It is important to recap at the beginning of each lesson on what was learnt in the previous lesson. My recap is usually around 10 minutes and it focuses on what was learnt and highlighting errors that students made i.e using I and My, Turn left and On the left...
At the end of the session, it is essential to summarise what has been learnt in the lesson and to ask students for feedback as this would enable me to produce relevant materials and teach the students effectively.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Updating this blog
I am hoping to update this blog on a per lesson basis but as I have already taught 6 to 7 sessions, I need to type up the taught lessons first and upload the resources that I have used.
The resources are either obtained from the Internet as there are many websites that let you use them free of charge or I made them myself to fit the level of the learners
I am trying to find an easy way to teach the students how to speak English- I have done some research on the Internet and there have been discussions that the students are learning too much grammar with no idea of how to speak in practice. I think that grammar is important in the sense that it provides the basis how how to construct a sentence but too much focus on it would deter students away from learning how to speak English.
It is very important to understand what the learners want to gain from each session and their current level of English. The class that I am teaching now is foundation but the students have been living in UK for the past 30 years so they can communicate to others in English but not fluently and their usage could be a bit wrong. They can grasp what the other person is saying so their understanding isn't completely novice. They don't want to write as they tell me that there is no need for them to write English and no need to read full sentences i.e. a paragraph, a book etc.
Any materials that require reading a paragraph and answering questions has been omitted from the lesson for the time being until we proceed into further lessons...
The resources are either obtained from the Internet as there are many websites that let you use them free of charge or I made them myself to fit the level of the learners
I am trying to find an easy way to teach the students how to speak English- I have done some research on the Internet and there have been discussions that the students are learning too much grammar with no idea of how to speak in practice. I think that grammar is important in the sense that it provides the basis how how to construct a sentence but too much focus on it would deter students away from learning how to speak English.
It is very important to understand what the learners want to gain from each session and their current level of English. The class that I am teaching now is foundation but the students have been living in UK for the past 30 years so they can communicate to others in English but not fluently and their usage could be a bit wrong. They can grasp what the other person is saying so their understanding isn't completely novice. They don't want to write as they tell me that there is no need for them to write English and no need to read full sentences i.e. a paragraph, a book etc.
Any materials that require reading a paragraph and answering questions has been omitted from the lesson for the time being until we proceed into further lessons...
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Teaching at last!
I am finally into a teaching job after graduating last year (July 2011). It took me nearly a year to teach again and it isn't easy at all. I graduated with a PGCE level 7 in further education teaching IT however when I graduated, colleges were making teachers redundant so FAT CHANCE of getting a job...I tried getting a job at the college where I did my 2 year placement however it wasn't possible and so I signed up to agencies and searched through the job centre website and colleges website however teaching was proving difficult.
The funny thing was I taught ECDL as a trainer about 7 years ago and it didn't require any teaching qualifications, now I have the correct qualification and I can't find any teaching jobs!
Last month, I had an opportunity to teach a class of foreign students as the teacher couldn't turn up....I was reluctant at first as the organisation didn't give me any details on what to teach- only that these adult foreign students wish to learn everyday English conversations but since an opportunity turned up I couldn't resist it. I wanted to teach IT and not English but decided that it would give me a good experience as I have the TEFL qualification.
It was only when I arrived at the class that the head told me that the teacher who taught this English class doesn't want to teach any more and has left the country abruptly for the summer and she doesn't have any idea whether she would be back.
I decided to take the class and it is now my 7th lesson teaching English...Surprisingly there were a list of students who wanted to learn computers for beginners and so I took the opportunity to teach them as well.
I am currently teaching IT and English 2 hours per week for each subject and although I am enjoying it as it is giving me the experience, I am finding it pretty hard work.
I decided to write this blog as I want to share my experience and it gives me a chance to reflect on my teaching per lesson.
The funny thing was I taught ECDL as a trainer about 7 years ago and it didn't require any teaching qualifications, now I have the correct qualification and I can't find any teaching jobs!
Last month, I had an opportunity to teach a class of foreign students as the teacher couldn't turn up....I was reluctant at first as the organisation didn't give me any details on what to teach- only that these adult foreign students wish to learn everyday English conversations but since an opportunity turned up I couldn't resist it. I wanted to teach IT and not English but decided that it would give me a good experience as I have the TEFL qualification.
It was only when I arrived at the class that the head told me that the teacher who taught this English class doesn't want to teach any more and has left the country abruptly for the summer and she doesn't have any idea whether she would be back.
I decided to take the class and it is now my 7th lesson teaching English...Surprisingly there were a list of students who wanted to learn computers for beginners and so I took the opportunity to teach them as well.
I am currently teaching IT and English 2 hours per week for each subject and although I am enjoying it as it is giving me the experience, I am finding it pretty hard work.
I decided to write this blog as I want to share my experience and it gives me a chance to reflect on my teaching per lesson.
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