My student is a low beginner. Where and how do I start?

One way or another, we have or perhaps will experience teaching a student who is a low beginner. Generally, low beginners are described as having limited comprehension skills, communication, and vocabulary. They have difficulty understanding sentences despite repeating and altering the words. And so with this in mind, the question now is where should you start?

Based on my experience, I started the lessons with basic vocabulary. Before your student can understand grammar concepts it is important to familiarize them first with English words. You could follow a book or you could also base it on a theme. For instance, vocabulary words related to clothing, transportation, or occupation can be a good start. Basic English conversations can also be introduced. You could teach them about greetings, introductions or even how to express likes and dislikes. Once you see that your student has shown improvement and is knowledgeable about basic vocabulary words, then you can advance to the first steps of grammar.

Handling low beginners can be challenging because this kind of setting will test your effectiveness as an instructor. This may be a chance to assess yourself to find out how efficient you are in delivering the lessons to your students. Good luck! ^ ^

Helpful resource for ideas on basic English conversation for low beginners: ESLgold

Teachers' ideas on ways to avoid boredom in class

I already have a recent post about how to break the monotony in class and it also contained my own ways of handling this common situation. However, I wasn't satisfied with sharing just my thoughts on this, so figured it would be better if fellow ESL teachers could also share their own ideas. I posted this topic on teachers forums and also asked some teachers for their advice and here is what they have to share:

1. Activity: Story telling

         Provide a short story for your student to read but reveal the ending of the story. Ask your students to re-tell the story in their own words and also challenge them to think of a suitable ending for the story. This activity can help your students develop their creativity and also practice their speaking skills. This is also a good opportunity for your students to learn new vocabulary words along the way.


     2.  Activity: Question and Answer

         When your students are bored, one sure way to get their attention back is to make them talk. For this activity, you need to make a list of questions to ask your students. Try to make questions based on a theme or a topic, like holidays, shopping, environmental problems, etc, or you could also make fun, random, out-of-nowhere questions. Don't be satisfied with yes or no answers. Keep them talking by challenging them to give you an answer in not less than 5 sentences.
         To help you out with this activity, try visiting Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom for questions on different topics.


     3. Activity: Spin the Wheel

      
         For this activity you're going to need a spin wheel just like the image above. You're going to fill each slot with different tasks.  Each of your students will then take turns in spinning the wheel. When it stops check which slot the arrow is pointing to, this is the task your student should do. Make it fun by filling it with missions according to difficulty (easy, average, difficult).
         This would work best with group classes.


      4. Remember:  Warm-Ups and Time-Fillers are essential

        Every ESL teacher must know the importance of having warm-up and time-filler activities for you class. These activities help catch your student's attention and it also helps bring energy to your class on days when your students aren't in the mood or are just plain bored. Warm-ups and time-fillers are also great for filling up time when your lessons run shorter than expected.


      5. Free-talking
         Most of the respondents suggested that free-talking is what gets their students awake on ho-hum classes. Teachers recommend that you find what fancies your students the most and pretty much go from there. Based on their experiences, male students are usually very much into sports, music and movies. Females on the other hand enjoy talking mostly about fashion, celebrities and TV drama series. If in case you aren't familiar with their interests, I suggest reading up about it and sharing what you've read to let them know that you also consider their interests.



-- Thanks to Teachers Harvz, Carmi, Gyan, Teen, Jackielyn and Frances for the input :))

Help! My student's bored!

ESL education here in the Philippines is most commonly done on a one-on-one basis that could last for several months. I hate to admit it but I believe that some of you might agree with me that this kind of set up can sometimes be a wearisome routine. Especially if you meet with your student for an hour a day, five times a week. Monotony could be the culprit in affecting your student's performance and attitude towards class. So how do we deal with this?
What I usually do first off  is to plan the whole month's lessons and activities very well. Aside from following a syllabus, I always try to vary my lessons twice a week. And I declare Fridays to be Free-days. Free days are when we steer away from our workbook and do different activities such as games, listening exercises, sharing and discussing interesting videos (could be movie trailers, funny videos, music videos or sports clips) from Youtube and of course, speaking activities about random topics.
At times when I notice that my student is especially quiet or distracted, I call for a breather and I use up the time to do quick activities or games. I make a list of short activities or games that we can do during times like this, one of them would be a game I call "Give me 10!". This game is very simple and can be played by any level. All you have to do is ask your student to give you a list of 10 things about a certain topic. For instance, ask your student for 10 things he/she did in the last 2 hours, or 10 things you can find in his/her room, or 10 things that didn't exist 50 years ago, or 10 random facts about themselves etc etc.
I'm presently doing a quick survey of tips on how to avoid boredom in class from fellow ESL teachers. I hoping I could get their opinions by tomorrow and I'll definitely share it with you guys :)

First day, first class. What to talk about?

So we've all had our own share of experiences about "first day of classes". For some newbie tutors, this often causes stress and anxiety. Questions like "what should we talk about?", "how do I start?" or "what if he/she really can't understand a word I say?" would be running through your mind.  But the first meeting should be anything but stressful.

When you first meet your student, think of it as meeting a new friend. Introduce yourself and also take time to get to know your student. At times when we feel nervous, we tend to just blabber away so as to avoid any awkward silence. As much as it is tempting to do so, this should be avoided at all times. You are in the position to help your students improve their English communication skills, you're not there for them to just listen to. Conversations should always be a two-way street. Talk and share, and learn to listen too.  

After greetings and introductions are done, what next? Unless you are given instructions to teach a certain sample lesson, you can always choose an interesting topic for discussion. Don't forget that some points should be taken into consideration when choosing a certain topic. First of all find out what your student's level is. Is he/she beginner, intermediate or advanced? Second, how old is your student? And finally, what is your student's nationality? Not all topics can be openly discussed by everyone. Use these as guides for choosing topics in the Internet. Remember, it's as easy as pie to search Google for interesting topics but not all search results can be suitable for your student's age, level and nationality. 

Let me share how I usually handle first meetings. The general questions I ask are: 

• Can you tell me 10 random things about yourself? (Aside from your age, your school/office and what you do)
• Why do you want to study English? (This is a very common question, I assume everyone has asked this several times already but it's still a hit)
• How do you normally spend your free time or what do you usually do during weekends?
• Do you have any sport?
• What's your favorite activity?
• Any recent movie's you've seen/books you've read? How was it?

The list could be endless just don't forget to be creative with your follow-up questions. It would be a big help if you try and find out your student's interests and you can focus on discussing that. One tip I always share with inexperienced ESL tutors is to make a list of general questions to ask or topics to talk about so that you won't run out of things to say. 

I hope I have somehow enlightened newbie tutors everywhere. You are all welcome to comment and share your own first meeting experiences. I'd love to hear from fellow ESL tutors. Cheers to us all!