Phonics is Essential for EFL students learning English

Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language where you don’t know the writing system? Think of Korean, Arabic or Chinese. Everything looks like a big mess and you have absolutely no idea how to decipher the language.

Then try a Latin based language with characters and sounds similar to English. Maybe try Italian, French or even Hungarian. It is much easier because you have some knowledge of how to decode the letters into sounds. There will be many characters and combinations that you don’t know or are unsure of but you will likely still have a good approximation of what sounds the letters represent, even if you don’t know the meaning.

The reason you can decode Latin languages and not different writing systems is because you have a base knowledge of the phonemic code or letter to sound representations.

If you want to learn to read Japanese, it is important to first learn the two basic alphabets (hiragana and katakana) and the sounds they represent. Then you can move to the more complex characters (kanji). Without the ability to decode the letters into sounds you will NOT be able to read, period. Knowledge of phonics is absolutely essential, however there are many debates on how that phonics should be learned.

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Here is an animated song to teach children the basic phonic’s sounds. This is a great first step at phonics awareness and a start to reading. Great for EFL and ESL students as well us younger native English speakers.

The Four Secrets to Learning English

There are basic best practices in learning just about anything. If you want to lose weight, you should burn more calories then you consume. If you want to save money you need to spend less money than you earn. If you want to maximize the effectiveness of your English classes, here are four key components to think about.

Comprehensible Input

In order for learning to take place, language targets have to be a level appropriate for learners. The key is to use English that is just beyond your students ability to challenge them to push forward and learn new things. Stephen Krashen calls this idea ‘Comprehensible Input’ while Vygotsky called it the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’ (ZPD). You may have also heard it as ‘Language Plus One’ (L+1). Basically, it is what students know now plus a little more.

This concept is integral to effective language acquisition. If English targets are too easy then students do not learn anything new. If targets are too difficult then students will not comprehend anything and will just get demotivated. Finding the right level for each class is essential. Read more »

Common Errors of English Teachers

Most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers start teaching with very little training and end up just making it up as they go. I know, I was there before. I made all the common mistakes and I didn’t even know I was teaching ineffective classes until I started studying more about teaching and had a chance to visit classes of more experienced teachers. Not only novices make these mistakes, many long term teachers haven’t really had the opportunity to observe quality English classes and have less than optimal lessons. Here are some activities and practices that I believe to be ineffective.

1. Focus on the Activity Rather than Student Needs

It is easy to get caught up in a popular game, song or craft activity without ever really considering if it is in students best interests or not. The goal of English classes is to help your students learn English, not pass the time as quickly as possible. Make sure you are focusing on games, activities and stories that are giving your students the English exposure they need. In once a week English classes, extended crafts, inappropriate songs and pointless activities should be avoided. There are many great chants, games and books that are appropriate for the ability of your students. Spend the time to find or develop activities that will facilitate your students’ learning.
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The Two Biggest Mistakes of English Teachers

Learning a foreign language is easy. All you need is lots of repetition of language at a level appropriate to your understanding. These two key factors; repetition and comprehensible language, are so important to language acquisition that they are also the greatest mistakes that foreign language teachers make.

English Teacher Mistake 1 – Teaching at a Wrong Level

It can be difficult to teach at appropriate levels for students. This is particularly troublesome in mixed level classes. Teaching at too high a level will make lessons too difficult to understand. Novice teachers naturally start speaking to students as if they were native speakers. It takes skill and experience to accurately judge the level of students. Read more »

Are Textbooks Effective in English Classes?

I have personally shifted out of using textbooks in most of my classes, from children to adults. There are many reasons for this which I will mention in this article and in future posts. Textbooks have been the central focus of education for so long that even experienced teachers have trouble imagining any other way of planning a lesson. This is the age of the internet, global communications, inexpensive video and mass collaboration, there has to be a better way to teach. In fact, I know there is a more effective way to get your EFL students speaking English with more confidence.

Most teachers have never created their own complete teaching curriculum with original teaching materials, so for many a non-textbook approach simply translates as having no plan. However, I am certainly not advocating no curriculum. I am just suggesting that there are other approaches to teaching any age of students than the traditional textbook-based lesson style. I know of several teachers who have taken the time to create their own comprehensive curricula suitable to their personal teaching styles and I assure you they would never go back to textbook lessons. However, that is best saved for a another article.

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EFL and ESL are NOT the Same

English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) are not the same. Many schools, teachers, authors and other professionals use these words interchangeably, which wouldn’t be such a problem if it were merely a lexical error. The real problem stems from the fact that most teachers continue to adhere to ESL approaches within EFL environments. This is especially noticeable in Asia, where I feel the deployment of inappropriate ESL techniques play a key factor in the general lack of English acquisition, particularly amongst children. Despite the increasing use and popularity of the term EFL, and a heightened awareness amongst teachers of the way in which it differs from ESL, language lessons have not changed much to meet the needs of students who are learning English as a Foreign Language.

What are the differences between ESL and EFL?

English as a Second Language refers to those studying the language in an English speaking country. Anyone living in an English speaking environment will be immersed in English, regardless of whether or not they study in a formal classroom setting. Television, school, books, newspapers, movies, daily conversation, everything is in English. This is important for two reasons. First of all, they have the advantage of considerably greater exposure to English in their daily life, which can amount to 60 or more hours in an average week. This comes though natural interaction with friends, colleagues, teachers, service workers, casual conversations in social settings and, in the case of home-stay students, communicating with family members. Then there is the more indirect exposure acquired from television, radio, reading menus and timetables, or simply over-hearing the conversations of native speakers. Students are learning, using and reviewing huge amounts of English everyday, and doing so in way that is totally natural rather than being artificially created in the classroom.

This leads us to the second major advantage that ESL students have over their EFL counterparts. If they also study in an ESL classroom, they can use this time to “fine tune” their English skills. They can ask grammar or vocabulary questions about English they have picked up elsewhere. Students can get clarification on grammar, vocabulary or expressions they didn’t understand. They also benefit more from deeper examinations of grammar and language usage. This is basis for most English textbook series where language targets are taught on a one per lesson basis, in a linear fashion. This works very well in an ESL environment because students benefit from having real opportunities to review and implement the English they have learned, outside of the classroom.

The importance of students having a real need to communicate in their daily lives should not be underestimated. For ESL students, it is not simply some esoteric subject they have to read in a textbook. Living in a country where you don’t speak the local language is extremely difficult. Even simple interactions like taking public transportation and shopping can be very frustrating. ESL students are impelled to gain at least a cursory understanding of English, just to make their lives bearable. Motivated students always learn much more.

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