Friday, September 17, 2010

10 THINGS I NEED TO DO AS AN EFL TEACHER

1. I have to find out what an ESL/EFL teacher is. Check it out here.
2. Once I have that figured out I need to know how to make my classes interesting and worhtwhile. We'll take a look at this part later.
3. Shorts, swim suits, flip-flops are suitable to go the beach, not to visit multinationals and executives and expect to teach them English. Sadly enough, our appearance does matter.
4. If I have students with different levels in class, you can always mention it to the DOS (Dep. of Studies) and see if something can be done about it. If nothing can be done you can always adapt by providing different material to the students and leveraging conversation by eliciting answers and introducing vocabulary useful in all levels.
5. If you have to teach for an hour, you teach for an hour. You start and end your lessons always on time. If a student's late, as "punishment" you can ask him to tell a story or a joke to the rest of the class.
6. Students feel motivated when we mix different learning areas in our lessons. A little bit of listening, a little of reading, some grammar, some vocabulary and all of this activated in coversation practice.
7. We to correct the mistakes of our students as soon as we can. Some teachers prefer interrupting students and some like correcting after the student has finished. See which one suits you and each student.
8. If your students spend the whole of your class time talking, that's very good, but don't make these classes take place too often, forgetting about the other areas. Your students will appreciate it if you review grammar and vocabulary in class daily.
9. As a fun activity introduce a song or a TV show extract and let the students complete a filling the blank exercise or some questions. Here's an example. Video and worksheet.
10. Remember that whatever you do in class needs to have an aim. There should be a purpose in all you do.

No comments:

Post a Comment