Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies (8 page)

Some students have very specific goals such as passing exams or getting a job. Once you know what these are you can more easily tailor your classes to fit their needs. This is especially true if all the students are working towards the same goal.

TEFL does comprise some very focused areas, such as business English, EAP

(English for academic purposes), and even courses adapted for particular jobs like football coaching and hairdressing.

Recognising What Your Students

Want from You

You may wonder what students expect from an EFL teacher when they enrol on a course and gingerly enter the classroom. To be honest, students don’t always have their list of wants and needs crystallised from the outset, but as they go along they certainly pick up when things aren’t right. Then, they start complaining or stop attending.

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Part I: Getting Started in TEFL

From the moment a student turns up at the reception area of your school or makes contact with you directly, she expects you to understand that she has a lack in her ability and that communicating in English is beyond her level and presents a problem. Students want help. They don’t want to feel embarrassed or stupid.

You first need to determine your students’ level of English by some form of testing. In a country where English is not the first language, students tend to make contact with a school or teacher in their own language. However, a form of speaking test happens quite quickly when (in the case of a language school) a student is introduced to a teacher or teaching manager who begins a conversation in English. You can buy written placement tests from EFL

publishers such as Oxford University Press or you can put one together using questions that move progressively through the grammar and vocabulary typical of each class level. It depends on the school and a student’s needs whether to test speaking, grammar writing skills or all three. At the appropriate level, students stretch themselves but won’t struggle too much.

Students need to make measurable progress from their starting level. Proof of this may be completing a syllabus, gaining confidence or passing a test.

However, by the end of your course your students want to feel that it was all worthwhile because they’ve bettered themselves.

Encouragement goes hand in hand with improving English skills. Your class wants to know that you’re on its side by the praise you give the students when they do well.

From the students’ perspective, it’s reassuring when the teacher seems to know her stuff. You don’t have to be a professor of the language but you do need to inspire confidence overall. Students want to know that you as the teacher are an expert (and as a native or proficient speaker of English you are) and that you know the process involved in making their English better.

Nobody wants to have a boring experience, so students rely on you to make their lessons as lively and memorable as possible. They don’t want a stand-up comedian or anything too eccentric, but there should be smiling, laughing and interesting contexts. In this way your students won’t just remember that they had a lesson about words for sports, for example, but they’ll remember the story of a great athlete that you gave as the backdrop to the vocabulary.

Remembering is also a big deal for people learning a language, because they need enough repetition to drive the point home but not so much that it becomes tedious.

In most cases you use books and handouts to help you present your lessons.

Students want nicely presented, informative documents that they can still understand when they look back at them a year later. Conscientious students
Chapter 2: Looking at What TEFL Teachers Actually Do

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always turn up with a pen and notebook because they want to make their own notes on the course, but they expect any materials you provide to be concise and effective.

Unless you’re teaching a dedicated speaking class or writing class, most students want some kind of coverage of the four main skills in language – reading, writing, speaking and listening – so that they can function fully in English.

They don’t usually want to cover all four to the same degree but they expect to work in each area.

Because TEFL doesn’t require the same degree of training as some other educational roles, teachers sometimes forget the importance of professionalism.

Even though your students may be of the same age group as you, and some may encourage you to socialise with them at the local pizzeria or wine bar, as a class they expect you to work professionally and conduct yourself in a dig-nified way. This includes the overall management of your classroom – what it looks like, what time your lessons start and finish and your supervision of the students.

Some people enrol on language courses because they want to make new friends but you can still help them to focus on the course aims so that they take learning seriously.

Students want you to be both fair and flexible. They become irritated if you seem to favour one student over another. Equally, they expect you to understand the real world involves many pressures so it’s not always possible to do homework to perfection or arrive early every single time. When something of particular interest happens in the world, they want you to depart from your lesson plan so that they can talk to you about it (hopefully in English).

The USA and UK are major players in world politics so some students want to discuss current affairs with their new tool, the language of those nations.

Culture is very important in a language lesson; it’s almost impossible to teach one thing without the other. So students want a role model who can give them a window into the English-speaking culture while showing due respect to their own. They definitely don’t want a hint of superiority from their teacher but instead they want to know about any pitfalls in terms of appropriate behaviour and expressions.

Students want you to point out the customs of English speakers in certain situations but they don’t want to be forced to accept these as good or right.

Believe it or not, students love it when their teachers correct them. I mention this because new teachers are sometimes too polite about this as they think that students may be offended. In my experience, students want to know where their errors lie and what to do about them.

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Part I: Getting Started in TEFL

Chapter 3

Examining Courses, Qualifications

and Jobs

In This Chapter

▶ Deciding on your level of teaching

▶ Signing up to the right courses and training

▶ Gearing your work to the salaries available

▶ Finding work

Gone are the days when a native English speaker could set off with a rucksack, arrive anywhere in the world and expect to be greeted with open arms by eager language school owners. Such scenarios are still possible, but the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) industry has moved on, so you need to put a little more thought into it before you start packing. In this chapter I show you how to take your first steps in TEFL by deciding whether you need training, what kind to choose and how to go about finding a job.

Teaching the Teacher

From intensive weekends to master’s degrees, so many TEFL courses exist out there that it’s a job in itself trying to decide which one is right for you.

Before you set out to teach, get a decent dictionary and the best grammar book you can fit in your case (see Chapter 24 for some suggestions).

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Part I: Getting Started in TEFL

Finding your level

In the world of TEFL there are four or five levels of ‘teacher’. Deciding whether you want to earn enough to keep you in beer money whilst on your travels or whether you’re looking for a long-term career helps you decide what kind of training is appropriate.

The various types of native and proficient speakers of English working fit into these categories:

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The opportunist who has no training in EFL or any other teaching qualifications but needs to find work.

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The teacher who has a basic level of training amounting to 20 hours or fewer. He’s been introduced to the overall principles of TEFL.

✓

The TEFL initiated teacher who has completed a certificate level TEFL

course of about 100 hours.

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The teacher qualified in another subject who needs to learn the principles of teaching EFL. At this same level are people who have studied the English language extensively, perhaps having a degree in English literature or linguistics, but who have no experience of teaching.

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The TEFL qualified teacher who has a diploma or master’s-level qualification in EFL.

Don’t underestimate the responsibility teachers have. Once you’re facing 20

eager students who’ve parted with their hard-earned cash hoping that you can change their lives, it’s a little late for regrets.

Get some training or do your own research but never walk into a classroom completely unprepared. A little training is better than none at all.

Being an unqualified teacher

Most language schools belong to professional bodies, which set criteria for teaching staff so that there’s a level of quality control. This means that usually you can’t find paid work in an English-speaking country without a well-recognised teaching qualification. However, there are exceptions to this if the school runs its own training programmes for would-be teachers. Charitable and state-run organisations with volunteer programmes sometimes welcome people willing to share their knowledge with others and you get some teaching experience in return.

Chapter 3: Examining Courses, Qualifications and Jobs

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If a school trains staff to use its own teaching methods, you’ve a better chance of finding work with them without a teaching qualification. Big chains like Callan and Berlitz employ staff in this way, depending on the location.

On the other hand, if you’re travelling to a part of the world where there are few native English speakers in residence, but the locals have some disposable income, you’re more likely to be viewed as a great catch by schools and individual students looking for a tutor, despite your lack of qualifications and experience. Being a native speaker can be your USP (unique selling point), but try not to be complacent.

Many EFL teachers have no training whatsoever but still manage to find work and develop their skills while in the job. If you won’t be relying on an income from teaching and are unlikely to spend more than a few months in one place, a short taster course is probably all you need. Various organisations offer weekend and short courses in TEFL that give you a taste of what is involved in the job and help you decide whether teaching is for you on a long-term basis.

In the UK, for example, Berlitz (www.berlitz.com) won’t employ a teacher who doesn’t have a degree and teaching certificate. However, if you apply to one of their schools abroad, you may have the chance to prove yourself on their unpaid training course which lasts one to two weeks.

Unfortunately, employers don’t view all native speakers as equal. UK, Australian and other accents from economically strong nations are viewed as high status and are more sought after. Students tend to mimic the pronunciation of their teachers and many have distinct preferences about the accent they want to acquire. Countries that use English as just one of their national languages often bring influences from the other language (or languages) into the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of their particular variety of English. Some students find Asian and African varieties of English, for example, less desirable than those of the single-language nations. Whatever your accent, practise speaking clearly and accurately.

When you start approaching schools, project a professional attitude, a sense of humour and an interest in meeting and helping people.

Once you find work, you need more than a great accent to get through the lessons. If a choice of work comes your way, teaching conversation lessons is your best bet for easing yourself into TEFL. Teaching conversation is a little easier because you can concentrate on teaching less technical areas like fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation and avoid tricky grammar questions until you build up your experience. It’s inadvisable to advertise yourself as merely a teacher of conversation lessons though, as this can limit your 34
Part I: Getting Started in TEFL

chances of finding work and you may find yourself feeling pigeonholed even after you’ve expanded your skills. It pays to brush up on your own grammar anyway and take an interest in how the English language works. (Look at Chapter 15 for info on grammar.) Think about when and why you say the things you do.

Getting initiated

If you intend to teach for more than a few months, make a reasonable living at TEFL, and give your students value for money, you really should invest in a TEFL certificate course of 100 hours or more. Teachers at this level are officially called
TEFL initiated.
Most EFL teachers remain at this level as this is what the majority of employers require from job applicants.

Before enrolling on a certificate course, consider who you want to teach and where. Each country has its own standards and preferences, so failing to meet the criteria for visa applications and the standards set by local employers hampers your chances of finding work.

The UK TEFL market is a prime example. The two strands of English course providers are the private sector and the public sector:

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Private sector:
The more established private language schools tend to be accredited by the British Council who expect EFL teachers to be graduates (in any field) and to hold the CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) or Trinity CertTESOL (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) qualifications. Other qualifications are technically acceptable but school managers have to jump through hoops to convince inspectors that their teachers are worthy if they don’t meet the British Council’s standard for EFL teaching qualifications or if their qualifications are not so well known. As a result they usually avoid hiring anyone who doesn’t fit the profile or may cause them extra work.