Scrabble Slam May 12, 2010 By: windygig, Flickr via Creative Commons

Once you’ve completed TESOL training, it’s time to think about your personal teaching methodology. To succeed in an English language classroom, you’ll need to focus on engaging your students. Here are some tips from TESOL masters that can help you capture your students’ attention and become a better teacher.

1. Bring Some Drama into the Classroom
One way to hold your students’ interest is by adding some drama to your lesson plans. TESOL students in most countries are familiar with American film, television and music. Instead of asking them to simply read dialogue from a textbook, assign roles and ask your students to act out the words to their favorite American TV show or karaoke to an American pop song.

Film reel By eelke dekker December 26, 2009, Flickr via Creative Commons

You can take drama in the classroom one step further and ask your students to dramatize scenes from well-known movies. Create a simplified script that includes some famous movie quotes, like “May the force be with you,” and let them have fun. A great resource for film quotes is the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Movie Quotes. If possible, try to videotape your class’ performance. Not only will this give you the opportunity to review your students’ English competency at a later time, it could offer the prospect of very engaging, entertaining in-class activities.

2. Have Fun with Word Games
Many teachers employ classroom games to help students learn English vocabulary and grammar. Using word games helps to motivate students and makes repetition less tiresome. There a variety of sources online for English language games, such as EnglishClub and Interesting Things for ESL Students. Create a repertoire of games that focus on different skills, so when your students begin to lose interest in one game, you can switch to another and keep the learning process fresh. Be sure to avoid complication by looking for games that require minimal or no equipment.
3. Solicit Student Feedback and Adapt your Lesson Plans
At the end of class, ask your students which activities they enjoyed most and then adapt your lesson plans based on the feedback you receive. The idea is not to let them dictate the lessons they learn — of course there are subjects that need to be covered and benchmarks that need to be hit — but by asking for their opinion, you’ll get to know your students and gain a better understanding of the teaching methods that are most effective for them. Although it may seem that using a predetermined lesson plan will save you time, in the long run it can keep you from succeeding because it may fail to actually engage your students. Adapting your lessons to your students’ language level and learning style is the best way to meet their language needs.
You can also ask your students how topics discussed in class relate to their culture. For example, there may be a holiday or other cultural event that you can incorporate into your lesson plan. If your students have trouble understanding your question, do some cultural research of your own outside of the classroom.
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For additional tips on becoming a better TESOL teacher, visit the TESOL Association resource center.

Meet the Author: Sarah Fudin Sarah Fudin currently works in community relations for the University of Southern California’s Online Masters in Education program, which provides students the opportunity to earn a TESOL certificate online. Outside of work Sarah enjoys running, reading and Pinkberry frozen yogurt.

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de l'Isle globe, 1765 by Minnesota Historical Society, on Flickr, via Creative Commons

Teaching English overseas has been the travel ticket for many throughout the world for generations. Popular places like Japan are now no longer show up and land the job type destinations, you have to be prepared.  Even after you checked out sites like the Publications of  the Japan Association of Language Teaching, O-Hayo Sensei,  Westgate, and the Japan Association of College English Teachers you still had no luck. Then you realized that there are still many other popular destinations where the job market is hot for English teachers.

So you go off and explore resources like TIE, Teaching International, Joy Jobs, Transitions Abroad,  Teachers Without Borders heck you even explored the Department of Defense Education Activity site (which is more of teaching on a military base) and you eventually found a job. Now what?

You teach, duh! But maybe that TESOL crash course didn’t adequately prepare you for the classroom. That’s OK because I have a few recommendations that will help you prepare. Everything that I recommend is geared towards travel purposes, if it is a book I’m recommending, throw it on an E-Reader to save space. The other supplies are small and lightweight and some can even be made or purchased once you arrive.

Supplies

Learner English – This book helps identify common difficulties English learners have based upon their L1 (first language). Additionally it also has IPA pronunciation charts to help you understand what part of your mouth is used to pronounce certain vowels.

Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Thesaurus – This little book can be a lifesaver when all you can think of is one, maybe two, synonyms for a word. Dictionaries are good to an extent because they break down pronunciation but often I found a thesaurus is more helpful.

Finger Strings/Cat’s Cradle  – now I don’t expect you to buy a book or even the strings online. You can go to a hardware store buy string and use a candle to join the two ends. But this is a simple and interactive tool that you can use to engage your students. Teaching them ordering sentences (First, Next, Then) and giving instructions in their L2 (Second Language) while designing a cat’s-cradle because doing is more fun than reading it out of a book.

Inflatable Earth Globe Beach Ball – I really wish I could remember the post I read about a traveler(s) who brought a globe with them and how it was a great simple resource. If you are reading this and know which post I’m talking about comment below I’ll be sure to place the link. This, like the string is a classroom tool that will make your lessons more engaging and can be used a variety of ways.

Classroom Stickers – Not just for elementary kids, even Jr. high and high school kids can get into stickers. Especially if they say little words or phrases in English like “Good Job” or “Way to Go”

I also recommend locating a teacher store nearby (yes there are stores just for teachers) and try to find some other great resources that can help you. Often they’ll have plenty of suggestions for you, all you need to do is figure out what is worth taking up space in your luggage. Also knowing what age group you are working with will help you in what level English language resources you’ll need.  There are also plenty of online resources like Purdue OWL or ESL Site to give you a start and from there you can really just Google any ESL lesson plan ideas and probably get a dozen free examples. There are also a few blogs that you may want to check out like Wandering Educators, Grammar Girl or TEFL Newbie.

So why should you listen to me, well because I said so. There.

…That and I’m half way through earning a Master of Arts in Teacher Education specializing in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). You can get into details about consonant clusters, intonation, and other over complicated strategies but to be honest as long as you are genuine and really work at trying to help your students instead of using it just as a free travel pass you’ll likely find your own rhythm and end up doing fine. That and make sure you quickly set up some classroom management rules as Sasha learned when teaching in China. My two biggest tips, be careful about over-correction not every mistake they make will become fossilized (permanent) the point of learning a second (or third) language is for communicative purposes, so let them communicate. Read below about the acquisition of grammatical morphemes to see what I mean. The other tip, learn to distinguish between local errors and global errors. Local errors are mistakes that do not hinder the comprehension of what the speaker is trying to say. Global errors are mistakes that alter the speaker’s message so much you are no longer able to distinguish or it alters what they are trying to say.

Lastly, as Brown (1973) discovered in children learning their first language there is a set order in their development of grammatical morphemes. This has been found as also being true with second language acquisition.  What this means is, there is no point stressing over a student’s misuse of a certain morpheme if they haven’t already developed those that precede it.

1. Present Progressive
2. Prepositions
3. Plural
4. Irregular Past Tense
5. Possessive
6. Regular past tense
7. person present tense, regular and irregular
8. Auxiliary

EX: “I be gone to the store tomorrow.” It would be better to focus on correct use of present progressive ‘going’ vs ‘gone’ over correct use of the auxiliary ‘be’.

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