Job Discussion Forums

[mcloo7]

I'm starting a uni job in September, this will be my first time ESL teaching. How do you recommend I prepare? I am nervous about it so I am trying to do what I can to give me a confidence boost. I am currently reading The Grammar Book, but it is so boring I only get through about a page a day. It does seem like a good book though. I am also going over the online TEFL course that I took, but again.. the boredom factor.

[johntpartee]

[Javelin of Radiance]

Knowing something about grammar and how to explain it will certainly help you, but that'll probably only be a small part of what you need. Since you brought up the topic of grammar here's one scenario you'll soon face. You'll get students coming up to you during breaks in class, or after class, clutching a practice test and they're going to ask you for help in choosing the right (fill in the blank) answer to a question. It'll usually be a sentence that needs the correct verb tense inserted, or the correct form of an adjective or some such thing. Read the question, and give your answer. The student will then tell you that the test key gives another answer, so you should now be ready and able to explain why the answer you gave is correct and why the key is wrong. This is where the grammar book comes in handy, bring it to class and just keep it in your bag because you are going to get these questions. And whatever you do, don't ever reply to a student's question with "I don't know" or "go ask the Chinese teachers because they know more about grammar" because that's just a sign of ineptitude and laziness.

But what I described above won't take up a lot of time, your main job is to teach Oral English. For that you need to be able to find ways to engage the students in conversation, learning useful idioms and collocations, new vocab, getting comfortable using the language etc. Search for info online, there's tons of free lesson plans out there that can help you along the way.

There's a fairly decent book by Jim Scrivener called "Learning Teaching." See if you can pick up a copy and have a read.

As for reviewing the grammar book in your free time, a page a day is nothing. If you find it that boring then why not make a game out of it? See how many pages of grammar you can read today before bouncing your forehead off the table, then the next day try to beat that record? Anyway get used to it and start enjoying it because this is your new job.

[Baishou]

1. Sign up for a Chinese-language class as soon as possible and carefully observe the techniques and tricks the Chinese teachers use in the classroom.

2. Don't dabble in professions that require the development of skills you find "boring," and leave them to the professionals.

In another thread I commented on stagnant wages at my state university here. One clear reason why is that they are willing to hire non-professionals, which in turn eats in to the salary rates of those who are actually trying to make a career of the ESL game.

In places like Japan, South Korea and the Middle East, experience and credentials actually mean something in the field of ESL education, and inexperienced noobs cannot simply stumble into a university position. As a result, professional ESL educators at the tertiary level are remunerated at a far higher rate than those in the Heavenly Kingdom.

Thank you for depressing wages for the rest of us, even though it really isn't your fault, of course.

[haleynicole14]

If you've never taught before, a search on classroom management methods could be really helpful. Routines and procedures are good to start with at the beginning of the year, even if that only means your ways of starting and ending each day. I have some good websites that I will update with later when I'm at my main computer. I know when I taught my first year I didn't think about that kind of stuff until after I realized my classes had become rather chaotic, and it's easier to start out with routines than to introduce them later.

[vikeologist]

If you can get hold of it, I'd recommend 'Teaching English as a foreign language' by David Riddell. If your TEFL course was an online one, then reading more stuff might not really help you. You'll just have to learn by doing.

Look up some fun activities on this very same Greasy Spoon

http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?Speaking

That's the Speaking ones, but if you look at 'Main' there's different types.

The thing about grammar is that hopefully you'll have a textbook (and Teachers book) that you'll be using, and it's sometimes better to look up the grammar for a class when you're planning it. You don't have to be an expert on grammar. Also hopefully, your Teachers book will essentially tell you how to teach a class.

Hopefully you'll have a teacher, a Director of studies, or just somebody who isn't an A-hole at the school who'll take you under their wing, but don't worry too much about it.

The important thing is that you enjoy teaching. The standard of Chinese language teaching is so low that it's fairly hard to be significantly worse than the English teachers they'll have the rest of the time. If you plan your classes properly and show the students that you're enjoying being there, you'll be ok.

Unfortunately, if you are not enjoying teaching, that's the thing that can make students turn against you. Usually they want to learn. Yes, we sometimes have bad classes of students, badly laid out classrooms or incompetent administration or curriculum planning, but you'll probably be ok, and if you're not, learn from the experience and move somewhere else after a year.

Starting off as a teacher in China is not ideal. The best way is the way I started, in a school where every teacher except myself was a fantastic teacher. They didn't normally take on rookie teachers but they took on two that year. The other rookie was the most gifted ESL teacher I've ever known, and I was dreadfully out of my depth, but I learned a lot (I had to in order to avoid getting sacked) by listening to criticism and getting the other teachers to help me.

Learning by doing is not really a very effective way to improve your teaching skills, but if that's the situation you find yourself in, make the most of it. Figure out if there's anybody competent around you, and get them to help you. Ask to observe other teachers' classes, (the foreign teachers, not chinese. Every single class taught by the Chinese will be useless, because they all, all, teach languages wrong. A sweeping statement, but I have wasted too much of my and the other foreign teachers' time observing their classes).

It doesn't matter if you don't enjoy grammar books. It does matter that you enjoy teaching.

[Non Sequitur]

Is there a textbook?
The best way is to get the students up in the numbers required for each dialogue and let them read it through.
Randomise the selection and that'll keep the attention of those waiting.
Have a method of noting the standard of each student as in 18 weeks time you are going to award an individual mark which you can defend if queried.
Success in oral English is your own feeling of how little you speak.
Don't do dialogues for both 45 min periods. Break to something more boisterous in the 2nd 45.
See my OP on what to expect in those first classes.
BTW I've never been asked a grammar question by an oral student.
CTs have tended to ask me about gradations of meaning between synonyms, but hell they know more about English grammar than I'll ever know.
PM me if you want more.

[mcloo7]

Thanks for the answers. I dont want to misrepresent myself. I do find the grammar to be somewhat interesting because it's a study of language and I will have to teach that stuff. But it is boring to try to cram it, at least for me. I have the Scrivener book too, Ive found it to be somewhat empty so far, after about 150 pages or so. I think I'll pick it up right now.

[Javelin of Radiance]

[Javelin of Radiance]

For anyone who's interested in learning a bit more about teaching and to help you get started in the field, here's a link with some of Jim Scrivener's ideas:

http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/teaching-tips/

Fair bit of useful stuff here.

[kungfuman]

Make lots of PPTs (Powerpoints) and teach from that. Chinese love it

[Non Sequitur]

I can't imagine that you'll be asked to teach grammar.
The Chinese teachers are better at it and they know it and they would not react well to FTs getting in on their patch.
They are NOT delightfully cooperative colleagues. They have grafted their way into their sinecures and will protect them.
Better read about communicative method and chuck the grammar book.

[choudoufu]

[Javelin of Radiance]

[Denim-Maniac]

Chinese teachers know some rules regarding grammar, but precious few know how to teach grammar, and there is no reason why you shouldnt do so.

Dont confuse grammar teaching with boring chalk 'n talk lessons with students furiously writing down rule after rule. That is NOT grammar teaching at all!!!

Want your students to discuss regrets? 3rd conditional grammar structure.

Want your students to discuss their lives as children? Perfect for 'used to be' structure.

Whose hometown food is the best? Comparatives.

Impossible dreams? What would you do if you won the lottery? Second conditional structure.

Giving advice? Should / shouldn't and first conditional

Places you've been? Things you have tried? Present perfect simple, present perfect continuous.

Grammar exists for a function and its pretty hard to seperate it from language ... otherwise what we say / write would make no sense at all.

Interested to hear how you get on when the job starts and you get into China ... your posting has been prolific, but now the real world is about to loom over you ... hope it works out well for you, keep everyone informed and good luck!