Bridget Berry
Oxbridge October 2014
Personal Approach on Teaching English Language
From the past month observing,
co-teaching, and teaching English language classes, I’ve learned that there is
an infinite amount of ways to approach effective teaching. I’ve learned how one must grade their
language when dealing with specific student levels, how to alter lesson plans
to work better depending on the number of students in a class, how students
understand certain vocabulary words or concepts, and how keeping a constant
level of fluency is key to a student’s success. To me, the process to teaching
a language should be about focusing on the right things at the right time,
student-teacher conversation, and making sure the students have a real life understanding
rather than always finding a way to translate something into their native
language. There are many different approaches towards teaching English and I
have developed my own personal approach.
Oxbridge has a set three activities
per class – one vocabulary activity, one topic/discussion activity, and one
structure activity. The classes are focused on fluency and heavy with
teacher-student interaction. I am a big fan and supporter of this style of
teaching. There is no direct translation and is in fact discouraged all
together. I believe kinesthetic explanation (i.e. moving your arms in a
swimming motion to explain the verb “to swim), is very effective in having
students develop a true understanding of a word. I think matching games –
whether it’s matching random vocabulary, verbs, or idioms to their correct
meanings – is also very useful. It causes the students to find the answers
themselves. Making the student work for the right answer is always a better way
for them to learn rather than to just tell them an answer directly. I have to
say I 100 percent agree with how Oxbridge approaches teaching English because
personally, I believe it to be very effective.
One suggestion I have, or one thing
I would increase in my own ESL class, is vocabulary. One the negative side, it
can often times be quite boring. As a student, it can feel like you strictly
have to memorize what certain vocabulary words mean, and that can be the case
at times. However, as a Spanish learner, one of my biggest challenges when conversing
with someone is having a lack of words. My grammar is okay, as well as my
fluency and pronunciation. I simply do not know the word for something I’m
trying to say. With this said, the positive side about adding more vocabulary
within a course is that there are endless ways to teach it. You can play games,
bring in physical items, use pictures, or even use videos. Teaching vocabulary
is great because there are ways to reach every student’s learning style. You
can teach the same word to five students in five different ways, and it is
useful for them.
With my personal approach, I not
only keep in mind current methods and things I’ve experienced as a teacher, but
as a language student. I took over five years of Spanish classes in high school
and college, and although I had impeccable marks, towards the end of each
semester I could barley have a conversation in Spanish or comprehend an
article. My student experience has
helped me realize what I do NOT want to do as a language teacher. I do not want
my students to do busy work. I don’t want them filling out work sheets or
circling the correct answer. Structure and grammar are extremely important, but
what’s more important is that the student understands. One thing I would
implement in my classes, regardless of level, age, or class size, is where to
put focus and where to make corrections when needed. If we’re focusing on
structure, I will focus on structure mistakes/make corrections. If we’re
focusing on vocabulary, grammar won’t be as stressed. If we’re focusing on
having a discussion, I will make sure the students have clear speech and
pronunciation. This is key because it helps the student organize what they are
learning and not feel overwhelmed. If they consistently use their native
language, I want to make sure they know that I understand why they are doing
so, but discourage it. I will explain to them that constantly translating words
and speaking aloud in their native language will not help them learn in the
long run. I believe it’s important to stress you understand why they’re using
it as well as to not make them feel belittled.
As a former English literature
teacher, I am a big fan of class discussion. I think class discussion is an
excellent form of evaluating a student’s comprehension. If they truly
understand something, they should be able to explain it. I think the same goes
for ESL classes. Of course, the ideas and concepts are not the same, but if a
student can carry on a conversation about something we have just read or
vocabulary we have just learned about, it shows that they get it. Even if a
discussion is full of grammar mistakes, they are still attempting to prove that
inside their minds, the comprehension is there. This ties in with implementing
confidence within students. If a student does not have confidence they will not
participate and therefore never progress. Within ESL courses it is especially
important to make sure your students feel comfortable speaking out loud. As
teachers, it’s a way for us to monitor their understanding, and it makes class
go a lot smoother. As students, if they don’t practice speaking and listening
English, they will never master it. If I don’t speak Spanish after a while, it
starts to slowly slip out of my brain, and the same thing happens for ESL
learners.
In regards to age and skill level,
of course consistency and objectives will be different. I think syllabi really
come into play with these factors. With early learners, you’re not going to get
results as fast as you would with intermediate or advanced learners. You will
have to organize your classes based on appropriate speed and basic
understanding. Where as with intermediate students, because they already have a
base set of skills, you can organize a syllabus to include more material and
expect them to learn at a faster pace. As a former student and teacher, I think
syllabi are extremely important into having a successful class. If you’re on
schedule, great. However, if your students aren’t doing as well as you’d
anticipated, you can look back and see where they started to struggle. Perhaps
next time you can move things around a bit – start teaching a certain structure
later on in the course or introduce certain vocabulary earlier.
Student goals can always be entirely
different when it comes to English for specific purposes (ESP). A student always has different motivational
reasons for taking an ESL course in the first place, and in some cases they are
very specific. An intermediate learner could want to strictly focus on his line
of work, like hospitality for example. In that case, it is the teacher’s job to
focus activities – structure, vocabulary, and topics – around hospitality. That
students’ goal is to use English to progress him occupationally, so we must
plan to make that happen.
I am strongly opinionated on
teacher’s attitude, material selection, and preparation. Firstly, a teacher’s
attitude is everything. Passion is what makes or breaks a teacher, and if she
is lacking in passion, the student’s motivation will shrink. It is easy for
students to sense whether or not their teacher truly cares about their success,
so I always make sure to make myself clear – I want to see you succeed and
learn. I previously mentioned the
importance of making your students feel confident, and teacher’s attitudes in
class go hand in hand with how students feel. With ESL, you want them to feel
comfortable making mistakes in front of you knowing that you will be patient
with them and help them understand what they did wrong. You should be able to
creative an informal environment yet still keep them on track, teach, and make
corrections when needed. Material selection and preparation tie in with
teacher’s attitude. It’s not always the most riveting thing to teach structure,
but with the proper materials and preparation, you can always effectively
engage students. I’ve had some materials that I glanced over and thought, “Oh
boy, this is boring.” With the right alterations, you can turn a dull lesson
into something a bit more exciting. One personal approach I have towards
teaching is making connections with your students. This is to achieve a level
of comfort between student and teacher, but also to literally be able to relate
to them. When choosing materials, pick topics to discuss that you know your
students will care about. If you’ve got adult students at a law firm, choose to
discuss an article about a current lawsuit. If you’ve got a class full of 16
year old boys, choose a topic that will get them out of their seats to get
their comment or opinion across. With this, preparation is key. You’ve got to
always set aside time to prepare your materials so you can have a more
effective class. Also, preparation is correlated with time management. A lack
of preparation can lead to a teacher organizing mid-class, which wastes everyone’s
time.
As an English language teacher, I
believe my role is to act as a sort of executor. I do want to interact with my
students to increase audible learning, however I do not want to dominate the
conversation. I am there to introduce activities, ask questions, make
corrections, and guide their learning. Using a new language is very
intimidating whether it is speaking with your best friend or a stranger in a
classroom, and we must keep that in mind. I understand the first few classes
may be a challenge, but it is my role to make sure participation progresses.
I think my approach to teaching ESL
will change in various ways as I gain more experience. As of now, I’ve never
taught ESL to anyone but adults in a business setting, so I can only have limited
ideas and theories. However, I think my beliefs on confidence, patience,
materials/preparation, passion, and establishing student-teacher relationships
will always be set in stone. I am excited to learn how using pictures with
young children works better than using them with adults, or vice versa. I’m
excited to work with low level students who do not feel confident enough to
participate in class. Every student, at every level, at every setting will help
me change my approach to become a more effective teacher.