Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies (20 page)

A useful tool for students when they attempt longer compositions is marking criteria that inform students what you’re looking at and whether they’ll receive a grade, percentage or a score. After all students may resent spending all their time checking their spelling if it isn’t what you’re really looking for.

Areas you may want to focus on include:

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Structure:
The composition should include an introduction, body and conclusion.

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Content:
Each paragraph should contain a topic sentence and a clearly explained point with examples when necessary.

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Verb tenses:
A variety of tenses are used accurately and appropriately.

Marking criteria help students keep their focus.

Praising the good bits

Your red (or other coloured) pen can have a positive function too. If the students’ work contains some good aspects, tell them so. It’s rewarding for students to see positive remarks and some personal interaction from the teacher. So they’ll usually welcome comments such as the following:

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Good point!

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Well written!

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That’s better!

And suppose that your students express their thoughts on a matter, you can tell them what you think as well.

Chapter 7: Giving Correction and Feedback

113

✓

I agree!

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You surprise me!

When you continue your rapport with a student in writing, the teaching environment becomes friendlier and more encouraging.

Exposing Progress

Quite a number of course books in TEFL have progress tests built in after every three units or so. Such evaluations can be useful for you and the students to see how well you’re covering the syllabus. Also the way that you handle the students’ errors can lead to more learner independence.

I recommend the kind of procedure listed below for good teamwork and turning the negatives (errors) into positives (reviewing):

1. Prepare the students to expect the test and encourage them to revise.

2. Give them the test.

3. Allow the students to compare their answers in small groups and
enter into discussion about who’s right and why.

• Give each group a copy of the answer key so they can mark their answers.

• Allow the groups a further 5–10 minutes for comparison and discussion.

4. Encourage the students to consult their course books and clear up any
doubts.

5. Have a class feedback session where students ask the class for help
with any outstanding problems.

6. Make sure that everyone in the class understands their errors.

Apart from tests, another way to measure progress is by continual assessment. This means that you regularly evaluate how each student is performing in class and keeping up with the course. It’s very useful to note errors regularly and compare them every few weeks or so to see whether you’ve remembered to deal with the error and whether the student is improving. In Table 7-2 I show a system you can use for making notes on an individual student’s errors. Categorising errors in this way helps you identify particular areas of difficulty for the student, as one column may have more
x
s than others.

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Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together

, can now hear

Resolved?

Partially

the difference

‘A/an’ okay but needs

to work on ‘the’

Action taken

Unit from Ship or

Sheep

05/04/09

Grammar exercises

from Murphy

07/04/09 as homework

Spoke to student.

Asked him to be

careful

17/04/09

Other

X

Register –

too informal

Lack of

cultural

insight

ciation

X

Pronun-

A form for dealing with common errors

ocabularyV

Error

Grammar

X

t pronounce words

Table 7-2

Description

Can’

spelt with th, says t or d

02/04/09

Missing articles

05/04/09

Handwriting – many

words illegible

15/04/09

Chapter 8

Being Materialistic! Using Course

Books and Other Materials

In This Chapter

▶ Making use of published materials

▶ Identifying popular course books and resources

▶ Adjusting your course book to suit your students

▶ Bringing in real objects

▶ Creating your own materials

▶ Using what’s available

Depending on the teaching situation you find yourself in, you may have a full library of resources at your disposal or just a piece of chalk and a blackboard. In this chapter, I show you how to make use of whatever tools you have to make a lively lesson.

Wasting No Time Reinventing the Wheel

Some newly initiated teachers resolve to prepare every lesson from scratch, like an organic meal. They believe that their dedication and attention is enough to produce efficient, engaging materials that are going to amaze students in the modern world. Well, even if this is true in rare cases, how long does it take? If you include the time you spend with your scissors and glue when you calculate your hourly rate, you may find that you’re working for peanuts by choice.

Face it: The wheel has already been invented, in this case by large publishing houses who’ve been producing TEFL materials for decades and who have a wide range of research and technology available to them.

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Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together

Most course books include the four skills – reading, writing, speaking, listening – as well as pronunciation. A good book caters for different learning styles through varied activities, whereas your lesson plans probably tend to play to your own strengths and learning style – it’s only natural. So for example, if you like learning visually, you teach most of your lessons that way too. Using a book helps you include activities that suit all types of learners. I mention different learning styles and accommodating them in your presentations in Chapter 5.

Published course books definitely have their place in TEFL and although you may not choose to use one in every lesson, having them around provides some read advantages:

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The course syllabus is clearly set out for you and the students.

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If each student has a book it reduces your preparation time including photocopying.

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It’s easy for students to see their progress as they work their way through the book.

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Authors and publishers have experience in the field so you feel supported and guided.

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Course books often come as part of a set that includes extra resources, so they offer room for expansion and variety.

When you’re choosing a book for your students, keep a few points in mind:

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Books aren’t cheap, so find one that suits your students’ pockets.

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Consider the cultural suitability of the book. Will the class be able to identify with the images and written content? Is there anything which may seriously offend or upset your students such as constant references to the pub if you’re dealing with a teetotal community?

Listing Popular Course Books and

Published Resources

When it comes to course books, the majority are written in a series to cover all the levels from elementary to advanced. (I explain the levels of EFL in Chapter 4.) In most cases a school buys five books per level but an individual teacher can make do with less.

Cambridge International Book Centre (www.eflbooks.co.uk) lists more than 12,000 titles in English language teaching.

Chapter 8: Being Materialistic! Using Course Books and Other Materials
117

Common teaching materials can include:

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Student’s book:
The book the students use in class.

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Teacher’s book:
This book usually contains the answers to exercises in the student’s book and fleshes out the lesson plan for each unit with background information and tips.

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CDs
: Sometimes included with the student’s book but not always. They can be fairly costly, so check this out before you commit your students to the cost.

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Work book:
To save photocopying, you can often get work books that students use as homework.

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Resource book:
This book for teachers contains extra, photocopiable activities.

Many books tell you how many hours of study they provide. Compare this with the length of your course before you decide how much material you actually need. Try not to get carried away!

Certain publishers crop up often in the lists of recommended books in the next sections. Representatives from these companies are happy to visit schools to keep you informed of the latest resources. Some even do presentations with students where they explain how best to use their books for effective study. As an individual teacher you can contact these publishers and ask to join their mailing lists. From time to time you can receive sample copies of the latest books and information on any new releases.

Going for general English books

Some of the most well-known and successful general English books for adults from the UK are, in no particular order:

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New English File
by Oxenden, Latham Koening and Seligson, published by Oxford University Press

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New Headway
by Liz and John Soars, published by Oxford University Press

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Landmark
by Simon Haines, published by Oxford University Press

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New Inside Out
by Sue Kay and Vaughan Jones, published by MacMillan

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Cutting Edge
by Cunningham, Moor and Comyns Carr, published by Longman

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Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together

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Innovations
by
Dellar and Walkley, published by Thomson/Heinle ELT

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Language In Use
by Doff and Jones, published by Cambridge University Press

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face2face
by Redston, Cunningham and Bell, published by Cambridge University Press

Just for back-up in those emergency situations, take a look at
More Grammar
Games: Cognitive, Affective and Movement Activities for EFL Students
by Davis and Rinvolucri, published by Cambridge University Press.

Imparting business English

Titles for business English include:

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English for International Tourism
by Dubicka and O’Keefe, published by Pearson Longman. Includes material for testing students and a video.

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Business Basics New Edition
by Grant and McLarty, published by Oxford University Press for lower-level students.

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The Business English Handbook
by Emmerson, published by Macmillan for advanced learners.

Starting off younger learners

Even youngsters learning English can benefit from a book. You can find multi-media resources to work with and all kinds of games and quizzes. Some popular courses for children and teenagers are:

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Playway to English
by Gerngross and Puchta, a series published by Cambridge University Press for very young children.

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Join In
by Gerngross and Puchta, a series published by Cambridge University Press for very young children.

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Backpack
by Herrera and Pinkley, a series published by Longman for primary school children.

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English World
by Hocking and Bowen, a new series published by Macmillan for primary school children.

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Top Score
by Falla and Davies, a series published by Oxford University Press for teenagers.

Chapter 8: Being Materialistic! Using Course Books and Other Materials
119

Adapting Your Course Book

Apart from the fact that most teachers like to put their own stamp on a lesson, other reasons may make it necessary for you to tinker with the material the course book presents. One is that course books adhere quite closely to a particular level, so if you have some outstanding students and other extremely weak ones and no hope of moving them up or down, you need to adapt to all your students. Similarly, if all your students are at an intermediate level but a couple are teenagers, a few are housewives, there’s a middle-aged businessman and a great-grandfather you need to tailor your lessons to meet everyone’s interests – or try to!

Catering to a class of mixed ability

If one student is much better than the rest of the class, she may get bored with lessons using material she already knows. You need to think of ways to extend the exercises in the book to provide a greater challenge.

For the more advanced students, try these options:

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Provide a learners’ dictionary so that students can look up words in the course book and prepare to explain them to the rest of the class. This is an alternative to pre-teaching (teaching the meaning of new vocabulary just before students encounter it in the lesson materials) vocabulary yourself.

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While other students are still reading, set an extra activity for the quicker students: