Newfane, Vermont TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

The final unit went over a few of the problems that teachers will most likely encounter and provided some strategies on how to deal with them. It started with new classes, and broke those down into two groups: the first having students who are familiar with each other and ESL learning, the second having students completely new to one another and the learning environment. In my experience I have found the previous to be a bit easier to work with because no ice breakers are needed to get the students warmed up to each other and they are already used to following some kind of lesson structure. The one drawback with such a class is that the students may be used to a teaching style that completely differs from that of the new teacher’s. Learners may have trouble adjusting in such a situation as it is easier to learn something than to unlearn it. The unit however focuses more on building a good rapport amongst everyone, meaning getting the students to know and respect one another and, as the teacher, getting to know your students and establishing a proper relationship with them. That would entail the teacher to learn about everyone’s individual abilities, needs, and interests/personalities -- all of which are useful in planning future lessons. This is most crucial in the first few classes, as it will set the tone for the rest of the course. First impressions always count so to speak. The unit also gave a few examples of how to get started, such as using warm up games/activities that get everybody interacting with each other, questionnaires, and even needs analysis like mentioned in the previous chapter. Students using their native language was covered too. Basically it should not be encouraged and only allowed when absolutely necessary. The teacher should never respond to a student’s native language (unless in an emergency I suppose) even if he/she understands it perfectly. Students should be encouraged to use English to express themselves in as many situations as possible. To help, instructions should be given as simply and clearly as possible to avoid needing them repeated in the class’ native tongue. This can tie into teachers shying away from using cassettes due to students having a hard time understanding them. Honing all four skills in English is crucial and giving the students crutches is never good. Another problem teachers may encounter is class size. It is generally more difficult to manage larger classes as it is harder to keep track of individual progress/interests in such a setting and keeping student talk to a maximum for all students becomes more of a challenge. Some options teachers have to help with larger classes is use of worksheets, group/pair activities, choral activities, appointing group leaders and using the class dynamics to your advantage (in terms of having people feed off of each other’s energy/personality to produce a fun, effective class). The overall goal though is to pay each student equal attention and make sure no student (or group of students) falls behind or becomes board and unchallenged. This can tie into different ability levels within the same class. If a teacher finds that his/her students have much different needs, or if some students simply progress at a different rate than others, it is important to try and tailor things in each lesson to the specific levels. This can be done by having the class break up into groups (either keeping students of the same ability together or mixing them up to have stronger students help weaker ones), having different tasks for the same materials while assigning tasks accordingly in regards to ability, having extra work for students who may finish assignments more quickly than others, or just using different materials entirely for the different ability levels in the class. Again, the most important thing is to keep all students engaged equally while having no one feel over or under-challenged. Getting some students to come out of their shells was briefly touched upon as well. To deal with this, it is better to find ways to take the spotlight off shyer students so they do not feel the pressure to perform on the spot with language they are not comfortable with. Group-work is good in situations like this. It is also crucial to make sure you give everyone the language and other tools necessary to perform a task before you ask anyone to perform said task. This way students won’t feel so rushed or unready for different situations in class. The unit also briefly went over using warm up activities, which it referred to as ‘warmers’, to get classes going. They can be extremely useful in getting students motivated and in the right mood to learn and/or use English. I find this comparable to the engage phase, and it would be best, but not necessary, if this activity could somehow tie into the study phase. Basically, keeping everyone on good terms while catering to individual needs as sensitively and practically as possible is the overall theme of the unit. This should be done from the very beginning of a course to help set the tone and/or pace of what is to follow.