832. I've got to refresh my teaching English!



One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “I’ve decided to speak English clearly in my classes with adult learners. A few of them say they can’t follow me sometimes. I tend to speak rather fast: my high-achieving students follow me easily but others are left behind. I have to speak like in some on-line courses of English or like some news speakers: on those pages for learning English they speak rather slow, because the key point is for the learners to understand, evidently: if the learner gets lost more likely he or she will feel disappointed.

I’ll try to improve this thing next class, and the next classes, over and over again.

Another point regarding the classes with adults is that some of the high-achievers capture most of the time and most of my attention, although I try to dedicate time to low-achievers or false beginners too. The formers speak longer. Some months ago, out of the classroom one lady told me about this problem of understanding and made me realize of it.

Oh, one thing I’m going to do is that I will have one high-leveled learner explain something in English to that lady, with his own words – she might understand him more clearly than me. As well I’ll try to combine simple with higher-level activities or pieces of conversations. As you can see, feedback from the students is a grand aid for the teacher of languages. For a teacher it’s important to refresh his ways of teaching: each failure can mean one step forward.” / Photo from: gizmowatch com. crosley attic radio speaker  

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