Teaching English as a Foreign Language is due for a revolution. EFL2.0 is a set of principles and practices to improve language learning.
Basic Prinicipals
- EFL is substantially different from ESL. Different methodologies and materials are required in each teaching environment.
- Technology is a great enabler that can provide students many more hours of English exposure outside of the classroom.
- EFL students often have less than 60 minutes of English exposure per week. That means every minute of that miniscule amount of time must be used to the fullest.
- Students learn best when engaged in real communication not artificial contexts and drills.
- Textbook based methodologies may not be the most effective way to help students acquire a language.
- Languages are not learned linearly like presented in pages of a book.
- Successful business practices like Kaizen (continuous improvement) Knowledge Management, and Total Quality Management can also benefit EFL classrooms.
- No single idea or resource can ever be the answer for all students all the time. A wide variety of materials, teaching styles and general ideas improve the quality of language acquisition.
4 Responses to “Teaching System”
Thanks a lot for your amazing flashcards and great ideas. They’ll be very useful for my little pupils to play with! A hug from Portugal
Thanks for the comment Cartuxa. I appreciate it!
Thank you for your insights. The EFL world truly needs a revolution. I work at a school in Korea and I teach over 35 classes a week and have only 5 hours a week to prepare for them. it is clear the English is still more a business than anything else.
I love teaching and I really wish I could have about 3-4 classes a day and spend more time preparing for these classes. I want to give my all to every class I teach.
I don’t have much experience, but the method I have fallen in love with when teaching phonics and the TPR method. (I use that word, but i really don’t know if it correctly describes what I like) basically I feel you need to create a memory for each of your students. they should come back to class and ask “teacher do that one thing you did last time” I like to not read from a book, but rather use a book as a guide for what I DO. if the story we are reading says “john works at a zoo. He watched monkeys. He likes to read but the monkeys make him mad.”, then I become John and I show them what work, and watch and read is. I give them an image of what working, reading, getting mad, being made mad, being a monkey making someone mad, watching looks like. they may not know how to say the words correctly the first day, but they will not forget them for a while. once I have created the memory, I just show them what those actions look like in word form and how to say them. over time and repitition, those little areas smooth themselves out. but if you don’t create the memory first, the students may never want them to be smoothed out. through this method I have gotten the best response from my kids. they love copying me. and once they get comfortable with the action, they always naturally start copying what I say, and how I say it. it doens’t work with every student. some just like the sit and read all day. I need to figure out how to make sure every one of my students gets the most out of their little time they spend with me.
Greetings James,
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
Unfortunately, EFL is a business and we cannot always do what is in the best interests of our students. As a school owner, I understand the need to maximize class hours but as a teacher I also know that it is impossible to teach great classes if you are burnt out. Some balance will always be necessary.
I guess the key is to get very efficient with time. With the right teaching system and materials I think kids classes can be prepared in under 10 minutes. However, it takes a lot of time to set up a good system in the first place.
I think your teaching philosophy is great! I often say that there are three components to effective language acquisition; comprehensible input, repetition and memorability. From what you said, you are covering all three very effectively.
Another important point that a lot of teachers miss is that classes should be planned around what students need to learn, not what materials the teacher has at hand or what the next page in the textbook is. I believe the question that every teacher should ask is, “What is the most important thing my students can learn today?”
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