Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in ChAnghua Jiedao? Are you interested in teaching English in Guangzhou Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Unit 19 was about teaching special groups. Special groups include: beginners, individual students, children, business English/English for Special Purposes (ESP), and monolingual vs. multilingual classes. Beginners can be the absolute beginner, \"false beginner\" - who has learned a little bit of English but not kept much of the language, adult beginner, young beginner, and beginner without the Roman alphabet. Some students can be put in several of the above categories. For most all beginners, teachers should be aware of student needs, set achievable goals for them, give clear and simple instructions, ask lots of questions, and get students to speak up as much as possible. A good suggestion from ITTT is to pair up a weaker student with a stronger student. The stronger student can help out the weaker one. Furthermore, it is important not to rush through the material too quickly. For individual students, it's important to find out the student's specific needs and wants and try to balance the lesson. Teachers need to also be aware of external factors going on with the students such as company workload and available time (Ex. when deciding whether or not to give out homework). Teaching children can be enjoyable and rewarding; however, there are a few notable differences between teaching them vs. adults. Children have a lower attention span and therefore need to have various activities within a more fun and enjoyable atmosphere. They also need a lot of praise and encouragement. The teacher's attitude is one of the most important factors and can greatly affect the classroom dynamics/discipline. It is better to have a strict, firm approach from the start, rather than vice versa. When teaching business English, it is important to get an idea of the student's goals via a \"needs analysis\". Problems with company workers might include attendance, motivation, and levels of tiredness (after a long day of work). For these students, there should also be a mid-course evaluation (ex. short talk) and in some cases, teachers will need to write a post-course report. Lastly, there are monolingual students,. These students have classes in their home country. One disadvantage is that they might revert back to their native language; on the other hand, one advantage might be the teacher can focus on a set of common difficulties for almost all of the students. In terms of a multilingual class, students are from a range of countries, so they must use the language of English to communicate with each other. This is one of the best ways to learn, by being forced to use the language as a means to communicate. Overall, lesson 19 was very informational and useful for knowing what to expect for each type of special group.
