same kind of difficulties with English, whereas students from different countries are likely to have very different language problems and difficulties. Also as their cultural background is the same or similar, the teacher is able to identify certain topics that would be of interest to the group. Avoiding the use of the mother tongue in the classroom You can make it easier for the students to use English by: *Describing your rationale clearly and getting their support from the beginning. *Deciding where you place yourself in the classroom. The groups nearest you are the more likely to use English than those further away. So take an interest in what each group is doing and move around so that groups have less chance of switching back to their own language. *Monitoring more overtly: for example, by having a pen and paper in your hand. *Making the work task-oriented. If the final product has to be in English, whether it is a story, a film review or just answering comprehension questions, a greater use of English is ensured. *Keeping speaking activities short until the students have more confidence and increased fluency. It is better to have a shorter time than is strictly necessary than having time to spare at the end of group work. *Making sure that the students have the English to do what you ask. You might find it helpful to start off with very structured activities after you have taught some essential words and expressions so students are not at a loss for words. *Starting with "open" pair work (a dialogue in front of the class) as a model for the "closed" pair of work (every pair working simultaneously) *Assigning oles. If everyone knows what he or she must do, they are more likely to do it in English. You might consider giving someone the role of "language monitor"-someone to make sure English is used in the group-or "evaluator"- someone who will report back on the performance of the group overall, including their use of English and of their mother tongue. Finally, don't be too concerned if your students resort to their mother tongue in group work or pair work activities. Sometimes it saves time in the long run, as when they are clarifying instructions before they begin the task. It is worth remembering that if you are doing group works as an alternative to whole class work, then even if only 2 people are using English simultaneously you have doubled the amount of student for that time.