Using the blackboard, whiteboard Who talks in class?

CHAPTER 1: THE BASICS OF TEACHING ENGLISH

1.1 Use of English and use of mother tongue

We should try to use English as much as possible with our students. When teaching students at intermediate level and above, all teaching can be done in English. There should really be no need to use the students’ mother tongue at these levels. Grammar explanations and definitions of words can be given in English. Explanations for activities and instructions can also be given in English. At lower levels, you might find yourself using the students’ mother tongue more often. Nevertheless, try to use English as much as possible. As your students progress, you will find that you’ll use English for instructions more and more frequently. When you are presenting new language, try to illustrate the language through the use of pictures andor mime. This is preferable to translating. Techniques for presenting language can be found in Chapter 3. You might want to dedicate one of your first lessons with a class to the study of classroom language. By classroom language I mean phrases such as: open your books, turn to page 10, work with a partner, etc, etc. You can write the language on the board, demonstrate it through mime or show pictures of people opening their books, working with a partner etc. It’s important to practise the pronunciation of these phrases and to revise them regularly. In a subsequent lesson, you can give the phrases to students with the words jumbled up for example: 10 to page turn; and ask them to re- order the words and match them to pictures. Finally, you can write the phrases on large pieces of card and display them in your classroom so that they are constantly visible. You might occasionally decide to use the students’ mother tongue if you speak it, of course. A time when this is advisable is when your students just haven’t grasped what you are saying in English. If you need to deal with something quickly, it is generally quicker in the students’ mother tongue if you speak their language. For example, it could take a very long time to explain the word “soul” using only English and the students might misunderstand if their culture doesn’t have a similar concept. You might also need to give some information about an open day or a special event at school and you think it will be done more quickly in their language.

1.2 Using the blackboard, whiteboard

You will need to learn how to write on a board. This is not as easy as it appears. Getting a line straight and writing at a size that can be seen takes practice. Practise in an empty classroom one day. While you’re there practise writing on the board side on i.e. positioned in such a way that your back is not to the class. This will be very useful especially if you intend to teach children. You’ll be able to keep an eye on what’s happening whilst writing. 6 Copyright © Lucy Pollard 2008 All Rights Reserved This e-book may not be reproduced in part or in full without the express written permission of the author. You will also need to think about what you write on the board. Remember that whatever goes on the board generally finds its way into students’ notes. If you want them to retain something, be it homework exercises or a new grammar explanation, write it on the board. You will need to get the balance right: you need to write just enough for it to make sense to students when they come back to look at it and not write so much that your students spend all their time in class copying. When you first start teaching, you could note on your lesson plan which elements you intend to write on the board. Some teachers divide their board into sections: one section for grammar, one for vocabulary, one for pronunciation, one for homework, etc. Decide whether this sort of organisation would work for you and whether you would like to use it. You can also think about whether you will write things on the board during class or write them up before class and mask them in some way: this is easy enough when using a flipchart an easel with pages that you can turn over. With a traditional board, you can cover your writing with paper and reveal it at the appropriate moment. 1.3 Who talks in class? Obviously the teacher talks in class. Our roles include explaining language points, giving instructions for what to do, asking questions, etc, etc. The students also need to speak; learning a language involves speaking the language. My question here really is: who speaks most in class? When setting up an activity, explaining what to do for homework, the teacher will do a lot of the speaking. However, in other activities, the goal is to get students speaking and using English as much as possible. This involves the teacher being silent, listening to what the students say and setting up tasks that give students opportunities to express themselves. The issue about who speaks is also known as: student-talking time STT and teacher talking-time TTT. We should aim for our students to be talking more than we do and if possible 80 STT to 20 TTT. I know this is not easy when you’re a new teacher; our tendency at the beginning is to speak a lot. This could be due to nerves or a desire to do something to help things go well. However, with time, we speak less because we get more confident and because we learn techniques for getting the students to do all the speaking. At the end of a lesson or in the middle of it think about who is doing most of the speaking. If the answer is the teacher, think about ways to redress the balance in future lessons. Some techniques you can use to get students speaking more are: pair work, group work and eliciting. These are all explained below. You’ll find activities throughout this book that are focused on getting students to speak. If students are speaking, they are actively involved in what is going on in the classroom. They are using and re-using language that they have studied. Of course, when the teacher is speaking, the students are getting valuable listening practice with a native speaker. You might occasionally decide to tell your students a story of what you did at the weekend, something that happened to you, etc. This type of activity will give students exposure to natural pronunciation but it shouldn’t be overused. 7 Copyright © Lucy Pollard 2008 All Rights Reserved This e-book may not be reproduced in part or in full without the express written permission of the author.

1.4 Eliciting