Teach English in WutAn Zhen - Chongqing

Teaching absolute beginners Teaching absolute beginners may seem like a nightmare if the teacher does not know what they are doing. It is their job to take the students from no English to speaking, writing and understanding English. With absolute beginners it is crucial that these students learn the right topics in order. In the beginning it is also beneficial for the teacher and students to use visuals heavily and point to objects or subjects while talking. This gives the students something to relate their new words to. Choral repetition is also a key part of an absolute beginners learning. This helps the students to become more comfortable and build their confidence. If a single student messes up their mistake won?t be known to the rest of the class. This also helps students to participate in a guided pronunciation activity. For a native speaker going back to the absolute basics may be a shock if they are not prepared. These are things that we as native speakers usually don?t think about. It is important throughout all teaching to not rush the material but it is especially important not to rush anything in the beginning. All other classes will build on top of what is learned. Even if the class begins to fall behind in a lesson plan sense that is ok as long as the students are grasping what is being learned. The logical place to start is with prepositions they are easily recognizable because you can go around and point to I, he, she, they. The base knowledge of pronouns with the verb ?to be? will get the students talking and understanding English. From there you build on their vocabulary steadily with visuals, ideally located in the course book. These illustrations are easy to understand and recognize. Once the students get the basics down the teacher can start to bring in more complex lesson plans and games. While working with beginners the board will be a great asset to the class, even if the teacher cannot drawn just writing the words on the board with a rudimentary picture will do the job just fine. From the beginning it is important to keep the class as fun as possible. While teaching adults and children is quite different, no one wants to be bored to tears. Calling on students randomly will help the students to pay more attention; games lighten things up and keep changing the way the class is taught. If the teacher does the same thing at the same time for every class the students will begin to become bored. These are points that should be followed no matter the skill level that is being taught. Just like any first impression the first class that the students take may affect their perception of English all together. It should be every teacher?s goal to make English?s first impression a good one. The most important thing for a teacher to remember is to keep the focus of the class on English, do not get off track at every turn. This includes speaking the native language of the students. The teacher should also be promoting speaking English in the class room and disencourage their students from using any language but English while in their class. Lastly as a teacher no matter what difficultly level it is critical to continually make mid course corrections. It is important to keep on track and as the class progresses the teacher may see a better way to lead or teach the class. This also helps the teacher to grow and recognize that they are growing. This gives the students the best possible education that the teacher is able to give.