My teaching approach

There are many existing teaching methodologies on what to learn and what to teach as what would be the best way how to learn and how to teach. Choosing the right approach, procedure, technique is not an easy decision as every single person is different, has different expectations, laerning goals and probably imagines a distinct way how to achieve learning of a second language. The same would be with teachers, not a single one has the same personality, ideas and for sure would not support the same way.

I am really concerned about the number of students in classes at schools, which I think is unacceptable. This number should be reduced. At the same time strict but also objective questionaire or test (spoken or written) should be done to find out the right level of students, so that they have better chance to learn and teachers better opportunity to understand the needs, the motivation, the goals and perhaps problems of students.

To have a goal is very important, students have to realise why they want to learn, if it is because of their jobs, career, curriculum, academic reason, hobby, social life or just for fun. Knowing or realising this above, the students will have different needs and motivations. These could be affected by the age of students, personality, if it is the  first time learning L2 or if they are advanced students, their experience, working/studying environment and many more.

Skills that students want or need to learn vary and depend on goals and methods used in class. I have chosen to give example of children group, teenagers/adult group with no exam purpose and teenagers/adult with exam purpose.

As mentioned above there many existing methodologies used to teach:

Total Physical Response – no native language needed, TL conveyed through actions, movements, students learn while observing and performing. It is an effective way of learning, It is fun. I would tend to use this method for children. But also other techniques would be used in class (such as using flash cards, videos, all types of games).

The Communicative aproach – integrates all four makro skills, productive (speaking, writing), receptive (listening, understanding) for communicative competence. Using authentic materials, gramar and vocabulary learnt from the function, context and roles. Used in class of teenagers/adults with no exam purpose.

These methods are just a small part of everything that can be applied in class. Different approaches, procedures and techniques would be used in the exam group. In that case students have to understand how important this is and once they choose it, they have to do everything possible to achieve it, as it is not a cheap matter.

In this mixture of different methods and aproches, classes would focus on makro skils – Listening (1), Speaking (1), Reading (2), Writing (3), for children then Vocabulary and Communiation especially.

Organising the course , its syllabus and finally structure of each class  is very demanding, and even one could think when everything is done that there is nothing else to change or nothing else to imrove, it is every day task to prepare properly, to think how we could do things better, re-value and do everything possible for students, so that they feel comfortable in class, that this is the way they want to learn – the most natural possible, that this or that system really works and that they see themselves growing in knowledge.

First of all, the length of the course would be one year. Every single one of us can make a huge progress in that period of time.

Children – twice a week / 1 hour

Teenagers / Adults – 3 times a week / 1 hour

There is still time for private classes if needed and cannot be omitted or forgotten, some students need or want special care for special purposes (such as business class, only conversation class, someone with special problems, etc.)

Syllabus of each group would be very different, but still with the same purpose. For children, teenager and adults to learn  grammar and know how to use it, for students to learn a lot of new words (vocabulary) and again know how to use it, for complete beginners to learn how to write and read, how to pronounce and for advanced group just to work on improving these skills.

The structure of a sixty-minute class:

All of these classes would probably have Function-based / Topic-based / Structure-based syllabus. The last one mentioned preferably only for exam groups.

On the one hand, it is good to have many books at hand but still from my own experience, I think that things can be done in a completely different way and so, I would prefer no to have students’ books. On the other hand workbook is a good option for practise for children to draw, cut, etc. , for teenagers good option to reed an article, do a crossword using TL. And the last but not the least, practise books or test books for exam groups is something essential as it is almost imposible for a teacher to come up with an even basic example of that kind of exercise. Still, there are many other materials that could be uses in class.

Visual – such as newspaper, magazines, etc. – very easy to find, vary a lot, improve reading habits, good to read for specific information, source of cultural awareness.

Aural – such as radio, CD player – useful for ear-training , fluency development)

Audio-Visual – such as TV – brings outside world to class, it is an amazing, powerful motivation / Video – also good motivation and helps students with pronunciation in context.

Each class should be like a very well-prepared theatre play. The audition is different in each class and the role of a teacher has to change in each class as well, according to the level and the goals, etc.

I as a teacher am tolerant and like to have a great relationship with my students, from the youngest to the oldest. But still it is important to be that someone for that theatre play. For the youngest a guide, a controller, a playmaker for the class to be dynamic but in an effective way. For teenagers and adults with no exam still a guide, a coach, an engineer, an assessor, a playmaker, a conversationalist to show them the correct way of doing things and learn in an effective way, but to be able to tell them and listen to them if they have doubts, if they want to talk and share. For teenagers and adults with an exam, there is a necessity of a leader, a guide, an assessor, an organiser who would show them in the best way what and how  to learn and give the best results.

Because of the relationship that I try to have with my students, they realise that I am trying to help, that I want the best for them and for that reason almost everyone is up to not using their L1 in class. In my opinion, everything that needs to be said can be said somehow in L2. Everybody makes mistakes and I should be the person who respect that, especially when I know my students try really hard. Obviously grammatical mistakes corrected all the time, vocabulary or pronunciation almost all the time, but it cannot affect students in expressing , but sometimes mistakes are omitted when needed not to be interrupt.

Homework has always been here and in my classes as well.  For kids drawing fruits/family/animals/etc., cutting, reading a short fairytale to their parents. For teeneagers, adults a crossword in their workbooks; reading an article or activity such as ‘think about your last dream’, ‘how would you organise your own house or planet; different types of projects; interviews,roleplays, debates. There is a bottomless source of ideas, just to be creative.

How do I know that my students are making progress? Through assessment, which should be placed on the top of the scale. It should be flexible and systematic process and its aim is to identify students development and to adequate the teaching process. All done by observation and analysis of specific details, written in classroom diaries, achievement chart stuck on the walls, control lists, etc. I also consider important to hand out grades to my teenagers every three months as their parents want to be informed. If not requested, parents can arrange an appointment with me at any time. This is a great gesture of any teacher when parents feel welcomed and informed.

Learning process is like  an art, science, biology and physics all together. When one thing does not work well, we will notice or the system as whole piece will explode. The teaching learning system is still improving, it is like never ending story. We should continue working on learning, findind and improving not only the system but also how we could coordinate. How become better, more effective teachers for our students.