Ask Linda! How To Pronounce: "Futile"
In this episode, Linda takes on the pronunciation of the word "futile". Enjoy the episode! Linda is a German/American ITTT alumna, teaching English in South Korea. Be sure to like and share this video if you find it helpful. Are you ready to live and teach abroad? Click here and get started today: https://www.teflcourse.net/?cu=YTDESCRIPTION
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.
This Unit?s focus is on the Teaching of Special Group.
This doesn?t exactly mean to teach disabled students, but instead to categorise the level of English your students understand, so then we understand the more specific things we need to do to teach those group.
These 5 categories are:
1. Beginners
2. Individuals (one to one)
3. Young Learners (YL?s)
4. Business English (BE?s)
5. Monolingual vs Multilingual Starting with the Beginners category, it is important to note that people of any age can be Beginner.
Because of this, we have a number of sub-categories under the Beginner category, these are:
1. Absolute Beginners ? No language knowledge what-so-ever, so they haven?t been taught it and they haven?t had any exposure to it either
2. False Beginners ? They are still beginners, but they have had some exposure to the languag.
They could?ve been taught it before but forgot about it, or they?ve been exposed to the language either through tourism or in the media
3. Adult Beginners ? An age of 16 or 18+ is classed as an Adult Beginner
4. Young Beginners ? Any age below 16 or 18 is classed as a Young Beginner
5. Beginners Without The Roman Alphabet ? The students have no knowledge of the Alphabet, so you?ll need to teach students about their ABCs as well as the language Some tips to teach Beginners with success are:
1. Keep it simple
2. Be Visual rather than Verbal
3. Get them talking
4. Use questions and verbal repetition drills (this?ll assist in getting them talking)
5. Use pair work
6. Be supportive and Praise as much as possible
7. Respond to individual needs
8. Be patient
9. Play lots of interactive games
10. Don?t overcorrect The Individuals (one to one) category is when working instead with a single student, as opposed to a class or grou.
The main positive about teaching students as individuals is that you?ll only ever be teaching that 1 level, either you?re teaching many students individually or teaching 1 and are teaching them what they need to know, as it is easier to gauge what they do and don?t know when you?re only teaching 1 studen.
However the main disadvantage to teaching individuals is that there is little dynamic within the lesson, meaning you as a teacher will need to become involved in the lesson process itsel.
A few points you need to know when teaching this sort of group:
1. Need Analysis ? Because you only have 1 student, it is important to do a ?Needs Analysis.
A Needs Analysis is something you do at the start of the course so you know what your student already knows, what they need to improve on and what they don?t kno.
From the Needs Analysis, you can start to create a syllabu.
2. Concentrate On Their Interests ? Particularly when teaching young learners, a student will learn best when they can relate to what?s being taugh.
If they like cars, you can relate cars and car parts to the activities and worksheets you give your studen.
It?s great to utilise this point when teaching new information because they won?t lose interest, and it?s quicker to learn the information because they?d be really engaged in the learning proces.
3. Cover All Skills ? Regardless of their confidence on certain skills, it is really important to teach students all skills equally (Receptive Skills: Reading and Listening & Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing.
4. Vary Your Activities And Approach ? This is just to keep learning fres.
Students won?t want to participate if it?s repetitive and borin.
Young Learners (YL?s) are those students between the ages 2 -
16. It is different to teaching Adult Learners because Young Learners are often self-motivated and enthusiastic, and they are able to keep up their self-esteem through a number of thing.
When teaching Young Learners, you want to:
1. Constantly Praise them
2. Do a lot of Repetition (Drills, singing songs, et.
)
3. Make sure your speech is Slow and Simple
4. Try to reference the individual person (if things aren?t going right or if they?ve done a good job)
5. Prepare lots of activities to keep them interested (students of that age have little attention spans)
6. Most importantly, keep it fun!! Things you should do:
1. Always use English
2. Speak Slowly
3. Use gesture and mime
4. Always play games (that are communicative and interactive that serve an educational purpose) Things you should not do:
1. Use their native language or L1 (as soon as they realise you have an appreciation of their language, they?ll just wait for you to use it)
2. Don?t put individuals on the spot (or they could lose their confidence very quickly, maybe use pair work instead)
3. Don?t expect them to have what they need
4. Don?t ever be afraid of making fun of ourselves (you may act of what particular animals do or sound like) In terms of Disciplining Young Learners, some things you should do:
1. Make yourself aware of their problems
2. Change the dynamic of the class as often as possible (seating, who they work with, et.
)
3. Be fair and consistent
4. Change activities as often as possible to keep people motivated and fresh And things you shouldn?t do:
1. Be inconsistent
2. Break your own rules (if you say don?t interrupt me when I?m talking, then you shouldn?t do that to your students either)
3. Use physical punishment
4. Don?t get angry Business English (BE?s or BE) is English you teach when there is a specific purpose to teach it, such as career advancement.
A common misconception for this category is that teachers can?t teach it because they don?t know anything about business, when in fact 90% of the language in a business is just the same English we use every da.
Other things to consider are:
1. You are not teaching them Business, they likely already know about it already
2. The 3 situations you?ll likely face when teaching a person BE will either be teaching them as individuals, teaching an entire company department at your school, or even teaching ?in company?, so being invited to their business to teach them there
3. Again, 90% of BE is General English Some common problems you may encounter when teaching BE:
1. Students may have just come from work to learn English, so they?re likely tired
2. Mixed ability classes ? It?s unlikely all students will be at the same level (to combat this, you could make activities with varying levels within them)
3. Students will not always be able to attend your lessons, may be erratic
4. Each student will have different motivations for learning English, so try to tailor your teaching to their source of motivation Regardless of which BE situation you come across, a typical process that is recommended for you to follow before starting the course A typical process that?d be recommended to follow before teaching any type of BE class would be: Level Test -> Needs Analysis -> Group Need Negotiation (what they need out of the course and what they expect from it) - > Plan your Syllabus (don?t be too specific, you need to test if your syllabus works before you dedicate yourself to it) -> Test and evaluate progress (Progress Tests) -> Post course evaluation (students will be the best judges, ask them how you did and how to improve) As far as the Do?s and Don?ts of teaching BE, here?s what you should do:
1. Use your ignorance of their job to your advantage (if they worked in a bank and they say a term you don?t understand, asking them to explain the term would give them more language practice)
2. Find out what their jobs involve, with the approval of your students and their employers (you?ll know how to teach English better if you know all about the job they?re doing)
3. Be professional at all times (both in uniform/dress and attitude/demeanour)
4. Keep Records (employers will want to know about their client?s progress, so having a meeting with them will allow you to show their progress and give them the most confidence that you aren?t wasting their time) Some things you shouldn?t do:
1. Talk about people within the company
2. Expect them to bring everything they need
3. Use their native language or L1 Lastly, there is the Monolingual / Multilingual categor.
A Monolingual class is a group which all share the same native language, or L1, and a Multilingual class is a group which all have different native language.
Some advantages to Monolingual Classes could be that they:
1. Will share common difficulties
2. Will be culturally similar
3. Can help each other in their native language or L1, which is OK for lower level but we need to discourage that in the higher levels Alternatively, some disadvantages to Monolingual Classes could be that they will:
1. Try to use their native language or L1 in higher levels, which should be discouraged
2. Have less natural exposure to English or L2 (because in a monolingual class, you?ll likely be teaching them in the country they were born in) However, some of advantages to Multilingual Classes could be that they:
1. Have no common language other than English
2. Will have a large variety of experiences, which we can use in the class
3. Will have more exposure to English, or L2 Alternatively, some disadvantages to Multilingual Classes could be that they:
1. Have no common difficulties (tenses may be different, sentence structures may be different or the same, et.
)
2. Come from different ethnic backgrounds (one thing may be acceptable in one country, but not in another) In Conclusion, the 5 different categories your class may fall into will determine how you teach the class and what your aims as a teacher will b.
By realising the levels of your class or students and by following the above ?rules?, you can be more adaptive to your students? needs because you?ll likely be aware of some of the common difficulties (alongside advantages) you and they will have during the year within the clas.
This doesn?t exactly mean to teach disabled students, but instead to categorise the level of English your students understand, so then we understand the more specific things we need to do to teach those group.
These 5 categories are:
1. Beginners
2. Individuals (one to one)
3. Young Learners (YL?s)
4. Business English (BE?s)
5. Monolingual vs Multilingual Starting with the Beginners category, it is important to note that people of any age can be Beginner.
Because of this, we have a number of sub-categories under the Beginner category, these are:
1. Absolute Beginners ? No language knowledge what-so-ever, so they haven?t been taught it and they haven?t had any exposure to it either
2. False Beginners ? They are still beginners, but they have had some exposure to the languag.
They could?ve been taught it before but forgot about it, or they?ve been exposed to the language either through tourism or in the media
3. Adult Beginners ? An age of 16 or 18+ is classed as an Adult Beginner
4. Young Beginners ? Any age below 16 or 18 is classed as a Young Beginner
5. Beginners Without The Roman Alphabet ? The students have no knowledge of the Alphabet, so you?ll need to teach students about their ABCs as well as the language Some tips to teach Beginners with success are:
1. Keep it simple
2. Be Visual rather than Verbal
3. Get them talking
4. Use questions and verbal repetition drills (this?ll assist in getting them talking)
5. Use pair work
6. Be supportive and Praise as much as possible
7. Respond to individual needs
8. Be patient
9. Play lots of interactive games
10. Don?t overcorrect The Individuals (one to one) category is when working instead with a single student, as opposed to a class or grou.
The main positive about teaching students as individuals is that you?ll only ever be teaching that 1 level, either you?re teaching many students individually or teaching 1 and are teaching them what they need to know, as it is easier to gauge what they do and don?t know when you?re only teaching 1 studen.
However the main disadvantage to teaching individuals is that there is little dynamic within the lesson, meaning you as a teacher will need to become involved in the lesson process itsel.
A few points you need to know when teaching this sort of group:
1. Need Analysis ? Because you only have 1 student, it is important to do a ?Needs Analysis.
A Needs Analysis is something you do at the start of the course so you know what your student already knows, what they need to improve on and what they don?t kno.
From the Needs Analysis, you can start to create a syllabu.
2. Concentrate On Their Interests ? Particularly when teaching young learners, a student will learn best when they can relate to what?s being taugh.
If they like cars, you can relate cars and car parts to the activities and worksheets you give your studen.
It?s great to utilise this point when teaching new information because they won?t lose interest, and it?s quicker to learn the information because they?d be really engaged in the learning proces.
3. Cover All Skills ? Regardless of their confidence on certain skills, it is really important to teach students all skills equally (Receptive Skills: Reading and Listening & Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing.
4. Vary Your Activities And Approach ? This is just to keep learning fres.
Students won?t want to participate if it?s repetitive and borin.
Young Learners (YL?s) are those students between the ages 2 -
16. It is different to teaching Adult Learners because Young Learners are often self-motivated and enthusiastic, and they are able to keep up their self-esteem through a number of thing.
When teaching Young Learners, you want to:
1. Constantly Praise them
2. Do a lot of Repetition (Drills, singing songs, et.
)
3. Make sure your speech is Slow and Simple
4. Try to reference the individual person (if things aren?t going right or if they?ve done a good job)
5. Prepare lots of activities to keep them interested (students of that age have little attention spans)
6. Most importantly, keep it fun!! Things you should do:
1. Always use English
2. Speak Slowly
3. Use gesture and mime
4. Always play games (that are communicative and interactive that serve an educational purpose) Things you should not do:
1. Use their native language or L1 (as soon as they realise you have an appreciation of their language, they?ll just wait for you to use it)
2. Don?t put individuals on the spot (or they could lose their confidence very quickly, maybe use pair work instead)
3. Don?t expect them to have what they need
4. Don?t ever be afraid of making fun of ourselves (you may act of what particular animals do or sound like) In terms of Disciplining Young Learners, some things you should do:
1. Make yourself aware of their problems
2. Change the dynamic of the class as often as possible (seating, who they work with, et.
)
3. Be fair and consistent
4. Change activities as often as possible to keep people motivated and fresh And things you shouldn?t do:
1. Be inconsistent
2. Break your own rules (if you say don?t interrupt me when I?m talking, then you shouldn?t do that to your students either)
3. Use physical punishment
4. Don?t get angry Business English (BE?s or BE) is English you teach when there is a specific purpose to teach it, such as career advancement.
A common misconception for this category is that teachers can?t teach it because they don?t know anything about business, when in fact 90% of the language in a business is just the same English we use every da.
Other things to consider are:
1. You are not teaching them Business, they likely already know about it already
2. The 3 situations you?ll likely face when teaching a person BE will either be teaching them as individuals, teaching an entire company department at your school, or even teaching ?in company?, so being invited to their business to teach them there
3. Again, 90% of BE is General English Some common problems you may encounter when teaching BE:
1. Students may have just come from work to learn English, so they?re likely tired
2. Mixed ability classes ? It?s unlikely all students will be at the same level (to combat this, you could make activities with varying levels within them)
3. Students will not always be able to attend your lessons, may be erratic
4. Each student will have different motivations for learning English, so try to tailor your teaching to their source of motivation Regardless of which BE situation you come across, a typical process that is recommended for you to follow before starting the course A typical process that?d be recommended to follow before teaching any type of BE class would be: Level Test -> Needs Analysis -> Group Need Negotiation (what they need out of the course and what they expect from it) - > Plan your Syllabus (don?t be too specific, you need to test if your syllabus works before you dedicate yourself to it) -> Test and evaluate progress (Progress Tests) -> Post course evaluation (students will be the best judges, ask them how you did and how to improve) As far as the Do?s and Don?ts of teaching BE, here?s what you should do:
1. Use your ignorance of their job to your advantage (if they worked in a bank and they say a term you don?t understand, asking them to explain the term would give them more language practice)
2. Find out what their jobs involve, with the approval of your students and their employers (you?ll know how to teach English better if you know all about the job they?re doing)
3. Be professional at all times (both in uniform/dress and attitude/demeanour)
4. Keep Records (employers will want to know about their client?s progress, so having a meeting with them will allow you to show their progress and give them the most confidence that you aren?t wasting their time) Some things you shouldn?t do:
1. Talk about people within the company
2. Expect them to bring everything they need
3. Use their native language or L1 Lastly, there is the Monolingual / Multilingual categor.
A Monolingual class is a group which all share the same native language, or L1, and a Multilingual class is a group which all have different native language.
Some advantages to Monolingual Classes could be that they:
1. Will share common difficulties
2. Will be culturally similar
3. Can help each other in their native language or L1, which is OK for lower level but we need to discourage that in the higher levels Alternatively, some disadvantages to Monolingual Classes could be that they will:
1. Try to use their native language or L1 in higher levels, which should be discouraged
2. Have less natural exposure to English or L2 (because in a monolingual class, you?ll likely be teaching them in the country they were born in) However, some of advantages to Multilingual Classes could be that they:
1. Have no common language other than English
2. Will have a large variety of experiences, which we can use in the class
3. Will have more exposure to English, or L2 Alternatively, some disadvantages to Multilingual Classes could be that they:
1. Have no common difficulties (tenses may be different, sentence structures may be different or the same, et.
)
2. Come from different ethnic backgrounds (one thing may be acceptable in one country, but not in another) In Conclusion, the 5 different categories your class may fall into will determine how you teach the class and what your aims as a teacher will b.
By realising the levels of your class or students and by following the above ?rules?, you can be more adaptive to your students? needs because you?ll likely be aware of some of the common difficulties (alongside advantages) you and they will have during the year within the clas.
