Hot Topic: Using Students' L1 in Class

I started studying Spanish in 7th grade and all the way through middle school and high school my teachers taught me Spanish by using English. Only when I got to university did my teachers start using Spanish to teach Spanish.

Nowadays, people frown upon using students' L1 in class. While this might be because many of the teachers teaching EFL don't speak the students' native language. The other reason might be because teachers feel that students can learn faster if they just use English in class.

While this may be true, imagine how you would feel if you walked into a classroom and the teacher only spoke the target language. As a complete beginner this might be extremely daunting. You might feel frustrated or even give up. Granted, there are some gifted teachers who can only use the target language and have students understand, but many teachers don't adjust their language enough and both the students and teachers end up feeling frustrated.

I know from personal experience, when I started to study Korean, the teacher only spoke Korean. It wasn't the simple L+1 either, it was more like L+10. I ended up feeling very frustrated and upset at the teacher as well as myself. If she wrote on the board, I'd have to look up practically every word. She moved very quickly through the lessons as well. Even though I didn't understand, I didn't have the language ability to ask her. Nor did she have the English needed.

So what should you do? First, you need to adjust your language. Speak slower and simplify your vocabulary. IF you speak the students' L1, you might want to use it every once in a while. I'm not advocating saying everything in the students' L1 and then translating into English, but a word or two here and there can help. If you don't feel comfortable speaking the students' L1 or don't know it, try writing on the board or asking a higher student to help translate. If you're dealing with very low students, you might want to write what you're going to say on the board first, so that students can read along. This allows them to listen and read what is being said.

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Why Do Schools Use Crummy Books?

From npr.org

There are some bad textbooks out there. They're often in-house productions made by non-native English speakers. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if they're going to do something they need to do it right.

• Proof-reading and fixing mistakes is one. 
• Having good content is another. 
• Not breaking copyright laws is a third.

You know the sayings, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" and "don't re-invent the wheel", well, there are plenty of fantastic coursebooks out there, written by professional ESL writers who often have decades of experience. While I agree that you'll have to tailor the books to suit your students' needs, you might still be able to use them and just supplement a bit rather than writing a whole course.

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Make Use of Native English Speakers

From hkonul.wordpress.com

I can't tell you how many times I've been to schools that have native English speakers working there, as teachers, and there are grammar, vocab, spelling, or punctuation mistakes. I'm not talking about minor mistakes, but major ones.

The reason is simple. Even though they have native teachers there, they don't use them. They put their info in Google Translate and use it. On websites, billboards, posters, in books, and on paper, they have tons of mistakes.

It wouldn't be too hard to remedy this. All they'd have to do is ask the native speakers to help edit any and everything in English. Better yet, hire someone specifically to do this. People need to swallow their pride and ask for help. If native speakers have people proof-read their work, then non-native speakers should as well. It'll make your school look better and people will stop laughing at mistakes and putting them up on Engrish.com

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Cool Link: Edu Place

Mainly used to supplement Houghton Mifflin Harcourt materials, there are other resources on Edu Place that might interest you. It targets preschool to Grade 6. If you're teaching in a Spanish speaking country, you might want to check out their Bilingual Resources.

They also have interesting things such as graphic organisers, spelling lists, current events, monthly themes, outline maps and a whole lot more. In addition to resources for teachers, they also have things for student and families. So if you teach children or young learners, check out their site.

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Cool Link: ABC Teach

If you teach K-8 or at an international school, then take a look at ABC Teach. They've got lots of free materials, like subjects, reading comprehension, holidays, ABCs, interactive, as well as sections divided by levels, and even a special needs section. It's easy to navigate, bright, and colourful.

There is also a tools section which allows you to generate all types of worksheets such as games like bingo and sudoku, or activity sheets, spelling, and ABCs.

They also have a paid membership section which costs about $40 a year. They also have discounts for groups, schools, and districts.

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Cool Link: ESL-Kids

Simple, well organised, yet chocked full of good stuff, ESL-Kids has flashcards, worksheets, in-class activities, songs, and games that you can use with young learners and children.

Their flashcards have topics such as actions, the ABCs, animals, holidays, family, 123s, and jobs. Their worksheet section is great because you have two choices: you can choose pre-set ones or make your own. There are writing practice worksheets, text, tracing, matching, multiple choice, drawing, spelling, and games that you can make with their worksheet generator. The songs and games section is definitely worth a visit since kids love singing and always beg for games. Check out ESL-Kids if you teach children, your students will love you for it.

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Cool Link: Dave's ESL Cafe Idea Cookbook

You can find lots of ideas for your classes in the idea cookbook at Dave's ESL Cafe. If you go to the submit tab it says that new submissions will be accepted in 2008. Obviously that date is long past so you can safely assume that no more ideas will be added, but that can be good since you won't have to wade through tons of mediocre ideas. The ones in the Idea Cookbook are good.

They've got ideas such as how to teach Business English, discipline, games, grammar, ice breakers, the 4 skills, vocabulary, textbooks, and a whole lot more.  All the ideas are arranged alphabetically so it's easy to see where you left off.

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Cool Link: Super Teacher Worksheets

Super Teacher Worksheets is dedicated to providing teachers with great worksheets for a variety of subjects. They have ELA - Language Arts, which is useful if you teach ESL or EFL.

They also have core subjects, such as math, reading and writing, phonics (for teaching English to young learners), grammar (which also might be of interest to ESL and EFL teachers), spelling, science and social studies as well as holiday worksheets. Their puzzles and brain teasers are worth checking out no matter what subject you teach.

There's also a teacher helpers section which has teaching tools, award certificates, and sticker charts. Super Teacher Worksheets is incredibly well organised and everything is easy to find, so take a look and see if there's anything you can use in your classroom.


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Cool Link: Ship or Sheep

It's not uncommon for ESL and EFL teachers to hear, "Teacher, how can I improve my speaking skills?" or "How can I improve my English pronunciation?" Obviously, the best way to improve is to practice speaking English.

Ship or Sheep is a great website that helps students practice minimal pairs. Not only can students see the differences in spelling and phonics, but they can also hear the differences.

The next time a student asks you how they can improve their speaking skills, point them to Ship or Sheep.

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Cool Link: English Zone

English Zone is packed full of useful material for English teachers. True to their name they've got different zones on their site, such as grammar, idioms, reading, spelling, verbs, writing, fun stuff, vocabulary, and much more. They also have free worksheets as well as links to other sites that might help you out.  The teacher zone has some good material, such as rubrics. It is well organised and has lots of good tips, tricks, and material, so it's definitely worth checking out.

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Cool Link: Famous People Lessons

Famous People Lessons is a great way to link history with TEFL.  It was created by Sean Banville and he has a couple of other websites, Breaking News English is one of them, about teaching English as well. There are people from around the world so you can teach your students about a wide variety of cultures as well.

There  are a wide variety of exercises such as reading, matching, fill in the blank, choose the correct word, spelling, ordering, scrambled sentences, discussions, writing, surveys, as well as homework exercises and answers. You could pick and choose which exercises you want to work with or use them all over the course of a week or a month.

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How to Use Rubrics for Assessment

Updated 18 February 2012

Rubrics help make grading faster and easier as well as more objective and fair. They are particularly useful when dealing with subjective issues such as speaking and writing. In addition, if students have questions about their grades you can show them exactly how they were graded.

For example, if you had to grade a writing project, you could tell your students that they will be graded on task completion, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, and organisation. For speaking you could grade your students on grammar, vocabulary, organisation, pronunciation, and interaction (if students are working in partners).

Sample Rubric Scales

• expectations not met, improvement needed, satisfactory, good, and excellent.
• beginning, developing, accomplished, good and excellent.
• novice, apprentice, junior, proficient, master.
• unsatisfactory, needs improvement, satisfactory, good, exemplary.

How to Use Rubrics
Make a grid with the sections to be graded on one side and the scale on the other. You can use a checklist, numbers according to how well they fulfilled that requirement, or write a description.

Then you simply tick the parts that correspond to the student's work. Teachers aren't the only one who can make rubrics. Involving students in the rubric making process gives them input and knowledge of the grading process. Try looking at the following for more info about rubrics:

• All you need to know about rubrics
• EdTech Kennesaw 
• Education World
• Florida Tech
• rCampus: they have thousands of examples
• RubiStar
• Teacher Vision 
• Webquest SDSU

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Teaching Grammar to ESL and EFL Students

Updated 17 February 2012

You might also be interested in:

• Listening
• Pronunciation
• Reading
• Speaking
• Vocabulary
• Writing

There are many ways to teach your students grammar. All these tips came from a workshop by Julio Valladares at the University of Piura, Peru.

• Make sure that when explaining grammar students are aware of the form (such as "to be", past participle, etc), function (reason for using it) and have examples to look at.
• Try using songs with the grammar point you want to cover.
• Check out books by Raymond Murphy or Michael Swan.
• There are lots of lesson plans and worksheets in the lesson planning link
• Use timelines. They visually shows students when things are happening.
• Have students read a text and find the grammar point that you want to work on.
• Drawings can be fun. If you can't draw try bringing pictures to class.
• Use relia. These are real items, such as a backpack, can of soup, stuffed, animal, etc. If you can connect it to grammar, try it.
• Play games. There are ways to make learning fun.
• Cut a sentence up and have the students order it. This is good for practising word order.
• Personalise everything and make it real to the students. It has to relate to their lives.
• Come right out and explain the form and function of the grammar point.
• Give students examples, then tell them to practice, and finally gives them a grammar explanation.
• Have student look at a reading and say whether the sentences are grammatically correct or incorrect.
• Charts can be used for just about anything, such as form, function, singular, or plural.
• Say or write sentences and have students create rules based on the example sentences.
• Compare students' L1 and English.
• Compile a list of common mistakes and go over them in class.
• Use a variety of exercises. Fill in the blank/gap, open cloze, fix the mistake, multiple choice, word bank, matching, etc.

General Test Taking Tips

• Read the instructions first. It only takes a minute or two and can save you a lot of time if you look at the instructions.
• Forget cramming. You should study a little every day rather than trying to learn everything the night before.
• Eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day and is necessary to help you think.
• Bring your materials. Have your pencils, erasers, watch, and ID ready the night before.
• Go early. Make sure you leave your house ahead of time so that you get to the class a few minutes before the test begins.
• Pace yourself. If you've finished early, go back and check your answers.
• Check your answers. Make sure you haven't made any simple mistakes. And if you have, change them.
• Don't panic. It's just a test. The worst you can do is fail.
• Don't leave any blanks.

Specific Test Taking Tips for Grammar

• Make sure the verb agrees with the subject of the sentence.
• Watch the tense. If the sentence is in past, the verb should be in past too.
• Don't make simple mistakes. Remember the 3rd person singular "s"!
• Know parts of speech.
• Take notes. When you get the test, write the forms and function at the top so you have something to refer back to.

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Teaching Vocabulary to EFL and ESL Students

Updated 17 February 2012

You might also be interested in:

• Grammar
• Listening
• Pronunciation
• Reading
• Writing

Basic Tips

• Use it. You should use a word 10 times while speaking or 20 times while writing.
• Read. Reading will allow you to learn vocabulary passively. Best of all, it's fun!
• Study. People interested in teaching as a profession can earn an online teaching certificate from the comfort of their home.
• Play games. Scrabble, Boggle, Crosswords, or Vocabulary Bags can help students with vocabulary. 
• Look online. There are lots of lesson plans and worksheets in the lesson planning link.
• Mnemonics. Thinking of related words or pictures can help students remember vocab.
• A word a day. Use it correctly and you'll be on your way to having a larger vocabulary.
• Slangs and idioms. These are a part of English speakers everyday lives. Learning these expressions will help you on exams as well.
• Vocabulary cards or notebooks. Keeping a small notebook with you will help you make the most of your time and review vocab.
• Don't stare. Simply staring at a word won't help you commit it to memory. You have to use it.
• Look it up. Dictionaries are great for expanding your vocabulary.
• Take online tests. There are tons of websites that have vocabulary tests and games.
• Thesaurus. It's a book of synonyms and antonyms. It will help you use other words besides "good" or "bad".
• Roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Learning what they mean can help you understand new words.
• Groups words. Arrange them by themes, synonyms, antonyms, etc.
• Mental images. Think about the word. Visualise something that it reminds you of.
• Association. Associate the new vocabulary word with one that you already know.
• Rhyme. Create a rhyme using the vocabulary word.
• Create. Write a story or sentence that includes that word.
• Translate it. Sometimes it's easier to translate the word into your native language.
• Part of speech. Know what part of speech the word is and if it can be made into other parts of speech.
• Collocations. There are no reasons for collocations. They just have to be memorised.
• Spelling. Students spell the word aloud. It helps them remember it and review the English alphabet.
• More tips. How to teach your students vocab.

General Test Taking Tips

• Read and follow all the instructions. It only takes a minute or two and can save you a lot of time.
• Forget cramming. You should study a little every day. Don't try to learn everything the night before.
• Eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day and is necessary to help you think. 
• Bring your materials. Have your pencils, erasers, watch, and ID ready the night before.
• Go early. Make sure you leave your house ahead of time so that you get to the class a few minutes before the test begins.
• Pace yourself. Don't work too slowly or too quickly. If you've finished early, go back and check your answers.
• Check your answers. Make sure you haven't made any simple mistakes.
• Don't panic. It's just a test. The worst you can do is fail.

Specific Test Taking Tips for Vocabulary

• No blanks. Guess if you have to, but don't leave any blanks on a test.
• Eliminate answers. If there are four and you can eliminate two then you have a 50-50 chance.
• Move on. If you don't know the answer, guess and go to the next one.
• Go with your first answer. It's usually the correct one. 
• Same letter. Sometimes you may find the same letter repeating itself. That's ok. Don't second guess yourself.

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How Boys and Girls Learn Differently and What to Do About It

Updated 18 February 2012

These tips come from a workshop given by Lucrecia Rodriguez in Lima, Peru in 2008. You can find more tips at teaching boys and girls.

Catering to Girls

• Give extra encouragement when they do spatial activities like computer design.
• Let girls manipulate objects, build, design, and calculate.
• Use water and sand tables in science.
• Use puzzles to help with visual perception.
• Set up spatial lessons in groups to encourage discussion.
• Form groups and teams to promote leadership roles and negotiation skills.
• Play physical games to help develop gross motor skills.
• Encourage the quieter girls.
• The work environment should be clean, tidy, and well-lit.
• Put up pictures and posters.
• Take photos of girls completing tasks successfully.

Catering to Boys

• Make lessons experiential and kinesthetic. Allow for movement and noise.
• Give them breaks to stand up, stretch, and walk around.
• Give boys chores, such as sharpening pencils, helping the teacher, handing out papers, etc.
• Allow them to play with clay, crayons, or doodle while listening.
• Use bead work, blocks, legos and other manipulatives to encourage fine motor skills.
• Keep verbal instructions short. Use pictures, graphs, and diagrams when explaining.
• Use male mentors and role models.
• Allow boys to be a bit disorganised. Arrange tables and chairs further apart so that they have their own space.
• Increase computer based education.
• Use intellectual competition, such as math, spelling, or geography contests.
• Read more non-fiction in class. Boys like facts and information.

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Teaching Writing to ESL and EFL Students

Updated 18 February 2012

You might also be interested in

• Grammar
• Listening
• Pronunciation
• Reading
• Speaking
• Vocabulary
• Writing

Basic Tips

• Teach the writing process: (pre-writing, writing, editing, and proof-reading). Start with pre-writing, so that students can get their ideas down on paper. Graphic organisers, outlines, notes, brainstorming, and lists are some ways.
• In class: Allow plenty of time for the students to practise.
• Daily: Short writing assignments, such as diaries, free writing or poems don’t take up much time.
• It's the little things: Pay attention to vocabulary, structure, spelling and punctuation.
• Variety: Try to teach different things such as descriptive, persuasive, information, narrative, or creative writing. Things like writing an essay, letters, articles, description, reference letter, review, story, persuasive essay, guidebook entry, informative essay, email, job application, compare/contrast, notes, opinion, phone messages, or leaflets are also possible.
• Involve your students: Make it personal and make sure there’s a real life reason for writing. Keep the age, level, and reason for learning English in mind.
• Use comics. Erase the words, photocopy the blank comics and have students fill them in.
• Read: Don’t forget to have students read, it'll help them with their writing.
• Organise your lessons. Make a binder with worksheets and students’ work.
• Portfolios: Have the students create a writing portfolio.
• Music: Try playing music while students are writing.
  
• Make a question rule: Tell your students that before asking you for help first they have to ask two other students to help them.
• Organise the classroom: Dictionaries, thesauruses, grammar books, and other reference books are great for writing.
• Go online: Tell students about online resources such as Purdue's OWL. Some good websites for teaching writing are Outta Ray's Head Writing Lessons, Scholastic, and Teaching Ideas.You can also find good lesson plans online.
• Examples: Look at good and bad examples so that they know the difference and can see what they should and shouldn’t do.
• Feedback: Don’t forget to give feedback in the form of a class discussion, group correction, a meeting with the student, or written feedback.

Ways to Correct Writing
Many teachers dread correcting writing. It takes a long time, students don't really look at your corrections, and worst of all you're not getting paid for the extra time. Try drawing their attention to their mistakes and have them fix them. This saves you time and students will learn more.

• Focus on one area: Only correct one part: organisation, register/style, grammar, vocabulary, spelling/punctuation, etc.
• Use rubrics. They make grading much easier and help students know what they did well and what they need to improve.
• Use correction codes: For example "gr" means grammar, sp means spelling. Have the students correct their mistakes.
• Don't correct anything: Instead make general comments at the end. Tell them what their strengths and weaknesses are.
• Highlight mistakes: Then have the students correct them.

General Test Taking Tips

• Read and follow instructions. It only takes a minute or two and can save you a lot of time.
• Forget cramming. It wouldn't work. If you don't know the information a couple of days before the test, you simply don't know it. You should study a little every day. Don't try to learn everything the night before.
• Eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day and is necessary to help you think.
• Bring your materials. Have your pencils, erasers, watch, and ID ready the night before.
• Go early. Make sure you leave your house ahead of time so that you get to the class a few minutes before the test begins.
• Pace yourself. Don't work too slowly or too quickly. If you finish early go back and check your answers.
• Check your answers. Make sure you haven't made any simple mistakes.
• Don't panic. It's just a test. The worst you can do is fail.

Specific Test Taking Tips for Writing

• Keep to the word limit: Let your students know that they shouldn't waste their time counting every single word. They should count how many words are on one line then multiple it by the number of lines they've written.
• Answer all the questions: There are usually a few questions that need to be answered in each writing task. Make sure you answer all of them and allocate enough words for each section.
• Make an outline: Time is limited for writing exams, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take the time to plan. Creating a basic plan or outline is necessary for you to organise your ideas.
• Write legibly: Your handwriting doesn't have to be perfect but the teacher needs to be able to read it.
• Proof-read and edit: You should always re-read what you have written and fix the mistakes. If there are no mistakes see if you can make some simple changes to make your paper better.

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