My teaching approach
The ESL(English as a second language)program is established to provide students with the vocabulary and grammatical structures needed for both school activities and everyday living, there are many circumstances and factors which determine or modify the teaching process, different students have different reasons for wanting to take an English class, this could be for career purposes, academic purposes, social purpose or maybe as a hobby, depending on these reasons, they will have different motivations, needs and expectation. However as a teacher I also need to set my teaching goals and find a way to make both teachers and students goal on the same wave length, therefore what I want students to learn will be influenced by their needs, motivations and goals taking into consideration the leaners age.
Our job as a teacher is not only limited to passing information to students ,we must also try to maintain their will power as this may fade away at long run depending on the student and that could be achieved by constantly praising them and depending on the students personality, age and gender, I reward my students for their positive behavior and/ or participation in class activities to keep up the good job, I will be patient and positive by allowing each child to succeed at his/her own pace, leaving them to strive to get answers by themselves and this will put up a lot of challenges for them and will surely motivate them to want to know more, be Excited cause the more excited I am with the lesson/activity, the more excited my students will be, I will make my lesson excited, age appropriate and have fun with them, I also use Relevant contents to teach my students, this makes it easier for them to understand and motivate their interest because its applicable to their daily routine and this is why I always need to get to know my students and develop my lessons around their interest while still meeting the language acquisition goal.
Both macro (listening, speaking, reading, writing) and micro ( grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, )are important skills in acquisition of foreign language but I will go for Speaking and Listening because they are vital for expression of ideas, gaining fluency in spoken interaction with others, understanding ideas, and at the same time working on our pronunciations, to practice pronunciation ,we try reading aloud or repeating after a recorded test, trying to reproduce the pronunciation and intonation of the original. Make a recording of yourself and listen back to try to identify your own strength and weakness as a speaker.
Reading is also important because it develops our minds, our imaginations, language skills, it develops the creative sides of people, also discover new things through reading. Writing is needed to take notes, writing essays or articles, magazines, emails etc.
Vocabulary is very fun to teach as students love to discover new words and enrich their vocabulary bank, I would teach that by relating vocabulary to their domain and backgrounds.
Grammar: I will teach grammar to students by using an inductive method, i.e. let the students decode the patterns instead of feeding them the rules. Simple and useful sentences would be used to show beginners how to do to express the concept in question while complex and subordinated sentences would be used to teach structures and its functionalities to high level.
Spelling errors tend to come from phonology of English being that for Spanish Speakers words sounds exactly as they are spelled and they are spelled as they sound.
Syllabus: I will describe it as a guide to a course and what will be expected of me in it, Generally it will include course policies, rules and regulations, required texts and a schedule of assignment. A syllabus can nearly tell u everything you need to know about how a course will be run and what will be expected of you, I will prepare my own syllabus putting into consideration topic, vocabulary and structure. Example of a syllabus:
STRUCTURE – Issue: Joining ideas (making complex sentences)
Sub issue: Clauses beginning with “What, Whatever, Whichever, Whoever or Wherever, containing them
VOCABULARY-Issue: Word-building
Sub issue: Phrasal verbs: Put
TOPIC-Issue: Lifestyle
Sub issue: Entertainment and social life
My role as a teacher will also have a powerful influence on the learners development, I should be a Guild to them, guild them on how to learn and use English effectively, also an Analyst to be able to determine their individual needs and use the information obtained for course planning and development, also be Flexible because teaching a foreign language is a dynamic exercise, I will adapt myself to the constant changes the language is going through, thus incorporate newer technique in their teaching style, A psychologist to be able to interpret learners reactions and response to stimuli in order to adapt his or her class and reach high effectiveness of achieving goals. As a teacher, I also need to manage the students errors. As a rule, I will let students correct themselves, creating awareness, except in some cases such as pronunciation mistakes
Students role in foreign language acquisition is also important, they must have Motivation to learn, ability to take Risk, willingness to ask Question, acceptance of Correction, He/ She should be Organized and active, should be Realistic.
The vehicular language of the classroom must be the language that the students are learning, the mother tongue must be left at the classroom door so as to be able to learn the English (T.L) and increase fluency. Furthermore, students tends to use and build sentences in the same way as their mother tongue, as a teacher, its necessary to explain when a massage is conveyed inaccurately (inter language)
The assessment system is important to determine if the learners understood what they were thought and this assessment could be measured with tools like Essay, Test, minute paper, checklists, or other indicators of students achievement, Assessment is needed at the end of every class for revision, better understanding and effectiveness of the teaching.
My approach towards Beginners class would change related to an advanced class cause for later I will teach them more slowly and clearly and explain things in a simple way, I will keep structures and vocabulary simple (use cognate words) also will use realia, flash cards , stories and songs to teach them, I will be more of a model and controller to them and them will be like imitators and executors, I will be patient and their pace of studying is kind of slow in some aspect, but in Advances class almost everything(comprehension, oral skills, understanding of native speakers, following tv. Show and reading newspaper) are possible, here their materials are flexible and authentic, their pace of learning is fast and natural, I use authentic language, my role here is a facilitator or co communicator while my students are conversationalists, active learners.
Age group will be taught with a different procedure, for young Beginners, classes should always start with a warmer activity to get them comfortable, listening activities, matching words with definition, , creating stories, board games and anything that will motivate them into learning more but with teenagers, I will give them task that requires to learn new language on their own preexisting knowledge, Drawing games, short dialogue are some of my ideas and in Advanced class I will engage them in a discussion class or dialogue for them to be able to communicate well and be fluency in speaking, I will try correcting all the mistakes in their tenses and grammar.
Here is an example of a Lesson Plan for a 60 min. class
My Lesson Plan for a class of 60 minutes
STRUCTURE
Issue: Presenting oneself/ Introducing Somebody.
Sub issue: Basic question with “To be” +Where, What, Who.
VOCABULARY
Issue: Education
Sub issue: In the classroom
TOPIC :
Issue: Rules
Sub issue: School and Work
Type of activity: Path Smoother
Objective: Quick question
Description: Describe weather
Time: 5mins
Type of activity: Structure
Objective: Learning different ways of presenting oneself or introducing somebody
Description: Show images of people meeting for the first time for the purpose of work, studies or for social events and show the formal and informal ways of introduction or presentation and when to use them
Time: 15mins
Type of activity: Vocabulary
Objective: emphasizing on the importance of Education and places one can acquire it,
Description: Discussion on why they are in the classroom, the various areas they feel that Education has helped them so far
Time: 15mins
Type of activity: Topic
Objective: Discuss about the rules at school
Description: In groups they will talk about rules at school and share with partner.
Time: 15mins
WRAP UP: General revision of what is done and questions relating to the topic
Time: 10mins