Teaching beginners

Teaching beginner students can be both very rewarding and very challenging. 

Some of you may be teaching students with very very little English. Others may have 'false-beginners'. This refers to students who have learned some English but can produce almost nothing.  Here are some dos and don'ts for teaching beginner and false beginner classes.

Don'ts

• Don't try to cover too much material or too quickly. Take things slowly, recycle language from previous lessons and build on this to give the students a sense of progress. A lot of practice with limited language is more rewarding for the students than charging on with things they can't do.

• Don't use activities that are very 'free'. Students just don't have the language to be able to do more than controlled practice activities. They only have the language you have taught to draw on. 'False beginners' on the other hand may have more passive knowledge and you could gradually introduce some freer activities once you have seen what they know.

• Don't talk too much. When students can't or won't say much, then there is a tendency to want to fill the silence with chatter. Listening to you talk a lot may be demotivating and boring for students when they can't understand what you are saying.

• Don't over-correct. Only correct the language that you have taught or are currently teaching them, not their attempts as communicating above their current level. The except to this is if you have false beginners. 

• Don't get impatient with the students. Put yourself in their shoes!

Dos

• Provide lots and lots of repetition. Model and drill new language. Use a range of fun drills  (I'll recap drilling in another post). 

• Do lots and lots of controlled practice with only small substitutions of vocabulary to provide variety in what they are saying.

• Recycle and revise language often to give the students a sense of progress.

• Mime, use visuals and demonstrate tasks and activities.

• Grade your language (choose your words carefully and avoid complex sentences).

• Slow down, pause more often, paraphase and repeat (but still try to sound natural to some extent).

• Expect and praise limited responses from the students. A response, albeit brief, shows that the student has understood.

• Scaffold speaking tasks. This means giving an example of a task (e.g. a dialogue) and then removing the content, leaving only the structures. Then students rebuild the dialogue using different content. For example, if you want students to talk about what they do in their free time, describe your own free time as an example, giving them key phrases such as 'At the weekend I usually...... In the evenings I sometimes.....I really like.....' etc. Then get them to use these key phrases in their own personal responses.

• Give the students the opportunity to prepare for a speaking activity (either in class or at home).

• Choose activities that are simple to set up. If an activity is complicated then the students may not understand your instructions or it may take a long time to explain. Is it worth it? Or would it be better to do something simpler?

• Make sure that you pre-teach essential vocabulary before listening, reading or speaking tasks.

• Give clear whiteboard records of new language and give students time to copy it.

• Teach useful classroom language ('Can you say that again?', 'Can you speak more slowly please?' etc).

• Try to keep instructions and procedures consistent throughout the course so that students soon learn what you want them to do with minimum instruction.

• Create a positive, encouraging learning environment in which students feel comfortable and confident to have a go with the new language.

• Praise signs of progress, no matter how small.

Beginner classes can start out difficult but often end up being amongst the most rewarding you will teach!

Getting students to respond

Asking questions but the students don't respond? 

By now you may have met certain classes who just don't seem to respond to you.  There are a number of reasons why this might be happening and suggestions for what to do.

1. The students don't understand you. You may need to grade your language more. Choose your words more carefully and avoid long and complex sentences. Pause more often than usual and repeat key points.
2. The students don't know what you want them to do. Check your instructions. Demonstrate tasks. Hold up the paper and point to the task you want students to do. Do the first item as an example.
3. You are half-hearted about getting them to do what you want. If you want the students to repeat after you, then give a rousing model and insist that everyone repeats loudly and in different fun ways. If you ask a question, do it loudly and clearly in anticipation of a response. 
4. The students are not familiar with volunteering answers.  Nominate students to answer (i.e. call on them by name). 
5. Students are used to only being asked questions for which there is a right or wrong answer. Ask more 'closed' questions. Once a student has given an answer, even if just 'yes' or 'no' then lead them further into the conversation by asking follow-up questions.
6. The students are not engaged. Coursebooks can be quite dry and boring. Can you adapt the lesson to better suit the interests of your class? Can you personalise the lesson more? (More about you and more about the students?)
7. The students are unmotivated or tired.  Mix up your activities to include rousers and settlers according to the energy level of the class. Point out to the students how what they are learning will help them in the future i.e sell your lesson - don't say 'today we are going to study page 6', or 'today we are going to review the present perfect'. Instead tell them that they'll practise speaking about their experiences or their hopes or ambitions etc. Try to make it real to them. 
8. The students don't respect you. If you have gone into a class seeming nervous then the students might not have confidence in you as a teacher. Plan your lessons carefully so you know exactly what you want them to do and go to class with an air of purpose and quiet confidence. Don't shout at the students to get them to do what you want. This will just lose face for you. But be firm and decisive in all that you do but with a big smile on your face!

Integrating grammar and speaking

How can I provide speaking practice for a grammar lesson?

Many of you are supporting Vietnamese teachers who teach the grammar from their coursebook and would like you to provide speaking practice of it.

One straightforward approach to teaching grammar that you will be familiar with from your training is PPP - Present, Practise, Produce.

Stage 1: The teacher presents the target language (for example a grammar point such as comparative forms). The teacher makes sure that the meaning, form, pronunciation and use are dealt with.

Stage 2: The students do a controlled (sometimes called 'restricted') practice activity which could be spoken or written. This activity is usually quite limited so as to ensure that the students produce the target language. At the extreme end of controlled this might just involved some repetition perhaps of sentences or a dialogue. At the freer end of the spectrum students might exchange information with a partner, using the target language.

Stage 3: The students do a free practice activity (sometimes called 'authentic'). This is often a speaking task that requires them to draw upon all of their linguistic knowledge to select the correct language needed for the task. It is more open than stage 2 - other language will be produced in addition to the target language. It may also be more personalised. The teacher gives feedback on this.

Many Vietnamese English coursebooks stop at stage 2 (and even then don't always provide much controlled practice). This is where you can pick up the lesson and provide more controlled and freer practice activities to give the students the chance to use the target language. These are activities that often involve putting students into pairs or small groups. Tasks can include: information exchanges, surveys, roleplays and games.

We have just put some new activities to practise various grammar points onto the website: http://pe8119.wix.com/ttv-teaching-blog#!grammar/c1e8m

You can also use these activities as warmers or fillers (but only if they know the grammar point!).

Co-teaching university classes

Are you co-teaching a class?

Some of you who have been placed at universities have been asked to work within specific departments and to assist the lecturers there.

The idea of this type of support is to help the students learn subject specific vocabulary in English and to practise English in the context in which they may be required to use it (e.g. for nursing).

To make these lessons successful it is necessary for the lecturer and the English teacher to liaise closely and to build a cooperative relationship.  It may be very new for the lecturer to have an assistant in his/her classes and he/she may simply not quite know what to do with you. This can come across at times as unwelcoming behavior on the part of the lecturer. They rarely intend it to seem like this. Remember also that they may be quite intimidated by the presence of a native English speaker who may inadvertently make it seem like the lecturer’s own English is not very good.

So, what can you do? First, ask the department if they have a curriculum or core textbook in English.

Find out what the lecturer plans to cover this semester and familiarise yourself with it (you don’t need to understand all the content – just the language!). 

Several days before the lesson (if possible) ask the lecturer if he/she will be giving out handouts or referring to specific pages of the book.  Look at key vocabulary here and plan how you could explain and exemplify this and how you could model and drill it to help students with their pronunciation.  Make a list of words that you expect to tackle and give this to the lecturer so that he/she can allow you time for this. You could suggest that you present these words at the beginning of the lecture or you could decide together that it would be better to deal with them as they come up. You could also prepare a short vocabulary exercise for the student to practise the words.

However, you may find it challenging to liaise with the lecturer in advance. In this case, take notes during the lecture. Make a note of problematic or key vocabulary in English. Then at the start of the next lesson you can clarify, model and drill and practise this vocabulary (through a game or other activity). Tell the lecturer that you need 10 minutes or so to do this at the start of the next lesson.

When the students are reading or writing, you can monitor and assist them if they are doing this in English. If they are reading they can call on you when they don’t understand a word. When they are writing you can suggest alternatives or provide correction.

Negotiate with the lecturer for you to have a specific time each week to provide speaking and/or language practice.  The lecturer may be worried that his/her students are going to fall behind on their main studies. This is something for him/her to discuss with their department head. After all, the university has asked you to do this!

What you tackle during your own lesson slots is very dependent upon the department that you are in. However, if available, look at the textbooks that the class is using and develop from here. For example if you are with students studying business and their current unit is negotiations, then you may base your lesson on a functional language for negotiating.  There are many ESP (English for Specific Purposes) books on a wide range of subjects so let TTV know if you need suggestions for resources.

Conversational English classes/club

Teaching a conversation club or conversational English classes?

You may find yourself taking a conversation group/club that students choose to go to outside regular school hours. You may also find that you have been asked to deliver ‘ conversational English’ lessons to scheduled classes but have not been given a book or curriculum to follow. In either case, the guidelines below may help you.

Keep it simple to prepare for and fairly consistent in format. All you should need is a set or conversation cards or other prompts.

Have a look at these websites for useful materials and adapt to suit the age, level and interests of your students.

http://iteslj.org/questions

www.esldiscussions.com

Keep the resources to use for another time.

Some typical topics (choose according to the age, level and interests of your students).

Sport

Age

Travel

Beliefs and superstitions

Phobias

Music

City vs country life

Crime

Hobbies

Fashion

The Internet

Films

Honesty

Likes and dislikes

Food

Books

Memory

Work

Personality

Feelings

The environment

Opinions

TV

Men and women

Friends

Family

Behaviour

Technology

Relationships

Ambitions

Habits

Time

Phobias

Education

Happiness

Money

Motivation

Fame

Wishes and regrets

The English language

Health

Skills and talents

Time

Customs and festivals

Inventions

Basic procedure

1. Establish the theme of conversation club, for example:
2. Brainstorm words / ideas connected to the topic
3. Dictate words and get students to guess the topic.
4. Give an anecdote on the topic, invite students to ask you further questions.
5. Use visuals to set the scene.
6. Pre-teach vocabulary or language structures that may be useful to the students while they are talking.
7. Get the students to read or listen to something on the topic and use this as a springboard to further discussion.

Speaking task(s)

• Give students time to ask you if they don’t understand.
• Students work in pairs, groups or mingle to ask and answer questions / do the task.
• Encourage them to extend from the question. Put useful language on the board as they are talking.
• Give feedback on the task.

Typical conversational speaking tasks

problem-solving

roleplays

planning

ranking

discussion

surveys

games

casual talk

stories about yourself / people you know

narratives

quizzes

presentations