Well, you got your TEFL certificate, and now the world is yours to teach it! She then got her first teaching gig only to realize that the formal teacher training classes she received were background information and not applicable to the reality of getting students talking teaching. Also, the high school wants you to pull rabbits out of your hat to keep students happy regardless of learning. However, the training center requests that you stick with their outdated materials, eliminating any chance for students to increase their fluency in the language. To do? Do you align yourself by following the retrograde ways of teaching you have been given to become a “regular” teacher, or do you make an effort to really learn your trade? If it’s the latter, here are 8 tips you might find helpful from a 13-year-old American ESL teacher in China. Jiayou!
1. Put the students in a situation to speak: You should know by now that, in Asia, asking a student for their opinion directly is likely to leave you staring. In reality, language students from any country can also have the same behavior, but it is perhaps more common in homogeneous societies. To do? Simple, understand their cultural collectivist mentality or, in other words, make them work in a group because it is what they are used to. Therefore, you may want to put them in a role play scenario where students answer the question in pairs or groups and where their individual opinion is heard on a rotating basis. The great benefit of this is that the situation dictates that their action is worth it, since you are calling them directly. Trust me; this will work because they will feel more comfortable seeing others and following the same pattern.
2. Give them the wheel to drive the car: In life, there are passengers, and then there are drivers. The same applies to language speakers; some students would like to be the main speaker to manage the conversation. Therefore, give them the keys to communication by encouraging them to be facilitators in the discussion. Of course, you should provide the outline for handling the discussion with key phrases, talking points, or dialogue. When you do this, they will love it and they will be very motivated and grateful for the opportunity to be the “speaker of the day”.
3. Correct only when necessary: Depending on their level, students will make many errors related to pronunciation, grammar, and content. But save yourself and them a lot of trouble and learn to hold the fix unless it’s a major problem. Also, if your class focuses on fluency, avoid having to stop the class for small problems. The student’s correction depends on the time remaining, the focus of the class, and the recurrence of the problem. There are different ways to correct a student, but here are two common ones. First, you as the teacher can look at them with a questioning look as you repeat the wrong word and the correct word, such as “information or information.” and they will usually give you the correct word. The second way to correct a student is at the end of class. Just briefly point out the errors on the board; “a solution, information is the right word.”
4. Create your interactive communication aids toolbox: If you’ve ever tried to learn a language, you know there’s a lot of processing going on even in simple questions. For Chinese students, there may be even more challenges. In the student’s mind, they intuitively translate words or questions, spend time thinking of the correct words, and then try to answer the question in their own logical way. Therefore, your answer is sometimes half correct. Another more common problem that students have is not knowing how to start answering questions. Therefore, to save time and build confidence, provide them with speaking aids. Use talking points, outlines, diagrams, or a topic sentence to get them talking quickly and responding logically. A simple approach I recommend is to make the question part of the answer, such as “Is chocolate a health food?” and “Yes, I think chocolate is a health food because…”
5. Time is important: I often hear from teachers that students just don’t want to talk in class. But from my experience, that is not the case. They actually want to talk in class, but they require time, trust, and support. As a teacher in Asia, you need to understand how important it is to be more patient and learn to work with student behavior. Keep in mind that it is the teacher’s role to find the best way to help a student, sort of like working with a rubric cube. It is important to show patience while trying different things. You can use scaffolding techniques like a topic sentence or pre-writing activity to help. Afterwards, you can take the time to process and come back to them later, giving them another chance to talk.
6. Avoid being Einstein on the blackboard: I imagine that in some fields it is beneficial to write endlessly or sketch ideas on a whiteboard. But in the ESL field, it’s more about talking, so don’t write a lot of words; maybe like more than 15. I remember seeing a teacher who was in the habit of wasting ten minutes to write more than thirty words on the blackboard to prepare students for a speech class. The whiteboard should be used as a PPT in which a key wording, summary of ideas or corrections should be presented; and of course the sketches are also useful. Depending on the subject I teach, I may write a standard agenda list or create a circular word map to guide the flow of the discussion.
7. Set up your own dining table: Establish your own teaching format that you can use repeatedly. Very often, in training centers, teachers are given a job at the last moment or, frankly, you may not be sufficiently prepared for a class. As a result, you may have a silent panic attack having a “what do I do next?” moment. To avoid that headache, develop a framework that you can routinely use regardless of topic. With the right format, you can put the topic in your outline and go through the class without worrying about what to do next, but actually facilitating speaking opportunities and student corrections. For me, when I teach a communication skills class, I always go through a preset list of six areas in a clockwise order that keeps the flow going for fluency purposes.
8. Energize your lessons: In ESL, students get the most out of class when they are active and interested. This is true due to a myriad of educational theories and the fact that the student’s previous language learning experience was passive. Essentially, students were having classes in “workbook English” without actually speaking it. Therefore, teachers need to contrast the boring learning experience of previous students and show enthusiasm. To help you do this, you need to get the energy out either through your personality or through class format. Naturally, some teachers are outgoing and have a great rapport, but others are not. So basically I recommend enhancing your personality to create energy in the classroom to motivate students and engage in their learning. However, if you are an introverted teacher, consider getting the energy out through activities to keep students engaged. Just plan a variety of activities and be mindful of your time. I’m not suggesting that the classroom experience should be a fun endeavor organized by a hyperpersonality or implementing a quick to-do list. There must be a balance. But there is the reality that an enthusiastic teacher or when there are many useful activities to do, the students are more receptive to learning and it also prevents any problems in the future. Happy teaching!