Teach English in Banqiao Zhen - Zhangye Shi

I feel that Unit 19 is one of the most educational and pedagogical units of this TEFL and TESOL training course, as it really provides invaluable advices and tips to EFL teachers, on how to best manage their teaching to special groups and overcome the possible problems that may arise with each type of group. I found interesting that, how ?beginner students? were categorized in five different categories of ?beginners? in order to have clearer idea of the ?beginner level? you are likely to come across in a group of students. It clearly makes a difference in teaching methodology whether you will be teaching ?adult beginners? or ?young beginners, or whether you will be teaching ?false beginners? as oppose to ?beginners without Roman alphabet?- the teaching methods and techniques will differ, as well as the possible language problems that may arise. I also appreciated the different suggestions the unit provided as regards activities, homework and teaching advices depending on whether you will be teaching a monolingual, or multilingual class, adult learners, or children, or individual students instead of a group. One of the examples of major differences when teaching special group mentioned in the unit, is the difference between individual lessons and group lessons. Individual lessons (despite having a number of advantages) can sometime have some drawbacks, such as when it comes to activities, unlike group lessons as there is only 2 people conversing and sometimes may reflect a lack of classroom dynamics. Another example of major differences is between teaching young learners/children and adults or business learners. Children and young learners are likely to learn the language faster than adults, they are more curious and usually less shy than adults, but have shorter attention and concentration spans, therefore a frequent change of activities is necessary. Children also may have higher energy levels than adults and therefore, the teachers may have to deal with discipline issues, which is less likely to happen when teaching adults. Activities when teaching children, should also be adapted to their age group and therefore may be more creative, fun and less formal than adult activities. The teacher?s role is also of primary importance when teaching children as they look to the teacher for guidance and he/she is usually their primary source of motivation, therefore the teacher?s approval and appreciation is very important, as well as their personality and attitude. Adults groups or business groups are less likely to have discipline issues, but maybe less motivated as most of them are likely to have a job or have a family life aside from the English class, and therefore be more affected by schedule and tiredness. The activities with adults unlike children should be a little more serious, but can also be creative, with more focus on the practice of the language, essential to everyday life, communication and business. Furthermore, I found the section on the ?Needs Analysis? with the sample of need analysis very useful when getting started with a new group of adult learners, in order to have a clearer picture of the level of the students at the very beginning of the lessons. The last bit of this unit on teaching Business English and ?English for Specific Purposes?, was very practical and detailed, I really appreciated it, I fully agree that even though these two groups are less common than EFL classes in language schools, they should equally be taken into consideration as they are more and more popular and EFL teachers, should really know and learn how to best teach them and manage them.