Teach English in Xidajie Jiedao - Wuwei Shi

This unit explains techniques and methods of teaching different special groups. There are different types of classes; beginners, individuals, young learners, business English, monolingual, and multilingual. We know five different categories of beginners; the absolute beginner (no English knowledge), the false beginner (learned English in the past), the adult beginner, the young beginner , and the beginner with no Roman alphabet. When teaching beginners the teacher should be patient, use a lot of interactive games, get the students talking, respond to individual needs, use a lot of praise, use repetition drills, and keep it simple. Teaching individuals can be less formal, there is only one student and only one level of English (no mixed levels), and it can be easier to define what the student?s needs are. It can be challenging to find so many different activities and material (with individual student the teaching goes by quicker than in the group), and there is no classroom dynamics. In order to keep the lesson interesting the teacher should find material that interests the student, choose variety of activities, and cover all skills (not just one). The course should start by filling out the ?needs analysis? form, so the teacher knows what the specific objects of the student are. Teaching young learners can be really rewarding, but can also be difficult. Young learners (age ranges from two to sixteen year old) pick up the language really quickly, but their span of attention and concentration is shorter, and some discipline problems can emerge. In order to avoid any problems (or at least minimize them) the teacher is always fair and consistent, often changes the dynamics in the classroom (changes sitting arrangements, makes new pairs), uses variety of games and activities, uses repetition, and praises the students as much as possible. The teacher should also avoid using students' native language , threats, raising the voice, and putting individual students on the spot. Business English can be taught one on one, in the company, or in the language school. Students or clients (learners from a company) can be different ages (20 to 50), and they are usually four to six in a group. At the beginning of the course the teacher should do the?needs analysis?. It can be done with a questionnaire or as an informal chat. Written questionnaire includes client?s details, past learning experience, and specific objectives. While teaching business English the teacher should be professional at all time, keep records of attendance and material covered, and use English instead of the clients? native language. The final type of classification are monolingual and multilingual classes. Monolingual class includes students from the same country, and is taking place in their home country. They have the same cultural backgrounds, and the same difficulties with English language. Multilingual groups, on the other hand, include students from different nationalities in the country where English is the native language. In this group English is the only common language, so if students want to communicate they are forced to use English, also they bring different culture and ideas to the class, and are exposed to English every day. In this unit I learned about different groups of students that as a future teacher I might teach, and positive and negative things, teaching each of these groups, brings. Each teacher has his/hers own preferences which age or type of group they would like to teach. Some prefer teaching children, because it can be more fun, others prefer more professional environment so they prefer teaching business English, some prefer teaching beginners because they can start from scratch, others prefer students that already have some knowledge. It is not always possible to be picky. The best way to adapt is to believe in your competence, discover what the students' needs are, and be flexible .