English Teaching

Aruna, different teachers have different approaches. Assuming the class is under your command, i.e., there is discipline, then teaching can begin. I'm from the old school, so I believe there should be very good guiding textbooks. One for reading, one for writing, one for spelling, and one for conversation. It's important to take advantage of the window of opportunity, i.e., the first 20 minutes. After that, the attention span becomes affected. When that happens, a good hands-on activity that doesn't require a lot of mental willpower is useful.

Minimal homework should be required to instill responsibility. Self-study should be encouraged. Not more than 5 new spelling words per week as it takes repetition to set in long-term memory. There must be an evaluation system, i.e., tests and grades; even if it is only a pass-fail system. Parents must be involved in the processes.

Fun and game activities are always good teaching tools, as long as they do not supplant the real business of study and learning. Most students do not like to think, because thinking is work. But, should they do the work, then they should be rewarded with praise, good marks, and occasional prize.

When you ask about 'teaching tools' for English, perhaps, I can suggest better ideas should you mention specific categories and the level of students. For example, are they elementary or college level students? Is the category 'vocabulary,' i.e., spelling and definition. Obviously, the approaches and teaching tools would vary in this example.

Aruna, it's good to hear from you on the site and we hope that it helps you. "Ambiguous Bill"

Hey there Aruna,

There are tons of techniques, methods and approached that can be used in the classroom to make English easier to learn. Personally I like to work on checking and building schemata of my learners before striking out into any activity. You could think of schemata as the packets of knowledge and back ground information on something. Schemata can be about the content of a lesson, the cultural significance of an actuvity or the formal nature of the task (such as how to write an essay).

I find that when student lack the background knowledge in one of these areas students have a lot of trouble absording the language to be able to contribute during a lesson.

If you are interested in some of the approaches to second language teaching that are out there why don't you have a look at

http://www.englishraven.com/methodology.html

This is a good start to learning about how English language teaching has evolved over the years and the direction it is taking for the future. There is nothing much there on Schemata Theory, but if you want to know more about it just let me know and I'll post some more about it here.

For a great overall summary of methodology  

Dean