How To Teach Speaking ?

[mysterybkk]

I'm teaching English speaking classes to some people in my spare time to make some extra money. I can get by week by week coming up with something to do, but I don't really have a plan. I've never had any formal training on teaching English. Since I am studying at the moment, I have neither the time nor the financial resources to take a TEFL class or something similar. I would appreciate it if anybody could give me some pointers on how to set up a lesson plan and what kind of materials I could use.

[Scott]

It might help to know a little more about the people your teaching--adults, children, level of English etc.

I taught an adult class for a number of years. There English was pretty decent and I used a lot of the stuff from VOA (Voice of America). There is mp3 downloads and you can print out the articles. Lots of news stuff, and some stories and biographies. I would have them listen and then read it. There is stuff in 'normal' speaking voice and there are some that are spoken more slowly. It's quick and easy to use.

I am sure there are other posters with suggestions that might work well for you, as well.

[mysterybkk]

thank you for your reply. at the moment i am teaching groups of adults and one-on-one for university students. for the adults i often use news articles to discuss however i feel that it is too repetitive for them. i am especially having problems with the one-on-one classes.

[flexxx]

If their level of english is up to it, newspaper articles from a good source (not tabloid) can be used as a warm up to encourage conversation. you can copy and paste short interesting articles from online UK or US newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph (UK) or New York Times (US). Let them read an article and relate their understanding of it. This is a good way to introduce new vocabulary, just make sure you have a good dictionary to hand, preferably English/Thai.

Find out what their interests are and encourage them to talk about them, hobbies, studies, sport, music, movies etc. Don't constantly stop them to correct mistakes, make some notes and you can discuss grammatical/pronunciation errors when they finish speaking. This will also give you an idea of weaknesses that you can work on.

Rollplays are a good way to get people talking they work with groups or one to one. Take a look at bogglesworldesl (google it) a site with many free resources and links to other sites (there are thousands). You can download prepared lesson plans, worksheets and rollplays to use or adjust/develop them to your needs. Lots of things there for all ages. If you're smart you can find complete ESL books, and study programs that you can download and work from. You can give them homework, but don't always expect it to be done!

If you want to make a proper lesson plan then it should at least include what resources you will use, how you will use them and what you want to achieve from the lesson eg pronunciation, grammar point, sentence structure etc. Remember that the point is to get them to speak. The more they practice their speaking, the less work for you.

[Tropicalevo]

It might help to know a little more about the people your teaching--adults, children, level of English etc.

I taught an adult class for a number of years. There English was pretty decent and I used a lot of the stuff from VOA (Voice of America). There is mp3 downloads and you can print out the articles. Lots of news stuff, and some stories and biographies. I would have them listen and then read it. There is stuff in 'normal' speaking voice and there are some that are spoken more slowly. It's quick and easy to use.

I am sure there are other posters with suggestions that might work well for you, as well.

Hi Scott, at the risk of being banned from ThaiVisa for life - am I the only one who is worried here. It is not my intention to offend, but the standard of English spoken here in Thailand is pretty bad and I too am guilty of not speaking correct English as often as I should.

You "taught English for a number of years" and yet your reply above has at least 6 basic English errors in it!

I know that typing sometimes lets us down and I am sure that that your advice is well meant, but teaching English is a difficult job and should be carried out properly. For me, VOA is not the answer.

Mystery - there are lots of sites that can help you. Just do a search on what you want to achieve. I do not really know what you are looking for, but a search of "material for teaching english as a second language " brought up some interesting free sites.

Good luck. Teaching English is bloomin hard. I couldn't do it and yet my English is quite good.

By the way - good response from flexxx (better English tan me as well )

Edited September 12, 2010 by Tropicalevo

[Phatcharanan]

No offense to other posters and I am sure the newspaper articles are a good idea...........if their abilty is at that level.

I think the OP needs to give us some more information on the abilty levels of the students first.

[mysterybkk]

I have every level present, from those who can barely say hello, to those who can have full political conversations in English. And yes, I have all of these people in one group to make it even more challenging.

[Phatcharanan]

Ok. This is a bit trickier then.

How many students in total in that particular group? You are going to have to split them into their abilty levels (it's referred to as 'differentiation')

Is it not possible to have the abilty levels taught at different times or dates?

For sure you are going to need different sets of materials, resources or strategies for each level. Concentrate too much on the higher abilties and the lower ones will switch off, too much emphasis on the lower levels will have the same effect in reverse.

[mysterybkk]

Dividing them up is not possible I'm afraid. It's all that was given to me to work with. I was able to rearrange the time in order to get the beginners out and do something else with them, but that still leaves me with intermediate and advanced. At the moment I kind of assign the ones with a better grasp of the language to group up with the ones who are having difficulties. However, it's hard to challenge both at the same time. I'm wondering if anybody has any experience with groups like these...?

[Phatcharanan]

Sorry to sound harsh....BUT, if you are being paid for this then presumably the students are paying for being taught?

If so, how would you feel if your Emglish abilty was pretty good but you are being used to help out the lower levels? This is not what they are paying for.

Maybe you are lucky and the higher abilty students are very helpful. I am sure though that they will start dropping out soon unless you give them some real work.

If these students were within a school setting then yes, the idea of getting the better students to help out is a good one............only for so long though.

What are the expectations as well? Have you defined this? No offense but the OP is a bit vague. Are you teaching communication, grammar points, reading/writing?

[mysterybkk]

sadly this is all i have to work with. since this is in a company setting it's not the people that are paying me but the company. of course i try hard to deliver on my promise to teach them something, and i have managed to teach them some things. however, it is really difficult for me to come up with a proper work flow. i also have the problem that sometimes they don't show up for classes because they have work that needs to be completed, or some are working out of the office. so i have to deal with make up classes too. i know it's not the best conditions i'm working in, but it pays my bills.

as i stated earlier, the course is to teach them speaking. we spend most of the classes talking about various things, but it's not going as smoothly as i would like. and it's also quite repetitive with the articles and then discussing etc.

[Phatcharanan]

Well, ok.

It's screaming out for 'role play' situations I think. The lower levels well may need some flash cards......"This is a computer' with a pic of computer etc.

Is the company needing them to be able to speak English relating to the business? You know, reception, taking orders etc?

Its late now and I gotta go to school in the morning. I will think on it some more and give some more help tomorrow?

[Firelily]

When I was teaching mixed groups in a company setting, I always chose a topic and a grammar point for every lesson. Say, horoscopes and future tenses. Students got a worksheet with some key vocabulary for the topic, with translations and definitions, and some short exercises to drill the words. The grammar point of the day was also discussed briefly with examples using the words above, keeping it very simple, but always including a more complex structure or usage to focus on for the more advanced students (e.g. very simple intro to will for beginners and will be ....-ing for more advanced). Then we read a short passage or article using the words and the grammar learnt beforehand, definitely something controversial, or funny, or plain stupid. This was the starting point for discussions, individual presentations, roleplay, all sorts of speaking (and writing) exercises.

The key is to start with some very structured input, sentence patterns and vocabulary, before diving into speaking, and move from controlled practice to free practice where they can express their opinions and ideas. It works pretty well with a mixed group if the beginners have at least a basic command of English, there aren't too many students, and they are motivated and creative enough to keep it running. It is a nightmare with adults who are tired and couldn't care less about the whole thing.

[Scott]

To one poster, yes, you do run a risk of getting suspended for criticizing the level of English unless that is what a poster is requesting. In this instance the OP isn't. So let's stay on his topic.

Many teachers run into the same problems of mixed levels.

I sometimes had students pick a topic to discuss. Biographies of well known personalities works well and there is lots of information available and easy to access.

[otherstuff1957]

This sort of class is very difficult. In addition to the mixed levels of ability, you have the company hierarchy to work with. That is, some students don't want to be there, but their bosses are making them attend AND you have bosses/senior employees in the same class with their underlings!.

When teaching classes like this, I have sometimes put the students into groups of 2 to 4 & then had them role-play a pre-written conversation. Then, give them a topic and have them write and perform their own conversation.

Edited September 13, 2010 by otherstuff1957

[canuck1941]

Teaching corporate classes is always tough. But you have received some good advice so far on this board and I heartily endorse Booglesworld when you can get lists of conversation questions on a topic, like the movies, ethical situtions, dating and love, etc. After 15 years of esl teaching in 5 countries, I've come to the conclusion that what students need is confidence in asking questions, which are the essence of every conversation. I used to use a warmer with great results: every student asks the next student a question, which does not have to be answered, but thereafter cannot be repeated. Makes them listen. Of course, you''ve put on the board the two kinds of questions --yes/no answers and information answers--so they can refer to it. Make them copy it in their notebooks. And, like some posters above have mentioned, you need to break the group into competency levels. Get the best group started, then the next group, and spend most time on the slowest ones. Good luck.

[Milo]

http://www.onestopenglish.com/

http://www.eslcafe.com/

Both these sites with masses of ideas that can easily be tailored to your mixed classes.

[mysterybkk]

thanks everybody for your ideas and comments, it's helped me a bit to open my mind on what else i can do with my students!

[jcartermad]

Try ESL Library. For about $40 you can hundreds of ready made lesson plans. kust press print and away you go. Easy. The web site is esllibrary.com

Good luck - John.