The most overrated things in TEFL Part Two
-Explaining everything you do
This a classic example of the limitations of the philosophy of Diploma-level teaching: write your lesson plan on the board (language and human interactions are unpredictable, but your lessons obviously shouldn’t be), explain why you are doing every activity (presumably until your students think you are expecting them to doubt you and so start to think maybe they should), write a whole essay on the logical reasons for everything you do (instinct obviously unwelcome in TEFL), etc. etc.
I must admit that there are many teachers who could benefit from doing those things (including some who use the same arguments I have used here for pure slacking), and I did too for a while. Sooner or later, though, you have to get past that.
Let’s look at what those classic TEFL systems could do to learning at the kind of higher level that we should all eventually aim to reach:
“The man I really learnt most from was my father. When I was born he drew up a syllabus of all the things he was going to teach me and when, with a 2500 word essay justifying every day’s learning. He always explained in full detail why I had to stop picking up sweets from the ground, but only after fully researching the majority of recent research on the matter”
Etc.*
The most overrated things in TEFL Part One was a while ago and is here, and if I don’t get any ideas from you lot might be just as long until Part Three.
*Hmmm, seem to be very uninspired at the moment- haven’t seen such an unimaginative overuse of the word “etc” since The King and I! Blame it on spending 90% of my time with the under fives…
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Ha! Loved it, Alex – “The man I really learnt most from…” is quite inspired. Have you been smoking weed or something?
I usually write on the whiteboard “Today’s Menu”, with a list of the skills I plan to do with the class, but just as often I ignore it and do something else.
Meanwhile, your UK readers might like to trip over to my blog and vote on this: “NOVEMBER POLL: Whose interests do the British Council and English UK serve via their accreditation processes?”
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Hi!
I’m just in the middle my DELTA module one :)
What you wrote is hilarious but soooo very true :)
Will come back for more,
Anita
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Isn’t using pre-planned material against the tenants of dogme? :) You must not be a follower.
I see where you’re coming from with this Alex and maybe I just haven’t “got past it yet”, but I think this is pretty important. It shows the students you have a plan and didn’t just waltz into class straight from puking over the toilet and wolfing down those aspirin. Is that why we’re talking about headaches today teacher?
Turkish students also love this to death. While I have lots of room for flexibility, I think having a goal in every class is incredibly important. There are times when you should stray from the lesson plan, but there are just as many times you shouldn’t. My students often like to try and skirt difficult topics or topics using unfamiliar vocab. by diverting the convo. Sometimes I let them get away with it, but usually the point of the activity is to start making them comfortable with it.
You can just as well signpost what you did in the class as what you planned to do, too. Signposting doesn’t mean your lessons can’t be organic. Since most students want to feel they’ve studied something specific, it’s good to give them points to grasp on to.
Let’s not forget that many students find most approaches to TEFL teaching an enigma and don’t see the value in it. Again it’s helpful to explain things to them and keep them informed. Even if the lesson diverges, discuss it with the class and see if they liked the diversion, if you should do more, what value it had for the class, etc.
Also, there is always the danger that teachers will start thinking anything including English in the classroom is a lesson. I’ve seen this quite a bit. A poor lesson with no merit, but the teacher thinks it’s fine because they threw some English at the students.
Experienced teachers can go with the flow on these things, but the newbs need a plan and should try to stick to it. It’s just like you mentioned with your coursebook post. A plan allows teachers something to focus and work around.
As you pointed out, some teachers should really signpost and inform the students at every step. For others, dynamic is great, but it’s somethin you gotta be comfortable doin.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Yes, I agree. While some students may appreciate a long explanation of the lesson, others might find it boring and a waste of time. And beginners might have trouble following. Sometimes it can be motivating to add an element of surprise to a lesson, which is hard to do if you’ve already explained everything in advance.
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:11 am
I do feel sorry for DELTA assessors, British Council inspectors etc, because they have to assess people’s teaching when there is in fact no scientific way of doing so. That is perhaps the largest of many intellectual blackholes at the centre of TEFL. At least at CELTA level you can just say “Even if this isn’t the best way of teaching, it will give you skills you need, so just show me you can teach this way and you will pass”
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Having thought about Nick’s comments a little more, I agree that these things help you sell yourself to the teacher and keep slacking teachers in line, but unfortunately typical “lesson aims”, especially DELTA ones, go against everything we know about second language acquisition, and indeed how people learn. If they started “By the end of this lesson 70% of the students would have made some kind of start on the process that will take at least a couple of years and several hundred repetitions…” or “By the end of this lesson students will be making even more mistakes with… because overgeneralising is the next stage for their interlanguage”, then perhaps we could bring all those things together
November 9th, 2009 at 2:09 am
How about PLN’s, blogging and other technology-mediated teacher development practices?
;-P
November 9th, 2009 at 5:28 am
In my offline world most TEFLers I know have never even heard of those things, so still some way to go until they are overrated, I reckon!
November 9th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Slightly tongue in cheek, that one.
But amongst those teachers that DO know about them….
November 9th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Well, they all been feeling put in their place since my Yamanote Line dig:
http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/teaching/teaching-abroad/asia/teaching-in-japan/my-pnl/
November 10th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
You gotta be explicit in some things, and implicit in others. My German one to ones and groups do like to know where they’re going in general. But they get quite a lot out of a few words of direction or a question to frame the lesson. I do the bullet point or mind map overview thing too, if necessary, but it’s so artificial that it only works when your relationship and the situation is artificial. Like a one-day seminar with people you’ve never seen before. I’m lucks enough with the classes I have right now to be able to get by on simple, but effective to-do lists. Everyone knows why you need a to-do list. No explanations needed.