Highland Acres, Delaware TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

RECEPTIVE SKILLS - Reading and Listening Why do we read/listen? --- To get to a specific 'function/goal' or 'pleasure/entertainment'. To gain some form of understanding of what we have just heard or listened to, our minds need to absorb this new language and then, processes the words by using the built-in pre-existing knowledge we have developed within ourselves. --- PROBLEMS IN RECEPTIVE SKILLS: READING: When students focus on reading the foreign language 'word-for-word, they misses out on the 'overall message' of the text. - Sentences can be intimidating for some if they are too long. Breaking up a sentence into small bite size is better... (in today's digital era, everything runs at a fast pace and sadly, the world has become used to 'only' little chunks of information). - Also, the format the text is written, e.g. formal, postcard or email type? LISTENING: Speaking too fast is not wise. Speaking is a 'real-time continuous stream' and once a word/or part of a sentence is missed, the whole message has... Gone! Same goes with difficult or 'unknown' words. The word/phrase appears once. A teacher should be aware of her accent, keep as close as possible to the accurate English pronunciation. --- DEVELOPING RECEPTIVE SKILLS TO COUNTERACT PROBLEMS (ABOVE) We all have some form of strengths on one or more specialist skills. e.g. skiming, scanning, deduction, detailed, predict. Skiming, e.g. We got the gist of the story, by quickly skiming over the whole article or dialogue. Scanning, e.g. We laser-target to a particular section of the article or dialogue. Deduction, e.g. "I am literally foaming at the mouth... or, he nearly blew your head off" We deduce literally or figuratively the 'the meaning' of the word or phrase. Detailed, e.g. Reading or listening to instructions, directions, etc. To benefit from this skill, we need to concentrate to detail. Predict, e.g. We can all predict [wright or wrong] in our minds by simply reading or listening to a headline or introduction. --- TOPIC SELECTION: To get the students motivated and engaged with the whole class, a good and varied choice of topic is important. The topic should not be because I the teacher 'think' is interesting, but because the students have told me so. Listening to your students' interests and eliciting questions from them, a teacher can come out with great material incentives going forward. It's also wise to note that the teacher should be aware that each individual has their own individual interests, therefore, a teacher should take this into his/her consideration and accommodate to most of 'everyone's interests' at some stage of the curriculum. --- CREATING INTEREST/MOTIVATION: When it comes to selecting a text or dialogue, the teacher has to consider that the topic material needs to be 'interesting/motivating' for his/her students. The receptive skill tasks used have to be realistic comprehension tasks that aids understanding. Again, a teacher needs to consider material variation for each lesson to practice different skills, as well as, eliciting questions from the students before reading/listening activities so as to create interest. If a pre-teach phase is required, the teacher should go through some of the complex vocab or structure. Also, it is wise to naturally incorporate the lesson's text in activate phases. --- CONCLUSION: Students learn better and faster when they are motivated. Everyone can re-call a favourite teacher. Why? Because the teacher showed interest in you. Commended you, smiled at you, encouraged you, and made sure you were taking part in the classroom tasks.