Duplain, Michigan TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

Theories , Methodologies and Techniques of teaching: Today, English is the worlds most widely studied foreign language and there have been always arguments in teaching methodologies and techniques.there are two aspects of intelligence { nature <-------> nurture }.Nature depicts inherent intelligence wheres nurture describes the environment we create for learning .and all the methodologies and teaching techniques lies in between these two aspects. According to Asher and James (1982), Methods are the combination of techniques that are used and plasticized by the teachers in the classrooms in order to teach their students and approaches are the philosophies of teachers about language teaching that can be applied in the classrooms by using different techniques of language teaching. the most common methods and techniques are briefly described below Grammar Translation :- Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules are to be memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or no emphasis placed on developing oral ability.the students will learn about the language rather than learning language. Audio lingualism :- The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits. There is much practice of dialogues of every situations. New language is first heard and extensively drilled before being seen in its written form. Presentation ,practice and production :- this method is based on the presentation of context demonstrating the meaning and situation of language and then practicing in a controlled manner and at last production of language by being more creative with language. this methods is more of teacher centered and involves more teacher talk time. Task based learning :- The focus of the teaching is on the completion of a task which in itself is interesting to the learners. Learners use the language they already have to complete the task and there is little correction of errors. Community language learning :- In this method attempts are made to build strong personal links between the teacher and student so that there are no blocks to learning. There is much talk in the mother tongue which is translated by the teacher for repetition by the student. Communicative language teaching :- The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and appropriately in the various situations she would be likely to find herself in. The content of CLT courses are functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining or notions such as the expression of time, quantity, location. The Silent Way :- This is so called because the aim of the teacher is to say as little as possible in order that the learner can be in control of what he wants to say. No use is made of the mother tongue. This method uses colored rods and each color describes different aspects of language. The Lexical approach :- this approach emphasis on learning words and phrases as building blocks for language learning than gramatical approach. Suggestopedia :- The theory underlying this method is that a language can be acquired only when the learner is receptive and has no mental blocks. By various methods it is suggested to the student that the language is easy - and in this way the mental blocks to learning are removed. Total Physical Response (TPR) :- TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as "Stand up", "Close your book", "Go to the window and open it." The method stresses the importance of aural comprehension. ESA method :- means engage, study ,and activate the language. Teachers try to arouse the students interest, thus involving their emotions. This could be done by using pictures, objects, posters, cartoons, audios, videos, stories, games, etc. • Study activities are those where the students are asked to focus in on language and how it is constructed. They range from the study and practice of a single sound to an investigation of how a writer achieves a particular effect in a long text. • This refers to activities which are designed to get the students using language as freely and communicatively as they can. The objective is not to focus on language construction and/or practice specific bits of language, but for students to use all language which may be appropriate for a given situation or topic. According to Jeremy Harmer, ESA builds flexibility through 3 lesson procedures: 1.Straight arrow lessons :- This consists of the teacher following the sequence: Engage--->Study---> Activate. This is the best format for the teacher who knows the students needs. 2.Boomerang lessons :- Engage---> activate--->study--->activate 3. Patchwork lessons :- Many lessons are not straight forward and they need lot of mini sequences to drill and practice and activitesand this is done by patchwork lessons. Engage---> activate---> activate---> study --->activate--->engage--->study--->activate. ideas for engage phase to be used in class:- introduction prompts, partners information ,seven alphabet relay, fizz-buzz, ispy, memory games, slow pictionary , etc. ideas for study phase :- pronunciation ,work sheets, elicitation, spellings, meaning, word order etc. ideas for activate phase:-surveys, role play, producing materials, story building, communication games, debates, etc. Feedback :- Giving feedback is very important aspect of teaching as it gives a idea the students about their progress and also their mistakes/errors.but too much of correction also not good for students as it lowers their confidence. the teacher needs to be really careful while praising and correcting the students.