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WHAT ARE TEACHERS - MAGICIANS?

What do you do with students that don't know any English or know so little that they depend on someone else to help them progress - and you don't know their language? What do you do with classes with students at different skill levels and languages, with rank beginners among them?

FROM LISTENING TO WRITING - A PLAN

Language learning is not linear and mechanical. Okay, now that we agree on that, let's make a generalization -- although it is true that learners differ in terms of how well they handle different language skills, generally speaking,  adults like to develop second language proficiency  in order of difficulty (passive to active) : listening/ repeating/memorizing->  reading (for literate students)->conversing -> writing. (Grammar is not a language skill; it is a system that interprets how language is organized and how it functions.) In other words, most adults like observe and practice language before they have to face the anxiety of producing it on their own.

Let's teach students the following competencies  related to the Certificate of Accomplishment competencies (CA): 1) Level 1: Beginning  Competency 1BS1: Give personal information orally (name, address, SS#, country of origin, etc...) 2) Level 1: Beginning  Competency 1EFJ 23 ( State or list previous and current employment and own job skills) and 1 EFJ 25 (Identify common entry level jobs)

LISTENING/REPEATING/MEMORIZING

Following the steps discussed in the previous session, practice teaching the following dialogues with a colleague:

1. Hi. My name is Carlos. Hi. I'm Chris. Nice to meet you, Chris Nice to meet you, too, Carlos.

2. Can you type? Yes, I can. How fast can you type? I can type 45 words a minute.

NOTE: Vocabulary building is highly recommended before a dialogue, when it is appropriate. It would not make sense to build a lot of vocabulary around the first dialogue, but the second offers the opportunity to do so. The second dialogue could follow an exercise where students learn the names of actions combined with the modal auxiliary verb "can." 

Vocabulary building is one of the easiest exercises around. Use a stack or page of pictures and drill the students with visual and vocal cues.

READING SUGGESTIONS (Assuming students are literate in their own language)

Let the students read the dialogue. Go over each sentence and make sure that students get the meaning. Write a short story around the dialogue and have students read it. Give them the reading again with blanks to fill in missing words. Have them ask information (who/what/when/why/where/how etc...) and yes/no questions about the reading.

Sample Passages Based on the Dialogues

1. Hi. My name is Carlos. Hi. I'm Chris. Nice to meet you, Chris Nice to meet you, too, Carlos.	Carlos and Chris go to school together. Carlos is from Guatemala and Chris is from Germany. Carlos is twelve and Chris is thirteen. They meet in the hall. Now they know each other well.
2. Can you type? Yes, I can. How fast can you type? I can type 45 words a minute.	Carlos wants to work with computers. He is learning how to type. He can type 45 words a minute. He can also find information on the Internet. He likes computers and computer games. He wants a job as a data-entry clerk in a small company. His interview is today. He is a little nervous, but he is also excited.

CONVERSATION

Conversation is a spontaneous act. A dialogue mimics conversation, but it does not demand spontaneity. At the beginning level, students can be introduced to some conversation by being given a series of choices about how to respond. For example, the first answer in #2 could be, "No, I don't, but I can learn fast." The dialogue would take a different turn, then. By teaching students different choices, they can begin to have more spontaneous responses.

During conversation, I recommend that students not be corrected. Let them make mistakes. Become aware of repeated mistakes and deal with them later. Encourage them to speak by letting them have positive responses from their efforts.

The best conversations will occur in the students' areas of interest. In dialogue #2, the situation could occur in an auto shop, or in a classroom, or at the grocery store. Change the context to encourage students to use their own vocabulary.

Example: At School

• Can Marta come early to class tomorrow?
• Yes, she can.
• How early can she come?
• She can come at 8.

WRITING

• First, get beginning students to write words, particularly the important words in the dialogue. Have them make lists with their new vocabulary of action words.
• Next, have students copy the dialogue and check it against the model you gave them in reading.
• Have students copy the reading passage and correct it against the model.
• Dictate words or sentences and have them correct them against the models.
• Finally, students can then substitute information in the passages for new information.

LEARNING TECHNIQUES FOR BEGINNERS

Substitution Drills (We will practice in class.)

In the sixties, drills were the big thing to do. Behavior modification was the theme of the times, and we nearly drilled our students to death! For awhile, drills were expelled from ESL classrooms by teachers who wanted to become more holistic, or contextual, or inspirational, or whatever. I have never given up drills because my students have always loved them. However, I drill for five minutes max at a time! That's very different than drill for hours. Why are drills, done correctly, wonderful?

1. They provide easy practice and reinforcement for good structure.
2. They are contextual - put new words in the right order and meaning.
3. They provide great grammar application without much explanation.
4. They provide regular wake-up calls during the class because they are fast, short, and easy.
5. Remember: don't become a drill sergeant, just a good cook adding some spice to the meal (Emril, here we come!)

Technique

For beginners, this is the way to go. You are not going to teach meaning through this exercise. You are going to practice the structure that they have already learned in dialogues, reading, or other tasks, as outlined above.

First Time Around

Model the exercise a few times so that students get the idea.( It would be nice to have a student who has been taught the drill stand with you in front of the class and perform it with you. However, that is not necessary. The first time will be very awkward because no one knows what is expected. Once students get the pattern, there's no stopping them. But, hopefully, you'll know when to stop yourself! CAUTION - This is not a repetition exercise; it is a substitution drill.)

1. Repeat the model sentence and have the students repeat it .
2. Substitute the word/part of the sentence that students are reinforcing. You provide the word/part only, not the whole sentence. The students say the whole sentence, substituting the word/part you gave them into the structure.
3. Continue the exercise by giving students a list of words to use in the model sentence structure. After five to ten words, change the sentence structure a bit so that the five minutes are not boring.

You can also have students respond to pictures instead of vocal cues.

Once your students know what you expect of them in a drill, they'll just to the chance to pick up the cues. Later, we'll talk about more advanced types of structural/vocabulary drills that get students going also.

Model Sentence	Instructor's Vocal or Visual Cues (Word/part Substitutes)
Can you type?	read? (Student says, "Can you read?" Etc...) speak English? drive? balance a checkbook? spell "chicken? spell wallabug? (students hopefully laugh)
How fast can you type?	read? (Student says, "How fast can you read?") run? eat? get home? finish my test? say pharmaceutical enterprise? (students hopefully laugh)

Short and Fun Pronunciation Drills and Exercises

The challenge every native instructor faces with a language student is to know when to correct and when to accept accents influenced by other languages. Generally speaking, if students can be understood, leave it alone unless a student wants to work more on pronunciation; it's the instructor's call to determine when enough is enough.

Old-time ESL professionals can exchange lists of horror stories about instructors who go into "a zone" for lack of good techniques and materials. One common tale is about instructors who keep repeating a word or sentence over and over, hoping that if the student didn't hear it right the first time, he will magically all of the sudden hear the sound and produce it correctly. Some well-intentioned folks believe that if they just speak louder and louder, the student will finally get it. The fact is, that adults have taught themselves to hear certain sounds; they will not all of the sudden become sensitive to producing other sounds unless they are led to differentiate between what they already know and the new sound to be learned.

Sounds of Letters (We will practice these in class)

Simplistically speaking, there are two types of letter sounds: voiced (using the vocal chords) and unvoiced (not using the vocal chords). All vowels, of course, are voiced. Consonants vary. Knowing the difference between these two characteristics and teaching them to students can overcome many hurdles in pronunciation.

To understand pronunciation, it is essential that you pronounce consonant sounds without adding a vowel to them. For example, the sound of /b/ in "baby" is not /buh/; if it were, you would say "buhabuhy." As much as possible, keep the vowel out of the picture.

Technique -Working with Minimal Pairs (Click here for a simple chart of pairs)

Like any other drill, keep pronunciation drills short. Five to ten minutes is quite enough time to hone in on a sound and play with it during each lesson. For these drills, do not be concerned if the students don't know the meaning of word or even if the word makes any sense. This is not a vocabulary-building exercise.

Drill A

1. Make a list of CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant) that change only the vowel sound. Work on only two vowel sounds at one time (for example: hat-hut/cat-cut/rat-rut/mat-mutt).
2. Teach the sound of the first vowel, making sure that students can hear and say it. Bring in lots of words and have students contribute others that have the sound. Do the same with the second sound.
3. Give the sounds a number (1 and 2).
4. Say the word and have a student/students tell you if it is 1 or 2.

Drill B ( I will give you this exercise to do in class, using a foreign language and only four words)

Using the same minimal pairs, dictate a list of words using both sounds.

1. Ask students to write #'s 1-10 on a paper, any paper (preferably not a table to). Fast, fast, fast. Hurry!
2. Tell them you are going to go fast even if they complain. Ask them not to repeat any of the sounds.
3. Dictate the words about a second apart from each other. Fast, fast, fast! The students will groan, mumble, repeat the sounds, and drive each other nuts, but you keep going. Tell them to be patient.
4. When the list of ten is finished, write the words quickly on the board/transparency so that they can check. Everyone will groan. Very few will have any correct. So immediately start the next list (I start from the bottom and dictate from 10-1 at the same speed.)
5. When that group is finished, write those words quickly on the board/transparency. Amazing! No one talked during the exercise and several students got words spelled correctly.
6. Repeat the exercise right away (I start at word 5 and go down, then up to 1 again). Voila! More correct words.
7. Do the exercise once more, using the original 1-10 sequence. Several students will have them all correct.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that is also practiced. How can you get beginners to think critically in another language?

• After students have learned lists of vocabulary words, have them put them in groups. It doesn't matter how they group them as long as they have a reason.
• Write a list of very simple instructions and have students put them in order.
• Give students a picture sequence out of order and have them order them (cartoons are great and they can bring them to class for other students to put in order)
• Provide students with several words that could be arranged in different ways. Take the following words and play with different sentences: last -- and -- my -- . -- Denver -- father -- my -- lived -- in -- grandparents --mother -- with -- year -- ,
• Write a simple story and have students write the last/middle/first sentence.
• Play "What's missing from this scene/sentence/story?"

Working with Groups

I am a convert. I used to hate group work because my groups either got out of control, or did very little, or let one person do it all. Here are some secrets to make groups work:

1. Give them a very specific assignment that can be accomplished in 5-10 minutes, no more. Time the exercise and stop everyone when time's up.
2. Assign one person to report, if appropriate, and make sure different people are responsible.
3. Tell all groups how great they were for working so hard and fast every time. Competition is great, and definitely a group motivator, but recognition is even better.
4. If one group always does better, change people around.
5. Work fast! When time for group work comes, tell the class that you will count to 15 and start the clock. They get to their feet and into their groups in no time.

Different Sample Assignments (Remember to time the outcomes)

• Develop a short dialogue in a bank setting and be ready to present it. (I've found that students can memorize and present a short dialogue in 10 minutes when they are timed). 
• Put these scrambled words in order. 
• One person dictates words to the group and scores the results. 
• Answer questions about a reading.
• Group 1 will find all of the mistakes in spelling, group 2 in punctuation, group 3 in meaning. Go!
• Each group draws a stick-figure sequence with bubbles. Exchange sequences and fill-in the bubbles. Have a good laugh with the results.

Multi-Level Classrooms - Some suggestions. Add your own.

This is one of the trickiest challenges for an instructor. Multi-level classrooms are not ideal, but they can be effective. The trick is to keep the more advanced student interested and learning while the beginner learns without being too threatened by what the others know. Let's take some of the exercises we've developed and examine how we might use more advanced students to help beginners.

One important truth to remember is that we learn best what we teach and we teach best what we are learning.

Dialogues

• Provide the basic dialogue frame and ask more advanced students to develop it further. They can do this with other advanced students or with beginners, teaching them as they go along.

Writing

• Have more advanced students correct each other and check corrections that beginners made on their own work.
• Circle mistakes and ask more advanced students to explain why they are mistakes.
• Use advanced students to dictate passages (students love dictation because they can check, correct and copy immediately).
• Provide advanced students more difficult writing assignments while beginners are correcting their own.

Reading

• Have more advanced students conduct duet-reading exercises.
• You might want to use more advanced students as teacher-aides and train them in certain of the above techniques to help others.
• Provide different reading passages for more advanced students so that they, also, are challenged.

Pronunciation

• One nice thing about pronunciation drills is that all students need them. They equalize competencies in class.

WWW

Send more advanced students to the Internet ! Go to http://www.esl-lab.com and have a ball with games, exercises, dialogues galore and even video. Have them simplify a dialogue and teach it to the class when they come back! Ha! You get to rest.

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During the next session, we will deal with issues relating to intermediate students. We also discuss the value of testing and grading.

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FIELD PRACTICE II - TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE CLASS

1. Come to class ready to teach a dialogue or another short exercise using the steps from last time.
2. Email me a sample dialogue for beginning students and write a short (3-4 sentences) reading passage to accompany it.

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