Job Discussion Forums

[roostasha]

My school has just bought the New Concept English text books. I am supposed to start teaching an adult beginner class on Thursday night. The teacher's book suggests that the course be taught over 9 months with two 90 minute - two hour classes a week. My boss would like me to teach the course in no more than 6 months because the students want a shorter course, but they also don't want to attend lessons for more than two 90 minute periods each week. Of course, my suggestion was to buy a different set of texts, but this didn't go over very well. I'm pretty much on my own here, so any advice on how to shorten the course would be greatly appreciated.

[lily]

Hi roostasha,

My bf has been teaching from NCE 1 this year, but his students just agreed with him to give up on the book - he makes the lessons up.

I think the only way to shorten it would be to not teach the completely useless Lessons, of which there are quite a few. At a quick glance through the book, numbers 1, 3, 6, 13 ... are in this category. How about starting with Lesson 5 (Nice to meet you), maybe combined with Lesson 9 (How are you today?). But then, if you have 90 minute lessons, and have students who have a little level of intelligence, you should be able to do 3, if not 4 Lessons each class.

On thing my bf did was write the Lessons on the board at the beginning of each class. That way, when the students arrived, they could have a quick glance through the Lessons before the class actually started. Or, if you're really well prepared, tell them at the end of one class what will be covered in the next class.

Hope this helps,

Lily

[Roger]

Depends on which book you use; there are 5 tomes, and I recommend level 3, PRACTICE AND PROGRESS for so-called "advanced" learners.
You will find a teacher's instruction that tells you exactly how long a lesson takes. I believe, 90 minutes for a whole lesson is pretty adequate. You can skip many things.
Unfortunaly, the texts come with a verbatim translation. I deem this counterproductive in the extreme. I saw many a student reading the Chinese texts and merely scratching at the surface of the English one to get the feel for the English lingo.
The grammar drills are of vital importance. These are often neglected by Chinese teachers.
As for doing the book in a shorter time, totally feasible: the book has 4 parts that all revolve around the same grammar points, each time on a slightly higher level. The texts get longer and more complex. Begin by doing those "Tests" at the beginning of each section, then decide whether you can jump to the section after the next. Pick those grammar points you feel your students need the most help. In my opinion, tenses will need the most time, and the SVA rule.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I use the New Concept English books, and I must say they're some of the better text books I've used over the years while teaching English.

I generally spend my hour as follows:

First two minutes: Collecting homework and listen to the odd excuses as to why they didn't bring it.

Next eight minutes: vocabulary test from the previous lesson's new words
(Spelling, and using the word in a sentence)

Next ten minutes: students have to write out last lesson's entire passage from memory. During this time I check homework.

Next ten minutes: All the students stand up, close their eyes, and recite last lesson's passage from memory.

Next ten minutes: teaching the new vocabulary.

Next ten minutes: Everyone repeating after me (I read the passage, everyone repeats.

Last nine minutes: Divide the class into a boy's team and a girl's team. Students read the passage (one boy, then one girl, rotating). Each team gets one point for every mistake the other team makes. Teams get a bonus point for no mistakes (including NO "ni-ga ni-ga's")

Last minute of class: Team winner goes home one minute early.

Homework consists of the actvities inside the book (must write it on paper, not in the book because it is to be handed in to me for checking).

[millie]

GWoW wrote:

[ChinaEFLteacher]

i'd also like to know if that's a joke GWoW. an earlier post has you saying you make a lot for china. you've got a really sweet deal if you do that kind of lesson and get paid a lot for it. joke or no?