Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified in Michigan? Are you interested in teaching English in Norvell, Michigan? Check out our opportunities in Norvell, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English in your community or abroad! Teflonline.net offers a wide variety of Online TESOL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Here Below you can check out the feedback (for one of our units) of one of the 16.000 students that last year took an online course with ITTT!
I really enjoyed this unit about the two lessons. I was reassured about what I should do and should not do in the class to make it an effective lesson.
1. the "Should not" (from video 1) because these actions/gestures might cause confusion, intimidation, disinterest and disrespect in the students, preventing them from absorbing the language point of the lessons.
- Skip the Engage stage.
- Speak too fast
- Ask too many questions at the same time
- Show a negative attitude toward the students and/or their answers in the class
- Point at the students
- Give students tasks/activities to do without a clear instruction at the beginning -> the class becomes disordered and the students got confused, not sure what to do.
- Use language that is higher than the students' level
- Keep a distance from the students
- Keep the class as "teacher-centred" during all the phases of the class -> the students are kept from interaction with one another
- Get too involved in the Activate activities
- Let personal feelings interrupt the lesson
2. the "Should" (from video 2)
- Let everyone give a brief introduction if the students don't know one another, or the teacher and students don't know each other yet.
- Use elicits, mimes, visual aids, familiar concepts and simple language as much as possible, to encourage and increase STT
- Make sure the students understand the instructions before giving them handouts or starting an activity
- Always keep a positive attitude, even when the students don't give a good answer as they should. (I was very much impressed when the teacher in the video noted the idea "playing volleyball" from a student's incorrect answer during the Engage stage and used it as the material for his explanation in the Study stage. Another time he just smiled when a student gave an incorrect answer. He avoided giving negative feedback which might discourage the students).
- Smile often and maintain a friendly, relaxed, pleasant atmosphere in the classroom.
- Not interfere when students are working with assigned activities, only monitor and join in from time to time if needed.
The two lessons were performing the same language point to the same students on the same English level, however, the reaction and participation of the students in the lessons are obviously not the same. This means that the way the teacher presents the lesson and himself, and his interaction with the students, make all the difference.
