How to Be an Effective Teacher

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How to be an Efective Teacher
1 . Learn your students' names .
This cannot be overemphasized. You will be able to control your class better and
gain more respect if you learn the students' names early on. If you are one who
has a poor memory for names, have all the students hold up name cards and tae
a picture of them on the !rst day of class. "n the second class, impress them by
showing them you now all their names .
# . $stablish authority from the beginning .
$%pect your students to use $nglish 1&&' of the time, and accept it if they only
achieve ()' usage. *o not let them get away with speaing their mother tongue
to communicate with their partner. *eal +uicly with inappropriate conduct in a
friendly yet !rm manner .
, . -e overly prepared .
If you don't have a clear lesson.plan down on paper, then mae sure you have a
mental one. You should now about how long each activity will tae and have an
additional activity prepared in case you have e%tra time .
/ . 0lways consider the learners' needs when preparing for each lesson .
1hy are your students studying $nglish2 3ow will they use $nglish in the future2
1hat do they need to learn2 If many of the students are going to study abroad at
an 0merican university, for e%ample, then the teacher should be preparing them
for listening to academic lectures and academic reading to some e%tent. If, on the
other hand, most of the students have no perceived need for $nglish in the future,
perhaps you should be focusing on useful sills that they may use in the future,
but may not be essential..sills such as understanding movie dialog, listening to
music, writing a letter to a pen pal, etc .
) . -e prepared to mae changes to or scrap your lesson plan .
If the lesson you have prepared 4ust isn't woring, don't be afraid to scrap it or
modify it. -e sensitive to the students..don't forge ahead with something that is
bound for disaster .
5 . 6ind out what learners already now .
This is an ongoing process. 7tudents may have already been taught a particular
grammar point or vocabulary. In 8apan, with 8apanese having so many loan words
from $nglish, this is especially true. I have e%plained many words carefully before,
such as ids, nuance, elegant, only to !nd out later that they are now part of the
8apanese language .
9 . -e nowledgeable about grammar .
This includes pronunciation, synta%, and sociolinguistic areas. You don't have to be
a linguist to teach $6L..most of what you need to now can be learned from
reading the students' ::::boos. "ften the rules and e%planations about structure
in the students' ::::s are much more accessible and realistic than in ::::s used in
T$7L synta% courses .
; . -e nowledgeable about the learners' culture .
In monolingual classrooms the learners' culture can be a valuable tool for
teaching .
( . *on't assume that your class ::::boo has the language that your students
need or want to learn .
<ost ::::boos follow the same tired, boring pattern and include the same ma4or
functions, grammar and vocabulary. The main reason for this is not scienti!c at
all..it is the publisher's unwillingness to tae a ris by publishing something new.
0lso, by trying to please all teachers publishers force authors to water down their
materials to the e%tent of being unnatural at times. It is the teacher's
responsibility to add any e%tra necessary vocabulary, functions, grammar, or
topics that you feel the students may want or need .
1& . *on't assume =falsely> that the class ::::boo will wor .
7ome activities in $6L ::::boos fall apart completely in real classroom usage. It is
hard to believe that some of them have actually been piloted. <any activities
must be modi!ed to mae them wor, and some have to be scrapped completely .
11 . ?hoose your class ::::boos very carefully .
<ost teachers and students are dissatis!ed with ::::boos currently available.
@evertheless, it is essential that you choose a ::::boo that is truly
communicative and meets the needs of your students .
1# . *on't neglect useful vocabulary teaching .
The building blocs of language are not grammar and functions. The most
essential thing students need to learn is vocabularyA without vocabulary you have
no words to form synta%, no words to pronounce. 3elp your students to become
vocabulary hungry .
1, . Broceed from more controlled activities to less controlled ones .
@ot always, but in general, present and practice more structured activities before
freer, more open ones .
1/ . *on't neglect the teaching of listening .
It is the opinion of many $7L e%perts that listening is the most important sill to
teach your students. 1hile listening to each other and to the teacher will improve
their overall listening ability, this can be no substitute for listening to authentic
$nglish. 0s much as possible, try to e%pose your students to authentic $nglish in a
variety of situations. The best way to do this and the most realistic is through
videos. Listening to audio cassettes in the classroom can improve listening ability,
but videos are much more motivating and culturally loaded .
1) . Turn regular activities into games or competition .
<any familiar teaching points can be turned into games, or activities with a
competitive angle. 0 sure way to motivate students and liven up your classroom .
15 . <otivate your students with variety .
-y giving a variety of interesting topics and activities, students will be more
motivated and interested, and they are liely to practice more. 1ith more on.tas
time they will improve more rapidly .
19 . *on't teach linguistics .
Language and culture are inseparable. If culture isn't a part of your lessons, then
you aren't really teaching language, you are teaching about language .
1; . *on't teach phonetics .
-y all means teach the more important aspects of pronunciation, but don't
bombard the students with minimal pair drills that cannot be applied to real
communication. They don't really understand the meaning of any of those
minimal pairs you teach anyway, do they2 0 more rational approach would be to
teach pronunciation in con::::, as necessary. 6or e%ample, if you are teaching a
section on health, teach syllable stress with sicness wordsC fever, headache,
bacache, earache, constipation, etc .
1( . *on't leave the learners in the dar .
$%plain e%actly what they are e%pected to learn in a particular lesson. <ae sure
that students now what they are doing and why. The lessons should be
transparent to the students, with a clear organization .

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