Teach English in Chongxing Zhen - Wuwei Shi

This unit taught me how to teach English to special groups. The groups noted were beginners, individuals, business English, young learners, and multilingual/monolingual classes. What they all have in common is that the teacher is teaching English! There are some specific items to bear in mind with each group. With beginning learners, there five different types: 1) the absolute beginner who has no English at all; 2) The false beginner who may have studied or been exposed to English but have not retained it; 3) The adult beginner who often made their own decision to learn English; 4) The young beginner who often times have not made the choice to study English and lack motivation due to not understanding the benefits of language; and 5) The beginner without Roman alphabet who need a lot of initial work on basic literacy skills, including a lot of reading and writing practice. Ten things to keep in mind while teaching: 1) Keep it simple; 2) Be visual rather than verbal; 3) Get them talking; 4) Use questions and verbal repetition drills; 5) Use pair work; 6) Be supportive and praise as much as possible; 7) Respond to individuals; 8) Be patient; 8) Play lots of games; 9) Play lots of interactive games; and 10) Do not overcorrect. All of these things will reduce stress on the students and keep them engaged in discussion. With individual learners, the teaching is one on one. A positive to this is that there is only one level to focus on. A negative to this is that it is only you and your student?there are no classroom dynamics; using a variety of techniques and activities will keep lessons interesting. To plan lessons, a needs analysis needs to be done with the student. It is well to concentrate on the student?s interests, cover all skills, and vary activities and approach to each lesson. With business English (BE), a teacher does not need to have experience in the business industry! Ninety percent of BE language is general English. Thus, teaching students the language is like teaching general English, but adapting a different approach to specific business needs, such as how to converse on the telephone, making an introduction, or making a presentation. Various ways BE can be taught is with an individual, the company department may come to the school, or the teacher may teach in the company. Ages of students may vary from 20s to mid 50s or later. Common problems of teaching students ist hat they may be tired after having to work all day, their attendance may be erratic, their motivation may vary (ex. Required to learn to keep the job (extrinsic motivation) vs. really wanting to learn the language (intrinsic motivation)), and students may have mixed-abilities as they are often grouped by department than skill level. To plan, a level test needs to be given first, then a needs analysis?this may be an informal chat or a written questionnaire for the clients/students to complete. Following this, a needs negotiation must take place to group students by their needs and expectations. Afterwards, a syllabus can be created and clients can have ongoing tests/evaluations to inform the teacher?s instruction. With young learners, it is important to keep in mind that they are children and are likely more active than not. It is important to constantly praise these learners, have constant repetition of vocabulary through song or drills, speak slowly and simplify speech, reference individual learners, prepare lots of activities, and keep it fun! The teacher should always use English, speak slowly, use gestures and miming actions, and play interactive and communicative games as often as possible! The teacher should not use students? native language or put individual students on the spot. The teacher should also not expect students to have all of their materials. Additionally, the teacher should not be afraid to make fun of him/herself and should have fun with the students! As per discipline, the teacher should make him/herself aware of students? problems; while problems outside of the classroom or at home are out of the teacher?s control, the teacher can control attention seeking students, peer pressure among students, boredom in content, and consistency and fairness to the students. The teacher should change the dynamics and activities of the classroom as often as possible to prevent and control discipline issues. The teacher should also avoid getting angry and using any physical punishment. Lastly, with multilingual and monolingual classroom groups, there are advantages and disadvantages to keep in mind. In monolingual groups, students have the same native language. Advantages to this are that they have common difficulties, they are culturally similar, and they can help each other in the native language (especially the younger learners). The disadvantage to this is that students who are at a higher level will try to use their native language. Additionally, their is often less exposure to English. In multilingual groups, students have different native languages. An advantage to this is that students have no common language, thus further exposing and forcing students to communicate in English to understand one another. Additionally, there will be a variety of rich experiences students bring to the classroom. Disadvantages to teaching multilingual groups is that there will be no common difficulties among students, and there will be a variety of different ethnic backgrounds?it will be important for the teacher to be culturally aware of all of his/her students).