Job Discussion Forums

[mejms]

I wrote another post, but I got sidetracked in it. Here's a more straightforward opening.

If you would be so kind to share, what are you best resources for classes? It's an open-ended question. Could be internet sites, particular text books, movies you've done that have gone over well, music, conversation starters, role-plays. For the seasoned teachers out there, do you rely heavily on course books?

[Guy Courchesne]

Outside the TEFL course, I only teach one class at the moment, a one-on-one with a human resources manager at a large beverage company. I tailor our classes very specifically to his needs. Our last several classes have focused on best practices in HR, so much of the material I've used I've taken from online sources dealing with the subject.

On classes in companies that are less in need of such tailoring, I like to use sections of Market Leader to generate topics.

[TheLongWayHome]

[gregd75]

www.onestopenglish.com is a great website by macmillan. I like it because it gives you some good ideas. I particularly like its news lessons. They are great for introducing new vocabulary, to practice reading and pronunciation and then, as a final step I use the texts to create a conversation.

These lessons are available in different levels.

www.listenaminute.com is a great, GREAT website for listening activities, with some really good exercises based on the listening task.

I disagree with the previous poster, and I like textbooks as I feel that students like structure. They are also a good way for teachers to structure their classes but then supplement the textbook materials with additional activities. For example, for GENERAL ENGLISH, I really like the Interchange series by Cambridge. The teachers book has a wealth of resourses to supplement the textbook and the cambridge arcade dovetails nicely into the course too.

The textbook helps students practice, practice and practice some more!

There is also a GREAT magazine called 'ELT professional' that I have recently discovered. www.etprofessional.com The reason I like the magazine is because it always has some great tips that you can use in your class. There are also interesting EFL articles and generally speaking its very interesting.

I am a member of MEXTESOL. This is a teachers organisation for EFL teachers and I am sure there is a chapter near to you! It would be a good idea to find out if theres a chapter and if they organise activities for teachers. membership is just 200 pesos a year. www.mextesol.org.mx

Finally, another great resource is the British Council www.britishcouncil.org

I hope this helps! Good luck!

[Phil_K]

Thanks for the Listening site link - it's a goldmine!

[gregd75]

Oh and there is a textbook called WORLD ENGLISH by Heinle-Cengage.

It is a modern, up-to-date textbook that uses National Geographic texts for activities. I like this series because it doesn't rely on grammar, and its really interesting too! (and I mean interesting for the teacher to teach and for the student to learn from)

[TheLongWayHome]

[gregd75]

I thought I was being helpful and constructive by posting my best practices. I find it really fustrating that comments are continually picked apart by negative posters. How about sharing best practices people??

It's much more helpful that just being NEGATIVE

Teachers books are for teachers. Course books are for students. Interchange is a series that I like. I am not commenting about other teachers.

If a coursebook is used as PART of a teaching strategy, then students will benefit from the use of coursebooks as they have valuable resources in them.

I really like Interchange as it clearly lays out grammatical points, it includes reading, writing, listening and speaking activities and most of all because it has a whole host of additional materials that the teacher can use at their discression.

Students at my language school like to have a coursebook. They also appreciate the teachers extra input.

But who knows... Its just my opinion. I have only worked in one school (my school)

[sarliz]

For kids classes, I love Genki English. It seems totally cheese-ball at first, but the songs stick in your head like nobody's business, and teach popular questions and grammar in a really fun way. Plus, once you've bought the download pack that includes all the songs and software for the computer, you're part of the member's club and can download all kids of visuals, worksheets, and new material as it's released. www.genkienglish.net

I use coursebooks in our teens/adults classes, and have found Interchange Intro to be a good base for a beginner's course. Our school is pretty young, and we don't have any classes who have been studying for more than a year and a half, so coursebooks are still a good option for us.

[mejms]

The listening site that Greg gave is basically the same format and actually by the same author as www.breakingnewsenglish.com. There he provides up to date articles on current events. It's a good site for getting easier, more basic articles for lower-level students on the same topics that appear in the newspaper.

I do agree that course books are for teachers. Teacher's books, I think, are for less experienced teachers. They give step to step instructions for teachers, things that an experienced teacher would think of naturally and probably immediately.

I use course books to provide structure for my classes, photocopying some pages, but ideally the institute would provide the structure. Books are resources. Course books are, well, courses. And, in my humble opinion, if a language school depends on say Interchange as a course book, then it really just serves as a middleman to hire teachers and bring in students. There's no actual institution there at all. Shouldn't a school develop its curriculum?

[sarliz]

I'm going to try not to get snarky here, because I feel a little set up. First I'm asked what resources I use for classes, and when I put a text book out there that I feel is a good base for beginners classes, I get:

[mejms]

Sarliz,

I'm sorry. When I was writing my response, I was hyped up on caffeine, doing ten things at once. I've got to admit that I've got a grudge against language schools on the whole. I'm skeptical of them. But I shouldn't make pointed comments before seeing all your cards on the table. Your comments were thoughtful, and using a text book in the way that you explained of course makes sense.

There's definitely a place for comments on text books, but I was wrong to dismiss your approach. We're actually probably more on the same page (no pun intended) than not. My bad.

[sarliz]

Mejms,

Thanks for the apology. It was a lovely surprise to experience a bit of civility on the internets this morning.

I know there's a lot of bad mojo out there regarding language schools, and I apologize if I get a bit defensive when I feel a thread starts wandering down the "All Language Schools Blow" road. I think it's fair to remind folks that there's a wide spectrum of them in Mexico.

I've only worked for two, my own and one in Oaxaca City. I had a great experience at the Oaxaca school, it was run by a man who priced the classes lower than the chain schools, and we had a lot of great motivated students who probably couldn't have afforded classes elsewhere. I think the main income for the school was made giving spanish classes to tourists, but I was there during "las problemas" a few years ago, and the economic picture wasn't pretty. Regardless, I was treated with respect, paid on time, but the curriculum left something do be desired.

I started my school after moving to my boyfriend's hometown, and started giving group classes, but couldn't keep up with demand. We now have 100 students and three teachers, including myself. I try to maintain a teaching environment that I would be comfortable in. I've met Gregd75 at various MEXTESOL conferences, and while I don't know his school, he too seems like an individual genuinely interested in helping teachers teach and students learn. I'm sure that there are scads of shady-as-hell language school out there, existing purely to rake in the dough, but it's important to remember that they don't represent all of us.

(This now concludes my public service announcement. Back to the teaching materials thread).

[TheLongWayHome]

[mejms]

Alright, I'm stepping into the lion's den. Check it.

Greg, I'm sure that it feels like every time you've got a comment to make The Long Way Home is out to cut your head off. I think that you guys have got a grudge against each other. I saw your thread in which you two went at it on language schools- TLWH thinks they're all shady, lazy operations and Greg runs one he says is legitimate. Fair enough.

I tend to agree more with TLWH about language theory being taught too often and students not getting enough real practice (and therefore improvement). In class I typically don't even tell students the terms for different grammatical points (present perfect, future perfect continuous, whatever). I just focus on function and context, how to use it and when to use it. I drill and drill with examples until it sticks. I often don't even present the grammar rule itself (present continuous= person + form of to be + verb + ing). And if I do present a rule to beginning students- I don't even say "verb," I say action. Seem small? Not really. I stay as away as possible from anything sounding even remotely like grammar rules/theory. Listen, I'm not a 20 year veteran in the industry, but I feel like all the authors of books on methodology, say Jeremy Harmer for one, are academics. Text books are so often written by academics. And there's no one I'd like less to teach me something practical, social, functional, conversational-- namely, how to speak a language-- than an academic. A lot of you will take issue with that. Good. Stirring up thoughtful debate is what I want from this forum.

Text books and course books have their place as resources, just like the internet, news videos, and articles on current events have their place. Everything is a resource. The English-speaking world is a resource. The art of being a great ESL/EFL teacher, in my opinion, is to know how to use and manipulate all those resources.

Books take all those wordly resources and condense it into a purposely designed grammatical and topical reference. That's fine. As teachers, of course we're not all going to write course books for every class we teach. But when the book stops being a reference and becomes the course, it's no good any more. Why should you focus on the past continuous this week if your students are really tripping up on possessive pronouns? Maybe for your students progression, as their teacher you don't think the past continuous is fundamental now and it's not a logical progression from whatever you're doing now. So don't do it.

My beef with language schools is that so often because the teachers are inexperienced and here today, gone tomorrow, the books become the courses and the courses become stale. Curriculum design needs to be at the heart of any class and much more at the heart of any legitimate language institute. Wheels need to be turning, constantly.