Experiences of a teacher of English

  You know what? A couple of days ago I came across a new class of students I have to teach English to. They are adults, with a big wish to learn that language.  I had planned to convey the same messages both in English and in Spanish, their – our – mother tongue. I came to the classroom with enthusiasm, prone to serve those great people.  And you know what I encountered? They are beginners and false beginners! Great students though.  My assistant teacher was with me – he is learning how to teach English and is a native speaker himself, from San Diego, California. Ok, they knew nothing or close to.  I had brought photocopies for them, taken from a textbook of A2/B1 level, this is, low beginner to lower intermediate – more A2 than B1, because that copy was from the very first unit.  But my dear students needed I had to explain and present absolutely every detail from basic questions, you know, present simple with Do and Does, and similar basic stuff. Oh, man...

  Now I’m presenting what could be a first lesson, now that we are starting a new school year. I hope something from all this may help you out, whatever foreign or second language level you teach. In my case I teach English to adults from some false beginner to upper intermediate levels, namely from some A2 to C1.  All this may be even something beautiful, because we treat people, persons, and each and every one is unique, and we teachers may be influencing much on their lives: what a responsibility we have!  Something basic from this start lesson: we may address each student by looking into their eyes so they may feel they are and they are going to be treated like singular persons. That is something that has helped me a lot along my career as an English teacher, both kids and adults.  First I may introduce myself – on the running first days I will get to know their names; all this may vary in your case, obviously, depending on whom you teach; anyway I hope all this ...

  I think that in nearly all classes of students we can find like three groups: high-achievers, average students, and low-achievers. And I believe we teachers have to help all those three groups.  When teaching kids quite many years ago I was said by the assistant principal or headmaster deputy I ought to give material and opportunities to high-achievers, so they would not feel bored.  I taught and teach English. Also low-achievers have to be aided. I as a teacher cannot confine to hand out their graded tests or exams to the kids in class, and then also give out a low-achiever’s sheet with a super low grade, and there you are! Something else must be carried out with those kids.  The superintendent or gamekeeper of the place where I live was a bad student, and his dad told me to please help him. Eventually he stopped and gave up studying, and, well, he is a great professional now as a gamekeeper.  Ok, let’s turn back to the topic. Those kids may present several d...

  Do our dear students ever think? I gave that title to a previous post, remember?  And the point is that we as teachers have to teach our students to think, to engage their brains, to learn also how to study and learn.  They have to get the most from their textbook: thus we have to teach them to study.  As well we can elicit what they do for studying their textbook, so their classmates will learn new and sound ways to study, perhaps.  By the way, at many schools and in some countries they are starting to think that… it’s better for the students to have a paper book than a tablet.  Ok, let’s proceed.  We teachers also have to make them think: we oughtn’t to give all the stuff too much digestible: they have to learn to study and draw their own conclusions.  Something we may implement in class is to think with them. I mean, you know, the teacher can think aloud and so his or her dear students will see how to think.  Even something I do with my ...

  We may be starting a new school year, at least in the north hemisphere of our dear planet. And we have to take care of it – our planet I mean.  And in that new academic year we may find us teachers planning our lessons.  I want to tell you something about that issue, in case it may help you teachers.  Lesson planning has to be practical and brief, rather brief. Before I think of the activities I want to implement in class next day I think of my dear students, so I plan with them in mind.  Plus I wonder what they expect from me or from our English course, and what they need mostly. It takes me just few minutes, and sometimes, well, often, I write down those needs, aims, and expectations.  And then I plan the lesson properly.  I feel that in that way my students are kind of more satisfied with what we do in class. Have a nice day. Well, hang on, something else I do when lesson planning is to ask myself what few things are important now for my students ...

  I’m back with you again, my fellow readers.  I wanted to tell you something that may be of any interest to you, both if you are prospective or novice teachers, or otherwise experienced ones.  I’ve been thinking lately that, for a teacher, practice and experience are so paramount important. And as well another key point to bear in mind when teaching in the classroom or remotely teaching is that we should have our students in mind when lesson planning.  Something you can do before the actual lesson planning is just to think on your specific and real students.  On a parallel way you may know that when our students have to write an essay, well, you know, they should have a reader in mind.  Equally when the teacher is about to plan a lesson – and every lesson ought to be planned – he or she may think, Well, let’s see how my students are in class and how last lesson worked actually.  And I invite you to write a few points before the actual planning, consid...

  As you may know, I have greatly written on this blog about foreign or second language autonomous learners . And that’s ok, for it’s them who really really really learn and acquire that language.  Today I wanted to say, however, that the teacher is just necessary and essential too.  Furthermore I would say that the language lesson has to be student-centered… but also teacher-centered.  We have to recognize that a good teacher may well help and boost his or her students’ learning.  I have learned a lot of English over time, yet I am very grateful to my teachers over the years: they were just so great, and have helped me learn that tongue.  As a matter of fact a teacher also may excite and stimulate his or her students’ eagerness for learning the language. It’s something of what I try hard in my classes to adults, and these ones are great language learners, yep they are.  As well the teacher may shorten the way to learners, because he or she may provide...

  I wrote a few days ago the following.  One more year has begun. And today I’m going to let you know about something I lately do when lesson planning, in case it may help you out.  I teach English to adults. And when I start to plan a new lesson, I wonder, Okay, what should I do to really help my students learn that language? Because each and every class should be one step forward in their learning and acquiring English.  Secondly I also could wonder, Okay, what can I do next class to make my students become autonomous learners? For those autonomous learners are the ones that actually accomplish to learn English.  Thus we have two points for when we have to plan a lesson.  Now I’m trying to give you some examples of those two points, which we can bear in mind to improve our lesson planning. Well, they have to be brief, each one could take few minutes to think about.  Some examples, I was saying. Let me think. Even I’m trying to give an example that co...

  Okay, let’s start the new school year, 2022-’23. With some enormous “ilusión”, we say in Spanish, with great excitement and eagerness.  On the very first class day, hopefully I will introduce the syllabus or program or curriculum to my dear students, thus at that moment I am involving them up to the core of what we are about to do along that school year.  I will do it in a mild tone, but with great enthusiasm.  It’s up to the teacher: he or she is the main resource of activities and knowledge. I am getting my students into the marvelous task of learning English. And I hope they will do it by sharing my enthusiasm, I will speak in a mild tone, though.  In class each individual, each student is unique. And their teacher has to view the thing that way. Each person is suitable of being original, and most of them may provide some originality to the class.  I will not address a mass of people on that first class, I should address individuals, though.  I ca...

  For teachers it is important to assess and evaluate their students’ learning, right? Also his or her own teaching, right?  In the first case, how can we assist students who have to retake an exam and catch up on the materials they missed?  Well, let me see. They are students in need of extra work, extra learning, extra studying. We could split the class up into two groups: special objectives – during the regular classes – for those who passed the exam but still can learn new things or deepen into what learned. And also objectives for those students who failed.  Even the students who passed could help out their classmates by monitoring them.  This is it: they could sit with their peers and teach them.  And thus we have that some students are assisting their peers, and that counts as something very educative and formative: helping others.  As well in that case we teachers might assign some extra grading to those students who have been helping their cla...

  Let us see something else about assessing and evaluating our students’ progress, work and learning.  When I taught kids in another city, the school deputy principal or assistant headmaster at least once told me in a nice and collaborative way that I ought to deliver some extra work for those students who were capable of further aims and objectives.  I taught and still teach English. And the classes I taught were multi-levels: English may be the school subject where you can face more diverse levels: some students may have some upper-intermediate level or close to B2, while others may have some basic levels, namely A1 or A2.  And unless I did something else with those more advanced students, they might feel bored and disappointed. So I had to have extra material – exercises, texts, challenging resources – for those who could do more.  So I would recommend you to think of the following possibility, in case it may help you as a teacher.  You could have aims a...

We as teachers wish all our students would learn, right?  Have you noticed what good students or learners are like?  We as teachers want every student would learn. And we want to help and assist and attend all our students. We want all our students would be good ones. It's so because we as teachers should love our students with benevolence love, which means we want to seek what is good for them. However, we are prone to accept the students the way they are.  Good students usually know they are good students.  Any average student can become a good one.  They, good students, are conscious and aware they are good students. They utilize learning strategies and are aware they usually learn.  What are those learning strategies? Well, it is up to what school subject those students are learning: math, linguistics, religion, English as a second language, science, biology, history, literature, fine arts...  Some examples? Reading a text for the gist,  readi...

So we have said that we are about to start a new school year. In some way we have already started it, for we have thought of nice and convenient goals for our students.  The main star this year may be reading. I mean, we are going to practice all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Yet I want to especially foster and inspire Reading.  This latter skill helps learn the target language, English in our case. It’s my experience. I also learn English, like my dear students. And reading provides with the language and other cognitive subskills that foster a deep learning.  Namely I will encourage my students to purchase graded readers, in accordance to their levels.  Some learners of mine have A2, but most of them comprise B1 through C1 – I’m referring to CEFR levels of a language, where CEFR stands for Common European Framework of Reference for languages. A1 and A2 are basic, B1 and B2 are intermediate, and C1 and C2 are advanced. I will tell m...

We teachers seem to work for those low-achiever students who deserve our attention, both at face-to-face teaching as well as at remote teaching. Well, we also take care of high-achievers, right?  At present I’m reading a book about history geniuses – awesome. Michelangelo, Diego Velázquez, Isaac Newton, Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Einstein, Antoni Gaudí, Steve Jobs, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Gerardo Diego…  Well, you know, quite many of them and others… were rather bad students at school! Are we not having geniuses in our classrooms? We may have some…  What I mean is that our schools should also foster our dear students’ creativity. Do our schools kill creativity? What are our schools like? What do they resemble?  Because of that we have to assist and attend high-achievers.  Quite many years ago – and I teach English – my school assistant principal told me to hand out extra worksheets to the students that finished before their classmates and eventually got wit...

Teaching is… great, once again. And watching and observing how our students are progressing or not very much… - so far - is also great.  We have to plan our lessons with our students in mind. But I can also see and perceive that I have to keep on improving my teaching. Once and over again and again. No problem. If you've been teaching for some quite many years, you can discover and find out what your students are in need of.   Well, my students try to do their best. I teach English as a second language. This morning my students were saying what some words meant, from a worksheet with sentences and one longer text. That was one of the activities we were carrying out.  That was good practice and I intended for them to notice and reckon that: that was good practice.  For next class I will also say what those words mean, and thus I can mold the exercise for my students to have some more examples to imitate or to build up their definitions upon, ...

I currently teach English at two schools. Plus some private tuition. And my students are adults. And I make worksheets for them.  Nevertheless I notice my dear students do need more vocabulary, which one I cannot provide in the classes I teach them.  Thus I’m thinking for next school year to encourage them to get a reader, one of those simplified and abridged books. In one of the centers where I work they already use one, because they also attend classes with another teacher and they’re working on Great Expectations , by great Charles Dickens. I’m going to ask them in one of the classes I have with them how they get the reader, whether it’s at certain bookstore or where else.  I foresee, however,  that if I choose a reader with certain level, and since my students have different levels of English, some of them could find the reader as an easy one while others may encounter it so difficult. So I’d have to have a look at some readers with my students ...

We teachers of a second or foreign language have to foster communication in the classroom. Also for the students to be able to have communication outside the classroom.  So we shouldn’t confine our teaching to language facts, but we’ll foster that communication.  Lessons should be in that language, at a bit higher level than the student average one. And as well that big exposure to the language will make the students learn and also acquire that tongue.  But remember: they should be exposed to the language massively. Also adults are capable of acquiring the language, not only infants.  And let’s remember that we’re making something big: fostering communication among people, which is something also big: we’re making something very human.  Since the students’ levels may be varied, we could try several levels in the classroom, or otherwise try to make different groups, at least two: one that is more basic and one that is more advanced. ...

Second or foreign language teaching is one of the school subjects where we teachers can find most varied levels within a classroom.  Coming to the root of the point every student has his or her own different level of English or the taught language.  Although we may try to place each student at his or her specific and precise level and class, in any class we teach we will likely find varied and various levels.  And the high-performing students ought not to get bored. And the low-performing students ought not to be left behind. And every student has his or her own experience at learning and acquiring the language. What to do?  The answer is not simple. Something I do is trying to combine different leveled activities in the classroom but the solution is not accurate and definitive sometimes. Well, we can try that, trying also to get feedback from the students: Are they understanding me their teacher?  As well something else we can do is get...

  We as foreign or second language teachers should get our students into immersion in that target language. Well, that said I would add that the level at which we speak in the classroom should be a bit above our students’ one or ones. Only in that way will they learn and acquire that tongue. So our level, the one we use in the classes should not be much above our students’ ones nor much lower those levels. Our students will thus acquire English or whatever tongue we teach. Acquiring is a not aware way of learning. Learning is the way they get the language in an aware way, by studying, reading, listening, etc. Acquisition, on the other hand, is subconscious. And can teens or adults also acquire a language? They can, indeed. One example of acquisition is when we are reading a book in the target language: we may be acquiring the language without being conscious of that fact. / Photo from: 30s cars theglobeandthemail com. If you compare 40s cars with 30s cars you can ...

  Lately I’m having more lessons with adults. They’re great and very grateful and kind. Also they’re more demanding than most of kids. Now, these days I’m trying to make out their levels. There are two levels, two groups, but each student has his or her own level anyway! There should be more groups, but this far it’s only two groups. I have to combine multiple leveled-activities. And also I only have one lesson per group in the week at one of my schools! / Photo from: Heathrow Airport. They’re learning English also for traveling abroad.