Ship of Fools: Any Teachers of ESL Out There?

Thread: Any Teachers of ESL Out There? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

(Not sure if Heaven is the right thread for this, but here goes.)

I've volunteered to teach ESL (English as a Second Language) at a local community center. I've had training as a language teacher (Latin, but using modern methodology) but have no training in teaching ESL.

I think I'm well prepared for the task at hand, but I'm wondering . . . if any of you have taught ESL, are there particular areas that my students will find challenging that might not seem so to me? Any major differences in the methodology for teaching ESL as compared to the methodology for teaching a Romance language?

So far as I know, all of my students have Spanish as their native tongue, and have had some English instruction previously. The textbook is "Level 2" in a series of five levels.

Thanks.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

My only advice is to read Leo Rosten's The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N.
[Big Grin]

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

I remember reading that in college. Hilarious!

Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :

I vaguely remember H*Y* (etc.) You'd get more in AS.

Posted by Olaf (# 11804) on :

I came to realize that my everyday language is full of contractions and idioms. Your language is probably more precise than mine, but be cautious! Depending on your students' abilities, it may be at good idea to avoid sentences with subordinate clauses and negative phrasing. As for teaching technique, it sounds like you've got that covered already.

Posted by cross eyed bear (# 13977) on :

Hi,

I've taught ESL for some years in various guises in Germany. Tips off the top of my head would include the following:

- a real understanding of the mechanics of English. We have a very tense based language, which essentially means that the way we present the verb in a sentence also shares an extra message about the likelihood of doing something; the immediacy of the situation, etc. To give you one of the trickier areas, there are differences in meaning between the sentences 'I will teach English', 'I am going to teach English', 'I am teaching English next year' and 'I will be teaching English', although they are all ways of talking about the future. There is also a difference between 'My students will love it' and 'My students are going to love it'.

- awareness of how a language is learnt and, most importantly in English, spoken. ( although writing in important, and vital in some situations, a language is actively spoken more than written). You have some of this from Latin, but there are also some good techniques for how to present language concepts and set up a lesson. If you're lucky, these will have been harnessed in your book (test, teach, test / introduce, practise, produce/ etc.)

- classroom management techniques. As well as potential behaviour techniques, how to harness pairwork, getting the students to support each other,monitoring and error correction during fluency phases, making your language appropriate to the learners' level ( beginners don't cope well with idioms or with phrasal verbs ( verb + preposition such as 'put on', 'put off', etc.)

When hiring freelancers for a non profit organisation, I used to recommend the following two resources as a cheap way to get up to speed on the basics; English Language Awareness (ELA) test, which was offered by an online outfit called cactus and gave beautiful explanations of the main tenses for about €50, and the option to watch them as long as you needed before testing yourself on your knowledge. The other one is the Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT), online and certified in three modules, also for relatively little money. Cambridge ESOL are one of the biggest players in the industry and are also responsible for the excellent CELTA (four week intensive, very comprehensive ESL training course), but probably not something you would want to invest in for some volunteering.

There is a weath of free training resources out there; a friend of mine runs a blog under the name of teflhelper, which lists most of them. I can also PM you a list of books which I used to learn from and still dip into. Feel free to PM if I can elaborate on any other points.

It can be great fun and very worthwhile; enjoy!

(Edited to add: had not really taken in the fact that Miss Amanda teaches Latin, not just speaks it; sorry!)

[ 01. October 2013, 06:17: Message edited by: cross eyed bear ]

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

I have a small amount of ESL teaching experience, plus software training, and some other things.

As a slogan for trainers and tech support people says, "Know thy users, for they are not you!" IME, it really helps to get to know the students a little, and see them as people.

I found it especially helpful to find out a student's interests, then incorporate those into the teaching. E,g., if someone likes movies, start with those words. If they want to travel, invent an itinerary and a travel agency, or help them read a travel site. Etc.

Not sure if this is a good idea, but: if they watch TV, you might suggest that they turn on the closed captioning. I've been using it lately, due to hearing issues and the fact that some programs have a very low sound volume. The quality of it varies by program. I think some is done by speech-to-text computer programs, and they don't always get it right. Plus the ones by humans often transcribe a summary of a line, rather the exact wording. I'm not sure where you are, Miss Amanda; but if you're in the US, the PBS network (similar to the BBC) tends to do a better-than-average job of the captions. If your students don't mind watching kids' shows, PBS also has several shows that focus on teaching vocabulary and ideas in fun ways. "Martha Speaks" (for pretty much all ages of kids) and "The Electric Company" (for teens) are the first to come to mind. At PBSKids.org, there are "educational videos, games, and activities for kids". IIRC, the main PBS site has some resources for adult language learners.

Vale, magistra Latina!
(B-Bye, Latin teacher!)

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

From my small EFL teaching experience - students are likely to want to learn the language we speak first, with necessary reading/writing e.g. for form filling -aarghh... after. But a small class of Asian mothers really enjoyed learning Twinkle, twinkle, little star, as it had real relevancy to their children's, and consequently to their own, lives.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

I have two children in my class who just started last week with no English whatever. One speaks Polish, the other Spanish and Urdu.

The Polish lad is picking up English fast. His biggest problem is boredom. Not being able to communicate to play is really getting to him. Luckily we have one or two other Poilish speaking kids in other classes, so he seeks them out at break time.

We have lots of Urdu speaking children so the new girl is doing just fine.

When my son moved to Germany he picked up the language very quickly with no lessons - but eventually needed grammar lessons to enable him to write and study. (He is now forgetting his English, he couldn't remember the word for 'jug' the other day)

Enjoy your new job! [Big Grin]

Posted by Tea (# 16619) on :

I used to teach English to speakers of other languages.
Here are some tips:

TEXTBOOK
Get a copy of the teacher's edition of the textbook you will be using. If your sponsoring organization can't supply you with one, fork out for a copy of your own; the suggestions and guidance for use of the textbook materials and activities will be worth it.
TERMINOLOGY
When you're reading the teacher's edition of the textbook or any of the other teacher training materials mentioned by Cross Eyed Bear, be prepared for a change in the grammatical terminology that you used as a Latin teacher.
For example, the tense most nearly equivalent to the Latin imperfect (amabam), English teachers refer to as past progressive (I was loving); the Latin perfect (amavi), English teachers describe as the present perfect ( I have loved) or past simple (I loved), and these days, many of the forms that you will want to call gerunds and present participles will be described as -ing forms. There are lots of other little differences, and you will doubtless catch on to them quickly, but it can be disconcerting at first.
TEACH WITH STUDENT NEEDS IN MIND
Find out why your students are learning English and try to incorporate some relevant materials and activities into each class.
For example , if a lot of your students have children and need to improve their English to facilitate relations with teachers, health care professionals, and so on, print out some authentic forms from a school and clinic web sites for use in class. If they are in retail or food service, do role plays with making change and so on.
PROCESS LANGUAGE
As Cross Eyed Bear suggested, simplify the language you use to give instructions and ask questions. For lower level learners, use gesture and mime. So don't say:
"OK, then, now if you wouldn't mind turning to page 30 and then we'll take a look at the picture on the right"

Instead, say "Turn to page 30." Say it twice! Do it yourself, hold the book up at page 30, walk around the class, and help those students who will have turned to page 13 instead. Then point at the picture.

Teach your students these questions and phrases as soon as you can, and encourage them to use them in class:

- Could you repeat that, please?

- Could you speak more slowly, please?

- What does <****> mean?

- Could you write that for me , please?

- How do you say <****> in English?

- How do you spell that?

Teach them the alphabet in English.

Never ask "Do you understand?" as the answer will nearly always be "Yes!" Ask questions that test the concept you have been trying to teach.

Find out what your organization's policy on the use of translation and L1 (first language) is.
Even if L1 is allowed , try to minimize its use in class;that will be your biggest single challenge as a teacher.

Some teachers have a policy of allowing L1 for five minutes as a break in the middle of class. others use a piggy bank into which every unauthorized L1 speaker has to pay a "fine"...the real key is to keep the class focused and fun.
FOCUS
Write a learning objective on the board at the beginning of class, draw students' attention to it, use it as the focus for a class, and remind students at the end of what the class has been about.
FUN
Students are often tired after working long hours or looking after children. They might be shy in front of strangers, let alone anglophone strangers, and their own level of education might be low and not the stuff of their happiest memories. Some of them might be coming to class because they have been told by their boss that they will not be promoted or employed any longer if their English does not improve, others might have been humiliated in front of their families and friends on account of their poor English.

So try to make your classes fun! Vary activities, use "warmers", songs, and games, and be prepared to play the clown. Getting a class to sing along to a Beatles song can do wonders for pronunciation and class morale...
LET THE STUDENTS TEACH YOU
Have the students teach you - in English of course ! - about their country of birth, their community's culture and customs, best places to eat, secrets of their workplaces, and so on. You'll learn a lot of fascinating stuff and students will enjoy being the experts. It really motivates them to use English.

Good luck, Amanda!

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Looks like All Saints would be the natural home for this support and advice thread, so hang on to your hats while this thread transports itself...

Cheers

Ariel
Heaven Host

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

Thanks to all for your excellent suggestions.

To their credit (I think, although the director of education seems a bit anal retentive), the community center in question has a very well organized education program, with a director on staff and written procedures and policies in place. I'll be following a set curriculum but will also be given latitude to improvise as I see fit.

The director of education has said that it's OK to teach in the native language, but I know that that's not the best way to learn. I plan to keep my use of Spanish (what little I know of it) to the absolute minimum.

Fortunately, when I was preparing for my MA degree in education with a specialty in Latin, the Methods class was geared toward the modern languages, so I have all that methodology (conversation practice, patterned response drills, substitution drills, completion drills, passages to read with comprehension questions to follow, etc.) in place. I plan to augment the textbook and workbook with ample materials of my own.

I also have a pretty good grasp of English grammar (I think), so I'm well aware of the differences between English verb tenses and those of the Romance languages.

First class is Thursday evening. Wish me luck!

Posted by Thyme (# 12360) on :

Here in the UK in one of the cities offering ESL courses, many of the students are refugees. They may have fled from appalling situations in their home countries and be exhibiting all the symptoms of trauma that might be expected in those circumstances.

They may also have extreme difficulty in attending classes on time or regularly as they are also having to negotiate all sorts of bureacracies to do with benefits and housing, medical and child care and so on, not to mention transport.

They may not be able to afford much in the way of stationery or books.

In our city there may also be cultural issues to be negotiated in the classroom, sometimes a woman will not sit or speak in the same group as a man and so on.

Plus, some of the students will have been highly educated in their own country and often been highly professionally qualified. Some will be almost illiterate in their own language.

There are more issues, but this is what I can bring to mind at the moment.

The ESL teachers have to be mindful of all these things in the classroom as well as teaching the language.

Oh, and a language related thing, I don't know if it will apply in your case, but if the students first language is one where they read and write right to left and not left to right, this is a major hurdle.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

A progress report: I was to have five students, but three showed up for the first class and two for the second.

I never realized how much trouble English verbs can be for non-native speakers. Right now I'm struggling to make them understand, for example, "Do you go to church on Sunday? Yes, I do." vs. "I do the dishes after dinner." Never mind "We do Spain every year for holiday." -- I'll save that for another time.

They seem bright and eager to learn, though. It's exhausting work, but I'm enjoying it.

[ 12. October 2013, 17:24: Message edited by: Amanda B. Reckondwythe ]

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

Not to mention the occasions when they double up as nouns: "We're having a bit of a do to welcome you all next Friday ..."

[Big Grin]

Posted by cross eyed bear (# 13977) on :

'Do', as your example beautifully shows, has two functions as a verb. It's both a main verb and an auxillary verb (in German, this is called a helping verb :-) )

I start by showing them normal, simple sentences, maybe also with time adverbs, which includes a sentence with 'do.' as a main verb.

I then write a series of 'do.' questions in a chart (aux. Verb do / subject / main verb / everything else), often getting them to fill in gaps for me. I also leave a space far left for 'question words' ( why, what etc), which we continue onto.

A lot of German students continue to have problems with 'do', as it's a very different system to their own language.

Have fun! Motivated students really make a difference.

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