Essay Mieke Geurts TEFL course March 2018
When thinking about the method I would use, I went back in time to see what helped me to learn English and what helped me to improve it.
Of course, it all started in school at the age of twelve and I think it is very useful to learn at least the basic knowledge (such as build sentences, description, verbs etc...) in a classroom.
What helped me at first: The listening.
As a teenager I watched TV-series and movies in English with Dutch subtitles, and this helped me to recognize sound patterns and pronunciation.
In some countries this was not an option because the series and movies were dubbed.
These days I think it becomes more easy to start watching series and movies in English, even at a younger age and also in countries where they dub the movies and series, because of the opportunity to find everything online in English.
The next stage on my learning journey was: The travelling.
This forced me to practice the basic language I had acquired in school and made it possible to become more fluent.
More and more people want to explore the world and travel, and I see this as a very good way to practice. It is also a reason why adults would want to learn English; so that they can communicate with people they meet or they have met before on their travels.
The difference with learning French for example is that I learned French at school in the same way as English, but there were no popular TV-series or movies in French on television, and I was never forced to use it a lot when travelling. That is why I still struggle a lot when trying to have a conversation in French.
Following from the idea of travelling I have decided to make my essay about an ESP: English for Tourism.
I would follow the order of the macro-skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) although I might put listening and reading more at the same level. I would expect my student to be 18+ because people who are planning to travel or hoping to find a job in tourism are usually of a certain age. They would also have already a basic knowledge, as they probably have grown their interest reaching a higher level of communication when starting to learn English.
In my method I would use some ideas from different methods:
- Audio-Lingual method: I would use the repetition, not in the way as it is used in this method, just in the way that repetition helps to remember.
- Silent way: I would take the fact that I would not correct immediatly when a student makes a mistake I would try to let the student figure it out. Maybe by changing my expression or using body language, which would encourage students to correct themselves.
I would go for a communicative approach as especially in tourism communication is essential. I would put the emphasis on learning through interaction in the target language.
Let's assume we have 3 different areas and interests in tourism:
- for travelling
- to become a guide
- to work in a hotel or a travel agency
For all of them I would use listening, reading and speaking activities.
In the case of working in a hotel or travel agency I would also teach writing, because for them it is also important to write emails and respond to clients or companies.
Cognitivism is an imortant element in my method. Promote the use of intellect to remember what has been learned with an aim to understanding new words in a context helps to remember them.
How would I use it in the ESP for tourism?
I would start with using graded language but when progressing I would change to authentic language as this is the language they have to be able to understand and use at the end of the course.
Depending on which area of tourism and the needs of the students as to why they are learning English there would be different goals for different parts of tourism.
Travelling: the goal is personal, the students want to be able to communicate wiht other tourists and have fun in the classroom.
Activities in class:
- watch documentaries about places to visit (listening)
- talk about travel experiences or favourite kind of holiday(speaking / conversation)
- make a travel plan and talk about this (speaking and optional writing)
- check travel forums together (reading)
Becoming a guide: the goal is personal as well as profesional, they are interested in tourism, want to to become more fluent and hope to become a guide.
Activities in class:
- watch documentaries (listening)
- read parts from a travel guide (reading)
- look at pictures of places to visit and ask the students what they can tell about this place (speaking / conversation )
- show pictures of places to visit and give some facts about this place: ask a student to be the guide to the other students and talk about this place, the other students are the tourists and can ask questions (speaking / conversation)
Working in a hotel or in a travel agency: their goal is more profesional, they might have to do the course because their boss is asking to, or they want to find a job in this sector.
In class I would use the approximatly the same activities as above, but also focuss on writing emails, responding to emails from clients or companies.
The needs for all of them are more or less the same, they want to know and feel that they are progressing and become confident in communicating.
There can be some affective factors that could possibly cause some problems in the learning process.
This can be motivation of the students.
I would try to keep the classes as interesting as possible, and try to surprise the students.
For example a little fieldtrip in their own city with a guide so they can hear how a guide is using the language. On another day I would let a student guide the others to a place he / she knows and likes to talk about.
Another factor is stress. In some cases (maybe more in the classes for working in a hotel or travel agency) there might be pressure from the boss or just in any case stress can come up if the students are afraid of not progressing enough. I would try to overcome this by doing assesments on a regulary base, but not like a formal an exam. I would rather try to check on their progress with debates, little check-up questions in the end of a class to check if they were able to understand everything . Starting the next class with a quick overview from last class might also help to remember and let the students feel they are progressing and feel more and more confident using the English language.
My syllabus would consist:
- structure (important to communicate in a correct way)
- verb tenses (especially for a guide who wants to talk about the history of a place, this is very essential, but also for the other areas in tourism)
- pronunciation & fluency
- roleplays, from easy ones to start with to more difficult ones when progressing
- start with simple reservation phonecalls for the hotel related course, go on to how to deal with complaints.
- start with bookings for flights for the travel agency related course, go on to talk about different destinations, answering questions about different types of holiday, dealing with complaints.
- start with talking about your favourite holiday for the travel related course, go on to planning a holiday and talk about it.
- start with easy roleplays about things to visit in a certain place for the guide related course, go on to talk about more specific history of places.
- reading (for all of the different types of tourism courses this is important, for some more than others, but I believe being able to read makes it easier to understand a language and discover new words in a context)
In schooI I liked homework as it involved a lot of studying (vocabulary, making mathematic exercises,...) and of course there was just too much homework from all the different classes you had to follow and I was not interested in ALL of them.
It is different when a person chooses to follow a course out of interest.
That's why I don't think it is wrong to give a little bit of 'homework' sometimes.
But I would not let them do any test about it, it's their own choice to progress.
For students who follow the class for travelling, I would just suggest them to check on travelforums (to practice reading /find out new words themselves) & watch documentaries.
For students who want to become a guide, I would advise them to read travel guides or watch documentaries.
For all of my students I would try to convince them the importancy of practice to gain fluency, and this can be done in a fun way by themselves.
I would recommend them to find something they like: if they like to read, then read in English... If they like to watch TV, find your favourite TV-serie or movie in English (with subtitles in L1 or with English subtitles, depending on the level). If they like to listen, listen to an audiobook in English...
And most of all, practise in a fun way. That could be going on a chat in a travel group on facebook or become a member of Intercambio to practice with other people in an environment you like...
This way learning a language can be fun :)
