July 21, 2003
FSM 129 (FN 238) DO
ARTICLES WRITTEN & CONTRIBUTED DIRECTLY BY MISSIONARIES ON THE FIELD!
Copyright: May, 1989 By Family Services, Zurich, Switzerland
—A Practical, Conversational English Course By Paul & Terry Theophilus
There are lots of different reasons for teaching English. In our case we agreed to teach 20 evening classes, one a week, at a local Community Center as a Public Relations venture. We were on their territory & because of our situation we couldn't witness a lot directly during class—but many students liked us so much they visited & then got saved.
The classes & teaching ideas & points brought out here were prepared for use with the "System" but hopefully you will find ideas & suggestions that can be applied to almost any English language learning situation. Remember that teaching conversational English is much more fun & simple than all that dry old grammar stuff you suffered through in school.—It's as easy as teaching a baby to talk!
QUALIFICATIONS
Love is the main qualification you need to be able to teach English as a Second Language. You don't need a big college education, years of experience, special training, or anything else other than the ability to be an inspiration & an encouragement to others. People usually don't come to class just to learn English, often they're looking for a way to make their lives more fun & interesting—a way to find happiness by escaping into another World. Just giving them the cold facts will never turn their key no matter how many degrees you have & how perfect your English is—it's the fire they like!
A big warm smile full of love & life & hope & encouragement wins every time. Go for their heart & not their head! —"Charm" is your best credential. Dwell on the positive, point out the things you have in common.
YOUR FIRST BIG CLASS
When you step into your first class &take one look at all those faces, or even if you are teaching only one or two people, just remember: They are the ones who are scared. It's humbling to be a student, so your first job is to help them over their fears right away. "This is no contest, no big ordeal, forget about all the years you've suffered in classrooms, we are going to have fun!..." Turn on the sunshine & just keep smiling & laughing & talking & coaxing them out of themselves & melt all those icicles away.
Eastern cultures tend to be more timid than Western ones when meeting foreigners. Yet just imagine how you, a foreigner, might feel your first day in a Russian school. Fear of people from other cultures is so common they have a name for it—xenophobia. So prepare & pray, & don't worry about butterflies in your tummy—the students have them, too.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Every occupation has tools of some sort & so does a foreign language teacher. Here are some ideas:
1. DRESS THE PART: Choosing a uniform.
Sounds funny to talk about clothes in a class on how to teach English, doesn't it? But let's face it, you are going on stage & will be the center of attention much of the time, & like it or not, people will form their first opinion of you by the way you dress.Although you may get by on your character, charm or personality alone, if your clothes are "on their wave-length" it really helps people accept & respect you as a professional person.
Clothes, fashion, make-up & all that can be a big trip-off of the Enemy to get you self-centered & worldly, so watch out, it's a real snare. But what I'm talking about here is more along the lines of wearing the "uniform" of the occupation you are invading. Call it camouflage or whatever you like—use it, but don't let it use you! "To the student, I become as a teacher".When you think about it, almost every set of clothes is like a uniform of some sort, & certain occupations in the System observe certain dress code rules & they will expect you to conform to the dress code appropriate for your occupation & place in society. A true revolutionary is hard to notice & the last one caught.
A couple of suggestions about dressing: For women, simple, "down to business" type clothing is more appropriate than anything too sexy or suggestive. Dress up a little, not casual slacks. For men, a tie is almost always essential, with a suit, sports jacket or nice sweater, depending on how formal you need to go. Be sure your outfit is colour-coordinated & conservative, not too wild a tie, etc. Observe others, see what they're wearing & blend in.
2. WHAT ABOUT A TEXTBOOK?
System language schools all have their own textbooks & tapes & sell them to the students for a very nice profit. If it is just a special course by you, then you may need to find a textbook. Many book stores in non-English countries have them available & most book publishers have an ESL (English as a Second Language) line of books. I generally do not use a textbook, but that means I have to work harder to plan new lessons every week.
Usually the expense is paid by the students or class or class sponsors, so you may want to choose a textbook that you can use, at least as a spring-board for your basic classes. You may like to follow its themes & exercises, grammar, etc., but feel free to depart from the textbook & use your own material for discussion topics so the subject studied will be as feeding & edifying as possible & leading towards the Lord.
If you are shopping for textbooks, you will probably become aware of three different types of language-learning books:
(1) Structural: Based on the careful build-up of grammar in a planned sequence.
(2) Situational: Emphasises building up a range of useful vocabulary & grammar connected with a selection of everyday situations, "At the Station", "At the Hairdresser", etc.
(3) Functional: Deals with different functions of the language: "asking", "persuading", etc. Choose your books depending on the approach you plan to use.
Here is a list of language books that you might consider if you need to recommend a classroom textbook or teacher reference book:
Teacher Reference Books
1. Teaching English as Second Language, Colin Dawson.
2. Elementary Communication Games, Jill Hadfield; Nelson Co.
3. Stick Figure Drawing for Language Teachers, Francis Johnson; Ginn & Co.; Aylesbury, Bucks, Great Britain.
4. Essential Idioms in English, Robert Dixson; Simon & Schuster, Inc.; New York.
5. Recipes for Tired Teachers, Christopher Sion; Addison-Wesley Publishing Company; Reading, Massachusetts.
Classroom Textbooks
1. (For Beginners:) I.C.E. Student Course in English, (also known as: New Ways to English), ELS International Inc., Taiwan.
2. Modern English, Cycle One, Seido Language Institute; Japan. (Especially for teaching Japanese speakers, but also good for others)
3. Around Town; Ockenden & Jones; Longman Inc., New York.
4. Elementary Conversation Topics, L.A. Hill; Oxford University Press, Oxford.
5. Test Your Vocabulary, Peter Watcyn-Jones; Penguin Books, London.
3. AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS
4. GAMES
I think almost every class should at some point include a fun game for the students to play that reinforces the theme you are working on. Games bring the students closer together & get them working together as a group, & games are also just plain fun for students & teacher—a painless way of learning. One book I used quite a few games from is printed by Nelson, called "Elementary Communication Games", by Jill Hadfield.
1. Pray! Look to the Lord for guidance, ask Him to lead & He will! (Prov.3:5,6)
2. Praise! Praise God for your progress & praise your students for theirs. Be generous with your encouragement, they can't get enough. Compliment them when they are right—"That's tremendous!", "Exactly right!", "Perfect!", "Well done!, "Very good!" Words have power, use them. Everyone needs to succeed & feel they are winning & making progress. Try to make it easy to be good, easy to succeed.
3. Play! Games & other activities are a very good way to get students up & moving & meeting each other & practising their English. Every class should have some fun activity that everyone can do. If class isn't fun, they just won't come. Get them involved, singing, answering questions, acting out things, playing games, etc. Make it fun. If teaching English is anything, it should be a fun activity full of games, songs, humour & having fun together. Forget all that sophistication stuff, they're usually just like a bunch of little kids again learning a language.
4. Variety is the spice of life & the spice of a class. I like to keep them guessing—"What's going to happen next?" You have to not only make it fun but keep the show moving. Never let 'em sleep, even if you make them all get up & act out the verbs with you, or sing, or learn prepositions by moving around their desks!—No boredom! Try not to make them sit passively listening to you too long. Most language classes are about an hour & a half long or two hours long. That means you will likely have to come up with 3 or 4 main events. I usually spend a couple of minutes introducing the theme or topic of the day, then go into a little fun inspirational thing to get them warmed up. (Even actors warm up their audience.) Then they get a chance to react & speak up & practice the new material. Warm-up time can include drawing funny pictures on the board (or have them draw what you say), singing a song together, or playing a 5 or 6-minute section from a tape to them (with printed copy for them to follow along).
5. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat! Repetition is the law of memory. "Do few things well" is better than doing a lot & trying to cover a whole bunch too quickly. Generally stick to one main theme per class.
Speak clearly & concisely (but not so slow that the natural rhythm & pronunciation are destroyed).
6. Be personal! Show them you are human. Try to learn people's names. I have a very hard time with names so I have to have people wear name cards, or make a small seating plan. People love to hear their own name. It's their key. It helps to keep a notebook & discretely note important facts you learn about your students & review it from time to time. You will appear to have a tremendous memory & certainly seem very personally interested in them.
7. Give people lots of opportunities to talk—that's what they are there for, you already know English. Don't feel you have to center the whole class around yourself. It's better if you don't. The more they get to talk the less mistakes you make. If each student only has a chance to speak for 2 minutes in a 2 hour class, that's not enough. Use different techniques to give them an opportunity to talk:
8. Show them what you mean. Don't worry if you can't speak the language of your students very well—it can be an advantage in that the class will for sure all be in English. You may have to work harder to get the idea across of what things mean. Drawing simple pictures really helps. (Refer to the section on stick figures on pgs. 21-24) You don't need to be a great artist—fast sketched stick-figures make it more fun. You can also act out a lot of meanings & use pictures from magazines, etc. to illustrate what you mean. People learn by hearing, seeing, speaking, feeling & doing.
Test stage by stage whether your students understand what you are teaching. Ask them to use or explain what you have been teaching them. Just asking "Do you understand?" is not good enough, because they will probably smile & nod, giving the impression that they do understand, even if they don't.
9. Correcting their mistakes in speaking is a skill you must learn. If they are learning how to make a sound difficult for them, you do have to keep repeating it & helping them learn how to make the sound. Start as a group drill & then as they progress, test individuals. If they are way off, still be encouraging & sound excited, "You're getting close but..." Explain how to improve. Tell them exactly where to put their tongue, teeth, etc. (Japanese, for example, have to get over the "shame" of sticking their tongue out to make certain sounds.) Have them keep trying until they either have it correct or are getting closer. If they get it right, tell them so, "That's it! You've got it! Tremendous! Keep practising..." If they are only getting close, keep saying, "Good. Good. You're getting it. You're getting very close." Make anyone who tries feel very good for trying & that they did make progress & you are really pleased. Generally, don't correct some little fault while they are talking, but make a mental note of it & bring it out later in a more general comment. As much as possible, make it impossible to fail. If you are going to ask a weaker student a question, get their attention first & tell them you will ask them a question & then be sure you help them know the answer before zeroing in.
10. People like real communication more than fake textbook talk. Ask them questions that you really don't know the answer to. Did you drive your car tonight? How is your husband? Did you work today? Avoid asking questions that can be answered "yes" or "no", make them have to answer in sentences. "Why...?", "What did she ...?", "What would happen if...?" Help the students learn how to ask questions too. You can help them figure out how to ask their question by the way you word your instruction, "John, ask Mary if she is going to the beach tomorrow."
11. Seating arrangements can be used to improve your class by increasing group interaction & participation. When you are behind a desk & all the students are in their desks, that is very cool & formal. When you push desks together & move & mix & mingle, that's more fun. You're like an inspirationalist, always trying to get people out of themselves!
If the class is small enough you can put the desks in a circle or a "V" arrangement.
From "Teaching English as a Second Language" by C. Dawson:
The students' main aim is communication, which means that their accent has to be good enough to be understood, but you don't have to try for perfect accents.
Different nationalities will have pronunciation difficulties with different sounds. In a multilingual class, more group & individual sound practice is needed. In a group of a single nationality, you will soon discover the sounds which cause the most trouble.
Pronunciation practice should be given in: vowel sounds (pat and plate), consonants (bat and pat), sound clusters (strength, filthy), word stress (politics, political, politician), sentence stress & intonation.
Pronunciation practice means listening & distinguishing one sound from another, as well as saying the sounds properly.
Sentence Stress: English is a stress-timed language. Longer sentences do not always take longer to say than shorter ones. For example:
The bus was late.
The number three bus was late.
The number three bus was late this morning.
The sentences get longer but they each have only 2 main stressed words & all take about the same amount of time to say. Most students find this a major stumbling block to pronunciation. Help them to repeat sentences at the correct speed. You may have to beat time as if you were conducting an orchestra!
Intonation: In English we raise & lower our voices in question. Good intonation is often the key to speaking politely, so students are interested in this. Indicate the rising & falling intonation with your hands or draw arrows on the blackboard.
DIVIDING YOUR CLASS INTO GROUPS
If you have a large class of varying abilities, you may find it convenient to divide it into ability groups for part of the class. To do this, you need one of two things: Either two or more teachers available, or different activities planned that one or the other group can do independently.
It's a good idea not to have your class divided for the entire class time, but to continue to do some activities as a group. This keeps the class united & working together. It's also a lot easier on you, especially if you're the only teacher.
If you want to try some group work, here's a simple way to divide your class into groups, without committing yourself to any sort of permanent arrangement:
After the first few classes, tell them you are going to have some different group activities. Group X will be a simpler activity, & Group Y will be more advanced. Have the students choose which group they would feel more comfortable in. With this method, you can have the students choose their group each class time, depending on what they feel they can do. Later on, if you feel you have pretty well established their ability levels, & the group activity method is working well, you may like to make more permanent groups so you can plan specific activities & see that each group progresses at their own rate.
PLANNING YOUR LESSON
I like to plan a lesson around some particular theme. That way you can organize materials, games, exercises, etc., that all go along with the theme. On pg.15 of this class is an outline of 20 basic conversation & study topics that can be used with any level of English class. You can use this list as a guideline to help you cover the basic areas of interest or activity most commonly covered in conversational English courses.
Each theme covered here does not necessarily represent one class period, although many of them do. What you do will depend on how long your classes are, how advanced your students are, & how much depth you choose to go into on each theme. For example, Theme C "Eating at Home or in a Restaurant": If your class is beginners, you will need to spend a fair amount of time just learning the names of foods in English, & how you order things from a menu, etc. If they are more advanced, you may be able to go over those points very quickly & work more on customs & manners, etc.
From "Teaching English as a Foreign Language", by C. Dawson:
Whether you have a class every day or just once a week, you should plan ahead what you would like to do. A plan gives you & your students specific aims.
Learning a language means learning: Pronunciation, vocabulary & grammar, by practising the four skills: Listening, speaking, reading & writing. Keep these seven aspects in mind when you are planning a lesson so you don't neglect any one. (If you are teaching "Conversational English", you'll probably concentrate mostly on pronunciation, vocabulary, listening & speaking.)
Remember, students learn by being actively involved in the lesson. They do not learn just by listening to you. You should always aim to reduce "teacher talking time" to a minimum.
In your lesson plan notes, you should always know in advance:
1. The sequence of events.
2. The examples & vocabulary to use.
3. The questions to be asked.
4. The methods (e.g. pair work, groups, etc.)
5. The teaching aids (e.g. flash cards, etc.)
Being able to judge how long each part of a lesson will take comes with experience. Plans cannot be rigidly enforced because unforseen problems arise, & some parts of the lesson will prove so fruitful, you may want to spend more time on them. (And vice versa, some may not be going well, so you may want to skip on.)
It's always worth writing down your lesson plan, even if it's only 3 or 4 lines long, because: (1) It's something to refer to in times of stress or fatigue; & (2) after the lesson, you have a record of what you have done, or what you need to do next.
From "Teaching English as a Foreign Language" by C. Dawson:
CHOOSING READING MATERIAL:
* It is important to find good reading material which interests the students & makes them want to read.
* Try to have a good variety of books in the classroom &/or easy access to a library.
* There are a lot of ESL (English as a Second Language) easy readers on the market. I would also recommend the Ladybird series—a choice vast enough to keep a whole intermediate class reading for a year.
* The main aim should be pleasure & interest in reading.
* Use authentic material: Pamphlets & brochures, newspapers, magazines, etc.
TEACHING WRITING:
* For absolute beginners, it consists of getting used to English script, & for some nationalities, to the way we write from left to right, top to bottom:
* Start out with simple writing exercises:
1. Copying phrases & sentences which have been learned orally.
2. Constructing sentences from a "substitution table":
I ______ going ________ the dance,
While he was walking to the school, I...
she driving the church
3. Construct sentences from a few given words: We/film/tonight You/my house/tomorrow?
4. Dictation of familiar sentences & answering straightforward questions.
5. Completing a dialogue, where what one person says is already given.
* Before they are given compositions to write, they should practise shorter exercises: Personal letters, instructions, dialogues, descriptions.
* Before giving a written assignment, be sure to:
(1) Talk about the subject matter in class;
(2) supply useful vocabulary;
(3) review appropriate language structures;
(4) review spelling & punctuation rules;
(5) provide interesting material to write about.
* There is no point in giving a lot of written work to students who have come to a course to improve their ability to speak. However, for most students, writing down vocabulary & short sentences is visual confirmation of what they have heard & said, & a record of what they learned.
It's not likely that you will have to test anyone more than just talk to them for a few minutes to see "where they're at" in English. But sometimes students sort of expect tests, & as a professional teacher of English, you may need to show the "boss" how much progress the students are making.
Basically, there are four areas that could be tested:
(1) Speaking skills
(2) Listening skills
(3) Reading skills
(4) Writing skills
As an English Conversation teacher, you are mainly concerned with speaking & listening. Here is an outline of what the System thinks students should be able to do at each of the two main levels of learners, Beginners & Intermediate, that you will likely be with. Advanced students usually just need practise, challenge, debate, personal conversation & exposure to English situations.
Listening Comprehension
A. Beginners
Level One: Zero proficiency. No ability to understand even the most simple & slowed speech.
Level Two: Initial proficiency. Can comprehend very simple & predictable requests & greetings & respond to questions about their name, nationality, telephone number, occupation. Understands words for time like: Today, tomorrow, days of the week. Can understand simple directions like: Sit down, turn left, go in that door. Can understand simple two-word numbers like thirty-five. Understands simple gestures like a nod of the head, a shake of head, pointing, beckoning, extending hand.
Level Three: Elementary proficiency.
Still listens for isolated words to figure out meaning, depends on face to face contact. Comprehends requests for personal details & short statements about others. Sometimes can't recognize a question is being asked. Can understand directions if greatly supported by hand motions, pointing or map drawing. Still can't follow television, movie, telephone or radio English conversations. Understands most three-digit numbers if said carefully, can understand basic time phrases, & understands past, present & future tenses of the verbs if the rest of the sentence helps make it clear.
B. Intermediate
Level One: Minimal survival proficiency. Able to understand simple directions to go from x to y on foot or by public transport. Starting to understand with difficulty radio & television. Telephone still difficult to use. Starting to recognize "tone" of voice meanings: Politeness, rudeness, friendly & unfriendly tones.
Level Two: Survival proficiency. Still can't follow very complex sentences & fast speech, & dialects of English. Can follow some parts of radio, T.V. & telephone conversations, but only generally. Starting to understand sarcasm, & tone meanings. Can act upon simple commands, "Don't touch that button."
Level Three: Minimal social proficiency. Can take simple phone messages. Can follow orders quite well, "When this red light goes off, push this button." Can get the gist of most news bulletins, or programs with familiar topics. Still has hard time understanding general T.V. & radio speech. Can follow speech if not too fast, may not be able to follow conversation between native speakers.
C. Advanced
Level One: Minimum vocational proficiency.
Level Two: Vocational proficiency
Level Three: Native-like understanding
Speaking Skills
A. Beginner English Speakers
Level One: Zero Proficiency in English. Only knows occasional isolated words at most, but really can't communicate at all.
Level Two: Initial proficiency. Can give name, age, address, phone number, number of children, nationality, country of origin, name of the language they speak, some basic greetings. Can say yes, no, pardon, excuse me, please, thank you, sorry. Can spell their name.
Level Three: Elementary Proficiency. They are able to speak in very simple broken sentences. Can give personal details: Name, address, nationality, marital status, occupation, birthdate, other events. Can make simple purchases. Can indicate time using such phrases as next week, last Friday, November, three-o'clock. Can spell out name & address. Not able to use English over telephone.
B. Intermediate
Level One: Minimum functional proficiency. Still hesitates, & speaks in broken English, & repeats a lot. Can at least let their needs be known, ask simple questions & directions, order simple meals, ask for hotel rooms, buy tickets, use public transport & ask simple directions, make purchases.
Level Two: Survival proficiency—they can look after themselves & see to simple business & shopping, finding places.
Level Three: Minimal social proficiency. Can give detailed information about themselves & their family. Can talk about most common topics like weather, surroundings. Know how to be polite. Grammar may be weak, & still has a strong accent but can be understood quite easily by a native speaker. Says short sentences quite well, & can communicate on the spot. Can use the telephone to give simple messages. Has enough English to make friends & maintain normal social relationships.
C. Advanced English Speakers
Level One: Minimum vocational proficiency.
Level Two: Vocational proficiency
Level Three: Native-like speaker
On the following pages (pages 10-14) is a series of pictures which make up a simple Listening Comprehension test to help you judge your students' English level. When you give the test, be sure to make them feel at ease & not under pressure. Explain that you understand that everyone is not at the same level, & this test is simply to help you design the course to suit their needs.
You can either give each student a copy of the pictures, or project them on the overhead projector. Here are the sentences that accompany the pictures. Read each sentence one or two times clearly, but do not explain the meaning of the words. Just have them answer by writing down the number of the picture that matches the sentence.
As an English teacher, you may find it handy to have the following information available:
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL):
Students wanting to study in the USA often have to pass a test to prove they have enough English-speaking ability. Information can be obtained from any United States embassy or consular section; or write: Test of English as a Foreign Language, Box 899, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, U.S.A. For graduate students wanting to study in the USA write: The Graduate Record Examinations Educational Testing Service, Box 955, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, U.S.A. or, The Graduate Management Admission Test, Educational Testing Service, Box 966, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540, U.S.A.
People wanting to go to Britain to study may contact: Joint Matriculation Board (Test in English-Overseas), Manchester M15 6EU, England. They have a 1-level test for students wanting to study in Britain.
(See supplementary materials available from NRO for expanded Lesson Plan on these topics.)
1. GREETINGS & PARTINGS
1. Introductions: Casual & formal
2. Opening conversations
3. Parting conversations & good-byes
4. Making telephone calls
5. Common English Words
2. ALPHABET & PHONOGRAMS
1. Sounds of alphabet letters
2. Main phonograms
3. Basic spelling lists
4. Handwriting (for countries that do not use the English alphabet)
3. EATING AT HOME OR IN A RESTAURANT
1. Names of foods: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
2. Manners & customs
3. Asking, offering & serving guests
4. Restaurants: Menus & ordering
4. TIME, DATES & NUMBERS
1. Numbers & counting
2. Telling time
3. Calendar: Days of week, months, dates
4. Expressions of time: Last night, tomorrow, in the evening...
5. Planning, scheduling & making appointments, etc.
5. DESCRIBING THINGS & CLOTHING
1. Articles of clothing
2. Colours, sizes, shapes
3. Plurals: Regular & irregular
6. WEATHER & SEASONS
1. Common weather conditions
2. Seasons & seasonal activities
3. Step-by-step sentence building
7. WHERE PEOPLE LIVE & OCCUPATIONS
1. Countries/Nationalities
2. Addresses
3. Occupations
4. Using pronouns
5. Customs differences between local country & US/British customs
8. DESCRIBING ACTIONS: VERBS
1. Meanings of action words
2. Simple tenses
3. Describing what's happening
9. HABITS, HOBBIES & ACTIVITIES
1. Daily activities
2. Education
3. Hobbies
4. Sports
10. DESCRIBING WHERE THINGS ARE: PREPOSITIONS
1. Meanings of prepositions
2. Making phrases & sentences using prepositions
11. AT HOME
1. Rooms & furnishings
2. Activities in the house
3. Houses & apartments
12. FAMILIES & RELATIVES
1. Family tree, names of relatives
2. Hospitality: Visitors
13. IN TOWN
1. Names of places: Post Office, bank, etc.
2. Directions: Asking & telling the way
3. Things to do: Haircut, movie, banking, post office, etc.
14. SHOPPING
1. Names of items to buy
2. Asking information
3. Using possessives
15. HANDLING MONEY
1. Recognising & counting money
2. Reading prices & paying bills
16. TRAVELLING
1. Types of transport: Bus, train, plane, car,boat, taxi
2. Planning a journey & asking information
3. Travel documents & tickets
4. Baggage handling, & safety & security
5. Car travel: Gas stations & repairs; car rental; driving tips
17. HOTELS & APARTMENTS
1. Asking information
2. Finding a room or apartment
3. Customs & behaviour
18. DESCRIBING PEOPLE & FEELINGS
1. Physical appearance
2. Emotions: Expressing your feelings
19. PARTS OF THE BODY, SICKNESS & HEALTH
1. Parts of the body
2. Expressing how you feel (health)
3. Emergencies & calling for help
20. IN THE COUNTRY
1. Learning terms: Mountains, hills, valleys, beach, etc.
2. Describing scenes
3. Domestic & wild animals
Copyright 1996 The Family