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Do you have any tips for teaching primary?
Q: Dear Lucy: I arrived in Korea a couple of weeks
ago and have settled nicely into my new school,
however, I'm having trouble teaching the children in
my 4-5 years class and the 6-8 years class, too. I'm
only 21 years old myself, so it seems like only
yesterday that I left school myself, and now I'm
teaching, but it is much tougher than I imagined. My
school hasn't really provided me with any reading
materials or training to make the days run smoothly.
With the class of 4-5 year olds, I am supposed to be
teaching English, yet these are children who don't
even have a grasp of their own language yet, so it
seems pointless to me. And worst of all, lessons for
these children are 50 minutes long! Currently, I
will choose a picture storybook and read it to the
class. Where possible, I will do actions and make
noises to spice it up a bit. To avoid boring the
children, I choose books which will take only 10 or
so minutes to read. After that, I get them to draw
characters from the story and then look at every
drawing, writing some english words. The children
then copy the words. But even doing this results in
boredom and the lesson finishes much to early. What
do you suggest? And my 6 to 8 year old classes are
only 30 minutes long. The children in these classes
never seem to want to settle down and constantly ask
for stickers and presents. They also want to do
nothing but play bingo. By the time I get them
settled with their storybooks and their workbooks,
the lesson is over and I've not achieved anything.
Do you have any tips for me? Regards, Michael
A: Dear Michael: These classes certainly sound
difficult and you sound like a very concerned and
committed teacher. I think youÕll find a way to deal
with the classes given some time. I think the first
thing to do is to speak to somebody in the school to
see if training is possible. It sounds like you are
fairly new to teaching and it should be possible to
get some support. If there is no training available,
I think you can ask for the school to purchase some
books. Some ideas are Teaching English in the
Primary Classroom by Susan Halliwell and any of the
books by Brewster, Ellis and Girard. These books
give tips and ideas for the primary classroom...
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Fluency versus Accuracy
The value of fluency in teaching young learners
Stefan Chiarantano writes
I'd like to share with you my experience with teaching young learners. Perhaps it may spark some thoughts for you in your context. I believe that the role of the EFL teacher is to encourage, motivate, stimulate and even lessen the anxiety of learning a foreign language, all the more so for young learners. And I think that correcting speech in the case of young learners shouldn't be emphasized. I think it may create a negative attitude towards learning English and may diminish a child's interest in learning English.
Here are my thoughts on the matter. I am against criticizing and pointing out to young learners their mistake in pronunciation or otherwise in class. I am more interested in fluency than accuracy in the early stages of language acquisition. I think back to my own elementary school days. I disliked teachers who singled out students for correction. I think correcting speech is counter-productive to learning. I think some students are initially going to have a difficult time learning English due to not comprehending what is being said and also due to vocalizing new words. So, if I correct, students might feel that English is too difficult. They may perhaps tune out and/or become embarrassed and may develop a negative attitude to English. I don't want that to happen... | ||
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In Roman mythology, the god of love is
a) Eros
b) Cleopatra c) Cupid Find the answer in this paragraph. This is a level 5
question from Word Up, the ESL board game that you
can use in class and students can use at home.
Answer c is the correct answer to the question
above. To find out how you can teach English with
Word Up, just follow the link below.
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OxfordTEFL Teacher Training
Trinity College Cert. TESOL 4 week intensive TEFL (TESOL courses in Barcelona, Prague and Cadiz all through the year. A Trinity validated TEFL Certificate is recognised throughout the profession. Our course provides you with a headstart in an exciting new career as an English Language Teacher and is designed to give you the skills to enjoy teaching and teach effectively while you travel, experience new cultures and earn money. The course fees for our TESOL course are very competitive and we can provide low cost accommodation while you study in Spain and the Czech Republic. We also offer Trinity College Diploma in TESOL for experienced teachers who want to develop their TEFL career as well as CertTEB and Teaching One-to-One courses with Mark Powell and Teacher Development Courses. OxfordTEFL ~ Experts in Teacher Training. tesol@oxfordtefl.com |
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Talking Point: Shopping and Shopaholics
A topic that is not only popular but relevant and
useful too. This worksheet is designed to provide
practice of topic-related vocabulary and introduce
some common idiomatic phrases (such as "to talk
shop"). Fluency is encouraged through
thought-provoking discussion questions such as "How
has the way we shop changed over the last 50 years?"
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Looking for a teaching job?
Check out the TEFL.net ESL jobs board to find teaching jobs worldwide. New job postings daily. Looking for teachers?
Use TEFL.net ESL Jobs to post your job announcements. |
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Thailand: Language School and TEFL Training
Centre for Sale
Portugal: Language School in the North of Portugal for Sale Italy: Language school for sale in North of Italy Canada: ESL School for Sale in Toronto, Canada Spain: English Language School for Sale Japan: Tokyo-based English School for Sale on Seibu-Shin Brazil: Excellent English School in Beautiful Bahia for sale |
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If you've found this month's issue of TEFL Inspire helpful, why not forward it to a friend or colleague?
Stay Inspired!
 Josef Essberger, Founder
TEFL.net
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