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Ask for help > 10 ways of becoming a good kids ESL teacher
10 ways of becoming a good kids ESL teacher
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crazy_turtle
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10 ways of becoming a good kids ESL teacher
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Hi everyone,
For part of the training seminar I am doing, I have to compile a list of the most important aspects of being a good kids ESL teacher in bulletpoint form. What does everyone think? I know there must be a lot of opinions around about this
Thank you so much.
CT
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4 Sep 2009
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hanhtam_hannah
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First of all, I need to tell you that I �m not an English teacher, I �m just a student who is studying English as a second language at a junior high school! I �ve taken many English courses. So, I think my opinions can help you with this problem.
Well...In my opinion, there are many different ways to be a good English teacher. Firstly, you need to know a lot of things in English to be able to answer all of your students � questions. Secondly, you must be patient because English isn �t your kids � native language so they might say crazy things that you couldn �t even understand anything. You should never get angry, just calm down and ask your students another time and then you �d be able to understand. Thirdly, you shouldn �t use so difficult and long words to teach them or explain the problems. In addition, you ought to know each kid �s ability to know how good or bad they are and you �ll have your own ways to teach them. Finally, you should try to make the lessons exciting because if you do that, your kid will be very excited and happy to study and of course, you would like to be taught by you. For example, you can let them play games or listen to music to fill in the blanks....
That �s all I have time to tell you!
Hope you �ll become an excellent ESL teacher soon :)
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4 Sep 2009
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Kohaku
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Patience is the main thing!! I think kids are very trying. As I speak I just finished my 4 year old classes and my 10 years old classes. They all gave me a bit of "heck" today, but relaxation will take you a long way. I feel like my students feed off of my energy.
Games are very important with children. One thing to remember is to always stay on your toes. They will easily loose interest for a game or song that they used to love last week. The next week its just not their thing. Kids!!!! Take them for what they are and you will be just fine.
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4 Sep 2009
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manonski (f)
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Here is my two-cents:
I teach elementary.
1. Know the level of your students. Curriculum tells you what to do but it does not always take into account the background of your students. Some schools are behind and some are ahead depending on the amount of time accorded to second languages.
2. Speak English: for most of our students, English class is the only time they �ll get to practice and hear the language. Why waste that time by using a lot of L1.
3. Use a variety of resources: games, songs, posters, team work, individual work...
4. You �re teaching a language: give your students as many opportunities to communicate. When they are seated in lines, it �s a lost opportunity. I sit my students in groups and they are expected to communicate in L2.
5. Be patient.
6. Encourage risk-taking. I �d rather have a student making a mistake orally/in a written task than a student refusing to try. So what if a statement is not complete or perfect? The idea is to communicate, not being perfect.
7. Embrace the mistakes: they will give you hints about what you should focus on when planning your teaching.
8. Give your expectations. My students know what is going to be evaluated before starting a task.
9. Model the tasks. Show them what they are going to do by doing it yourself. Your example can then become a resource.
10. Love what you �re doing. If students can �t feel your enthusiasm, why would they give their 100%?
11. Challenge your students. If a task is too easy, ask yourself: what learning has taken place? The goal is to strike a balance between what they already know and what new language you want them to pick.
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4 Sep 2009
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ASheppard
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People say you need patience. Yes patience is important, but patience is expected to run out at some point. More importantly than patience, you need to have understanding. If you are able to understand why a student is acting how they are or speaking the way they speak, etc., your teaching abilities will take you much further than a spurt of patience.
Always try to put yourself in your student �s shoes and understand how difficult it can be for them to be learning a foreign language from someone who already knows all the answers and does not fully get why they are having such a hard time. |
4 Sep 2009
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aftab57
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maybe you can use this quote as well.
What is a Teacher?
by Gerald Grow
Division of Journalism
Florida A&M University
Available: <http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow>
To a mind of flint, the teacher must be iron, and strike sparks. To the empty pitcher, the teacher becomes a well. To the fallow mind, a planter of seeds. To the cluttered mind, a gardener to weed, shape, and clear a space for growing.
To the lens, the teacher is light, and to the mind of light, a lens.
To the sleeper, the teacher is the wake-up call of birds at sunrise. To clay, the teacher is potter, sculptor, and trainer in self-shaping. To the wanderer, the teacher is a knowing guide. To the developed mind, the teacher is colleague, listener, friend.
To all, the teacher is a mirror that shows not only the self but the path and its choices, the task and its demands--the difficulties, the joys. To all and from all, the teacher is a learner, a person--and a prism through which the ordinary continuously reveals itself to be miraculous.
� 1977. May be freely reprinted for nonprofit uses, provided credit is given.
Gerald Grow |
4 Sep 2009
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