Job Discussion Forums

[Dray]

As a teacher of exam classes for high level students, what do you feel you bring to classes?

I work at a language school in England, so students have plenty of opportunity for interaction with native speakers outside of the classroom. Most of the exam style activities in books they could easily do by themselves.

I try to make the lessons lively and stimulating, but most of the time I think students could be learning a lot more outside of the classroom.

What 'extra value' can a teacher provide?

[Sashadroogie]

Teachers give valuable feedback on learners' progress. Important for motivation and deciding on action plans etc. Learners don't always do the exam exercises when left to their own devices.

Teacher usually has more knowledge about the mechanics of how the exam works, e.g. application of marking criteria - learners need this guidance.

Teacher should know more about different effective exam strategies than learners. Don't assume that they just know this automatically.

Teacher usually knows about other materials and resources, whereas most learners really don't and need guidance here also.

Teachers can inspire confidence in learners, as they have led classes through the exam before (successfully, we hope). Important for confidence once more.

[Dedicated]

Hello Dray,

An area which even advanced level students need some help with, and usually enjoy, is collocation. Using correct collocations makes their English sound more natural. Native speakers use these combinations of words naturally, but students of English have to make a special effort to learn them because they are often difficult to guess.

eg. Smoking is strictly forbidden sounds more natural than smoking is strongly forbidden.

Poverty breeds crime instead of poverty causes crime.

A book which I have found very useful with university level students is
"English Collocations in Use" by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O'Dell (Cambridge University Press).

[J.M.A.]

For my really high level classes (CPE), I don't try to make the class lively and stimulating. An exam like this will assume the students have a sophisticated level of literacy, which even students living in an L2 speaking environment may not automatically acquire. My suggestion is to brush up on some of the more enlightened approaches to teaching reading and writing (try genre theory), as these especially will make the students think about the texts. Aside from this I think it's basic classroom pedagogy concerning teaching the skills while not fleeing from the exam as your focus. Personally I find my really advanced classes to be the most rewarding to teach, and they are also the ones where I do the least in terms of trying to accommodate the students.

[Glenski]

[johnslat]

Dear

Critical reading and critical thinking:

http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_reading_thinking.htm

http://www.alamo.edu/sac/history/keller/accditg/ssct.htm


and practice in skimming and scanning.

Regards,
John

[johntpartee]