10 things I’ve learned from teaching to encourage greater spontane! 1 better teachin: Begin ith the sts themselves whenever vou can, eg board drawing activity, thei day oomey © school, Fraxressions of what's in the news, stories, plan, et. to see where it goes in ERBHSM Rather than a pre- impress ormer work with what you seed feel as that’s more likely to come from them, & so be more relevant. Use PW as much as possible, before, during & after any activity? Eg during reading, Pat checking before Use pecking answers. Virtually any activity can be done in pairs and, when teaching speaking, is by far the most efficient formation. ‘Truly prioritise fluency / successful communication, Try to help & push sts to really get Across what cray'e tying to express however broken their English. Teach without inital input to see what ss cin a Neither sts nor Ts can be intuitive if solely focusing on accuracy, eg don't always wait unit everyone’s finished before checking answers. Plan to be flexible. Build flexibility into your plans & prioritise the class itself over any fixed lesson procedurefihe syllabus, Get out of the textbook & into their words & their worlds asap, T used 10 rush, Frrough my plan. Now I prepare fully but plan less. Leave space in youy plag for spontgnegis monte Keep something in your back pocket but don’t expect to we it, =7 fe" lees ws M0 races Ityou're bored, you can bet they are, so change something! You can & should be changing something every 3 minutes oF $0, €g activity, focus, pace, skill, partner, volume, your/their physical positon, E- Dom become trapped by a plan/textbook, eg Use the pause button on cassettes, stop mid-reading (0 feflectpredieVabandon rather than always plough on to the end, Abandon ship/change course as soon 3 you think something isn’t worthwhile, eg a lengthy or over-diffcult istening/reading text Don't cush without enough practice. It stops spontaneous/real language use. Don’t drown sis in New Fenpuage nor try to teach too much too quickly, just because ofan exam or a sylabus. Thats ‘display not teaching & leaves too little time for enjoying language & experimenting with it until it becomes ‘your ven “Peach less & practice more, recycle & extend rather than constantly look for the new eg try 10 Keep cence vocabulary & practise itn new situations rather than keep introducing more & more words. Limit The number of new words you explain each lesson. There's litle point in rushing through an overlong ool/syltabus, IF you're stuck with one, its better to fel sts to read it at home & provide keys, et. for them 0 oso. Make them move. Re-seat sts at least once a class, Virtually any exchange ean become a mingle & son excuse to change partners/positions/groups. Make sts do more/most of the work, eg, get off stage as fast as you can, explain/instruct less & exemplify more, use pairwork for most exercises, eg for instant practice of new language & so take the pressure off ‘you to perform, so you can listen, observe & help more appropriately. Trains st sto listen to cach other, not just to you. They can even prepare parts of your lessons if you show them how, eg make their own tongue twister Personalise & vary your methods, eg to practise listening use your own unscripted anecdotes as a source of real’ listening comprehension to recycle recent language. Pre-set a few gist Qs, tell your story a fast as pee fa sts can manage, have pairs check their answers, then tell it again, as naturally as possible (ghost ory). Share the aj ia & train sts to be st too, ¢5 i it bs end 10 be spontaneous t00, eg correct in different ways on different days & negotiate pedagogy with sts, give choices of homework, ete. Seek feedback on any/everything, Encourage prediction, guessing pronunciation of new words or answers before you tell them & self-evaluation. Encourage auger. ‘aught yourself to encourage others to do the same (not just laugh at yout). ‘en you stop being just ‘another teacher’, sts talk to you in a different mn zy about a new toy/website/place you don’t know, etc. you aaaalaacomeaeee lace Contact: seligsonpa@yahoo.co.uk For freelance training, ves etc: www.up-consultants.b| Sgadewih, we Tacs ahs Gon.