A Snapshot of Teaching English

Sara Salehi Karoonian, Iran

Sara Salehi Karoonian is from Iran. She has a B.A. in economics and has been teaching English for 3 years. She has taken several courses in English and participated in TTC (Training Teacher Course) programs of different language institutes. E-mail: ssk777@gmail.com

Teaching English has always been one of the most challenging professions since it needs a lot of creativity and patience. To be a successful teacher it is essential to spend years on gaining experience. Moreover teachers have to exchange ideas with colleagues and students as well. In this essay I am going to share some of the practical experiences that I have gained during 3 years of teaching.

The first step is to love what you do and enjoy it as you enjoy painting a picture or creating any art. A smiling and energetic teacher can always hold the students spellbound and make them interested in listening and following the lesson. The next step is to spend time on identifying each student and collecting any useful information about them. This way they feel more comfortable and the teacher can build a better relationship with them in order to convey the lesson much more effectively.

Calling students by first and even nick names can provide an atmosphere that encourages them to be more active and also lessen the stress among them. In case the teacher asks for volunteers to answer an exercise it is a useful trick not to look directly to the one who is going to be chosen to answer. Looking around puts them in a situation that they feel there is an equal chance of being chosen for each of them and this way they try to stay alert and enjoy being noticed. There must be a combination of shy and active students being chosen for each class activity.

Considering their moods is another golden key to have an efficient class. Most teachers can identify their students and their real targets of participating in an English course after two or three sessions. Therefore they can distinguish between a tricky student and the one who is just not in the mood for a short time. It is really important to treat them differently, however in any situation respect them so they respect in return. One of the best punishments for a tricky student is only to neglect him/her and at the same time providing a cheerful and encouraging atmosphere with other students.

Another significant teaching skill to mention is always being prepared. A flexible yet well-organized lesson plan is a must to be a promising teacher. Lesson plans have to be arranged depending on the institute’s schedule, the contents of the book, difficulty of the lesson, and the number of students in the class and the target of the course. In order to warm up the students before starting to teach it is essential to provide real or fictional stories and prepare some questions in advance. A teacher has to be ready for any unexpected event that may influence the lesson plan during teaching in the class. It is important not to fix a plan so that it cannot be changed. Therefore for each session the teacher had better consider the time at least about 10 minutes less than the real time. From intermediate to advanced levels, it is better to ask the students to do the workbook and extra exercises at home and also look up the new words before each session. This way the class time can be saved noticeably.

The last but not the least is assignment and homework. It is crystal clear that assigning students is necessary for their learning process. However, the assignments have to be workable and realistic, considering their age, the target, their available time and etc. Collecting their assignments, correcting the errors, and giving back their papers make the students feel encouraged and helps them not to repeat the errors again.

I am going to present a short sample of a lesson plan in the following part of this essay in order to make it more tangible.

Level: intermediate, adults
Lesson theme: comparative adjectives
Time: 30 minutes
Objectives:

1. Learning to compare two things, people or places
2. Distinguishing between rules of one syllable and more than one syllable adjectives.
3. Learning the spelling rules and exceptions

Procedure:

1. Warm up with making sentences using adjectives to describe one thing or person.
2. Draw 2 circles on the board. Name them A and B with A smaller in size than B. Define their materials (A: gold and B: stone) and weight (A: 1 kg, B: 3 kg).
3. Compare them with size (using adjectives small, large or big in order to practice one syllable adjectives, spelling rules for adjectives ending in -e and adjectives with double final letter), weight (using adjectives light and heavy in order to practice 2-syllable adjectives ending in -y), price (using adjectives cheap and expensive in order to practice 2 or more syllable adjectives)

Class activity:

1. Write some adjectives with different syllables on the board and ask students to make the comparative form.
2. Write pairs of things, people or places and ask students to make sentences using comparative adjective.

Assignment:

Write 2 sentences for each type of adjectives (one syllable, ending in -e, double final letter, 2 syllables ending in -y , 2 or more syllables using more and less)

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Building Positive Group Dynamics course at Pilgrims website.