TEFL
01 Learners
Reason for learning
You want to learn English for different reasons:
- Target-language Community : English is a national language or a main language. They
need English to achieve their immediate and social need.
- English as a Specific Purpose ( ESP ) : They need legal language for their job, like
business English.
- English as a Academic Purpose ( EAP ) : In order to study at an English-speaking
university.
- General English : No particular reason, but want to learn the language just in case.
Different contexts for learning
English is learnt and taught in different contexts and class arrangement :
EFL, ESL, ESOL
-English as a Foreign Language ( EFL ) : To communicate with other people.
-English as a Second Language ( ESL ) : Most of them living in a target-language
community.
-English for Speakers of Other Languages ( ESOL ) : Description of both situations.
International communication with the internet.
Schools and language schools
-Schools : Not chosen to learn the language. They got it in 3rd grade because it was in
the learning system. They use IT or sit in rows in classrooms.
-Language schools : Better equipped. Smaller classes. They have chosen to learn the
language.
Large classes and one-to-one teaching
-One-to-one teaching : Most preferred, individual specific needs.
-Large classes : Can be a class of 100 or 30 or 8 people. Size does matters. Groupwork
is often used in big classes to give them interaction.
In-school and in-company
-In-school : Aware of school policy and who is responsible for the academic running.
-In-company : Need to negotiate the class content with students and who is paying
for tuition.
Real and virtual learning environment
In both situations the students need to be motivated and we still need to offer them
help.
-Virtual Learning : Attend lessons, can follow lessons when they want and doesn’t
matter where you are
-Real Learning : Physical reality, face-to-face, little equipment to teach.
Learner differences
Age
Children (2-14 )
Very young Learners ( 2-5 )
Learners ( 5-9 )
Adolescents ( 12-17 )
Young adults ( 16-20 )
Children : Respond well on activities that focus on their lives and experiences.
But they have a short attention span. They learn really fast.
Adolescents : Developed a greater capacity for abstract thought. Accept need
of learning of a more intellectual type. Bound up with search of identity and
need for self-esteem.
Adults : more disciplined and sustain their motivation. But they hamper their
progress if they had negative previous experience. They have been got out of
the habit.
Learning styles
Neuro-linguistic Programming ( NLP ) :
-Visual stimulation ( visual )
-Hearing stimulation ( auditory )
-Physical activity ( Kinaesthetic )
Multiple Intellegences :
a number of different intelligences, like music.
Levels
3 basic distinctions :
-Beginner
-intermediate
-advanced
-beginners ( no English )
-False beginners ( a little English )
-Elementary student ( Communicate in the basic way )
-Pre-intermediate ( Basic structure and lexis of the language )
-intermediate ( Fluency, general comprehension of some general authentic English )
-Upper-intermediate ( intermediate + grammatical and Language skills )
-advanced ( accuracy or depth of knowledge of the language )
Common European Framework
Educational en cultural background
Educational : Differences may case different expectations of what teaching and
learning involves.
-Learning by rote ( memorizing facts and figures )
-Learning by doing ( doing projects )
Cultural : Different responses to classroom practices
The importance of Student motivation
-Extrinsic : What the student brings with him outside the classroom
-Intrinsic : What the student gets in the classroom ( teacher )
How do we give motivation :
- Affects : how the student feels about the learning process
- Agency : The student takes some responsibility. They are ‘ do’ers ‘.
Responsibility for learning
Give the students some agency.
Some students follow the learner autonomy ( teacher’s job to provide learning ).
We can restore that by :
- Extend students role in learning by homework
- Monolingual learners dictionaries ( earlier bilingual dictionaries )
02 Teachers
Describing good teacher
There is no specific describing.
Who teachers are in class
Personality
Discussing is difficult because :
- No ideal personality
- Not only professional but also personal
Adaptability
Marks one out from the other is reaction to different events. Good teachers are able to
absorb the unexpected and use it to advantage. Make fast and good decisions, then you get
a great confidence from your students.
Teacher role
Part of good teacher’s art is the ability to adopt a number of different roles in the class,
depending what the students are doing. You can be a :
- Controller : information presentation
- Prompters : encouraging student
- Feedback provider : evaluate there performance
- Assessors : grades or compliments
- Resource : language information or consults
- Tutor : advice to do next
Rapport
A rapport is the relationship that the students have with their teacher.
Recognizing students
know your students names, also know about your students
Listening to students
Available as we can to listen to individual students. Show them interest.
Respecting students
Correcting students is hard. Don’t be too critical or to praising.
Being even-handed
Treat your students the same
Teacher tasks
Preparation
Having thought in advance what we are going to do in our lesson. Have some learning
outcome.
Keeping records
What we have taught. What went well and what went wrong.
Being reliable
Timekeeping and homework. Also when someone is late.
Teacher skills
Managing classes
Whatever activity we ask our students to be involved in or whether they are working
with, we will have thought of procedures to make the activity successful. Being able
to prevent disruptive behavior and reacting to it effectively when it occurs.
Matching tasks and groups
Will learn more successfully if they enjoy the activities they are involved in and are
interested or stimulated by the topics we bring into the classroom.
Variety
Much of the value of an activity, resides in its freshness. But when we use the same
activity we have to make sure we the learner roles are not always the same.
Destinations
Good activities have some kind of destination or learner outcome. It’s our job to
make that destination apparent. Students need to know where they are going and
how far they already are. Some activities don’t have an end, like a discussion, but
make sure the students leave the classroom with some tangible results (summing
up).
Teacher knowledge
We need to know a lot about the subject.
The language system
Language teachers need to know how the language works. Knowledge of
grammatical and lexical ( how words change their shape depending on their
grammatical function ).
Also pronunciation features such as sounds, stress and intonation.
We also have to explain this to the students.
Materials and resources
When a student asks a complicated question we need to know where we can find the
answer. For example the book, internet, dictionary or library. Know your courseware.
Classroom equipment
We can use a lot of material these days. As a teacher you need to keep up. But we
don’t need all those material to give a good lesson.
Keeping up-to-date
We need to learn. We can learn a lot from talking to other teachers, the internet,
magazines, conferences, etc.
Art or science?
Is teaching language a art or a science?
- Art : relationship between student and teacher and between student and group. We
managed to make a good rapport.
- Science : Understanding the language system and finding the best way to explain it,
technical skills.
11 Using coursebooks
Options for coursebook use
There are 4 alternatives to consider if we decide that part of a coursebook is not
appropriate.
- Omit : This solves the problem of inappropriacy and allows us and the student to get
on with something else.
- Replace : more interest and more appropriate for our students.
- Add : extend the students’ engagement with the language topic.
- Adapt
Using coursebooks creatively is one of the teacher’s premier skills.
Adding, adapting and replacing
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Reasons for courseware use
-
Negative : They say they are boring, stifling and often inappropriate for the class in
front of them.
Positive : provide good teaching material. It’s a teacher guide, a proposals for action,
rather than instructions for action.
Choosing courseware
-
We need to analyse the books under consideration to see how they compare with
each other.
When we have chosen the ones that interest us the most, it will be important to pilot
it with a class so we can assess its strength and weakness.
Before the final choice, we will want to consult colleagues.
Lastly, let your students have a look.
Reader
Communicative approach
The communicative approach is based on the idea that learning successfully comes through
having to communicate real meaning. When learners are involved in real communication,
their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to
learn to use the language. Produce meaningful and real communication, at all levels.
A notion is a particular context in which people communicate (shop/party)
A function is a specific purpose for a speaker in a given context (asking about prices,
introductions, greetings)
Notion
function
Context
useful phrases for specific purpose
Setting
communicative need
Language situation language purpose/skill
Explanation of specific terms
Notions: are meaning elements that may be expressed through nouns, pronouns, verbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives or adverbs. All of these meaning elements refer to
certain concepts or ideas. Notion can be quite specific, in which case it is virtually the same
as vocabulary. Yet, notions can also be very general ( time, size, emotion, movement ) in
which case it often overlaps with the concept of ‘’topics’’.
Functions: is some kind of communicative act. It is the use of language to achieve a purpose,
usually involving interaction at least between two people. Examples would be suggesting,
promising, apologizing, greeting and inviting.
Factsheet (Communicative Language Teaching)
Characteristics
- Authentic input
- Based on communicative needs ( notions & functions )
- Communicative context
- Divided into notions and functions
- World of experience of pupils
- Focus on message/content more than on form
- Meaningful tasks : realistic&partical
- Real communications/interaction
Typical activities
Roleplay conversations/dialogues, simulations, info gap, personalized tasks, discussion,
open-ended activities, improvising, tasks & projects, pariwork, intervieuws
Key words
Realistic, authentic, natural, meaningful
Positive aspects
Partical and applicable learning by doing, subconscious learning, good for confidence
Giving instructions
1. Short and clear (KISS)
2. Given in STEPS :
-Objective ( what is in it for students? )
-procedure ( First you, then you )
-example ( With a pupil/two pupils )
-check ( So, what are you going to do? )
-expected result / outcome ( Do a short mini-presentations at the end )
3. Given when there is SILENCE. Strand in a set place and make sure everyone can hear
and see you
4. VISUALISED : Visualise the key steps of the procedure and the key learning objective
5. Giving using a CONSISTENT approach. ’’What I would like to see’’.
6. Repeated through PEER COACHING if necessary.
Neuner’s exercise typology
Exercises are organized in a logical way :
- From reception to production
- From closed to open
- From predictable to unpredictable us of language
A-Exercise ( Checking and organizing information )
In this phase material is presented to the learner. Comphrehension is checked.
- Exercises aimed at understanding and written texts
- No production in speaking or writing of the target language
B-Exercise ( Implanting skills )
Building blocks, such as idioms, grammar and pronunciation are offerd
- Functions and notions that are necessary for communication are practiced and drilled
- Reproductive, closed, strongly guided, controlled practice
C-Exercise ( Developing Skills )
Guided exercises are offered in which the learner can practice with the building
blocks of the previous phase. For example, role play with information gap.
- Fucntions and notions that are necessary for communication are practiced and drilled
- Productive, half-open, room for variations
D-Exercise ( Using Skills )
Unguided exercises. The learners use what they have learnt in the previous phases.
- Real communication
- Productive, open tasks
Learning objectives
Every lesson you need to think about what the pupils learn from the activities. This way you
can motivate them to engage in the activity. Learning objectives also correspond with the
overall programme of English at secondary schools.
You also need to plan what you would like to focus on while trying out your lesson idea in
class during school placement or peer teaching.
Learning objectives need to be very specific to serve the above-mentioned purposes.
Lesdoelen formuleren
- Gedrag : WAT? Wat moet de cursist kunnen tonen, beheersen, weten? Aantoonbaar
gedrag
- Conditie : HOE? Onder welke omstandigheden moet de cursist het gedrag kunnen
tonen? De student het gedrag moet toepassen.
- Standaard : IN WELKE MATE? Hoe goed moet iets worden beheerst? Welke criteria
gelden voor de uitvoering?
- Doelgroep : WIE? Op welke doelgroep is je onderwijs gericht?
ABCD : Audience, Behaviour, Condition, Degree
Ontleden van je leerdoel :
- Gedrag : sorteren van printplaten met als resultaat twee stapels : 1 stapel met en 1
stapel zonder soldeerfouten.
- Conditie : willekeurige printplaten, met gebruikmaking van een loep.
- Standaard : 60 printplaten binnen 20 minuten met maximaal 1 sorteerfout
- Doelgroep : de cursist
Zo concreet mogelijk formuleren, zodat de cursist precies weet wat hij moet kennen en
kunnen in hoeveel tijd, op welke manier, onder welke omstandigheden en met welke
hulpmiddelen.
Gaat fout omdat :
- Te vaag woordgebruik
- Geen leerdoel maar onderwijsdoel
- Verkeerd werkwoord voor het bedoelde gedrag
- The breed of uitgebreid