Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified in Iowa? Are you interested in teaching English in Galt, Iowa? Check out our opportunities in Galt, 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!
This unit had me watch two classes, by the same teacher, in two different styles. I would categorize the first as an abject failure, and the second lesson a success.
In the first lesson, he showed up late. He did engage with them, though I found his style to be slightly unnerving and was constantly expecting a level of “perfection” that simply didn’t exist at this level. I was not impressed with his negativity when an answer was wrong, and I felt that he was leading to get answers rather than letting the students provide the answer or looking to peers. The instructor seemed quite impatient, as it seemed as if he had somewhere else to be. Energy is important. Without getting all woo-woo, people pick up on energy and even I felt like I had to hurry up with the answers. The energy was all wrong; it was negative and dismissive and eroded student confidence.
The second lesson was much better. The instructor was already in the classroom when class began, and he made it a point to go over everyone's names. The instructor had the engage activity ready to go on the board. The instructor used names when calling on people. Already, in the first few minutes, there is vastly more student talk time than in the first video, and the instructor provided guidance that did not detract from student talk time.
The instructor did not noticeably rely on the lesson plan like in the prior video. He had the students question each other and offered gentle comments that were encouraging. He used different color markers to differentiate between concepts and words. I like how the instructor built a reference matrix for “Have to, has to, and can”. I thought that made things quite clear and provided not only a physical framework (on the board) but a mental framework that will start to help the students as they proceed with class.
The take-aways from this lesson where numerous; a small sample follows. First, be in the class before the students arrive, and be prepared. Second, learn their names. Third, make sure that the activities to be utilized are clear for both the students and instructor. Finally, have fun, smile, and show the students that you care for their progress.
