Hey everyone. I'm new to this forum but I've read a lot of your posts and I need some of your expertise. I just moved to Japan to team-teach English as my primary job, but it's also been arranged that I teach an English class to the citizens of my town. The class meets for two hours twice a week. The problem is that I have a class of about 25, and the students' knowledge of English ranges from 1st year junior highschool girls who can barely introduce themselves and say what they like, to older men who are near fluent. Of course, these are the extremes, whereas the median of the class is a middle-aged adult with upper beginner / lower intermediate proficiency. So my question is, how the hell do I go about teaching this class? I'm really in a bind here as I have no formal teaching background and this situation seems messy. Since the class is two hours long, I've been thinking about having one half based on simple English, explaining grammatical points and having them put in to use. And doing the other half with a more advanced, discussion/conversation type approach, so that everyone can benefit. What do you all think? Any suggenstions? I haven't really gotten a precise feel for what the class is capable of yet, but I think it's relatively low so they probably aren't capable of any real discussions as a whole. Plus, since this is supposed to be a "conversation" class, how am I supposed to go about it if the majority is only upper beginner / lower intermediate level? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
- Justin
Citizen "conversation" class
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
There are about 25-30 people in the class. 5 or so of the adults have excellent English, near fluency. There are 2 junior high schoolers at beginner level, and about 3 or 4 high schoolers at pre-intermediate level, and most of the rest of the people are middle-aged at a pre-intermediate level. The class is not capable of holding discussions, so that's out. They meet twice a month, and most people attend. Most people in the class know each other at least somewhat outside of class, or through the class which has been going on for the last 14 years or so. I'm just the new guy taking up the position to teach it now. The purpose of the class is just to speak English. There is no specific aim or goal, but they want class to be fun for the most part, and not too techinical.
Eigo-Mike wrote:How many people are in your class?
Can you give us a breakdown of numbers/ages and abilities?
Also, how often do they meet, and do they all attend?
What is the purpose of the class, and do they know each other outside of class??
I don't know how much time you have for preparation, but I've had a lot of luck with pair work using cards. One exercise is a long conversation (14 or so parts). First I write the conversation so that each part is connected with the next one. Then I cut the conversations up so that each person's part is separate. The students have to work together to put the conversation back in order. Depending on how you want to do it, you can teach some vocabulary that appears in the conversation first, you can have them practice it after it's done, add to it, etc. You can use language as informal as you wish. Here's an example of one I did (It's not a quote, but it was easy to indent that way):
. For example, when Rose says, "Me too" there has to be something in the previous sentence that can be agreed with. Sometimes it's easy to figure out what the answer to a question is, and sometimes it's not. Sometimes a question is answered with a question, as it can be in real speech. I even had some students come up with an alternate to mine once that I liked so much I changed the answer for the next semester. Well, that's my idea for the day.
I cut out each part of Jennie and Rose. I tried to put clues in each one, but it's not perfect.Rose: (on the telephone) Hi Jennie. How's it going?
Jennie: Just fine. What's up?
Rose: I'm in the mood for dinner at a restaurant. Are you doing anything special tonight or would you like to eat out?
Jennie: I don't have anything special planned. I was just going to watch TV or read a book. Where do you want to go?
Rose: Would you like to try that new American restaurant near your house?
Jennie: No way! I've already eaten there, and believe me, it was the worst restaurant I've eaten at in a long time.
Rose: No kidding! Was the food really that bad?
Jennie: Some of it was too salty, and some of it wasn't cooked enough. Have you ever tried to eat raw chicken?
Rose: Yuck. Maybe they were just busy that day. How was the service?
Jennie: They weren't busy at all. The place was so empty that I was sure they'd close in a week. Not only that, but even with an empty place, they still didn't give good service.
Rose: Hmmm. So much for that restaurant! Let's try the new Chinese place near my house instead.
Jennie: That’s a great idea. I really like Chinese food.
Rose: Me too. My friend tried it last week and said that the food was pretty good.
Jennie: Did he say anything about the service?
Rose: He didn’t say anything about it, so I guess it was okay. He said he was planning to go back.
. For example, when Rose says, "Me too" there has to be something in the previous sentence that can be agreed with. Sometimes it's easy to figure out what the answer to a question is, and sometimes it's not. Sometimes a question is answered with a question, as it can be in real speech. I even had some students come up with an alternate to mine once that I liked so much I changed the answer for the next semester. Well, that's my idea for the day.