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.