The First Day of Class Teaching

 your first lessons, it is good to focus on two areas:

• Getting to know each other (the assistant, and classmates if it is a newly formed group)

• Exchanging personal information ( so you get an idea of group interests and language level)

Keep in mind the following objectives:

Break the ice. You will be working with these students for a length of time. This is your chance to put them at ease and get to know them a bit. Remember, they may not know their classmates yet either.

Language analysis. Observe the current speaking and comprehension ability.

Needs analysis.  ‘What do the students actually need English for?’ 

Have clarity of intent.

Be congruent and real, if you are nervous you dont have to fake macho bravado.

Here are some more questions that you can ask your students to assess their abilities and motivation with english.

• What do I need to do in English now?

I have found this far more effective than asking for specific language areas. If the student needs to give presentations in English, I know to include fluency and persuasive language in the course. If the student needs to telephone colleagues in English, I know to include role-plays, listening activities and survival strategies.

• What might I need to do in English in the future?

Some students already know how their jobs and duties are likely to change in the future. This is also a useful question for students considering a particular career.

• What do I find difficult in English?

This question tends to introduce the language areas the students feel they struggle with and can reveal which of the four main skills you will need to concentrate on during the course.

• What don’t I want to do in this course and why?

This is actually a remarkably revealing question. Some students who haven’t had English lessons since their school days have bad memories of dictations, being called in front of the class and humiliated, or completing endless gap-fill exercises with no practical implications. It is useful for a teacher to know about these experiences and to be able to assure the students that your lessons will be different. It also indicates whether a student has a fear of grammar, which leads on to a useful discussion on the importance of accuracy versus fluency (an essay in itself) and how much the teacher should correct.

• What do I find interesting about learning English?

It is always useful to know what your students enjoy about learning English! Maybe you can incorporate some of the ideas in future classes.

• What can I do to teach myself outside the class?

This is a natural opportunity to talk about the importance of homework, share vocabulary learning tips and introduce the students to the wealth of English language resources available locally and via the Internet.

The students complete the framework alone, then share the answers in pairs or small groups. This helps them clarify vocabulary and finalize ideas before we all share together. I also ensure that they are in different groupings to the previous activity to experiment with the group dynamics a little.

Finally, the students feedback the results of these frameworks to the whole group. I clarify any unclear areas and use the information to write up course aims on the flipchart. This gives the rest of the course a structure as well as allowing the students to see what their colleagues want and where their own wishes fit in with the course requirements. If the students know what to expect from their course, they will be more comfortable in lessons. This also avoids potential situations later in the course where you may have to explain to a dissatisfied student that you can’t do more sales role-plays in class because the other students are all engineers and don’t need sales training.

Keep Calm and Speak English

1. Talk to your friends and fellow students in English.

Think about the people you have a good relationship with. This includes your friends, colleagues and family members.

How many of them speak English better than you? How many have a similar fluency level?

If there are cool people in your life who speak English, ask them to practice with you. Set up coffee dates and Skype appointments. Chances are, they’ll be eager to talk to you since this benefits them as well.

As an ESL teacher, I’ve discovered that most of my students have at least one family member or close friend who speaks english more fluently. Yet they never practice together.

Chatting (talking casually), even if it’s just typing, can help with your conversation skills. If you decide to chat in English online, be sure to use good grammar and spellings instead of using online salng.

Here’s the thing about the internet: While chatting, you usually don’t want to make the other person wait. This means that you’ll try to come up with answers fast. Internet connections are fast these days, so you can still look up words you don’t know and answer your chat buddies swiftly (fast). This assists (helps) you to think in English, making you a faster speaker in the long run.

If you’re using Skype, you can actually speak too. You don’t even have to turn on your camera if you don’t want to. The important thing is that you’re practicing your conversation skills!

2. Don’t worry too much about accuracy, but don’t completely ignore it either.

Worried about speaking correctly in your new language? Too much concern (worry) about speaking correctly might stop you from engaging in conversations, so you’ll need to relax a little. However, being too laid-back (relaxed) about this won’t help you in the future.

I had one student who was a lot more confident in his speaking than all his fellow students, but he never paid attention to his mistakes. At the end of the term, his confidence was still high but his accuracy hadn’t improved.

Why is this bad? He had the grammar of an intermediate-level student and the speaking skill level of an elementary-level student. He was so confident that he did not care when he messed up (made mistakes). This meant that he would never figure out (learn) the right way to say things. If you want to speak English casually and not use it in your professional life, and you don’t care about advancing to a higher level of English, this is okay. But you’ll need to really consider (think about) what your goals are with English.

3. Stay in an English-speaking country whenever you can.

If you have the time and money, it’s a great idea to go on vacation in an English-speaking country. You’ll have to practice English for the length of your stay.

However, not every country, city or town filled with English-speaking people is a great place to practice English.

Go to towns and cities that have very few people from your country and other tourists. This way, you won’t pick the easy way out when you feel uninspired, shy or lazy. If there are many people speaking your native language (not English) in your destination, try to avoid these foreign communities and interact with locals instead. When speaking with other people from your home country, insist that you both speak in English if possible.

Picking cheaper destinations means your money will last longer and you can spend more time abroad. So, maybe you should avoid London or New York if money for travel is limited. The pricier (more expensive) places also tend to be more touristy, so that’s one more reason to avoid them. It’s a win-win! 

4. Talk back to the television.

While you’re watching movies or television shows in English, you’ll have some great chances to practice English listening and speaking skills.

Because most TV shows rely on continuity, they’re bound to repeat certain things. Pick a TV show or a movie you already love and don’t tire of watching. Since you already know what’s going to happen and what everyone will say, you won’t have to worry about understanding anything. Watch once and just practice paying attention to dialogue (conversations) and how people speak. Pause at regular intervals to emulate (match, typically by imitation) their tone and pronunciation. Repeating what people say will help you sound more natural.

Do this regularly. You can even record your own voice to catch any mistakes you make while practicing.

But there is one problem with using movies and TV shows to learn English. They can be REALLY hard.