Job Discussion Forums

muffintop · Joined: 07 Jan 2013 Posts: 803

Looking for online resources for classes of all ages/abilities and for improving my teaching methods. I do not mind paying if it's worth the money.

Recommendations? Please state your reasons.

Honestly....I've been 'winging it' for nearly 4 years and while I believe I've come a long way as a teacher I feel I need something more to offer. I've recently been thinking about taking a part time CELTA course but....I have a wife and a kid.....can't really afford to blow that kind of cash and time until I believe the risk of failure is lower than it is now for me. Currently my earnings are satisfactory and better than average but......just 'winging it' does not satisfy me on a personal level anymore.

Perhaps I should make another thread for this but if anyone has advice about how to prepare for taking a CELTA I'd be very interested in hearing it.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

I've Pmd you with the downloadable items (say $6 to $12), I have used for several semesters in uni and vocational settings.
Unsure whether posting the link here would be OK.
The issue these resources address is the teaching format.
Physically I have bolted down desks so moving to different configurations for activities isn't possible.
Time-wise I have 2x45 min periods per class. I use the first 45 for dialogue work from the book and promise the students that there will be something better after the break.
Numerically I have 40 to 50+ students per class, so resources that extend to big numbers are a must.
I've used a 60-question cocktail party resource for uni students and there is one for younger students I haven't used.
There are several pairing games - again for large classes. I haven't used these in my uni/vocationals but went down a treat with primary and middle school students at my summer job. Finding your twin and finding a lost pet are two available.
There is a Western Zodiac activity which have only used with English Majors as they tend to want more culture than the Oral E students. It helps me get the E Majors into reading English language newspapers which have daily horoscopes - mainly for expats I expect.
The resource I use over and over is the Student Mark and Progress Slip. It makes final marks reporting so much easier.
There is also a resource providing foreign language words and phrases used in English grouped by French, Latin, Italian etc. I don't currently have English Major students, but such a resource may be useful for this group.
There are a huge number of free lesson plans available online which bear no resemblance to my teaching situations.
I should add that my classes are all Oral English. not writing, listening or Western Culture, although as mentioned my English Majors generally seek more meaning or cultural background to their vocab.

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

For Free:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

It's a website sponsored by Purdue University. It's a really good, comprehensive website that is useful to teachers and students alike. It is basically for writing, but it covers a lot more than just writing.

sui jin · Joined: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 184 Location: near the yangtze

I have found this site useful , though it is very brit-ish and BBC -ish

www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources

Onestopenglish is always good , but you probably need to subscribe to get the best from it.

Denim-Maniac · Joined: 31 Jan 2012 Posts: 1238

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

Muffintop,

How good are your motivation skills? The ability to motivate takes some folks a little longer to acquire.

I agree with DM's proposal that a well-planned lesson plan is essential to teaching a successful class. Equally important is having a Plan B in the event that your Plan A isn't working. This is especially important in the first five or so years of teaching, and the ability to do so becomes easier the longer one teaches. There's nothing more painful for a teacher and his class than when the teacher continues to hammer away at something that doesn't work.

I've been there. I began teaching in inner city America.

You say that you feel that you're just winging it. Are you saying that you feel that you don't have a grasp of the subject or that you have no method?

I am no fan of prescriptive methodology, but one must start somewhere.I recommend that you spend time talking to other teachers and observing a class or two.

If you feel that you don't have a good grasp of the subject matter, you may just need to spend more time with the book. Going to class without having done your own homework is not good.

Denim-Maniac · Joined: 31 Jan 2012 Posts: 1238

muffintop · Joined: 07 Jan 2013 Posts: 803

@Bud...

It's not the subject matter that concerns me. I understand IPA and can explain grammar......though it's usually dry as hell. Lessons for the first/second/third conditionals are fairly simple to do in a communicative and interesting way but.... What I'm looking for is more along the lines of methodology/planning I guess. Like the lesson DM posted....I'm not sure how to bring that style to things like present perfect, simple present, past perfect, and so on. What I'm missing is how to make most of it interesting and communicative. If I drop into a grammar lesson because students are making the same mistakes...the students mostly tune out and I can't say I blame them. They've heard it all 1000x, even if it you would not know it from their English level.

Understand that the vast majority of my students are either false beginners or refuse to speak. Some have the vocabulary to communicate on a basic level but getting them to put it to use is like pulling teeth. Honestly, most of my students are not ready for a foreign teacher...perhaps the issue is less with me than it is with the classes I accept. I don't like to dodge responsibility like that but to give you an example of a recent class......I just finished a class of 17-20 year old students who all plan to travel abroad to attend University. They could memorize word lists and do OK on the multiple choice tests given by their Chinese teacher but only 1 out of 16 could hold a simple (very simple) conversation. The rest could not usually reply to the simplest of questions. Students in that class were stumped by words like ...breakfast...They'd do well on grammar tests given by their Chinese teacher but would say things like....'My sister likes hear musics. He is very like sing.'

When I have high(ish) level students, the only area I know I am weak is planning. I am sure it's not the only one, it's just the only one I can identify clearly. I just wrote an 8 week outline for a class I started yesterday and I'm not happy with it at all. It just feels slapped together...because it is. The students (15years old) are mostly sharp and only a few are reluctant to speak. Their grammar isn't perfect but it's not worth hitting them with grammar lessons. I will see this class for 90 minutes 4 days a week for 2 months. My goal is to teach them how to communicate effectively through debate, conversation, and role play. Critical thinking, logical fallacies, ethics, morality, and culture will all be touched on. I will stress critical thinking and logical fallacies with this class since they are on track to attend University in the US. I think it's something they'll benefit from that is not taught well or at all by their Chinese teachers. Oh...and yes they'll learn Wikipedia is not a valid source. Anyway...I know what I want to do with them but breaking it down to a day by day plan just crushes my soul. I know what I want the students to be able to do by the end of the class but getting them there in a manner that makes sense is what I don't know how to do.

Watching and talking to other teachers I have met has been of little help. There was the PhD who could not differentiate between than and then and would simply ramble on in class about his personal life. The Canadian teacher with 30+ years of experience who put students to sleep. Met a few handout queens who just gave their students meaningless busywork. ...and countless others who are just winging it in more or less the same way I am. Some are trying to improve and some don't care.

@DM
I am now where you were, more or less. I taught myself IPA for a pronunciation class I had and I taught myself how to explain the tenses and conditionals for a grammar class I had. Just looking for that next step...certainly more self study and then the CELTA I think. Lacking the confidence to begin the CELTA right now.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

Denim-Maniac · Joined: 31 Jan 2012 Posts: 1238

@muffintop

No need to be nervous of CELTA dude ... from what you have posted Id be confident in saying you know more than 95% of CELTA trainees.

I agree though, conditionals are so easy to bring into a communicative lesson. But lots of other language is too: You could argue that superlatives and comparatives are lexical rather than grammatical, but they also make for wonderful target language in communicative classes.

Do you know the Foreigner song 'A girl like you'? Gives a perfect marker sentence, 'I've been waiting (for a girl like you)' Which I use as a marker sentence in a grammar lesson with similar tasks as listed before.

TBH though, I rely on my coursebooks for lots of my grammar lessons. They set up the lesson with a context, either text or tape based, and give the activities to me. I have found a few decent marker sentences in other material that I can build target language from ... normally 'future will / future going to' activities with students planning events in the future.

Id say if your lessons go 'dry' when you drop into grammar ... you are presenting it wrong and then they lose interest. Better (IMHO) to correct on the spot, but note a problem with a structure and return to it with a communicative lesson later. That way you have the activities planned and it doesnt go dry.

Doing it 'cold' as a form of error correction is likely to just drop into 'chalk and talk' which isnt the name of the game.

I know people often say leave it to the Chinese teachers as they are better equipped to teach grammar ... but I saw first hand evidence today that they simply cant teach grammar. I met my language partner and 5pm and looked at her notes. She had been studying conditionals today ... and when I asked her which ones, she said 'all of them'. My second conditional Beyonce lesson (when taught in full) lasts for 3 x 45 minute periods. The Chinese teacher taught all 4 conditionals in 60 minutes.

The difference is clear. Chinese teachers teach grammar in a 'chalk and talk' write it down and remember method.

In my better classes I teach them to use grammar. They use the language to acheive a goal or complete a task.