TEFL Learning Teaching
Chapter 1: Starting out
Ways of learning a language:
- Self-study
- Immersion: pick up a language just by living and communicating in a place
where the language is used
- Classroom work
Traditional teaching: often characterised by the teacher spending quite a lot of class
time using the board to explain things, with occasional questions to or from the
learners. After these explanations, the students will often do some practise exercises
to test whether they have understood what they have been told. Throughout the
lesson, the teacher keeps control of the subject matter, makes decisions about what
work is needed and orchestrates what students do. In this classroom, the teacher
probably does most of the talking and is by far the most active person. The students’
role is primarily to listen and concentrate and, perhaps, take notes with a view to
taking in the information
- Characterised as ‘jug and mug’: the knowledge being poured from one
receptable into an empty one.
Entertainer teaching: in this case, the teacher constantly talks a lot, tells stories and
jokes, amuses the class with their antics, etc. They can provide a diverting hour but it
may simply cover up the fact that very little has been taken in and used by the
students. Learners come to class to learn a language rather than be amused by a
great show. There is a fine line between creating a good atmosphere and good
rapport in class and becoming an entertainer.
In a positive learning atmosphere the teacher:
- Really listens to his or her students
- Shows respect
- Is fair
- Gives clear and positive feedback
- Has a good sense of humour
- Is, by and large, authentically her/himself
- Is patient
- Inspires confidence
- Is not-judgmental
- Empathises with students’ problems
- Trusts people
- Does not complicate things unnecessarily
- Is well organised
- Is honest
- Is approachable
- Is enthusiastic and inspires enthusiasm
- Can be authoritative without being distant
,3 core teacher characteristics that help to create an effective learning environment:
1. Respect: a positive and non-judgmental regard for another person
2. Empathy: being able to see things from the other persons perspective as if
looking through their eyes
3. Authenticity: Being oneself without hiding behind job titles, roles or masks
MOST IMPORTANT
When the teacher has these three qualities, the relationships within the classroom
are likely to be stronger and deeper, and communication between people much more
open and honest. The educational climate becomes positive, forward looking and
supportive. The learners are able to work with less fear of taking risks or facing
challenges. In doing this, they increase their own self-esteem and self-understanding,
gradually taking more and more of the responsibility for their own learning
themselves rather than assuming that it is someone else’s job.
Rapport: the connection with your class necessary so students learn more from us
- Entertainment: let them talk about themselves/something common
- Give them something interesting to do (kahoot)
- Clear boundaries
- Knowing names
3 kinds of teacher:
1. The explainer: stands in front of the class
This kind of teacher relies mainly on ‘explaining’ or ‘lecturing’ as a way of
conveying information to the students. Done with style or enthusiasm or wit or
imagination, this teacher’s lesson can be very entertaining, interesting and
informative. The students are listening, perhaps occasionally answering
questions and perhaps making notes, but are mostly not being personally
involved or challenged. The learners often get practice by doing individual
exercises after one phase of the lecture has finished. (subject matter)
2. The involver: walks around the class and helps
This teacher is trying to involve the students actively and puts a great deal of
effort into finding appropriate and interesting activities that will do this, while
still retaining clear control over the classroom and what happens in it. (subject
matter & methodology)
3. The enabler: lets the kids do the work
This kind of teacher is confident enough to share control with the learners, or
perhaps to hand it over to them entirely. Decisions made in her classroom may
often be shared or negotiated. In many cases, she takes her lead from the
students, seeing herself as someone whose job is to create the conditions that
enable the students to learn for themselves. Sometimes this will involve her in
less traditional ‘teaching’; she may become a ‘guide’ or a ‘counsellor’ or a
‘resource of information when needed’. Sometimes, when the class is working
well under its own steam, when a lot of autonomous learning is going on, she
may be hardly visible. (subject matter, methodology & people)
, The process of learning:
1. Doing something
2. Recalling what happened
3. Reflecting on that
4. Drawing conclusions from the reflection
5. Using those conclusions to inform and
prepare for future practical experience
People learn more by doing things rather than by
being told about them
T ≠ L Teaching does not equal learning
Teaching is actually rather less important one might suppose. As a teacher, I cannot
learn for my students. Only they can do that. What I can do is help create the
conditions in which they might be able to learn. Perhaps by involving them, by
enabling them to work at their own speed, by not giving long explanations, by
encouraging them to participate, talk, interact, do things, etc.
Language learning especially seems not to benefit very much from long explanations.
Explanations about how language works, while of some value, seems to be most
useful in fairly brief hints, guidelines and corrections; language learners do not
generally seem to be able to make use of complex or detailed information from
lengthy ‘lectures’. The ability to use a language seems to be more of a skill you learn
by trying to do it than an amount of data that you learn and then try to apply.
Language learners seem to need a number of things beyond simply listening to
explanations. Amongst other things, they need to gain exposure to comprehensible
samples of language (not just the teacher’s monologues) and they need chances to
play with and communicate with the language themselves in relatively safe ways.
Students need to talk themselves; they need to communicate with a variety of
people; they need to do a variety of different language-related tasks; they need
feedback on how successful or not their attempts at communication have been. So
what’s a teacher for? Short answer: to help learning to happen.
EFL – English as a foreign language
Language systems (knowing):
- Phonology: the sounds
- Lexis/vocabulary: the meaning of the individual words or groups of words
- Grammar: how the words interact with each other within the sentence
- Function: the use to which the words are put in particular situations
- Discourse: analysing how sentences relate (or don’t relate) to each other
Macro language skills (doing) refer to the primary, key, main, and largest skill set
relative to a particular context: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Any one of
them could be analysed down to smaller micro skills by defining more precisely what
exactly is being done, how it is being done, the genre of material, etc.
