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This unit looks at the most common problems a teacher will face in the classroom and offers some suggestions on how to deal with them. The issues described are:
1. How to handle the first lesson or class. This situation will have two variations: when you have a new group where they don't know each other and therefore they will feel less confident and might not know how an EFL class works, and when you are dealing with an existing group where the class members already know each other, they feel comfortable among themselves and will most likely familiarized with EFL methodologies.
During this first lesson the teacher should try to break the ice and make all students feel comfortable, specially if dealing with a new group. It will also be important that the teacher gets to know the students at a more personal level, finds out about their needs and level of English, all in order to plan accordingly the future lessons. This can be done through surveys, games (it will be very beneficial that the teacher participates of them) or doing an analysis of the needs.
2. How to start your class. Starting a class straight with the content of the lesson will hardly motivate students. This is why we should try to start every class with short fun activities that will get the students motivated and using the language.
3. Dealing with different levels in the same class. A common issue and one that can be addressed by grouping students according to their skills and differentiating the work, either by using material according to each level or by using the same material but on different tasks. You could also resource to pairing strong and weak students.
4. Large classes. This is a challenge for any teacher, even the experienced ones. It can be dealt by doing pair or group activities, using worksheets, having group leaders and being always very clear on instructions for activities as well as audible to the whole class.
5. The use of the native language. This is an issue that will sooner or later arise. The teacher needs to understand that most of the times this is not due to bad behavior but mostly because the learner wants to communicate but feels uncertain about doing so in English. To avoid this problem it is recommended that all activities are designed according to the language level of the class, instructions are clear, encourage the use of English for all activities and communications, request and only respond to communication done in English.
6. Students that will not participate. It is common to find students in a class that will not feel confident enough to participate due to many different reasons. To encourage and build confidence in the student, the teacher should try to use pair work and/or role-play and always allow enough controlled practice among other strategies.
7. Difficulties with listening activities. This issue should always be addressed and the teacher needs to make sure it is not a problem with the material being used but with the listening skills of the student.
