Teaching Special Groups in ESL - Teaching Young Learners
The next category we are looking at in our series on teaching special groups in ESL are young learners. We consider students aged 2 to 16 young learners. Find out the positives, negatives and tips when teaching young learners in this video.
Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next.
What the teacher do depends on
1. Whom he/she is working for and what they expect from him/her;
2. Teaching environment;
3. Upon the teache.
The roles that the teacher adopts at various times: instructor, facilitator, mentor, psychologist, counselor, policema.
The teaching BE means that students will be adult.
Advantages are no behavior problems, generally high motivation, good attendance, a teacher can form bonds with clients, generally learning by choice, less time for activities instruction.
Disadvantages are personal problems, more self-conscious, difficulty in adjusting to being a student again (for some of the students), after work time, 'in house' teaching attendance problem.
Most of the difficulties can be overcome by careful planning, getting to know the students and keeping them motivated and focuse.
'One to one' clients' advantages for the teacher: a single level for teaching; material selection easier (if the teacher knows the student); pacing the lesson to mirror student understanding is easy to judg.
Disadvantages for the teacher: no groupwork/ pair word (solution: teacher-student work); few dedicated resources for teaching (solution: the teacher have to adapt what is available); personal differences (solution: stay professional and try to find a common interest.
Advantages for students: 100% attention, can work at their place, get more feedbac.
Disadvantages for the student: lessons can become boring (solution: the teacher needs to vary the stimulus for the student, try different of activities, plan lessons in different ways); the student has to do all the work (solution: if the teacher gets involved in the lesson the student won't feel as though); the student has a personality differences with the teacher (solution: the teacher need to address the issue and solve the problem.
Different levels group's teaching problem - solutions:
1. re-organize (if possible);
2. use graded activities;
3. give different levels of structure in the teacher's activities;
4. form different levels' groups (not recommended to use it all the time.
1. Whom he/she is working for and what they expect from him/her;
2. Teaching environment;
3. Upon the teache.
The roles that the teacher adopts at various times: instructor, facilitator, mentor, psychologist, counselor, policema.
The teaching BE means that students will be adult.
Advantages are no behavior problems, generally high motivation, good attendance, a teacher can form bonds with clients, generally learning by choice, less time for activities instruction.
Disadvantages are personal problems, more self-conscious, difficulty in adjusting to being a student again (for some of the students), after work time, 'in house' teaching attendance problem.
Most of the difficulties can be overcome by careful planning, getting to know the students and keeping them motivated and focuse.
'One to one' clients' advantages for the teacher: a single level for teaching; material selection easier (if the teacher knows the student); pacing the lesson to mirror student understanding is easy to judg.
Disadvantages for the teacher: no groupwork/ pair word (solution: teacher-student work); few dedicated resources for teaching (solution: the teacher have to adapt what is available); personal differences (solution: stay professional and try to find a common interest.
Advantages for students: 100% attention, can work at their place, get more feedbac.
Disadvantages for the student: lessons can become boring (solution: the teacher needs to vary the stimulus for the student, try different of activities, plan lessons in different ways); the student has to do all the work (solution: if the teacher gets involved in the lesson the student won't feel as though); the student has a personality differences with the teacher (solution: the teacher need to address the issue and solve the problem.
Different levels group's teaching problem - solutions:
1. re-organize (if possible);
2. use graded activities;
3. give different levels of structure in the teacher's activities;
4. form different levels' groups (not recommended to use it all the time.
