LEARNING TEACHING

How we can raise student awareness  about how students can best learn and help them find more ways of learning English more effectively and productively?

Exemplify this through the lens of a student and a prospective ELT practitioner.

Students respond to the way you respond to them. If they find you unhelpful or not listening to them, then no amount of jolly games will put back the sparkle.

It is interesting to notice how different teachers make evoke a markedly different response from the same group. Such variation can be particularly noticeable on training courses when maybe two or three teachers teach the same class, one after the other.

Well, in order to increase awareness about the learning process, we have to take into account many aspects, based on the chapter 4 of the book “Learning Teaching” by Jim Scrivener, learning training means “raising student awareness about how they are learning, as a result, helping them to find more effective ways of working, so that they can continue working efficiently and usefully. In other words, it means “working on teaching learning as well as teaching English”.

In that case, learner training; therefore includes:

• ·      Working on study skills, for example the use of dictionaries, workbooks, notebooks and other materials.
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• ·      Student examination of the process of learning and reflection on what is happening, for example, the teaching strategies you use and the reason why you are using them.

 In fact, we as future teachers must be aware that not all the students learn at the same time, also not all of them are in the same level. Because of that, we must look for a way to teach in which all the students feel comfortable inside the classroom, and obviously enjoying the class. Creating a good atmosphere is really important because learners have distinct, individual reasons for being in a class and learning English, even when these are not consciously known or recognised. We can teach better if we know more about these.

How would you deal with error correction in your classroom(s)? Watch the DVD and see how to work with Errors Teaching Technique

Speaking has always been one of the most difficult skills for learners to develop because3 it requires them to produce the language which most of the time, spontaneously or without enough time to construct the appropriate and correct utterances.  English language is a process where all aspects of English (listening, reading, writing, speaking, vocabulary and grammar) are interconnected. 

In fact, Chapter 12 of the book “LearningTeaching” by Jim Scrivener, talks about error correction.

In most things, humans learn by trial and error, experimenting to see what works and what doesn´t. it is the same with language learning. Students errors are evidence that progress is being made. Errors show us that a student is experimenting with language, trying out ideas, taking risks, attempting communicate and making progress.

Errors can be of many kinds, for example, sometimes language can be grammatically correct but completely inappropriate in the context in which it is used.  But, you can correct students by doing a simple gesture to indicate that something is wrong.

There are other factors to take into account when deciding if a correction should be made:

Will it help or hinder learning? Am I correcting something they don´t know? What is my intention in correcting?

One strategy used by many teachers in order to correct is to collect a list of mistakes and then correct them by giving a little explanation about it.

What is your take on testing?

According to the book "Learning Teaching" (pag. 290) a teacher could test:

• The students´progress over the course (a progress test).

• Their general level of English, without reference to any course (a proficiency test).

Testing is used in schools to measure student knowledge, skills, aptitude, etc. A test may be administered orally, on paper, on a computer or in a confined area that requires a test taker to physically perform a set of skills.

Three criteria of a good test

• A good test will seem fair and appropriate to the students.

• It will not be too troublesome to mark.

• It will provide clear results that serve the purpose for which it was set.

Traditional "pen-and-paper" tests are usually made up of two types of questions:

• Discrete item tasks.

• Integrative tasks.

What seems to be more difficult teaching teens or teaching large classes?

Working with teenagers is a big challenge because teenagers are often unsure about themselves and how they feel about things.

It´s a difficult period of time; strong emotions of various kinds may be rising and falling and these may alter the workings of techniques and activities. Teenagers get bored quickly.  Discipline can seem to be a problem, motivation may appear to be low, especially if learners feel that they have been forced to do something they don´t want to.

Taking into account all those aspects, we can say that teaching teenagers must be something very creative because they are living a new period in their lives; the teacher might be really patient and smart in order to make students grow up in a suitable environment.

Talking about large classes, in chapter 13 of the book Learning Teaching, (page 331-332), there are some characteristics about large classes which affects the learning process:

• Students can´t move easily.
• You as a teacher can´t move easily.
• The seating arrangement seems to prevent a number of activities.
• There is limited eye contact from you to students.
• Discipline can be a problem.
• People hide away.
• The seats at the back tend to attract people who want to do something other than learn English.
• Interaction tends to be restricted.

So, I can say that both teaching teenagers and large classes are very complex because in both cases the teacher has to pay attention to the students. But, the teacher has to look for a way to solve those problems. For example, in the case of the large classes; the teacher can:

• Rearrange the seating.
• Move to a different classroom.
• Get them to climb over the seats.
• Push the seats against the wall.
• Go outside on the grass.
• Ask other teachers what they do.
• Divide the large group into smaller classes within the class.

As you can see if the teacher wants to make a productive class, he or she needs to look for way in order to overcome those problems.

Teaching teenagers and large classes

INTRODUCTION 

Welcome to my site called "The wonderful world of teaching". It is related to all experiences that you as a teacher will live, also the challenges you will overcome. As an introduction,I can say that teaching is a passion. It is not only motivating students to learn, but also making them feel comfortable in the classroom.

It’s about caring for your craft, having a passion for it, and conveying that passion to everyone, most importantly to your students.