Viv's EFLT course 01

 

by Viv Quarry (www.vivquarry.com)

 

Setting up a language course

 

I haven't heard of many English teachers becoming a millionaires, but, in my opinion there are few careers more satisfying and rewarding than teaching. Sometimes I meet ex-students who I have helped to realize their goals in life by living and working in an English speaking country or getting a highly-paid position in a company where they need to use English professionally, and it's a very nice feeling to know that I was, in a small part, instrumental in helping them on their way.

 

Ideally, if you want to teach English as a foreign language, it's best to do a teacher training course at a recognised and established language school, preferably in a country where English is spoken. This school should have highly competent and qualified teachers and teacher trainers, and the course should include practical teaching tasks involving actual language learners (perhaps having free classes where the trainee teachers can practice) and lesson observations of the in-house teachers at the school. However, it isn't always possible to invest the time and money necessary to do one of these teacher training courses, so Viv has put down some ideas to assist you if you would like to help others gain a basic knowledge of the English language.

 

1. The teaching environment

 

a) Physical factors

 

The first factors to bear in mind when trying to set up a language course are related to how and where the lessons will take place, and what teaching facilities will be available.

A room of adequate size, with appropriate furniture, lighting and acoustics will be necessary.

The size of the room and number of chairs will directly affect both student/teacher comfort and the number of students it will be possible to include in a class.

The most common classroom furniture is chairs with a board attached to one arm, this board may either be fixed in place or possible to move out of the way. An alternative to this layout is to have chairs set behind a horseshoe of individual tables; in this case the tables shouldn't be too large so that they can be easily moved for students to work in pairs or groups of 4, 6 or 8 students sitting around one table. Other factors to be born in mind when evaluating lesson location are: background noise - are there times of the day when outside noise e.g. traffic may intrude? Is the classroom located near another room or area which is particularly noisy at specific times of the day? In the summer will there be too much noise or other pollution if the windows are open? If not, is there adequate air-conditioning for a class with the maximum accepted number of students? If classes are at night, or you will be in a room with no exterior windows, is the lighting sufficiently bright for a student who may not have very good eyesight? Once, when I was being interviewed for a teaching position in Barcelona (at a school called 'Ediepe'), the interview was conducted in a small room with terrible acoustics. As soon as I started to answer the first question I realised that if I didn't moderate the tone of my voice carefully, the resulting sound was distorted by some feature of the room (I have a feeling that this room had been chosen because of this anomaly). Therefore, when selecting a room, decide where you would like the teacher's table to be, stand in front of it and speak clearly in a loud voice. You'll instantly be able to recognise if the room acoustics will distort your voice. If you're not sure, record yourself speaking and play it back.

 

b) Teaching aids

 

In my opinion, the minimum teaching aids necessary for teaching groups must include a whiteboard or a flip chart (several large blank sheets of paper on a support, which can be removed or turned over) in a location visible to the whole class, and good audio facilities for course listening material, songs etc. If  you use a whiteboard of flip chart, a bank of flashcards and other teaching materials is useful. Being able to use Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) is also highly recommended.

The best equipped classrooms will have a Smart Board with a bank of lessons and materials,  a broadband internet connection, and access to all types of digital media (films, TV, music, photos).  There will also be enough computers (at least one per student) to act as a language laboratory with facilities for recording the students (both on audio and film) and playback. The computers should also include a range of CAL programs. A library with books for teachers and simplified books for students at different levels and self-access materials (digital or hard copy) would be a bonus. Furthermore, a bank for supplementary teaching materials and games, an on-site photocopier and machine for plastifying materials is also useful to have.

 

2. The students

 

a) Streaming

 

The formation of classes must be done carefully to ensure that students with considerably different levels of English are not in the same group. Before allocation in a class, ideally each student should be evaluated both orally (to check pronunciation and fluency) and by written test (to check knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and functions). During the short interview, if possible done by a teacher, as well as level evaluation, the interviewer should also check that the potential student has the motivation to learn (why do you want to learn English?), and know that they will only be successful if they can dedicate time to study between classes (will you be able to dedicate at least one hour per week to reading, writing and grammatical homework?). The students should recognise that their success will depend on the work THEY do, more than on what the teacher does. This interview also gives the teacher the opportunity to inform students of the materials they will need to buy and bring to class (notebook, pens, small ruler, pencil, rubber). If you are evaluating a large number of potential students at one time, this interview could take place while the others are doing the written level evaluation test, if necessary in interviews of two or three students at a time. However, many people will be shy about speaking English in front of potential colleagues. During the interview, the teacher should note down names and give an estimate of their level, which will be confirmed when the written level evaluation test is checked. For a list of the different levels of English and description of what they involve see Viv's Levels of English worksheet.

Apart from knowledge of English alone, if possible, students should be streamed according to age (children need different course materials, teenagers work best with other teenagers and adults don't usually like being mixed up with the other age groups), and social position (If the president of a company is in the same class as lower level employees, this may cause problems not directly related to language learning). Just after his initial training, when teaching in Spain, Viv taught a group of five students in a company just outside Barcelona. The group included the president, head of accounting, a senior executive and a low level employee. The president wanted to answer all the questions and the low level employee was too embarrassed to speak up in front of the 'big boss'. Viv was forced to politely but firmly insist that the president let the employee speak, and direct questions to him by name.

 

b) Class allocation

 

Once you have divided your students up into groups of more or less the same level, you might have to make further selections depending on the maximum number of students that the classroom can accommodate comfortably, bearing in mind that certain numbers of students are better from the point of view of group dynamics (twelve is generally agreed to be the ideal number of students in a class because it allows for pairs and groups of three, four and six students). During class allocation, the oral interview may be important in deciding which students have the personality or level of motivation which may allow them to survive in a class slightly above their level (and work harder to catch up) or would be better with a group slightly below their level (where they will gain confidence speaking English without the stress of dealing with too many new structures).

 

3. Selecting course material

 

After class groups have been formed, the next stage is to select course materials which are appropriate for them. Some teachers and language schools don't use a course book as the basis for language courses, but for this to happen, a very competent syllabus designer must be involved in designing and ordering materials which cover all the necessary grammatical and lexical content as well as the functions and skills work related to passing from one level to the next within the time limit set by the duration of the course. It is also important that students can perceive their progress through a level and perceive 'the end of the tunnel'! Syllabus design is an extremely complicated area and involves balancing hundreds of different factors, so unless you have devoted a great deal of time to studying this discipline, I would recommend using a recognised course book as a basis for your courses, supplementing it with your own material whenever you feel that it is appropriate. From a practical point of view, course books designed by professional syllabus designers also have the advantage that students can easily access, revise and transport most of their course material and not have to deal with a disorganised mountain of photocopies or digital material in no logical sequence. Course books also come with tested listening material, progress tests and a work book which can be used for homework exercises. Last but not least, a good course book will also have a teacher's book with useful advice on how to present the content of the course. A good teacher's book in invaluable for someone who is starting to teach English for the first time. The prohibitive factor about using a course book is cost. I use photocopies of the first few units of the course book to start with, and when I'm sure that the level is appropriate, I ask students to buy the book. Don't forget to stress right at the beginning, that your more motivated students don't try to complete all the exercises in one go, before covering the material in class!! Don't include progress tests or the answer key to workbook exercises (if they are included in the workbook, I recommend cutting them out). If you do this, the exercises and tests will no longer have any pedagogical value.

 

Here is are some of the course books Viv uses:

General English - The Headway series.

Cambridge examination preparation:  Objective First Certificate.

 

Homework activity: Prepare five questions you could ask in an oral level evaluation interview.

 

You're now ready to start planning your first lesson!! :-)