Wellman, Iowa TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

Teachers in general are faced with a lot of small common problems all the time , here we should see them coming but also be ready to take the appropriate measures to not let them become unmanageable . A good teacher always must have a good rapport with all their students whether it be a new class or an existing class. The teacher should take an interest about the students background, the level of English, their interests or hobbies , their needs for the English language, area’s of difficulty . This will then enable the teacher to come up with a planned course syllabus. Which they can tweak around to make the final outcome they need . There are a number of activities that the teacher can use for these purposes: 1 Questionnaire/survey – the teacher can let the students interview each other using a pre-set questionnaire and then feed back to the class. This will allow the students to get to know about each other. If the teacher monitors the activity closely, he/she will also learn a lot about the students' level of ability in the English language. 2 A similar type of activity is 'Tell us about' which is a board game in Keep Talking 3 Pass the ball game. The teacher tosses a soft ball to one of the students and asks him/her any question. That student answers the question and tosses the ball to another student and asks that student a question etc. As with the other activities it is a good idea for the teacher to take part too, that way the students find out information about the teacher activities it is a good idea for the teacher to take part too, that way the students find out information about the too, helping to establish rapport Warmers These are games to set the class in a good mood plus the fact you want motivation to kick in rather than a gloomy class which is not very good for the atmosphere of the class. E.g. ?Hangman. Can be used as a revision tool for vocabulary already learnt or to introduce new words. ?Pictionary. ?Tongue twisters. Good for pronunciation of problem sounds. For example “red lorry, yellow lorry” is useful in Asia where the 'r' and 'l' sound present problems. ?Memory games. For example one student starts with “Yesterday, I went swimming”, the next student would say “Yesterday, I went swimming and played football” and so on. Different levels Entrance level testing procedure should eliminate this is not always the case. As usual we will have slow and fast learners this being the case we must accommodate for this. The teacher must sometimes act as juggler by making faster students do harder tasks with the same class materials, while helping the slow ones make up the work with simpler tasks. But the idea is to keep the class moving as a team. The other method is to pair strong with the weak . Experienced teachers will adopt a mix of the above techniques to enable classes to progress more smoothly. Large classes. This requires a little bit of skill and experience from the teacher but sometimes makes the class more dynamic as more idea’s come out and there is variety in more students. Methods to use here would be pairing, using worksheets, & choral repetition. The idea of having groups and group leaders to keep the whole class fully occupied and doing actual constrictive work . Class which have large numbers must be given instructions clearly, and the teacher should use larger lettering on the board plus increase the volume of their speech. Use of native language This can be over come by first trying to lower the level of the English used in the class so that everyone understands the instructions , slow the pace of teaching, make sure time is given to the slower students, encouragement and motivation come hand in hand so praise the students for trying . Try at all times to keep translations to a minimum between students. Sympathize with slower students but try always to communicate in English. The teacher should not be worried about wrong or incorrect answers but get fluency going here. There are a number of things that the teacher can do in such a situation: 1.Make sure the activities you use are at an appropriate level 2.Make sure your explanations are clear to all class members. 3.Encourage the use of English where appropriate 4.Only respond to English. 5.Constantly remind the students. Reluctant students Teachers will come across students who don't seem to want to talk or participate in class. For some it may be cultural, for others intimidation or confidence issues. Following are some other useful ideas f encouraging students to speak.: a.Use plenty of pair work b.Use controlled practice. c.Use role-play d.Use a tape recorder Difficulties with listening texts This seems to be a problem that is common to students of nearly every nationality ,teacher should work with the students to help improve their listening skills. Another common problem the teacher is often faced with is what to do when one or two students have finished tasks, Most teachers take the 'common sense' view that we should carry out the lesson at the pace of the majority of the class. If we keep a selection of extra activities/materials, we can then make sure the quicker students have something to do and don't become bored. Another solution is to plan other activities for the same materials and if some students finish early, they can do extra work on it.