Teaching Ideas

Teaching Beginners

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Balance

Balance is Important
Balance simple, low-stress activities such as dialog reading / acting and choral repetition, with more demanding communicative tasks such as questionnaires, and information-gaps.

Balance individual / pair / group / whole-class activities.

Balance controlled / guided / free activities.

Balance listening / speaking / reading / writing activities.

Balance challenging tasks with easier ones. This will help to keep students of different ability levels happy.

Balance activity types that the students know (and which thus provide a feeling of security) with unfamiliar ones that introduce an element of unpredictability.

Correction and Accuracy

Don't correct too much
(although some students will ask you to correct everything). Explain to your class (in L1 if possible) how or when you will correct, e.g. in certain controlled activities only.

Stay Student-Focused
When you correct, follow this sequence: a) help the student to self-correct b) invite another student to correct c) correct the error yourself.

Don't correct all errors
This will adversely students' confidence and fluency. Take notes of important errors as they occur, then deal with them later in the lesson or in a subsequent lesson. This also gives you time to consider the best way to deal with a problem.

Use short dictations for accuracy work
Have students compare their results in pairs, then elicit single sentences from selected student, asking them to spell out certain words, and write on the board. Alternatively, you can ask students to come up to the board and write one sentence each on the board, then ask for comments from the class as a whole.

Touchy-Feely

Help students to relax.
For some of your students, you will be the first foreigner they have met, and your class may well be the first classroom situation they have been in since high school.

Put yourself in the student's shoes. Remember that they usually have other important things to do and worry about apart from English.

Encourage students to help each other.

Help students to get to know each other.

Be patient.

Visual Aids

Use a lot of visual aids
Pictures, maps, menus, photos, diagrams, etc. Use an OHP if you can.

Pay attention to your board work.
If you plan to build up some kind of paradigm table on the board, plan it beforehand. This is especially important when teaching low-level students; sloppy board work can be confusing and lead to students memorizing incorrect forms. It also projects an unprofessional image. Beware of speling mistooks (whoops!). If your board is big enough, divide it into three main areas: build up a summary of the main points of the lesson on the left; use the central area for current work, and reserve the right section for impromptu notes and sketches.

Listening

Using Audio
If you use cassettes or CDs, consider allowing students to read the script after the task is completed.

Be Flexible
If you find your textbook listening exercises are too easy or too difficult, rewrite them, or ask selected / additional questions. One effective technique is to dictate, say, six questions or true / false statements about a listening text, then have students check what they have written with each other, then with you, then listen for the answers.

If you play a cassette tape, clearly establish the situational factors the students need (location, relationship between speakers, etc.) to complete the listening tasks clearly.

Play the tape enough times to enable the students to complete the task with relative ease.

Play the tape in short sections if necessary, but don't overdo it.

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