From Intern to Teacher by DANG THI VAN DI

Contents
❖ Common Beliefs
❖ Initial Tips
❖ Choice of Teaching Methods
❖ Classroom Management
❖ Teaching Techniques
❖ General
❖ Specific
❖ Questions Time

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As a teacher

1. What do you think is an ideal English class?

2. What are your expectations of a class before starting to

teach it?

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 Common Beliefs
❖ Learners’ level of proficiency
❖ stated level
❖ same level

BUT
❖ mixed abilities

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 Common Beliefs
❖ Learners’ behaviors
❖ cooperative
❖ learning-oriented

BUT
❖ disruptive
❖ know-all

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 Common Beliefs
❖ Medium of instruction
❖ target language (English) only
❖ native language (Vietnamese) only

SO…
❖ top priority = learners’ comprehension and learning

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 Common Beliefs
❖ Use of teaching and learning activities
❖ overuse of activities and games
❖ use of all activities given in textbooks

BUT
❖ emphasis = achievement of learning outcome(s)

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 Tips - Planning First Lessons
❖ Use the coursebook.
❖ A lesson is a sequence of activities.
❖ Learn something about the students.
❖ Plan student-focused activities.
❖ Make a written plan of the running order of activities.
❖ Consider aims (learning-outcomes).
❖ Focus on fluency or accuracy.
❖ Have at least one emergency activity.
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 Tips - Starting to Teach

❖ Talk to the students when they come into the room.

❖ Learn names as soon as possible.
❖ Teaching doesn’t mean ‘talking all the time’.
❖ Teaching doesn’t mean ‘teaching’ all the time.
❖ Teach and check.

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 Teaching Methods
❖ Grammar-Translation ???
❖ Audio-Lingual ???
❖ CLT ???
❖ Task-Based ???
❖ CLIL?
❖ Lexical ???

=> Learner-centeredness

=> Learning-outcome-based
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 Classroom Management
❖ Teacher as a “Balanced Leader”
❖ Set limits
❖ Clearly state expectations
❖ Follow routines and procedures
❖ Provide learners with freedom and responsibilities
❖ Offer choice
❖ Value learners
❖ Invite learners’ involvement
(McDonald & Hershman, 2010)
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 Classroom Management
❖ Additional roles
❖ Mediator
❖ Tutor
❖ Leader
❖ Caregiver
❖ Listener
❖ Problem solver
❖ Disciplinarian
(McDonald & Hershman, 2010)
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 Classroom Management
❖ Student Groupings

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 Classroom Management
❖ Voice
❖ Volume
❖ Articulation and Pronunciation
❖ Stress and Intonation
❖ Speed
❖ Use of language

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 Classroom Management
❖ Use of board
❖ Make your writing clear enough to see.
❖ Don’t waste too much time writing on the board.
❖ Dependence upon technology
❖ Computers
❖ PPT slides
❖ Attire
❖ Demeanor

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 Teaching Techniques
❖ Discovery and Experiential Learning
❖ Expert Advice (one group responsible for one part of the
lesson)
❖ Research Projects
❖ Problem-based learning and teaching
❖ Developing learners’ autonomy
❖ Oral presentations
❖ Teacher talk vs. Learner talk
❖ Making connections between subject areas/ topics/ lessons
❖ Concept checking
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 Teaching Techniques
❖ Learning-outcome-based teaching and learning
❖ Motivating learners
❖ Trying to teach those who do not want to learn is
impossible because they will resist the teacher. So try to
motivate learners to want to learn instead. (Glasser, 1998)
❖ Clearly stated purpose of the lesson/ activity
❖ Talk time

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 Teaching Grammar

Explanation
(Teacher tells learners.)

Guided Discovery
(Teacher helps learners to tell themselves.)

Self-Directed Discovery
(Learners tell themselves.)

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 Teaching Grammar
Guided Discovery
❖ Questions about form (How many words are there in the
sentence?)
❖ Questions about functions (Is this formal or informal?)
❖ Problems and puzzles (Put these words in the right order.)
❖ Reflecting on use (Why did you use that tense?)
❖ Hypothesizing rules (Is this possible? Why is that correct?)
❖ Sentence analysis (Cross out any unnecessary words.)
❖ Contexts and situations (Look at this picture. What’s
happening?)
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 Teaching Lexis

❖ Vocabulary vs. lexis

❖ Single-word vocabulary items
❖ Collocations (heavy traffic)
❖ Chunks / Multi-word items (I’d rather not say, someone
you can talk to)

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 Teaching Lexis

Stages of learning lexis

❖ Meeting new lexical items + understanding them and
their use(s)
❖ Practicing using them
❖ Memorizing them
❖ Recalling them + using them

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 Teaching Lexis

Dealing with lexis during reading or listening work

❖ Deal with an item when students specifically ask about
it
❖ Give brief explanations or translations
❖ Offer help quietly to the students who ask (not the
whole class)
❖ Sometimes refuse help

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 Teaching Lexis
After the first phase of listening or reading work
❖ Can you guess the meaning of this word from the meaning of the
text around it?
❖ Find some words in the text that mean …
❖ Find some words in the text connected with the subject of …
❖ In line …, what does … mean?
❖ Why does the writer use the word … here?
❖ Can you remember any other phrases you know with this word in
them?
❖ What’s the opposite of this word?
❖ etc.
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 Teaching Lexis
❖ Collect lexical items.
❖ Sort and classify items.
❖ Spot chunks and collocations.
❖ When an error comes up, review a range of collocations.
❖ Record real language.
❖ Challenge students to upgrade language.
❖ The food has a not interesting taste.
❖ dull, bland
❖ Give collocations rather than definitions. (late vs. delayed)
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 Teaching Productive Skills
❖ Fluency, accuracy and communication
❖ Fluency first, accuracy later
❖ Scaffolding
❖ Showing interest and agreement
❖ Asking for clarification and information
❖ Giving a word/phrase the speaker is looking for
❖ etc.

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 Teaching Speaking

Speaking - Discussion Classes

❖ Topic and cues
❖ Structuring talk
❖ Avoiding the talk-talk loop
❖ Open-ended questions vs. close-ended questions (What
do you think about noise pollution? vs. Is noise
pollution a bad thing?)

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 Teaching Receptive Skills

BOTTOM-UP TOP-DOWN

Making use of what already

known to predict the
Building up messages
structure and content of the
from individual small
text, and getting a general
pieces overall impression of the
message

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 Teaching Writing
❖ Introduce the topic
❖ Introduce and summarize the main writing task
❖ Brainstorm ideas
❖ Select and reject ideas
❖ Sort and order ideas
❖ Decide on specific requirements: style, information, layout, etc.
❖ Focus on useful models
❖ Plan the text
❖ Get feedback
❖ Prepare draft(s)
❖ Edit
❖ Prepare final text
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 Teaching Listening
❖ Keep the recording short.
❖ Play the recording a sufficient number of times.
❖ Let students discuss their answers together.
❖ Don’t immediately acknowledge correct answers; throw the
answers back to the class.
❖ Don’t be led by one strong student.
❖ Play little bits of recording again and again until it’s clear.
❖ Give help if students are stuck (to get them work it out - not
giving answers).
❖ Don’t let them lose heart. Tasks should be difficult but
achievable.
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 Teaching Reading

❖ Reading for detail (intensive reading)

❖ Skimming and scanning
❖ Extensive reading

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 References
❖ Glasser, W. M. D. (1998). Choice theory in the classroom.
HarperCollins.
❖ McDonald, E. S. & Hershman, D. M. (2010). Classroom
that sparks. Jossey-Bass.
❖ Scrivener, J. (2011). Learning teaching: The essential
guide to English language teaching (3rd ed.). Macmillan

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