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This unit deals with certain specific types of learners within ESL and how to best cater to their unique needs and areas of difficulty. Beginners: As discussed in Unit 1, different categories or traits of beginners exist, some of them potentially overlapping. These categories are true learners, with zero English knowledge or exposure; false beginners, with some limited exposure, knowledge, or previous study; adult learners; young learners or children, generally defined as 16 and under; and beginners without the Roman alphabet, who will need more reading and writing practice. Young Learners: Teaching children comes with its unique set of challenges and rewards, and methods share certain points in common with those for teaching beginners, such as using appropriately simpler language and visual prompts, avoiding L1 use, and being patient with the students. Consistency, fairness and justice, humor, being engaging and active etc. become essential in this type of class. Individuals: Also known as one-on-one teaching or private tutoring, this is one of the largest areas in the ESL/EFL field. While having the benefits of the removal of mixed level issues and the possibility for more specialized, individually tailored instruction, it does have the drawback of very limited dynamics, due to there being only a single student, reducing activity options, pairwork etc. Specialized or business English: Another major area in ESL/EFL, teaching English for Specific Purposes, often within a business setting, requires extra preparation and commitment, but should not be intimidating to the experienced teacher. Some problems that may be encountered, especially with company-mandated classes, are students? lack of personal motivation, mixed language levels within a class, and occasional or even frequent absences due to work. Professionalism in dress, speech, manner and behavior, while always essential, becomes even more vital within this setting. Finally, monolingual versus multilingual groups are compared. Monolingual groups are setting, while multilingual groups have different native languages and are often within an ESL setting. Monolingual groups share the same cultural background, will encounter the same problems in learning, and can assist each other using their common language; however, they will be more likely to speak to each other in their native language if permitted. Multilingual groups, on the other hand, will be forced to use the target language to communicate with each other and thus may progress more quickly, but their differences in L1 and culture means students will have differing interests, experience to be drawn on, and language problems encountered, which will require extra effort and sensitivity on the part of the teacher. I found this unit beneficial to my further understanding of the different approaches needed with different groups and demographics. The breakdown of the different types of beginner groups was interesting, and I found many of the tips to be applicable to other types of special groups besides the ones they were specifically listed under, also prompting me to think of other tips and points not mentioned. (Once again I find my summary waxing longwinded, despite effort to keep it short and compact, but a certain length is necessary in order to cover the main points. My apologies to the reviewer!)
