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Teaching Methods to non-natives | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| brabakbw Tetraglot Newbie Germany Joined 6046 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: German*, Latin, English, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese | Message 1 of 10 09 July 2013 at 5:35am | IP Logged |
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I have been teaching English for a long time. However, yesterday I started a new job. I
teach English to Vietnamese children. I did this the last two years. However, now I do not have a teaching assistant. My Vietnamese is quite well, but teaching things to children is not part of my education. My first lesson went into a total disaster. The book is completely based on CD and the CD player did not work. I tried to improvise, however, the children did not understand, I did not understand them. I tried some games, but after 1 hour I could not anymore. The children felt bored and so they started shouting, stood up, left the room etc. Vietnamese rarely accept commands from foreigners. Most try foreigners, how far they can go. On the other hand, I do not have any authority on them, meaning no punishment, like call the parents etc. I could call another Vietnamese teacher to talk with them. Anyway, I do not wish to punish them. I would have felt the same in that situation. I know a lot of games, but the children refused them. Most are also complicated in describing them - they did not understand what I wanted. Does anyone know some simple activities, who do fun and are fruitful? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4908 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 2 of 10 09 July 2013 at 8:11pm | IP Logged |
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So much depends on how old the children are, and how many there are.
If there are just a few, my first thought would be to play a simple game like concentration: you have a set of picture cards with two of each picture. Lay the cards out on the table and take turns flipping one card, and then trying to flip it's matching card. If you get it right, you keep both cards and try again. If you guess wrong, put both cards back in the same place, and the next person tries. For a language lesson, whenever you flip a card you also have to say the word in English. As you use simple instructions while playing, they also pick up game vocabulary, such as "your turn", "my turn" and so on. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5008 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 3 of 10 09 July 2013 at 9:36pm | IP Logged |
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How old are they?
What about going through a simple story with pictures? Those can be either well prepared or just drawn on the blackboard when the modern alternatives fail, like the CD player. Most kids like stories and pictures are quite a universal language. And what kind of book would be totally dependent on the CD? You don't have transcripts that you could read instead? And would the CD make any difference, actually? If the kids understand no English, would they understand the CD enough to catch their attention? Sounds like a very tricky situation in which to lose the Vietnamese co-teacher, I don't envy you. Good luck. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| brabakbw Tetraglot Newbie Germany Joined 6046 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: German*, Latin, English, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese | Message 4 of 10 10 July 2013 at 3:53am | IP Logged |
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The children are between 5 and 12. The class has around 15 children. I can do well with
children. In my old school they really loved me, but I had a TA who could help me when there were problems in communication. It is not only the lack of language, but also the body language is different. Vietnamese are usually totally shy - because they do not want lose their face in public. Children are little more extroverted. The school is new - just has opened 2 months ago and does not have ANY resources. I depent on what I have. The school's further also totally disorganised, I always get wrong information on my courses: Wrong books, wrong CDs etc.That is a problem which the time will solve. I moved to this school and town some days ago. The salary is lower than my old school, but I did not like the city where I had to live, so I am happy to move. I like this challenge though... I thought about some songs, though I am not a good singer. Vietnamese love music and singing, they do karaoke all day. Yesterday I had two teenager classes. I never had so good teenagers before. In the countryside they are not so naughty as in the city :D The book I got is "First Friends 1" by Susan Iannuzzi. There are pictures with words and some Cd things. I don't have a teacher's book or other material. I prepared some games, however, the children did not understand what I wanted. First thanks to your comments. I will try to get better :D Edited by brabakbw on 10 July 2013 at 3:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5008 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 5 of 10 10 July 2013 at 12:42pm | IP Logged |
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Well, perhaps it might be the best for all if you got the organisation to your own hands. Unless the class is switching between teachers, there would be no harm if you came to the director and just said "I have great experience with this or that textbook. Unlike this one, it comes with a teachers' book, CDs and alternatives for all kinds of situations". That might be better than using a textbook that lacks some parts.
It sounds as well strange to have such different children in the class. Very few 5 years olds enjoy things aimed at the older ones and very few 12 years olds enjoy the things for the small ones. :-( 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| brabakbw Tetraglot Newbie Germany Joined 6046 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: German*, Latin, English, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese | Message 6 of 10 11 July 2013 at 7:28am | IP Logged |
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In other classes of mine are also strange mixtures. I have had one class of 15 students.
14 were between 8-12 and one was 24! As I have already pointed out, I will accept this challenge. The school is new, I have a lot of teaching experience and will bring this into the school. The people there try...I mean, I will try to help and influence where I can, I will not say, you must do this now here so and so...only some suggestions.... Tonight I have a childrens class again. I downloaded some songs and rhymes. Though they do not understand them, I will try to teach some songs like Inky Winky Spider or Humpty Dumpty. So they can go home and sing the songs to their proud parents :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5008 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 10 11 July 2013 at 5:02pm | IP Logged |
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Well, if you have enough kids to make classes with the 5-6 years olds, 7-9 and 10-12 years olds, than why do they make those mixes? This is not a challenge, this is just a stupid system. There is no textbook that would be good for all of them. Those 5 years olds will not learn much from textbooks for older and the older ones will of course cause trouble when they feel underestimated and bored. And I'm afraid these songs might cause the same trouble with the older ones who would probably enjoy much more some real popular songs (and there are many that aren't difficult).
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| I'm With Stupid Senior Member Vietnam Joined 4172 days ago 165 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Vietnamese | Message 8 of 10 12 July 2013 at 10:25pm | IP Logged |
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If First Friends 1 is for the class of 5 - 12 year olds, then I'd suggest that it's completely inappropriate. It's a pre-school book. I say throw it away and write your own lessons. At beginner level, I'd barely touch the book anyway.
Even if you don't officially use another book, try and get a copy to use as a curriculum, just to guide you through the grammar points and vocab you should be teaching at each level. You can always photocopy the best activities from it. As for activities, I would avoid anything that you can't directly demonstrate yourself. If an activity doesn't go well the first time, it will probably be better the second time. Do it until they get it right, and then introduce a new game. Always let the strongest or oldest students go first, so that others have a good example. And spend a lot of time each lesson simply going through basic classroom instructions. For a beginner class, I'd do this for at least 15 minutes at the beginning of every class, introducing new instructions each time. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the first couple of weeks of any beginner class should be based around the classroom (instructions, school vocab, etc). Draw on the floor with your whiteboard marker. It helps students have a visual clue as to where you want them to be. As for discipline, everyone understands points in a game. Threaten to remove points. Create a classroom management system that is entirely visual, and if needs be, have a Vietnamese staff member help you explain it at the start of the course. And prepare reminders telling parents exactly what they learned each day so they can practice at home. But yeah, I agree with the other posters who said that it's going to be an incredibly difficult class to manage, mainly because of the ridiculous age range. Older students will get bored quickly with simple games and younger ones won't be able to understand anything more complicated. And then they'll get bored. And when they get bored, they'll become disruptive, at which point it will be very difficult to discipline them when you're not a fluent Vietnamese speaker. Personally, I doubt I'd be willing to put up with it, unless we're talking about a charity or something. And even then, I'd question the merits of spending my time teaching children if they're unlikely to learn anything worthwhile. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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