Teaching ESL in Japan, Information on Teaching English Overseas

TEFL Lesson Planning - Warmers That Will Make Your Students Adore You - Part I

Lesson planning with TEFL warmers: essential for effective teaching. Part I

To ensure effective learning for a language class, the challenge is to secure the students' attention, and prepare their minds so that you have got a few vacant neurones to program linguistically.

To achieve this, here are the main elements to include in a good warmer activity to start the class, and why they are important.

1. An easy to succeed activity.

Always start the class with students doing something which they can succeed in. This makes them feel optimistic about their abilities, and sets a positive outlook to their frame of mind. What could be worse than being asked to do something at the beginning of the class that you can't do. As the warmer develops, tasks can become more challenging, but the first tasks should make the student say 'Yes! You're good! You can do this!'

2. Include continuity from the last class.

Start the class by using language from the previous classes to activate their memories through association. The students benefit enormously from 'being transported back in time' to the end of the last class' content - helping them to access all the language that was being used. It also gives a sense of continuity. This is a well established technique used by television producers, where often the last things to happen in a series are recapped in a few brief excerpts before the current episode gets underway.

3. Physical activity.

There is a world of difference between what a human being can do before and after a little physical exercise. However light, exercise relaxes, focuses and clears the mind, and increases the heart rate to allow the whole body to be more prepared for mental activity. Woe to the student who gives up exercise during exam season in order to get in more hours of revision and study, only to find their attention span and ability to commit facts to memory has been seriously reduced.

4. Physical contact.

Everything in life has its reason. So why, when people meet, do nearly all cultures introduce an element of physical contact into the process of greeting each other? Because it is a highly effective ice-breaker - an act that has a profound psychological effect on the way we perceive the person we are dealing with and nearly always for the better. The type of physical contact varies enormously from country to country, from hugs and kisses in warmer climes to the somewhat ceremonial, brief hand shake in others. But the underlying function is the same. We are sentient beings, and gain great reassurance from well intended physical contact, with our trust towards others being enhanced and our predispositions relaxed.

5. Break the usual classroom layout.

The warmer is better of it needs the students to move tables and chairs, or simply relocate themselves to a different part of the class. This breaks down routines that create student linguistic dependence on familiar settings, as well as generating the feeling of novelty. It can also be a good way to mix student groupings, allowing the teacher to pair up different individuals, introducing variety into the class.

6. There should be an aim to the task.

Many warmers seem to have no particular reason for being done other than for the sake of being a warmer! Always make sure there is a point to the activity, such as finding the solution to a problem, include a competitive aspect, or transfer information to arrive at a conclusion.

7. Link into the next part of the lesson.

When the warmer closes it should serve as a natural jumping board for the next theme of the lesson. This allows the student to transfer their concentration effortlessly, and also gives the sense that the teacher is in control and knows where he or she wants the class to go. This imbues the student with confidence in the teachers ability.

8. A 5 to 10 minute activity.

Traditionally, a warmer has always been talked of as lasting between 5 to 10 minutes, and for a typical one hour teaching period, this is a logical amount of time to spend, allowing time for the main teaching aim to be dealt with. Having said that, most good warmers lend themselves well to in depth recycling, and this is an invaluable tool for the teacher to have on hand. So the duration is actually a matter that the teacher should consider to be totally at his convenience.

In the next article we will see how to put these aspects into practise.

Adrian Allen is one of the co-founders of http://www.findateacher.es, http://www.buscaprofesor.es, which is a search tool for private teachers to advertise themselves to students. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adrian_Allen

Teaching Grammar in Context

Video about teaching English in China

Seven Tips For ESL Classroom Management

If you are an ESL teacher who is having problems with classroom management, there are ways of taking back control and maintain order in your classroom again. There are methods to deal with a few troublemakers and approaches to dealing with an entire class which is out of control. First you need to assess why you're having ESL classroom management issues.

Let's take a look at why children might be misbehaving. Are the children bored? Are they tired of sitting in their desks? Do some of the children have behavioral issues such as ADD or ADHD? Some children might find learning English difficult so they end up misbehaving rather than admitting they do not understand. Perhaps they have not been praised enough and feel the teacher doesn't like them.

The most effective way to regain control of the ESL classroom is to be the boss. If you don't step up and take control the children most certainly will. There's a fine line between being friendly and kind and letting the children take control of the classroom. You really can be both the friendly helping hand and the boss. Ideally, you must take control of the class from the very first day you enter it. Unfortunately, many newly certified teachers don't realize this right away and are shocked that they've lost control of the group.

Ultimately, you must find your own personal style in teaching but there are many proven techniques and strategies for good classroom management. Of course, you must comply with the rules of the school you work for. Your school should always be your ally and not your foe.

The first key to ESL classroom management is your attitude toward the students. Students who respect and love their teacher will be more apt to behave in the classroom. Here's how to make that happen!

ESL Classroom Management Rule #1 - Are you trying to be hip and cool?

Do you want to be friends with your pupils? If you try to be the hip teacher who is a friend to all, more than likely the students will laugh at your expense the moment you are out of earshot. Be their mentor. Teach by example not only how to speak English but how to behave in general.

In class behave as a role-model for ideal classroom behaviour. The children will at least have the example to follow. If you cannot control your temper, why should they? If you find yourself barking at your pupils something is wrong!
ESL Classroom Management Rule #2 - Are you predictable?

I'll never forget Miss Bain. Oh a truly terrifying woman with spectacles and a cardigan who dished out detentions for real and whose name one only mentioned with dread. I only had her in the sixth form but her reputation proceeded her. In fact she was a nice old lady! She never raised her voice, she wasn't even bossy! I could not believe it actually. She just EXUDED the fact that we were there to learn and messing about was not tolerated. Full stop. Really an outstandingly simple formula.

Earn trust by being fair, consistent and firm. Establish rules from the very first day and do not bend. Lean more toward being overly strict in the beginning as it is harder to become strict if you've started out being lenient. If rules change on a day to day basis the students don't know what to expect and cannot trust you.

ESL Classroom Management Rule #3 - Are you trustworthy?

Oh yes there are teachers out there who lash out at pupils and put them down in a futile effort to feel important. When people put others down they are trying to elevate their own self-esteem. This systematically backfires as putting others down truly undermines ones sense of self-worth, though some people have such low self-esteem that a bit more self-degradation hardly notices!

Thirty one years ago a English teacher in France put me down in front of his class and I can still see and hear the scene today - that is how much it marked me at the time. He was scared of the fact that he had a native speaker in his class and was too stupid to use me to enhance the class.

Never belittle your students. Avoid losing control and yelling. Never call a student names, put them down, use sarcasm or embarrass them. They will never trust this kind of behavior. In addition in the worst case scenario you could put them off wanting to learn ANY subject, and not just your subject.

ESL Classroom Management Rule #4 - Show them you care

Take the time to ask questions about their lives. If you can talk with them, informally, outside of the classroom, such as walking from one class to another, you'll find an opportunity to get to know them. Your students will feel special if you take the time out to find out about them and who they are. It will be much harder for someone you've had a conversation with, on a personal level, to act up in the classroom.

Eye contact will help let your students know you are paying attention to them. Think about how they may be feeling. They might not want to take this class but have to. Put yourself in their shoes and try to come up with positive ways to see your students.

ESL Classroom Management Rule #5 - Move around

Come out from behind your desk! Take the time during a writing assignment to walk through the desks and stop for a moment or two at each student's desk. This is a good time to hand out praise and to ask your students how they are doing. Ask them if they have any questions about the work they are doing.

ESL Classroom Management Rule #6 - Onwards and Upwards!

Generously hand out praise and encouragement! Imagine how much good you can do in a person's life by giving them encouragement and praise. You can change a student's whole way of thinking about themselves and in turn, this changes how they view the world.

Think about how people are always telling kids what NOT to do. Some parents' entire dialogue with their children is negative. Don't fall into this trap. Remember, what you give out, you get back. Children who are given negatives often give negatives back. Children who are given positives will more than likely give back positives!

Reward good behavior. Ask for children who behave well to be your helper and thank them for their good behavior in front of the class. Having a student of the week will reinforce good behavior.

ESL Classroom Management Rule #7

Vary the way you carry out lesson plans. Don't always use the same technique. If you use varied activities, games and teaching methods, that appeal to different learning styles, chances are you'll reach each one of them in time!

By using these tips, you'll keep order in your room, your students will respect and trust you, you'll have an impact on their self-esteem and you'll teach them much more than just how to speak English.

About the author: Shelley Vernon, conscious of the vital role teachers can play in the lives of their pupils, promotes learning through encouragement and games. Receive free games and ideas on ESL Resources for children Make your job easy and fun teaching English to children through games, stories, songs, plays and skits. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shelley_Vernon

How to teach ESL to under 5's

Teaching English as a second language can be one of the most rewarding, yet difficult jobs you will ever have. This is especially the case when teaching the under 5's. This age group can be great fun, but they also present their own set of challenges.

The first piece of advice is to know who you are teaching and their limitations. When you think of three, four and five year olds in your own native country you realize they are in the infancy of language acquisition and development. This creates a great opportunity as students will learn words and phrases very quickly, however they will have boundaries. Do not attempt to teach any thing too complex. As a rule of thumb if they do not have knowledge of certain rules and concepts in their own native language it is unlikely they will grasp it in a tongue they do not use or hear regularly. At this age their reading and writing skills will also be limited so the use of pictorial or visual teaching aids is vital to enable effective teaching.

The most important thing to bear in mind when teaching the under 5's is to make it fun. If you can achieve this you will have happier and more attentive students. Making it fun achieves two things. One, it means the students enjoy the class and feel comfortable enough to participate in activities. Secondly, by making it enjoyable you are laying the ground work for their success and desire to study and learn English. If at a young age they dislike English classes, then in all likelihood this will continue as they grow older, meaning a less dedicated student.

It is easy to say make it fun, but how do you do this? Think about what young children like to do. Children (generally) love to draw, color, sing, dance, and play games, most of all they want to be entertained. To keep a young child's attention in a classroom setting you have to make them enjoy it and laugh.

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