ESL students will come to class with differences in ability and background. Some students may have studied English, while others have had little or no formal English language instruction. There may be a wide span in ages or have different purposes for learning English.
My role as the teacher is to determine each student’s needs and goals and provide them with meaningful lessons, and useful, practical skills. Once the goal is determined, students can be assessed to determine their level.
The research illuminates that in addition to proven techniques, constant monitoring and assessment is an important aspect to teaching ESL students. Teachers should take into account students’ readiness, interests, and learning profiles. In assessing I would design tasks that would provide me with all aspects of their learning. Assessments are one way to observe and monitor student learning. Assessments can be used to measure a student’s general language ability and help improve teacher instruction. Self assessments, portfolios, journal writing, and project work can also be used to assess a student’s abilities.
Using results from the assessments, I will have a better understanding of the students’ abilities which should be used to guide my instruction. Upon discussing students’ goals and reviewing the assessment results, lessons can be designed. Lessons should be meaningful and take into account students’ strengths and weaknesses. In addition, appropriate materials and tasks that support a multitude of learning styles should be employed.
There are many materials and teaching aides to be used in the classroom but they should reflect TESOL philosophy in making the learning environment natural, fun, and desired by students. Teaching should incorporate a multi-modal approach and materials should be meaningful to the students and lessons. I personally like the idea of thematic units. Thematic units can be useful for both adults and children.
I plan to use a variety of teaching aids, materials and strategies to meet the TESOL philosophy. The five language learning strategies for TESOL are cognitive, mnemonic, metacognitive, affective, and social and are invaluable tools that can be incorporated within every class meeting. Cognitive strategies can be used to help learners make and strengthen associations between new and already known information and facilitate the mental restructuring of information. Mnemonic strategies can be incorporated to teach learners how to link a new item with something known, which are useful for memorizing information in an orderly string. Metacognitive strategies help learners manage themselves as learners, the general learning process, and specific learning tasks. Social strategies facilitate learning with others and help learners understand the culture of the language they are learning.
One TESOL approach I plan to use within my classroom is art and musical. Utilizing both sides of the brain is a great key to learning another language. Art can be used to draw pictures of new words or create stories about pictures. Songs are repetitive and fun and help with retention. The use of art, music, going on walks in the environment, charades, games, role playing, poems, chants, DVD’s, and class projects all create fun situations in which students can interact in English. Another approach that I feel would be useful is total physical response. TPR engages students in motivating learning activities. It is based on the theory that the 3 principles to learning a first language are listening before speaking, learning is associated with body movements, and listening skills are a preparation for speaking. When a direction is given it should go with an action. In a second language, spoken language needs to be understood before speaking it, movements of the body develop understanding, and students begin to speak without being forced. A script must be prepared before each lesson so that the same language is used. The teacher must build on the previous lesson using the same language and introducing new language. TPR is best used with beginner level students.
There are many resources, materials, and philosophies for teaching English as a second language. The most important thing, however, is to appreciate the students for who they are, and their levels, and their motivation. They are, and will continue to be, the source of inspiration as an ESL teacher.
TESOL Viewpoint brings alumni essays on teaching English as a second language. This viewpoint focuses on using students’ skills to guide English instruction.