English Teaching Strategies

How to be a Successful English Teacher

Commonly Used Terms in Teaching English

1

EFL

English as a Foreign
Language:

Taught in countries where English as not used the first

language, e.g. English is taught as EFL in Cambodia

ELL

English Language Learner

A student who is the process of acquiring the English

language and whose first language is not English.

ESL

English as a Second
Language

ESL students are people who came to live in an Englishspeaking country, and do not speak English very well.

CLT

Communicative Language
Teaching Approach

The most widely -accepted approach to second and

foreign language teaching, including the teaching of
adult ESL

CBI

Content Based Instruction

Teaching ESL through the use of a particular academic

subject matter, content or theme; an example of
contextualized learning

EAP

English for Academic

Purposes

An ESL curriculum for the purpose of admission into

college and successful completion of a degree program;
includes training in academic reading, writing, presenting
and note-taking.

ESP

English for Special

Purposes

The overall category covering ESL designed for a target

audience, e.g. English for tourism / hotel management /
aviation / banking etc.

TESOL

Teaching English to speakers of other languages

IELTS

International English Language Testing System

10

TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language

11

TOEIC

12

CELTA

Test of English for International Communication)

Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults: Certificate in Teaching English to
Speakers of Other Languages

Functions of Language:
General Function

Micro Function

Macro Function

Informative:

Physiological Function

(communication of
information)

(releasing physical and nervous

energy)

Expressive:

Phatic Function

Interpersonal Function

(expressing and evoking

feelings)

(social interaction , sociability)

(social interaction)

Directive Language

Recording Function

Function: (commands,
requests etc.)

(through writing)

Poetic / Creative
Function

Performative
Utterances

Identifying Function

Textual Function (writing

(naming things, objects, people)

texts, long utterances)

Reasoning Function
(instrument of thought)

Analysis and
interpretation

Ideational Function
(conceptualizing process,
mental activities)

Communicating Function
(requesting, apologizing,
informing)
Pleasure Function (poetry,
fiction, alliteration, assonance etc.

Learning / Acquiring a Language

Language acquisition vs. language learning

There is an important distinction made by linguists between language acquisition and language
learning. Children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware
of grammatical rules. This is similar to the way they acquire their first language. They get a feel for
what is and what isnt correct. In order to acquire language, the learner needs a source of natural
communication. The emphasis is on the text of the communication and not on the form. Young
students who are in the process of acquiring English get plenty of on the job practice. They readily
acquire the language to communicate with classmates.

Language learning, on the other hand, is not communicative. It is the result of direct instruction in
the rules of language. And it certainly is not an age-appropriate activity for your young learners. In
language learning, students have conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about that
knowledge. They can fill in the blanks on a grammar page. Research has shown, however, that
knowing grammar rules does not necessarily result in good speaking or writing A student who has
memorized the rules of the language may be able to succeed on a standardized test of English
language but may not be able to speak or write correctly.
Are speech and language the same?
Speech and language are two quite different things. Speech is a physical ability, whereas language is
an intellectual one. The difference between children's language abilities and speech abilities becomes
clear from a classic illustration, reported by researchers Jean Berko-Gleason and Roger Brown in
1960.

Teaching Second Language

Second Language Acquisition Theories

1. Skinners Behaviorist Theory: infants learn oral language from other human role models
through a process involving imitation, stimuli, rewards, and practice.
2. Noam Chomsky hypothesized that the mechanism of the language acquisition is derived from the
innate processes and that children are born with a language acquisition device.
Regardless of culture, children begin to learn language around the same time all over the world
at the age of about 8-28 months. Children's first words most commonly refer to concrete objects
3. Piaget: intellectual development is the result of the interaction of hereditary and environmental
factors. As the child develops and constantly interacts with the world around him, knowledge is
invented and reinvented.
4. Vygotsky, claims there is a clear understanding of the interrelations between thought and language
is necessary for the understanding of intellectual development. According to Vygotsky thought and
language originate independently, but later merge. Vygotsky places the most importance on social
interaction in the development of language. Language and thought are separate and independent
from each other until a child is approximately 2 years of age.

5. Stephen Krashen: Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious
grammatical rules, and does not require tiresome drill. Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in
the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of
their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
The best method allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement
comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and
correcting production.

SDAIE Strategies (Specially Designed Academic Instruction for English)

1. Metacognitive Development:
Providing students with skills and vocabulary to talk about their learning (Examples: selfassessments, note taking and studying techniques, and vocabulary assignments).
2. Bridging:
Building on previous knowledge and establishing a link between the students and the
material (Examples: think-pair-share, quick-writes, and anticipatory charts).
3. Schema-Building:

Helping students see the relationships between various concepts (Examples: compare and
contrast, jigsaw learning, peer teaching, and projects).
4. Contextualization:
Familiarizes unknown concepts through direct experience (Examples: demonstrations, media,
manipulatives, repetition, and local opportunities).
5. Text Representation:
Inviting students to extend their understandings of text and apply them in a new
way (Examples: student created drawings, posters, videos, and games).
6. Modeling:
Speaking slowly and clearly, modeling the language you want students to use, and providing
samples of student work.
7. Scaffolding:
Scaffolding is what you do first with kids, then for those students who are still struggling, it
is the support system that you put in place to help the child learn, first with help and
assistance and then gradually remove it piece by piece to let the child achieve the learning
goals independently. For a reading comprehension task, for example, you might preview the
text and discuss key vocabulary with the student in order to facilitate the learning process.

7.1 Scaffolding Strategies:

a. Show and Tell:

modelling, demonstrating , examples and samples just show, first show me

b. Tap into Prior Knowledge:

Offer hints and suggestions, leading them to the connections a bit, but once they get there,
they will grasp it as their own.

c. Give Time to Talk:

This helps the learner verbally make sense of and articulate their learning
d. Pre-Teach Vocabulary: frontloading vocabulary
Pre-teaching vocabulary doesn't mean pulling a dozen words from the chapter and having
kids look up definitions and write them out. Instead, introduce the words to kids in photos,
and in context to things they know and are interested in.

e. Use Visual Aids

Graphic organizers, pictures, and charts can all serve as scaffolding tools.

f. Pause, Ask Questions, Pause, Review

(Provide think time) ask open-ended questions
g. Trying Something New
Invent and experiment with new scaffolding strategies. Scaffolding a lesson may, in fact, take
longer to teach, but the end product is of far greater quality and the experience much more
rewarding for all involved.

Approaches and Methods to Teaching Second Language

1) The Direct Method: In this method the teaching is done entirely in the target language. The
learner is not allowed to use his or her mother tongue. Grammar rules are avoided and there is
emphasis on good pronunciation.
Key Principles:
1. Classroom instructions in the target
language

5. Both speech and listening comprehensions

are taught

2. From everyday vocabulary and sentences

and phase to grammar, reading and writing

6. Correct pronunciation and grammar are

emphasized

3. Grammar is taught inductively

7. Student should be speaking approximately

80% of the time during the lesson.

4. Concrete vocabulary is taught through

demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract
vocabulary is taught by association of ideas

8. New teaching points are introduced orally

Pedagogy:
a. SHOW:

Point to Visual Aid or Gestures (for verbs), to ensure student clearly understands
what is being taught.
b. SAY:
Teacher verbally introduces Element, with care and enunciation.
c. TRY:
Student makes various attempts to pronounce new Element.
d. MOLD:
Teacher corrects student if necessary, pointing to mouth to show proper shaping
of lips, tongue and relationship to teeth.
e. REPEAT: Student repeats each Element 5-20 times.

2) Grammar-Translation: Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language.

Grammar rules are to be memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or
no emphasis placed on developing oral ability.
Principles and goals: There are two main goals:
1. Reading ability in the target language.
2. To develop students general mental discipline.
Method:
a. Teaching in the students native language.
b. Grammar rules are learned deductively; students learn grammar rules by rote, and then
practice the rules by doing grammar drills and translating sentences to and from the target
language.
c. Usually no any listening or speaking practice, and very little attention is placed on
pronunciation or any communicative aspects of the language.
d. The skill exercised is reading, and then only in the context of translation.
Materials:
a. The main source and teaching materials is the textbook.
b. Students learn and memorize Grammar rules.
c. A chapter in a typical grammar-translation textbook would begin with a bilingual
vocabulary list, after which there would be grammar rules for students to study and sentences
for them to translate.

3) Audio-lingual:
a. The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits.
b. New language is first heard and extensively drilled before being seen in its written form.

4) The Structural Approach:

This method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be learned one at
a time in a set order.

5) Suggestopedia:

The theory underlying this method is that a language can be acquired only when the learner is
receptive and has no mental blocks.
By various methods it is suggested to the student that the language is easy - and in this way
the mental blocks to learning are removed.

6) Total Physical Response (TPR)

TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as "Stand up", "Close
your book", "Go to the window and open it."
The method stresses the importance of aural comprehension.

7) Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and
appropriately in the various situations she would be likely to find herself in.
The content of CLT courses are functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining or
concepts such as the expression of time, quantity, location.

8) The Silent Way:

This is so called because the aim of the teacher is to say as little as possible in order that the
learner can be in control of what he wants to say. No use is made of the mother tongue.

9) Community Language Learning:

In this method attempts are made to build strong personal links between the teacher and
student so that there are no blocks to learning.
There is much talk in the mother tongue which is translated by the teacher for repetition by
the student.

10) Immersion:
This corresponds to a great extent to the situation we have at our school. ESL students are
immersed in the English language for the whole of the school day and expected to learn
math, science, humanities etc. through the medium of the target language, English.

11) Task-Based Language Learning:

The focus of the teaching is on the completion of a task which in itself is interesting to the
learners. Learners use the language they already have to complete the task and there is little
correction of errors.

The tasks include reading, searching the internet, listening to taped material, selecting
important vocabulary to teach other students etc.)

12) The Natural Approach:

This approach, propounded by Professor S. Krashen, stresses the similarities between
learning the first and second languages.
There is no correction of mistakes. Learning takes place by the students being exposed to
language that is comprehensible or made comprehensible to them.

13) The Lexical Syllabus:

This approach is based on a computer analysis of language which identifies the most
common (and hence most useful) words in the language and their various uses.
The syllabus teaches these words in broadly the order of their frequency, and great emphasis
is placed on the use of authentic materials.

You are or you are not a teacher

*Being a Popular, Good Teacher or a Great Teacher

Know Your Self

Your Professionalism
The Indian saying, if you meat God and teacher

Let Students Know You Care (caring makes all the difference)
A truly interacting experience (connecting, developing a relationship of
trust) this results in students looking forward to attending your class
rather than grumbling (oh so boring)
Teacher: The Manager or Leader
Mind Your Body Language: facial expression, tone, gestures, eye contact, move your
limbs (Take care of late going to bed habits when you have a class at 7:30 in the morning)

Being Creative / Growing up

(*Not recycling the old material of previous terms)

Being Passionate (a sense of having a calling)

Be Motivating (applauding, cheering etc.) You may have no idea what a world of
difference it can make to a learner, especially to the one who is hardly appreciated)

Not what a child cant or couldnt do but what the child can do
YOU CAN DO come on
Obstacles in thinking out of the box: system, curriculum,
accountability)
Then take it as a challenge (good popular - great)

Individual and Unique Personalities: each child is an individual

(interests, likes, dislikes, favorites etc.)

Academic Professionalism:
Make sure YOU understand it first BEFORE you go out and try to explain
Be Resourceful (You may not know it but you know where the answer is)
Level of Activities, worksheets etc.

Know Your Students

Learning Styles:

1. Visual Learners: learn best by looking and observing. The enjoy reading (and often prefer
to see the words they are learning) and seeing pictures.
Visual learners respond well to:

information on the whiteboard

flashcards

colorful pictures

videos

story books with pictures

computer graphics

maps (e.g. treasure maps)

charts

cartoons

posters

board games

worksheets

puzzles

2. Auditory Learners: learn best by listening. They work well with spoken
instructions and learn quickly by listening to stories and songs. They will not need to see
written words to learn.
Auditory learners respond well to:

songs

listening to stories

poems and riddles

verbal instructions and explanations

listening activities

participating in oral activities

3. Tactile Learners: learn physically by touching and manipulating objects

Tactile learners respond well to:

drawing

songs with gestures

playing board games

making models (e.g. with play doh or lego)

craft activities

feeling in the bag activities

following instructions to make things

4. Kinesthetic Learners: learn physically by moving around

Kinesthetic learners respond well to:

songs with gestures

playing games in which they need to use their whole body (e.g. Charades)

doing exercise type activities which require running and jumping

movement activities

making models (e.g. with play doh or lego)

craft activities

following instructions to make something

setting up experiments

Kinesthetic kids always want to be on the go. Just sitting and watching/listening wont keep them
interested for long

5. Analytic Learners:
Analytic learners focus on the details of language, such as grammar rules, and enjoy taking apart
words and sentences.
Analytic learners respond well to:

well-structured and clear lessons

information and instructions given in steps

clearly stated goals and objectives of tasks

activities which require thought, such as matching exercises, puzzles, missing letters,
etc.

Your analytic learners will enjoy activities and tasks where they need to think and work on the
specifics of the language. Play games like concentration with flashcards when learning new vocab,
do worksheets with matching and word scramble activities. Play games on the whiteboard where
student have to guess the missing letters of a word (hangman is a great choice). Give out alphabet
letter blocks and have your students put the letters in alphabetical order and make words. When
giving instructions, always take care to be clear and give step-by-step details.

6. Global Learners: focus on the whole picture and do not care so much about specific
details. They do not want to get bored with slow moving lessons and enjoy interesting and attractive
materials.
Global learners respond well to:

games

group activities

story writing

lots of action based activities

computer games

talking without being interrupted for correction

Conclusion:
The key is to include different styles at different points of the lesson.
For example, when you teach some new words use flashcards and get all of the kids to listen to you
and say the words clearly with associated noises (for the Visual and Auditory learners), then have the
students run around acting out the words (for the Kinesthetic learners), next do a feel in the bag
activity to guess the objects and then have your students do a drawing activity (for the Tactile
learners), after that have your students in teams make models of the objects with play doh with a
prize for the best team (for the Global learners) and finally have a worksheet activity where students
need do matching or guessing activities (for the Analytic learners be sure to clearly explain how to
do the task).
You dont have to include all learning styles for each teaching point, but try to include a variety of
styles throughout the lesson so all of your students get catered for at some point.
Finally, if you are able to identify the type of learners you have in your class you can adapt your
lesson on the spot if you see some are having trouble understanding or losing interest. For example,

if a student is looking puzzled at your big / small presentation, have him or her stand up big or curl
up small, make a big play-doh ball and small ball, color in a worksheet with big and small objects,
etc.
Having a wide variety of styles included in your lesson will really help your students understand,
internalize and enjoy your lessons.

The Last Thing: Remember!

Youre a showman, a performer and the show must be a
hit and the show must go on

 Xixi

(orkun)
Dhan'yavda