Tips to Be a Better English Teacher
There is always a good teacher behind a good class performance. The teacher has the responsibility
to make the class and subject interesting to the students. The fact that you hate Math or love English
probably has to do with the fact that in primary school you had a great English teacher and a lousy
Math teacher. These childhood stereotypes are rather difficult to overcome as an adult. So the
teacher who is handling primary classes makes a subject likable or not for his students for
the rest of their lives. Here are some tips to develop your teaching performance from my personal
point of view.
1. Come prepared
Coming Unprepared is a cardinal sin for a teacher. You need to have your entire material ready when you go to take a class. You have to be 100% prepared specially in mind and thoughts not in papers.
2. Prepare your students
It is a student right to know which lesson they are taking and in which page. Start by giving them the main idea before you dive into details. Motivate your students to the lesson by some discussions, games or brain storming questions. Your student has a fiction use it.
3. Make your class colorful.
Lecturing style is the most boring way of teaching ( in my opinion ). I think students even if they are adult like new ways in taking lessons. Try to find new ways to present your lesson by choosing the suitable materials and activities. Games, flash cards, tapes, videos, competitions and drawing activities are very powerful tools use them. Computer's technology has made it much easier. Notes that students like to compare and join between things give them what they like. Make your students active by giving them chances to write and draw on the board or playing roles. This well make your class attractive.
Many lesson can be a group game for example I gave my student a lesson about class instructions. First I presented the instructions by saying and acting them in front of my students. Then I told them to do what I say and if a student act wrong he would be out of the game. It was a good experience for me.
4. Use your body.
Body language is a good exit for your student from their confusion in guessing new words or instructions. Use more gestures and sounds to help your students to realize what are you talking about. You may act a word many times until your students acquire it, but I think it still easy to do. You shouldn’t feel shy to act with your students.
5. Make it simple.
Your class language have to be understood. Don’t use hard words or complicated sentences. Sometimes you need to avoid some extra words. For example don’t say " the first word on the board is apple" just point to it and pronounce it. Don’t say to a student " introduce your self" just say " what is your name?". I remember that I used to ask my students "what dose it mean?" they usually get confused. When I changed the question into " what dose it mean in Arabic?" they realized what I meant.
Be careful in grammar, vocabulary and other parts of the language and don’t involve your students in details they don’t need to know. For example if want to explain the word free in this sentence " I bought 2 battles and took 1 free" don’t say" free has many meanings… and start explaining them" just say " I don’t pay for it"
6. Refresh your students memory.
If you gave your students a lesson about for example telling time, greeting, past tense or daily routines. Ask them from time to time questions about what they learned questions like what is your name?, what time is it?, how are you, where were you last class? Are you going to play football?
By this way your students will see the actual use of what they learned. This also will encourage them to learn more.
7. Be creative.
I don’t mean invent something. I just want you to find some good ideas to use with your students. It is not hard to ask experts or read about others experiences. Here are some ideas and you can find more:
Do something unexpected.
You can make premeditated mistake while presenting a lesson. For example say good morning instead of good afternoon, say Ali is fat instead of thin. Young learners love to correct mistakes and show that they understood the lesson.
I remember that, I gave my students a lesson a bout writing in the past simple tense. With their help I wrote a short passage on the board and they were writing with me. After we finished writing; I told them that all what we did is wrong. Because we supposed to write in the past simple not in the present. Then I asked them to correct the mistakes in the passage.
Let them compete with themselves.
Students usually love to be in the lead or the spot light. So you can use this as a reward and a motivator for them.
For example if a student pronounce a word correctly before his friends let him take the lead in the repetition drill and the class would repeat after him. You can also let them come to the board to write or draw as a reward for their correct answers if possible.
8. Expose your students more to the language.
The more students hear, read and write in the language the more they acquire it. Playing tapes for your students will encourage them to learn and make learning more fun especially from native speakers. Sometimes reading and writing might be hard for your students in the beginning. So you have to encourage your students to move forward. Simple and funny reading and writing activities will be a great push in the future. Short conversations between students are very helpful in practicing and using what they learned.
Exposing your student to the language will help them to build their own structures and statements. It also will activate their sleepy parts of the language and will increase their performance.
These tips are not all. You can find and create your own tips depending on the educational methods. You can also benefit from other teachers experience.
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