Job Discussion Forums

[zaser45]

Good day,

If your personality isn't the most outgoing lets say(not saying mine isn't). But lets consider if a few others see you that way, what can you do to make your class more entertaining, or an energetic, active environment for the students? Also, if you have any good resource material to check please include it.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

A large part of teaching is actually acting. You are playing the part of an expert in the field you are teaching. While a small fraction of us are actually 'English experts', we know a lot more about the language than most Chinese (if you take grammar out of the equation).

The person in question needs to break out of his or her shell. Teaching is communicating with others on a larger scale. Presentation is key.

Have your er... friend... dance and sing while alone in the living room. Talk to him or herself in the mirror. Practice the delivery of a short lesson in the privacy of his or her own home.

It's a start...

[daCabbie]

[Non Sequitur]

I always say 'I don't teach English - I sell it'.
Given a 2x 45 min format this is my approach.
1. I stay outside the classroom until the bell has gone.
2. I enter briskly and shut the door. I take control of the situation. I try to project risk excitement and unpredictability.
3. Immediately into the class greeting. 'Good morning class, Good morning teacher. What shall we do? Let's speak English! If it isn't loud enough they repeat.
4. Then to class song. We learn 3 or 4 over the semester. I distribute the song sheets which let's me eyeball the students and exchange little bits of conversation. 'Did you play basketball last night?
5. I have the songs on CDs and carry a CD player to each class. Why? because not all my classrooms have computers and projectors and they often don't work and/or they take too long to set up. Pace is the main thing at this stage.
6. Choose songs for bounce and pace. Not a great chorus and an unsingable verse. Beatles stuff is good.
7. Then the roll. Delaying until after the song allows the stragglers to get there. I would rather the late ones come in and be welcomed than decide the teacher is going to bawl me out and decide to skip class.
8. It's then dialogue work until break. If the dialogue is a boring one we may stop that say 7 or 8 mins before break and play a word race game.
9. After the break it's a game and we finish class with the song.
10. I restart the song again as the students begin to file out and they will often sing along or horse around to the music.
11. With larger classes it can be difficult for each student to be given a speaking slot. Singing addresses that to an extent.

[Little Tiger]

[Kiwi303]

[wangdaning]

[Priesty]

I agree that teaching is a performance and once on the stage you need to perform with complete confidence.

I also believe that your own style and comfort with teaching comes with time and practice. Spend time observing teachers teach in your local area, I'm sure they won't mind.

Also, like stated above, it all depends on what level you're teaching. If you are teaching Elementary level then you will have to be really energetic to keep their attention and play lots of games.

High school level still requires games, but you don't have to be as energetic and can relax a bit in the classroom. Also, these student will want to be treated as adults and so a sense of humor counts for a lot in these classes.

University level, allows you to be a lot more relaxed and just friendly with your students. But at the same time you must keep a professional attitude about your work and teaching.

Most important I feel is how you portray yourself to your class and if they believe you can teach them English.

This is all my opinion, of course, but I do believe practice makes perfect. I'm on my 3rd year of teaching and I still have so much to learn, but I have also grown very comfortable teaching in front of a class.

Also, if it is energy you are looking for, you might want to google a certain type of teaching style called, "Power Teaching." This style has grown very popular in some areas of America and other areas.

[wangdaning]

[Non Sequitur]

What wandaning suggests is more 'teacher centred learning'.
I think we have moved on to 'student centred learning' especially for those using communicative techniques. Most (or a good proportion) of ESL courses are communicative in approach.
Another thing is that boys learn differently and enjoy competition and risk.
My freshmen (18 to 20 years) are about equal numbers male/female and my job is to teach the whole class not just the eager-to-learn girls. Being male I am careful not to take advantage of the natural male/female tension as that's an easy route. I wouldn't be human if I didn't succumb from time to time but in general....
Games that give variety to the lesson are an essential part of it. Especially games that allow the students to move around the room.
Not easy in fixed seating set ups.
Best

[nickpellatt]

I agree with wangdaning about performing, try to avoid it as much as possible. A lot of focus on entertaining the class is a bad path to walk down IMO, and its far better to try and engage them and encourage them to be the performers. This is dependant on your teaching environment I guess ... but with adults or Uni age students the performing trick wears thin pretty quick IME.

That isnt to say there isnt ever an element of theatre in the classroom, but like all theatre, it has to be carefully managed and often scripted IMO.

Setting the scene is often an important part of my better classes. I may use 'props' for this, a photo slide show, a piece of a song, a clip of a movie, a game of hangman or a real or made up anecdote which sets the scene and leads in to the lesson topic. This 'theatre' is far better than just walking into a lesson and saying 'today we are going to talk about dreams'. Its normally a more interesting way of getting the students attention too.

The class is then kept active with a variety of tasks, which are completed in a multitude of ways. 5 mins to complete in pairs, 5 minutes to swap pairs and compare answers, 5 minutes in students > teacher feedback. 5 minutes in group brainstorming, followed by 5 minutes of smaller groups with teacher participation, and another 5 minutes of comparing more answers or performing a role play for the class. Lots of short, sharp activities, that require lots of student participation with minimal new vocabulary or structures in each activity is the way to keep a class active.

Give the students things to practise, tasks to complete and things to do rather than give them long lists of new words and complicated texts to decipher.

IMHO the worst thing you can do, is give out a worksheet with text the day before class, with 30 new words, and ask students to learn the new words. Where is the surprise and theatre in that?

I have seen lots of teachers spend hours writing a complicated text on an irrelevant subject and hand out prior to class like this. The first 40 minutes of class is spent with the teacher saying 'Xiao Li, what does the first new word mean, Wen Jing, make a sentence using that word'. The next 30 minutes of the lesson are spent reading the text out loud with a few discussion questions at the end. Boring, Boring, Boring.

Keep the material relevant, the fiscal crisis in Ireland doesnt interest me and I have travelled there, so its not likely to inspire the average Chinese student who is going to work in a cardboard factory in GZ.

Introduce the topics in an interesting and surprising way. Use anecdotes, photos (slides shows on a laptop work really well), music and video clips.

Keep varying the activities, and the way they are done. Work alone, pairs, groups, teaching just monitors, teacher works with students, mingle activities.

Keep the material simple. More than 5-8 new words in a lesson, means they will spend too much time in dictionaries, and you will spend too much time explaining. Let the students use the language they know, practise the structures they have learnt. Every teacher in China has met students who know words but dont know how to use them .... so try and let them use words rather than being a walking dictionary and giving them new words all the time.

Finishing on the performing theme. Let the students be the performers, and let the teacher be the director and producer rather than trying to hog the limelight.

[Non Sequitur]

That old ESL dictum 'TTT' ie Teacher Talk Time covers off the teacher hogging the limelight issue.