My Current Teaching Guide for ESL Students
Systematic way of teaching is very important in any area or field, because it gives the sense of structure and rigidity for students that have just jumped to this unfamiliar field. This obviously includes English as well. Teacher or tutors alike must experiment with their teaching style and their lesson plans to see which way provides the most learning and fun for majority of students. There is definitely a hierarchy when it comes to systematic way of teaching, so here is somewhat of a system that I use to teach my English students.
Human interaction (casual convo with students) - the number one thing I think you shouldn't do is to jump right into your teaching material. Teaching and learning is ultimately a human interaction, so having a relaxing, casual convo with your students in the beginning of class is very important not just for the relationship itself, but also to ease them into the teaching you are about get into. Remember that students want to learn from whom they can connect to and whom they respect, not some stranger who doesn't bother to have any human interaction at all.
Check homework you assigned - this is by far the smoothest way to transition into your teaching. After having that casual convo, ask them if they have done the homework and to take it out if they have done so. Going over the homework and quizzing on the homework at the beginning of class will boost their focus, and get them ready for the specific lesson plan you have for the day.
Vocab quiz - (this is part of the homework I assign) I always start with the casual vocab quiz. I don't make it crazy, because that defeats the purpose of making learning fun. Learning is supposed to be fun, not intimidating. I give them usually 20 words to 30 words to memorize for each session, depending on the skill level of the student.
Book summary - (this is also part of the homework I assign) I also ask the students to take out the summary they've written on the pages I've assigned them to read. Again, be careful not to assign them 100 pages to read, because that only causes stress. Give them a reasonable amount to read depending on their skill level. For instance, I assign only 10 pages to read for one of my students because he struggles with reading.
Essay-writing - (this is also part of the homework I assign) I ask the students to take out the one paragraph they wrote for homework. When I assign essays to write, I usually start with a fun topic I think they will enjoy writing. Again, for someone that is newly learning English, our primary goal should be to make learning fun and less intimidating. I ask them to read the one paragraph, and after reading the entire thing, I ask them to self-evaluate and we go over some of the improvements we can make to the essay.
Speaking session - I have the whole 20-30 minutes set aside for speaking purely English, no Korean or native language allowed. I bring students a variety of topics such as casual convo topics like what is your favourite ice cream and colour as well as debate topics like should smoking be banned in public. Mixing and matching is important to continuously engage the students. I usually do not correct every time there is an error in what they say because that will prevent them from speaking in full sentences in one-go. I point out critical mistakes only, and remind them of some errors they've made after their sentences or points are completely shared.
Reading Workbook - I currently use the Spectrum reading comprehension workbook, which I take turns to read with my students. After each paragraph, I challenge my students to summarize the paragraph in one sentence and I emphasize the importance because it will not only help enhance their understanding of the entire story, but it will also help them come quickly back to the relevant paragraphs when answering questions.
So far, this systematic way of teaching has been working like a charm and I can see that my students are improving significantly in English in all of speaking, listening, writing and reading.
Hope this helps!
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