Job Discussion Forums

[teacheratlarge]

I think the amount of practice teaching with real ESL/EFL students that the school course offers is important whereas the amount of grammatical/structural theory they offer is less useful. I found a lot of the theory only told me that what I was doing (prior to taking the course) was useful and important; keeping the students actively acquiring and using language that was essential for them and their circumstances.

[santi84]

I can spot, what I think is the problem, right away.

I recently quit a language course because the instructor did and said a few things that you mentioned.

- Games are 'not my style'
As a language teacher, you need to balance your 'style' with what your student's needs are. Games make activities easier for the students to speak. It's speech which is less 'forced', it lets them get excited rather than nervous (particularly Asian students), it makes time go faster. Younger students seem to have shorter attention spans these days, probably Facebook's fault LOL, but you have to adapt to that

- 'I just talk for a long time'
That's what watching movies are for. As a language student who needs to learn speaking, reading, writing, etc. listening to someone drone on is terribly boring and they will quickly tune out. I find this to be the #1 mistake of many new teachers and usually the #1 constant mistake of bad teachers.

As much as I'd like to blame the weather, end of semester, etc. it sounds like your course is boring for them and that they aren't being given activities or lessons that engage them.

I think all of us are guilty of this, but since you recognize it as a problem, it's time to figure out the solution.