Tips On How to Teach a Class Through ESL Teaching

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Author: admin

There are places on the globe where English is not the main language but efforts are being made to teach English at school as this is the only language that has the potential of being a global language. Therefore a lot of countries are doing their best to introduce English to its general population. This has resulted in classrooms having students from young age to the adult with different levels of English knowledge.

The trouble of teaching a class having such diverse level of English is that when you teach something to the lower level ones, the higher level students tend to get bored and restless. On the other hand if you focus on the higher level students the lower level ones get fidgety as they are unable to understand anything. In such a situation the English teacher is the one that gets into a dilemma. Due to paucity of English teacher it is not possible to divide the class into two with high level and lower level forming separate classes. Therefore it becomes the sacred duty of the teacher to teach the class in such a manner that he makes the right kind of impression and the students feel that they are being taught something fruitful.

However, there are ways you can teach to a class containing students with a wide range of English levels; here are some suggestions that you can adopt.

1. Use 10% – 50% focus rule – as an English teacher when you are facing a class with mixed levels of English, you should make a note of the students and based on their levels divide them into two sections mentally. Taking the lower half and come up 10% this is a reasonable focus point. Now you should give this 40% student the major chunk of your effort and time. For the rest of the 50% you can throw in some higher level of English in order to capture their interest. Then when the time comes for pair work or group work, this is the time for you to focus on the lower 10% and give them your individual attention. This way everyone in the class will feel important and you will be fulfilling everyone’s needs.

2. Let the students be successful – if the students are taught with clear visuals, exciting examples, great body language along with enjoyable activities, the students are likely to learn quickly and remember more. This will give the students opportunity to grow their self-confidence and be successful in class.

3. Create situation that will help the students finish their assignment fast. – for a teacher it becomes frustrating when any assignment given to the class is not finished on time. It happens that some of the students take less time while the others take more time than necessary. Therefore it becomes necessary that as a teacher you should give a time limit to any assignment. While the students are at it you can go around and help those who have slowed down.

4. Let the students be their own teacher – the main aspect of ESL teaching is to motivate and guide and clarify rather than teaching. Therefore the students should be involved as much as possible in the teaching process. For example, if you are having a reading class where students need to stand if they hear a specific type of word, here you can ask a student to read instead of you reading. This way the student will have the opportunity to speak more. On the other hand if a question is asked by a slower student, you can have an advanced student to answer the question. This will teach the students how to answer questions and also build up their confidence.

5. Assess the level of the student – for effective ESL teaching the teacher should be able to assess the levels of various students. One student might be good at speaking than the other; while the other student might be better at reading. It will be the duty of the teacher to find out the level of each student rather than the overall level of the class. The teacher should never assume that just because a particular student is good at speaking will be good at writing too.

There exist scientific methods of teaching, but in ESL teaching the teaching method is something different. In ESL teaching method the teacher has to be intuitive as well and should be able to look into the eyes of the student and judge how far the student has grasp the lessons taught in the classroom. The teacher need to develop such a relationship with the student that the teacher will know if the student is able to comprehend whatever is going on in the classroom.

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