teaching oral eng. to teens

[mikehewitt]

hi there,

i am currently working at a middle/high school in china, teaching oral english to junior and senior students. i have encountered many challenges in this position, and because this is my first esl position and i have little experience, i was wondering if someone could help me out

1. i have VERY large classes ie 60+ and keeping all the students involved is very tricky. also, the students' levels of english vary greatly within the class, so if i teach the smarter ones then the poorer ones will be bored and noisy, and vice versa.

2. student motivation is very low for the most part... this is a poor village and many of these kids are just putting in time until they can get a job. still, i would like to feel like i'm actually earning my money, and i would still like to challenge the students that actually do show some interest.

3. perhaps worst of all, the school cant provide me with many resources ie paper for handouts, videos, etc... i dont even have a text to work with, everything must come straight off the top of my head. ive got a few games i know and am trying to learn more, but i have a fear that those will get played out pretty quickly... the one thing that is tremendously in my favour is that i get along very well wth th students... they dont seem to know or dont seem to care that i'm a poor teacher (or maybe they like me because of that...)

anyway, i would appreciate any and all suggestions that come my way... come on people, share your wealth of knowledge!!!

thanx again
mike

[Sally Olsen]

How about checking the posts below on large classes and games for 80 and more. Nice to see someone who cares.

[tiamokitty]

are u a Chinese or a foreigner?
the situation in teens class is very common.
and i think it's right for the shool not to give u any materials to teach.
so u have to think what to teach and how to teach by yourself.
my suggestion is that teaching them something often used daily life in certain condition,and tell them the right expressions.
that's what i wanted from my foreigner teacher .

[mikehewitt]

kitty,
i am a foreigner, and this is my first teaching assignment, so its been kind of difficult to just "wing it"... its easy enoughto say "teach them something used in daily life" and i have been trying to do that... LORD how i've tried... however my question is what are some ways of doing this that will keep most of the class interested and active.... i've tried role playing, doing some games, even just writing both sides of a conversation or situation on the board and having the students repeat after me, but they always complain that these methods are BORING.... about the only thing that is universally accepted is teaching them english songs, but my CD collection just aint big enough to get through the whole term, and i'm supposed to be teaching english, not music.... thanks for the input though, every little bit helps

[tiamokitty]

i had got a idea~~

just now when i was reading your Qs one more time, i was thinking about what i have learned from my teacher.

now i am a student who am learning how to teach kids in new oriental school in beijing (maybe u know it ,a famous school).we have listening and speaking courses .but when in class ,most we are listeners not speakers 'cause not every classmate of mine can understand our foreigner teacher who is from USA and his speaks very fast.
i usually do dictation practice when he is speaking STH such as holidays in western coumtries ,and ask him evrything i wanna to know,everything i am interested in _such as the tv show "friends"

so i think maybe before u have a class ,u may ask ur students what do they want to know or what kinds of ideas they want express but don't know how to.

for example:
someone want to talk about travelling
so you can teach them everything about travelling:
such as the necessaries,the places u have been to ,
if you have time and money ,where do u want to go?
and why
.......
ETC.

during the progress,u can teach them the words and phrase s and idioms they don't know, even the new grammer or sth else.
i think that will be a wonderful spoken english class.
and u can learn a lot from chinese

[emel]

learning a language may be boring in the begining for everybody since they have to learn a lot of vocabulary and grammar rules.You don't have to make the class so entertaining. First, you need to have a text book to follow. You can check the book stores and find out which book fits your teaching style.Then just follow the book.You should be strickt and don't let them to say "it is boring". To make the class more understandable you can give examples in their own life.

[mikehewitt]

thanks for the effort emel, but that info is completely useless to me. these are not bare beginners, they already have soem knowledge of english.... it is the CHINESE english teacher's job to instruct them in grammar and rules and such - i'm supposed to make it all magically come together and teach them pronunciation, idioms, things that native speakers always take for granted, etc..... lastly, i'm not sure if youve ever been to china but there isnt exactly an abundance of english teaching material available - its not like i can just stroll down to the ol' bookstore and hae my pick of textbooks. so far i have seen only one english book of ANY kind here, and i was informed that it was puchased in Guangzhou, which aint exactly down the street.... hmmmmmm, sorry to be so negative, but i gotta be honest with ya.

mike

[emel]

If they already have knowledge, it is easier for you.Try to be in connection with their grammar teacher.If they are learning simple present tense, for example, make them talk about their habits and regular activities.If they are learning past tense, they can talk about their memories and for the future their plans and such.Grammar and speech go hand in hand.I am tutoring English to students from all over the world. There are Chinese ones amoung them as well.In our library we have a lot of books.You are not the only one facing this problem all around the world, so a lot of books must be written just for this reason. I know some. The first one come to my mind is Side by Side.There are plenty of them , but I am not sure if they are in China. You may order online. If you go online,you can see some books for speech and conversation skills for ESL students.Again having a text book is so important. America is already discovered, you don't need to discover again( means a lot of people have found different strategies about teaching speech, you don't need to find them again ,just buy their books).If you want to teach them pronounciation you can start tecahing voiced and voiceless sounds. Then you can easily explain the pronounciation of final "s" in simple present tense and " ed" in past tense.You know these pronounciations are headaches without knowing the rules.You can teach "th" sounds. You can teach essential idioms, but actually it is not that necessary. You can teach the most common ones, such as "put on, look after etc.."There are also some books for essential idioms.Just do your best, you can not teach everybody in the class. Only the ones who are willing to learn is going to learn.

Sincerely,
Emel

[sealskin]

Hi I'm a student presently working on a B.A. in English and Visual Arts and a TESL cerificate. Just started a course in Methodology in TESL. We were just talking about the problem of teaching different language levels in the same class the other day. One of the things my teacher suggested to do was break the class up into smaller groups for activities mingling the lower level students with the higher level students so that the higher level students can help teach the lower level students. Hope this helps a bit.

[mikehewitt]

good call, i'm thinking about trying that out, although i think may need a few more weeks to make sure my better students are up to the enormous challenge that this poses my only fear is that in helping the worse students improve they will get as frustrated as i am right now.... on a somewhat related topic, to anyone havin the same troubles i am right now, i have 2 words of advice.... GET INVOLVED!!!!!!!! play sports with the kids, take them out for lunch go to their crappy school plays even if you only understand every 500th word thats being said.... show them that you WANT to participate in their lives ouside of the classroom.... this will build a feeling of comfort, friendship, understanding, WHATEVER you want to call it.... I think that half the battle of teaching is a foreign language is trying to get the students to feel llike you care about them, even when they are struggling to say the easiest sentence.... in talking to some of my students, they said that most fo their oral english teachers in the past have been very distant from the student body as a whole, leading the kids to beliveve that, even though their skin is white, this is "just another teacher".... while i may not have had huge success in actually teaching within the class, all of the native teachers have continued to tell me that the students enjoy my lessons, and that they like having me around.... between classes, there are always kids coming up to me and asking questions, or just trying to make simple chitchat.... i've taken a lot of time (maybe too much) to hang out with my students, and i feel that in doing so i've managed to reach some of them on a completely different level from what is possible in the classroom.... i guess this is stroking my own ego a bit, but at least i don't have to face some of the blatant hostility that ive read about some teachers getting from their kids..... somebody please put me in line if you think i'm too soft on em.... seriously

mike

[mikehewitt]

anyone with post secondary education will probably hate me after this post, but i should point out (in all honesty) that i am 20 years old, have no university education whatsoever (although my english skills are good enough to have earned an Eng. 101 credit while in high school) and have absolutely NO teaching experience whatsoever... i got this job by virtue of a 5 day TESL certificate course, so pretty muc from day one its been learn as i go.... that said, i think that this may have almost worked in my favor for this particualar job, as being close to the same age (in actual fact, i'm YOUNGER than some of my high school students) has allowed the students to feel like they can actually RELATE to me, so it hasn't been a complete uphill battle.... if you wanna denounce the ease in which i came about this position, my willingness to undertake something in which i have absolutely no experience in, or anything else about my current situation, go right ahead.... i've got a thick skin and no web posting will make me regret my choices in life - just understand that even though i am by no means a REAL teacher, i'm trying my best to become one through (almost) any means necessary

mike

[EFLwithlittleones]

No experienced teacher will say a class of your size is going to be easy however here's something you might want to think about.

You know about fractals? Self similarity on different scales?

I taught large classes in Southern Thailand very badly in my first year but if I had those classes again now I'd try a lesson approach based on a single task. I think it was in Bangalore (anoraks out there will know for sure) where an experiment was done with some degree of success with very large classes assigned a single task. The problems were similar to yours. Basically the students were given copies of train timetables and asked to work out routes to various destinations, and other associated tasks. The teacher used the central concept of 'travel' and built levels of complexity associated with it into the lesson across key skill areas. He broke the class up into small groups with different responsibilities and with different responsibilities assigned to different members of each group depending on their ability. The tasks required the students to plan carefully and deal with a lot of essential practical language. Reports were written, presentations given, I'd probably put on a play as well and have competitions.

Put 6, 7 or 8 in a group giving you 10-12 groups, but remember you don't have to make all groups the same size since their responsibilities may be different. Your role once the students grasp what they have to do, will be to move between the groups offering suggestions and stimulating communication. You could make the goals of the task fanciful ('dream holidays') or practical ('family get togethers', 'career interviews', 'emergency!') anything you like really as long as students need a timetable to make it happen.

Plan your lessons carefully giving particular attention to how you present and have a clear idea of what you want students to achieve. If that involves a hardcopy like an account of a journey then show this at the presentation stage. Allow for language development during the project, give frequent short tests to keep students up to speed and let the lessons unfold over several periods.

Chok dee krap!

Peter

[email protected]

[mikehewitt]

wow, what can i say... that advice is like, genius. it can be applied to an infinite number of situations as well, not just travel... i'm gonna use this this week and see how she goes. thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou ！！

mike

[Lorikeet]

anyone with post secondary education will probably hate me after this post, but i should point out (in all honesty) that i am 20 years old, have no university education whatsoever (although my english skills are good enough to have earned an Eng. 101 credit while in high school) and have absolutely NO teaching experience whatsoever... i got this job by virtue of a 5 day TESL certificate course, so pretty muc from day one its been learn as i go....
mike

I have a Master's degree in Linguistics and 35 years of experience, Mike, and I don't hate you at all. I've seen lots of teachers over the years. I visited a class once where the technique was perfect, but the timing was off. The teacher was so busy following her "plan" that she didn't notice the students were nodding off.

It looks like you have some "natural ability," and a lot of interest (which I happen to believe is very important) and the fact that you're here shows that you are trying to pick up ideas. I think the more knowledge you have the easier it will be for you to teach. Knowledge comes from both education and experience.

As for this Forum, I don't know how much you've read of some of the other topics and posts here, but I'd say most anything Sally Olsen posts is useful. You can find an example here: http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... highlight=

Lorikeet

[mikehewitt]

i was just joking about the "hating me for lack of exp." remark, and i would agree that flexibility must be one of a teacher's greatest strengths... i've tried teaching the same topic to two different classes of the same level using role playing - one thought it was a riot, he other couldnt be bothered even making an attempt... one thing i learned very quickly is that if students don't like the way you are doing something, you can't MAKE them like it by sticking to it religiously...

miiike