These guidelines are for conversation classes only and are aimed at teaching children. I try to follow these rules when teaching and creating materials and I have found them to be very helpful – I hope you do too.
1) Smile
Foreign languages are difficult and often intimidating. The easiest way to make a student feel less intimidated or nervous is to smile. Show that you enjoy what you are doing and inject a little humour and fun into the learning.
2) Create a need – better yet, a desire – to use the language
I believe in creating an ‘English Zone’ in the classroom. Both I and the kids speak only English in the classroom (I have also used a ‘passport’ system whereby children carry passports which are stamped when entering and leaving the classroom. The students loved it and it had the added bonus getting them in ‘English mode’). If you are team-teaching, use only English when addressing the other teacher and encourage them to use mostly English to both you and the students (the tendency for teachers inJapan to translate everything is a common gripe amongst Assistant Language Teachers).
3) If you speak to parents of the children in the school, use English with them also
Children are a lot more perceptive than we give them credit for and small things make a big difference. If the children see that the best way to communicate with you and learn more is to use English, they will hopefully feel a need to use it. If they see their teachers, friends and parents using English to you (and ideally looking like they are having a good time), they will hopefully have a desire to use it. This is also a good way to get the parents more involved in what their children are learning, rather than just sending them to an English school because they feel they should.
4) Make it useful
If you have a class full of primary school students, there probably isn’t much point doing a lesson all about business terms (and before you scoff, I have seen it done…). Find out beforehand what kids like and try to make the language relevant to them. This is closely tied in with the point above, as people are much more willing to talk about something familiar to them than struggle with unfamiliar topics, grammar and vocabulary. This doesn’t mean that every lesson needs to be (or should be) about the latest pop sensation, fashion or cartoon, but you should try to tailor language and situations to maximise student input.
5) Make it realistic
Some people get so hung up on putting certain grammar patterns or vocabulary into lessons or materials they lose sight of how often they are actually used, or how they are used. I don’t advocate leaving out certain tenses or grammar patterns, but what I do advocate is taking a step back before you teach a certain pattern and ask yourself ‘would I say that?’ Ask yourself whether the examples you have chosen are realistic and natural.
As a rule of thumb, if you are struggling to find example sentences for the pattern you are teaching (or have been asked to teach) chances are it is not used on a very regular basis. While this certainly does not mean that you should leave it out, you may want to place less emphasis on it.
6) Don’t over-correct
People make mistakes. You should not expect your students to be using flawless grammar from the outset – your primary aim should be to ensure that what they say is understandable. Constantly pointing out small mistakes that don’t really affect the flow of the conversation only serves to make the student more apprehensive about speaking English.
I used to have an adult student who basically communicated mainly in nouns and generally in the present tense. An example sentence would be along the lines of ‘Weekend, daughter and grandson, my home, eat sushi. Very nice!’ Simply by my asking whether she meant this weekend or last weekend it was not too difficult to get what she was trying to tell me. She was conveying her message and having a great time doing so (she was constantly laughing and smiling). If I had corrected her as soon as she said ‘weekend’ and every subsequent mistake, I probably would have destroyed her confidence and put her off learning English altogether.
7) Don’t be afraid to correct mistakes
The point above, naturally, comes with a caveat. Sometimes correction is essential, but it often goes hand in hand with the aims and expectations of both you and your students. For some children direct correction may be necessary, but for others more subtle forms of correction are often preferable. I prefer indirect correction as students become aware of their own mistakes and their confidence doesn’t take such a bash. Try repeating what they said back to them in the correct form and then throw on a question at the end. This may sound like a lot for a child to do, but as I said, we often underestimate their ability. Example:
Teacher: Where do you live?
Student: I live at Tokyo.
Teacher: You live in Tokyo? Where in Tokyo?
In this very simple example, the student made a mistake with the preposition (a common mistake) which was corrected and then reinforced by the teacher’s response. Students often respond very well to this kind of correction.
8) Have fun!
This, I know, is very similar to number one, but it took me a long time to realise that I actually enjoyed teaching kids. I used to hate it and dreaded doing it. I began to realise, however, that kids were a lot of fun to teach. They are full of energy, they are not afraid to give things a go (and have a laugh when they get things wrong), they are keen to learn and they have a tremendous capacity for learning. Enjoy it – teaching kids is incredibly rewarding.
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