5 Tips for Teaching English as a Foreign Language
I am so grateful you are here, reading this article. Because you're here, I know you care about your students, and for that I completely acknowledge you!Whether you're just beginning your career teaching English as a foreign language, or you're a seasoned veteran, if you care about delivering great classes, I imagine you are always looking for ways to improve your teaching and your lessons. Here are 5 tips for teaching English as a foreign language that will help both new and seasoned teachers create awesome learning environments!!
5. Build Rapport
Rapport is created when people feel that they relate well with each other; in other words they are on the same wavelength. The get each other and there is mutual trust and confidence. The foundation to a teacher-student relationship is rapport. There must be trust and confidence between the teacher and student before any significant and effective learning can take place.Think to your own past. Who is the best teacher you ever had? What was it about them that made them such a great teacher? I bet they knew what they were talking about, so you had confidence in them, but more importantly you felt you could trust them. They were on your side, they wanted you to win. So you trusted them. You let them into your head. You were willing to accept their teaching. You listened to them, and you did what they asked you to do.
I believe there are 3 keys to building rapport:
- Drop the walls: be vulnerable; allow yourself to be human and make mistakes; be authentic.
- Seek to partner: don't act like you know more than your students; instead, assume that your students are geniuses and just need to be guided to the skills and knowledge they are lacking; be of support.
- Be committed to their success: be your student's biggest fan, and help them see that they are great; learning something new can be scary, but if you demonstrate your commitment to their success, they're more likely to accept your support.
4. Use Humour and Compassion
Connected with building rapport is the use of humour and compassion. When you are able to laugh at yourself and help the student to see the humour in situations, they will relax and be open to learning. And when you have compassion for the struggles they are facing in learning, they are more likely to trust you and be receptive.Humour, and any strong emotion for that matter, are really effective ways to promote retention. According to the American Psychological Association, " a growing body of research suggests that, when used effectively, classroom comedy can improve student performance by reducing anxiety, boosting participation and increasing students' motivation to focus on the material. Moreover, the benefits might not be limited to students: Research suggests that students rate professors who make learning fun significantly higher than others." (http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/learning.aspx)
Being humourous doesn't necessarily mean doing stand-up comedy routines all class.
Rather, consider the irony and humour of what you're teaching. For example, getting sick of teaching grammar and you can see that the students are too? Make fun of the situation -- "Woh, could this get any more boring?" Or perhaps break up the lesson with a funny story or activity. I recently used this posting on Tastefully Offensive to bring some lightness to my lesson (http://tumblr.tastefullyoffensive.com/post/51255989467/9-cats-stuck-in-things-jonnovstheinternet#.Ubf0gZzV3cQ). It was both a fun and really effective way to expand my students' vocabulary and challenge their abilities to express ideas.
3. Create Choices
Sometimes when we're in the role of "teacher", we think we have to lead and control the lesson. We tell ourselves that we're the one who is responsible for delivering the lesson and "making them" learn new things. Maybe this is true in some learning environments, but when teaching adults ESL, it's a good idea to remember that they are totally capable of managing their own learning process.Adults have a much better idea of what they like, what they don't like, of what is effective for them and what is ineffective for them. Adults also have busy lives, moods and varying interests. So rather than fight against this, it can work well to provide them with choices.
How does this work in a lesson? With higher-level learners, I find it effective to ask right at the beginning of a lesson what they want to get out of their lesson. We as teachers know that the students are going to want to work on one of four general areas (reading, writing, speaking and listening), but we don't know what is currently relevant in the learner's life. Give them a chance to get their needs met before deciding what you're going to "make them" learn.
If you want to design lessons for your students, add choice points. For example, if you're going to work through a reading, perhaps select 3 reading passages, and let the student choose which one they'd like work on.
2. Engage Senses!
Sometimes when teaching English, we fall into the habit of just teaching speaking, reading, writing and listening. We focus on the cognitive part of learning, and we forget that the student has five senses. And they also have emotions, opinions, passions, and physical needs. So why not incorporate materials into lessons that allow these different aspects of people to be expressed and utilized?How about using interesting and colorful images and videos during your lessons, and then asking the students what they see and feel as a result? If you're meeting in person (or can find a creative alternative), bring objects for the student to touch and manipulate. And perhaps ask questions that get the student into their body. What do you feel? Where do you feel it? What's the body sensation?
By incorporating more senses in the lesson, the learner is able to build many links within their brains and therefore more solidly understand a topic.
1. Be Passionate!
I will always remember my first martial arts instructor. His English was horrible. He was pretty bad at explaining movements and their purpose. And he was kind of a jerk at times. But there was one thing about him that was so damned contagious, so inspiring, that I couldn't help but be drawn to his lessons. He was SO PASSIONATE!He was passionate about martial arts, about Chinese culture, about healing and meditation, and most importantly I could FEEL that he absolutely cared about me learning what he was teaching.
Even if his poor explanations annoyed me, I still kept trying because I could feel his energy and drive lifting me up, motivating me, propelling me forward, and inspiring me to do better and better!
There are always ways to bring passion into what you're teaching. You can find topics that you're really interested in, you can dig for perspectives and ideas within your students that motivate you, and you can design activities that light you up!
I love speaking about and learning about purpose, meaning and inspirational topics, so often the materials I choose will inspire me, or I will incorporate conversations about purpose and meaning into discussion topics and readings.
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