One thing that I have realized about teaching English to lower level students is that less is more. It is wishful thinking to expect college age exchange students to learn and remember all the vocabulary and grammar structures in a short amount of time - living in the Bay Area with so much to explore, who has time to study?! Attention span is one thing, the right motivation is another. Rather than bombarding them with lists of vocabulary words to remember and too much homework where nothing seeps in, much like tossing them into a lion's den (figuratively speaking), it can empower students when they begin to remember/memorize the definitions of just a few words in real-life authentic contexts. Tailoring to the realistic expectations of your students, no matter how little it may seem, can boost your students' confidence and motivation levels to use what they are learning in useful contexts.
Sometimes less is more, especially in the language classroom.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Getting Organized
You may have just finished an intensive teacher training program, and are now getting ready to teach the first ESL classes of your career. This is definitely an exciting time, but possibly quite overwhelming as well. Being a teacher entails not only teaching a class, but also lesson planning, creating supplemental curriculum, helping students during office hours, answering emails, and grading homework, tests, and other assignments. Perhaps the most important skill to develop during your early teaching years is organization.
Here are some ideas to keep things organized:
Teaching Portfolio. Create a personalized portfolio of the handouts you distribute to your students. A basic 3-ring folder will do the trick. I really like using plastic sheet protectors for some documents that you will photocopy the most, instead of punching holes into the original copies.
Lesson Plans. Plan out the number of minutes for each part of your lessons. How many minutes do you expect to take attendance? Give explanations? Assign class work for the students?
Observations. After each class, reflect on how the class went and write down some notes. Did the class go as planned? What materials did you use to teach? What did you do well? What can you improve for the next class? Did the students participate enthusiastically during activities?
Resources. Make a list of helpful resources that you can easily refer to when you need it. Take advantage of the excellent ESL websites that you can use for teaching ideas as well as engaging audio materials. It might help to 'bookmark' the sites that you use the most to save time. I will share some useful websites in the upcoming posts.
Activities and Games. Print out some language activities that you can use during class, and add them to your portfolio. You should try to add some variety to the kinds of activities you will use, for example using grammar activities to supplement reading assignments, or short language-related games if you have a few minutes to spare before the class ends.
Teaching is not always easy and can be an energy zapper at times, but if you follow some of these ideas to stay organized, you are on your way to becoming a great teacher!
Here are some ideas to keep things organized:
Teaching Portfolio. Create a personalized portfolio of the handouts you distribute to your students. A basic 3-ring folder will do the trick. I really like using plastic sheet protectors for some documents that you will photocopy the most, instead of punching holes into the original copies.
Lesson Plans. Plan out the number of minutes for each part of your lessons. How many minutes do you expect to take attendance? Give explanations? Assign class work for the students?
Observations. After each class, reflect on how the class went and write down some notes. Did the class go as planned? What materials did you use to teach? What did you do well? What can you improve for the next class? Did the students participate enthusiastically during activities?
Resources. Make a list of helpful resources that you can easily refer to when you need it. Take advantage of the excellent ESL websites that you can use for teaching ideas as well as engaging audio materials. It might help to 'bookmark' the sites that you use the most to save time. I will share some useful websites in the upcoming posts.
Activities and Games. Print out some language activities that you can use during class, and add them to your portfolio. You should try to add some variety to the kinds of activities you will use, for example using grammar activities to supplement reading assignments, or short language-related games if you have a few minutes to spare before the class ends.
Teaching is not always easy and can be an energy zapper at times, but if you follow some of these ideas to stay organized, you are on your way to becoming a great teacher!
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