768. On duty, like you, committed teachers



How can I get my students should do their homework? Here you have a post by elena.t about how to help her students wish to fulfill their homework. Below you have more information about her circumstances. Basically her student won’t learn English and carry out their assigned homework. Also beneath is a reply by me. All this was published in British Council – BBC useful web site, which is www.teachingenglish.org.uk / Photo from: daylife com. Dublin Irish police officers stand guard outside the Bank of Ireland. Sorry for the likely format settings.


Helping with English homework

Submitted by elena.t on 15 December, 2011 - 18:20

Hi,
Ive recently started volunteering in a childrens home and one of my duties
is to help with english homework. I am not an enlish teacher, but have a degree in psychology. The children are quite a long way behind and sometimes unwilling to concentrate and learn. Any advice which would help get their attention, make our sessions more interesting and also encourage learners who find learning english extremely difficult, would be much appreciated.


Fernando Díez G...

Helping with homework. Some reply to elena.t

Submitted on 19 December, 2011 - 20:34

Hi elena.t and you all, teachers,

Let’s give it a try.

The first premise is you are a psychologist. So, you’ve got, I presume, a
valuable knowledge about the ways we people think, feel, how to boost our unique personal qualities, possible cognitive deficits... And you consider each kid the way he or she is. It’s a nice point to start.

I’m trying to write rather briefly. In a common day I have to deal with
this issue more often than not: homework. The same things: my students, many times, are behind and with a serious attention deficit, which shows itself clearer when having to carry out homework. Were these suggestions of any use, I’d like to have helped out another teacher(s) and Greek kids. I’m telling about my experience with the boys I’ve taught in both, group and private classes, plus what I’ve studied in the experts.

1. You’re intending to teach them English, ok. The people who are the
protagonists are them and just them. (Also you’re an indispensable person and a protagonist in the classes, crystal clear). Thus, second premise, the first thing to keep into account is that they won’t work and learn if they do not want to; it’s their business, their problem, ‘not yours’.

2. Therefore what I can do is helping them, pushing delicately, towards
wishing to fulfil their homework and learn and use English in a naturalistic
relationship among all of you, little by little; otherwise we’ll achieve
nothing, obviously all the time respecting their freedom: only will they learn if they wish.

3. Listen to them, whenever the chance comes up; I mean, they want to know hardly anything about English and the like. Get really interested in the stuff they say, although you may think that that stuff is childish or the sort. Students, more in kids’case, let them educate themselves by the person they know loves them; this is the love of benevolence that, I think, Aristotle, wrote about. In few words, love them.

4. Reckon the small correct thing one student does. For example, tell a
girl to do an exercise from the English book. She could start to read the
instructions, perhaps not understanding much, and she asks you what the meaning of this word is. Ok, she’s starting to advance, though this seems so small a step it’s not worthy to be reckoned: it was something so easy…! Then, she might not understand the instructions and she’s on the point to give all up. No way. You can say to her to read the instructions over and over, with a dictionary and your assistance. The point for this girl now is as though she would have to find out who ‘the bad guy is’.She understood at last: perfect. Next time it’ll be a bit easier to face up another exercise. I’m not writing about the second part, which would be her actual fulfilling what the exercise asks for, this is, writing the answers or filling in such or such drill, or read a story.
5. Remember that learning English is something realistic: they’re learning
something they’ll need, sooner or later. Use examples and sentences taken from their lives and interests.

Well, I’m finishing here. I hope these suggestions would be any helpful.
Oh,

6. Let a student say the answer when someone else asks something he or she doesn’t understand. The helper will gain motivation and this fact will be a booster for the whole class.

Kind regards

Fernando Díez Gallego

Granada, Spain

Teacher of English and teacher trainer

More about Homework in

http://fernandoexperiences.blogspot.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3678. What to Do to Have Nice Discussions in Class

  I’m an English language teacher. And I consider that my dear students would speak in that language is the main goal, don’t you think so?  They often say sentences in class, if they are at a low level of mastering English. My higher-level ones intervene for longer and we hold nice discussions in class. Definitely I have to have them all of my students would contribute to the class for longer than mere sentences. I must have them speak for rather long.  Some years they have prepared oral presentations to speak for some minutes … or the whole lesson sometimes.  Definitely also it’s not the same to say just sentences than to have some conversations or some discussions.  Lately more than before this current school year I can observe that the textbooks we’re utilizing help out a lot.  By the way, I teach adults and when I ask them, well, I try and ask tactfully, because obviously they have their privacy.  Moreover if we wish we would have discussions in cl...
Read more

3679. If You Still Have Disruptive Problems in Class with Your Students. Some Ideas

  One issue every teacher thinks of from time to time, or perhaps often because that teacher may have that kind of problem, above all if he or she is beginning their career as a teacher, is how to manage classroom behavior.  Today I’m trying to say something, apart from what I’ve written so far on quite many posts. You may find more under the tag or label management of the class .  The main point I think is important is to have the clear idea that both the teacher and his or her students are in the classroom to work, as said in plain English. They come to the schoolroom to work. The students to learn, to learn by working, and their dear teacher to teach them and help them become full and honorable persons.  So the main concern of their teacher ought not to be classroom management, but how to have those dear people to work and learn.  Nevertheless if some problem comes up in class, some behavior problem I mean, that teacher might say or show something, depending ...
Read more

840. Are you eager to learn a language?

Image
One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “One difference in favor of good language learners? I believe a good learner does wish to learn, for example English or Hindi or... This is a remarkable and clear trait of that person. He or she makes good use of any situation where they can speak, or practice in general. He offers himself to some South Korean gang in an ice-cream parlor to help them with their poor English, so as to order some ice-creams of this or that flavor... albeit in the end the assistant-girl also did speak English – this happened here in Granada, near Alhambra palaces. This learner takes notes in his diary or smartphone in English. And he likes to do so. He takes advantage of being on a British Airlines plane to talk to a flight-attendant in English. He listens to something recorded in his iPode, while traveling by bus. He’s not lazy and speaks only in his L1. He does use English, and not only in the cases where it’s totally necessary...
Read more

1454. Bullying

Image
Teacher B said to teacher A, “Bullying. In a school of the south of Spain where I worked for some unforgettable years we used to cut off any nuance among the students, when a few of them for example started on and teased one specific kid.  We on one side called the victim kid to talk with him and also called his parents – his tutor did this latter thing. The idea was to have the kid relax and retrieve information from him about the bullying actions he had suffered.  On the other side we summoned the suspected authors of the bullying, also to talk with them. We asked them some questions to learn about what could have disturbed the kid victim.  We then, on following days, invigilated the play ground in a more focused way.  Plus in those students’ classes we spoke about friendship and comradeship.  Close to all the other classmates did know about these actions of bullying. Even the authors could receive some kind of punishment (more hours...
Read more

839. Learning to learn

Image
One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “A teacher of math, literature, English... cannot confine his work to pass on, to teach, information, knowledge, math operations, the theoretical part of English..., but he or she has to teach their students to learn; to learn what? That information, knowledge, linguistic competence for communication... Obviously it’s true that the teacher for example tells his students about historical deeds, their connection to our present history, etc. The English teacher’s mission is not just to teach English but also to teach how to learn English, and this latter thing in a practical way: aimed at communication. The point is not to teach information about the language but to teach to use English for communication between, among people. Within this context, moreover the teacher’s role is to better his students, and he himself too. The first showing or sign of this bettering of the student is the learning itself, the fact ...
Read more