TEACHING A SECOND LANGUAGE -- TIPS FROM THE TRENCHES

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TEACHING A SECOND LANGUAGE-- TIPS FROM THE
TRENCHES
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KNOW YOUR STUDENTS

• Learn as much as you can about your students
  their lives, their culture and their
  personalities/learning styles. Use the students
  culture to support learning.
• Prior knowledge is an important factor in
  learning a 2nd language. We connect the new
  through the old and create meaning in the
  process.

Key Words schema, cognates, transfer, student
centered teaching, L1
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Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.

• These are the 3 cardinal virtues of the EFL / ESL
  instructor.
• Use less words when instructing and demonstrate
  more.
• Avoid slang and idiomatic expressions.
• Reinforce with body language.
• Repeat and Review OFTEN.

Key Words TPR, micro teaching skills. lesson
delivery, modifications
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Provide a Target and a Timeline

• Write the lesson objective or target language on
  the board.
• Provide students with a simple, 1-2-3 agenda.
• We learn better when we can see the destination.
• Always teach the big picture first and then
  specifics.

Key Words lesson planning, teaching strategies,
sequencing, assessment
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COW
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Provide Context, Background

• Use manipulatives and realia (props) when
  presenting language.
• Make it real if possible, go on field trips,
  connect with real email pals, take the lessons
  outside.
• Use video and pictures to reinforce the learning.
  Context allows students to acquire language as
  they create a their own theory of the world.

Key Words the natural approach, realia, visual
learners, connectivism, epistemology
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Everything has its time and place.

• Never force students to speak or to read/write
  before they are ready.
• Call on more competent students to provide
  comprehensible output for the class.
• There are no errors, only pit stops on the road
  to language competency.

Key Words error correction, the silent period
, I1, the critical period hypothesis,
developmental stages
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Make it Active!

• We can learn on our feet as well as on our duffs.
  
• Give students tasks and focus on production and
  their talk time.
• The more students speak or are engaged in the
  learning, the more they will be learning.

Key Words Comprehensible output, task based
instruction, teacher talk, inductive learning.
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Keep it up to date!

• Use current events, stories and the now as
  context.
• Computer assisted language learning, videos,
  technology and social networking are crucial
  instructional aids.
• Authentic and teacher made materials lead to good
  teaching practices.

Key Words digital natives, call, technology and
computers, text to speech
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Get more bang for your buck

• Focus on one skill but use them all, every
  lesson.
• Language learning is a multi-modal experience and
  we use all our senses, skills.
• Reinforce speech with text / writing. Teach
  listening skills and dont assume understanding.

Key Words language modes, lesson planning,
learning styles
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Make it social!

• Language learning is a social event.
• We learn in concert with others.
• Group your students and use their differing
  levels so they help each other.
• Teach cooperation and make a learning family out
  of your class.

Key Words cooperative learning, project based
instruction, pragmatics, social networking,
netizens
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Pause create suspense!

• Good teachers create anticipation in their
  classrooms. Students attend in anticipation of
  what comes next.
• Deliver your lessons so there is a sense of what
  might come next?.
• Pause often to allow students to reflect and
  answer questions. A good pause is what makes
  action!

Key Words lesson delivery, lesson planning,
narrative, rhetoric
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Its all about happiness

• Learning is built on the emotional world of a
  student.
• Start with happiness and learning will pour
  forth.
• Id rather graduate one happy street sweeper
  than a thousand neurotic prime ministers.
  A.S. Neill

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• When one teaches,
• two learn.

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