Teach English in Shilin Zhen - Chongqing

I?ve got a general idea about problem situations that I might encounter in a classroom as an EFL teacher. Also, I?ve got familiar with ways of dealing with them. With regards to the first lessons, there are two types of classes. The first one includes students who already know each other and the second one includes students who don?t know each other. The latter requires specific preparation and work on behalf of the teacher who needs to establish a relationship between him/herself and the class members as well as among the students themselves. In both cases, the teacher should find out about the students interests and goals to be able to tailor the classes according to their needs. He/She should determine the linguistics level of every student and check whether or not there is an area of difficulty that needs to be structured into the course syllabus. How do I deal with such a classroom problem when the students don?t know each other have no clue of what an EFL class is? I won?t start immediately with a course book, but rather with other activities geared to the needs of a new class. I could ask the students to write some information about themselves on a sheet of paper that I?ll keep with me. This is the needs analysis mentioned in the previous unit. Before collecting the papers, I could ask everyone to introduce him/herself so that the others listen to him/her. Of course, I?ll introduce myself as well. Then we could play a game to get to know each other more such as ?Pass the ball game?. Warmers would be my second step activity of a new class. They are very important to start a foreign language class. They consist in fun, motivating and inspiring short activities that allow students to know each other (if they don?t) and start the class in a positive way. How do I choose them? By starting with a well-known and easy one that helps making a revision of some vocabulary, for example the hangman game. An EFL teacher could face different levels in a classroom and should be able to handle this frequent situation. Although a school has a very nice placement test, some students learn quicker than others which generates a gap in a classroom and the instructor has to deal with in many ways. How do I handle this situation? Is it while giving the priority to the weakest ones or the strongest ones? I would give the same materials to the whole class, but adapt the exercises to the students such as longer ones to the advanced students and shorter and/or simplest ones to the weakest students. In that way, they all stay within the objectives of the course and improve at their own pace. I could also balance the class in an effective and useful way, for instance making pairs such as a strong student with a weak one. Also, classes numerous students can create problems for a teacher as it?s hard to get them all consistently involved. This is a difficult and challenging job. How could I make sure that they are all contributing? The best way consists in handing out worksheets as well as encourage pairs and groups work to enhance the students? involvement. Besides, I?ll be careful regarding my voice and its clarity and pitch, this without shouting. Moreover, I could use the choral repetition as much as possible to check that everybody is participating. Monolingual classes could be problematic as students will automatically tend to use their native tongue which will cut down on using the target language. How could I avoid this? I?ll check that all the tasks that I?ve chosen are at an appropriate level and that all the students can put up with. I could also remind them to use the target language as much as possible without answering their questions if they are not asked in english. Reluctant students could slow down the class or even disturb it which is problematic for the instructor who is doing his/her best to keep everybody fully involved. How do I make them keep on participating? I could, for example, encourage pair-work; in that way, reluctant students are supported by a strong fellow and feel less embarrassed, thus they will participate. I cold also give the priority to activities such as role-play. Difficulties with listening texts is one of the major problematic situation that a teacher could face. Some students want the listening tasks to be slower whereas some others wanted to be quicker. How could I deal with this problem without affecting anyone?s learning? The easiest way is to prepare activities for students who finish early so that to keep them busy without preventing the slow ones to improve. In general, I would follow the rhythm of the average of the class.