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Chapter 15 Teaching different classes

1 ESP and Business English

ESP stands for English for Specific Purposes. That may mean English for hotel

receptionists^ English for pharmaceutical salesmen or English for telephoning. It

may also mean the rather wide title of Business English.

2 Exam classes

Many teachers at some point need to teach a class preparing for an exam. This

may be a national or school exam or it might be one of the British- or US-based

international exams.

A popular American English exam is TOEFL, which is geared towards testing

English level prior to entering an American university. IELTS is an exam from the

UK and Australia which is widely recognized for academic and professional

purposes. Of all the exams, it is Cambridge First Certificate which seems to have

established itself as the most widely accepted basic qualification in English, and

the exam is taken by a large number of students worldwide each year. An

examination preparation course should probably include:

Language work that is likely to be relevant to that needed in the exam;

Tasks and activities to raise general language awareness, ability and skills;

Specific practice on exam techniques (e.g. multiple-choice questions, writing

essays, etc.);

Work on study skills (e.g. use of dictionaries and grammar books, ways of

working with recordings at home, etc.)

Posters

When new language is studied, the students (or you) make posters to help them

remember it. As the course progresses, these slowly take over the room, acting as

a very useful aide-memoire and a source of further work. I often find students

browsing through these before class starts or in lunch breaks. Typical posters

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might be on phrasal verbs, tense problems, articles, present participle or infinitive?,

etc.

Lexi box/file

Whereas posters are a good way of recording lexis, the sheer quantity of newwords met on a course could soon fill the walls. An alternative is the 'lexis box5. At

the end of each lesson (or day), the students review what they have learned that

day, record any words worth recording on squares of paper (or card) and file them

in the box or file. This record is a good source of material for you to exploit in future

lessons (e.g. exercises and games recycling these words) and for students to look

through.

3 Teenage classes (age 13-16)

Personal choice and investment

I have a suspicion that many of the problems that teachers notice in teenage

classes - especially ones related to boredom, discipline, answering back,

rudeness, etc. - reflect issues that also exist in adult classes. It's just that the adults

are generally more restrained and do not state as openly what they think or want,

and the teacher may remain unaware of the depth of feeling, disillusionment, lack

of engagement or boredom. A lot of issues that surface as ill-discipline or rudeness

may just reflect the fact that the learner is feeling powerless and out of touch with

something that they are being required to do.

All of which suggests that key techniques for teenage classes might include: A willingness to listen and be flexible in response;

following the class as much as leading;

Where appropriate and possible, sharing the responsibility for key decisions -

topics, work methods, work rate, homework, tests, etc.;

Ways of getting useable feedback regularly through lessons and courses.

4 Large classes

Some common resulting difficulties:

Students can't move easily.

You can't move easily.

The seating arrangement seems to prevent a number of activities.

There is limited eye contact from you to students.

There is limited or no eye contact amongst students.

You can't give attention equally to all students.

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Interaction tends to be restricted to those closest to the front.

The seats at the back tend to attract people who want to do something other

than learn English.

People 'hide' away.

There is often a very wide range of abilities.

Discipline can be a problem.

Lecturing seems to be the only workable lesson type.

A lot of techniques outlined in this book seem impossible.

Chapter 16 Toolkit 3: tools, techniques, activities

1 Flashcards

Flashcards is ELT jargon for pictures (or diagrams, words, etc.) that you can showto students, typically something you can hold up when standing in front of thewhole class. They are also useful for handing out as part of various activities.Schools sometimes have their own library of flashcards, but many teachers buildup their own stock. They are a very useful teaching aid, especially in your earlieryears of teaching.

2 Picture stories

Pictures and picture stories can be in a book or handout, drawn on the board or

OHP, on flashcards or on posters. Traditionally they have been used a startingpoint for writing exercises, but they are also very useful for focusing on specific

language points or as material for speaking and listening activities.

3 Storytelling

Many teachers use stories as an interesting route into grammar lessons, but bear

in mind that stories have a great deal of value in their own right. Just tell stories for

pleasure; not stories and then comprehension exercises; not stories and then

students retell; not stories and then write it up for homework. The aim here is the

same as that of the tribal elder round the campfire or the mother reading to her

children at bedtime or a group of friends in a bar telling anecdotes - to tell a story

for the listener's pleasure. Storytelling is a useful short activity for the end of a

lesson, perhaps, or mid-lesson to provide a change of mood.

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4 Songs and music

Songs on recordings, video/DVD or perhaps played on a guitar in the classroom

are often used as a Tiller' activity to change the mood or pace of a lesson. They

sometimes tend to get relegated to the 'Friday afternoon' slot as a sort of reward

for the week's hard work. Fine, but do be aware that songs can also be usefully

integrated into the main flow of your course.

6 Fillers

Most teachers find they need a small collection of fillers'., i.e. things to do when

they've run out of other material, perhaps because the main activity went much

faster than expected and (even having stretched it) there is still a seven-minute

gap at the end of the lesson before the bell rings. Fillers are also useful at the start

of a lesson as a warmer (particularly when you are waiting for some latecomers) ormid-lesson as a way of changing the pace, or of breaking up similar activities.

Fillers may be quite separate from the surrounding lesson or they might connect in

some way. They are often useful as a chance to recycle lexis from earlier lessons

or as an opportunity to work on activities that have a 'group-building' aim rather

than a purely language aim.

8 TV, DVD and video

This is the obvious way of using visual equipment: sit students in front ofthe TV,

Switch it on. Let them watch the programme through. This is the classic 'lazy'teacher's lesson. It works fine, and most teachers who have access to the

equipment will have done this at some time. But there must be more to video than

this! By simply playing around with this basic scenario a little, we can create some

excellent lessons.