Teaching English as a second or foreign language can feel like navigating a pedagogical minefield. You want to be engaging, informative, and even a little funny—without leaving your students scratching their heads in confusion. Here are some tips to help you communicate effectively with your students while keeping the classroom atmosphere light and enjoyable.
1. Speak Dynamically
Your students often arrive to class feeling fatigued—much like you do. After a long day filled with work or household responsibilities, coupled with the unique challenges of adapting to a new country, it’s no wonder they feel weary. When you walk into the classroom tired, it’s easy for that fatigue to seep into your voice and countenance, transforming the classroom atmosphere from a welcoming and engaging space into one that feels burdensome and monotonous. You want your students to look forward to coming to class and to enjoy the learning experience. One powerful way to help cultivate this vibrant environment is to speak with enthusiasm and energy.
How:
Before class, take a moment to pray and ask God for the energy and inspiration you need to make learning both enjoyable and captivating for your students. When you’re speaking, vary your pitch, volume, and speed (being careful to speak slow enough at all times to be understood). Emphasize important words as if you’re auditioning for a Broadway show (but maybe tone down the jazz hands).
2. Speak More Slowly
When you speak at a normal rate, to your students it can sound like you are talking faster than a cheetah on caffeine. They will be completely lost. Speaking slowly allows everyone to catch up.
How:
Adjust your speed based on your students’ proficiency levels. Beginner students may need a tortoise pace, while more advanced students can handle a pace closer to your normal speech rate. For beginners you will slow down the words and take a slight pause between thought groups within each sentence, so it sounds more like: “Thee caat… iss onn… thee maat.” But for advanced students, you would speak a slower than normal for the more difficult phrases, and simple phrases/sentences like: “The cat is on the mat.” would be spoken at a normal rate.
3. Pause After Main Thought Groups – Especially for New Ideas
Pausing gives your students a moment to process what you’ve said. Even though the silence may be uncomfortable for you, the silence is “thinking space” for them and is necessary for them to comprehend and then think about the new idea. During the pause, watch your students for changes in facial expressions that indicate they are thinking. Blank stares – even accompanied by a smile – are generally signs that they are lost or not understanding a large portion of what you are saying. If you ask if they understand & nod at them, often they will nod back because they are copying you – not because they actually understand. If you are met by blank stares, rephrase or ask some questions that will check for understanding.
Example:
“I love pizza. (pause) What’s your favorite food?” Watch as they perk up! If they don’t, check for understanding or use some pictures to explain what you mean…
4. Use Pictures or Point to Objects
Visual aids can bridge the gap between languages. Incorporate images, flashcards, or even real objects into your lessons. By doing this, you help students connect the object/thing directly with the word(s) in English. When you don’t use visual aids, you run the risk of your students consistently learning by translating new words from English to their native language — which ultimately slows down their fluency in the future because it emphasizes translation, rather than learning to think in English.
5. Write or Point to a Key Word
When introducing new vocabulary, write it on the board or point to it if it’s written down some place else. Seeing the word can reinforce understanding and literacy skills. It’s a good idea to have your students write the word down too if it’s a main vocabulary word for the lesson.
Example:
Today’s word is ‘happiness.’ Point to the word on the board, and maybe draw a smiley face next to the word. Can anyone tell me what makes you feel happiness? After a discussion, encourage the students to write down ‘happiness’.
6. Increase your Volume for Key Ideas
Sometimes, you need to raise your voice slightly to emphasize important points. It helps your students recognize what’s important: it’s like a spotlight on the main event! It’s also an easy way to add some dynamic speech to your lesson.
7. Get the Students to Participate
People are more engaged when they are participating, so ask your students to contribute in various ways. There are multiple benefits to increasing student participation. It makes the class more fun and improves learning outcomes. It helps your students to think about the topic. It also allows you to easily check for understanding. Your students will remember more from the class — all while increasing student talk time (which has a variety of benefits). Contrast the examples below:
Example 1: Teacher-Centered Lesson
Janice is teaching a lesson on irregular verbs. Standing at the front of the class, she explains the rules of conjugation into past tense and provides examples. She goes on for ten minutes, detailing how regular and irregular verbs work, while students sit quietly, taking notes and occasionally nodding. Although they are attentive, their lack of interaction leads to disengagement, and understanding remains superficial.
Example 2: Student-Engaged Lesson
In a more interactive ESL lesson on the past tense, Janice introduces the topic by first asking students to share something they did last weekend. After a few volunteers respond, she asks them to come up to the board and write a sentence about what they did. Then she highlights the verbs, and explains the past tense. Throughout the lesson, she actively asks students to convert sentences from present to past tense in pairs, encouraging discussion and then finally playing a game where they use the grammar lesson. This not only keeps students engaged but also reinforces their understanding of the material through real-life application and collaboration, ultimately fostering a deeper grasp of the topic.
8. Explain Idioms You Frequently Use
Idioms are phrases that mean something different than the literal translation of the words. They can be as confusing as trying to explain why cats knock things off tables. We all use idioms – often without thinking. It’s important to explain to your students what idioms you are using mean. When you use an idiom, take a moment to break it down. Avoid using other idioms in explanations.
Example:
If you say “It’s a piece of cake,” explain: “That means it’s easy, like eating cake is easy!” Maybe even act out eating cake for effect.
Conclusion
Teaching ESL can be a rewarding journey filled with unique challenges and delightful surprises. By speaking dynamically, slowing down, pausing, using visuals, writing key words, emphasizing important ideas, clarifying idioms, and engaging your students; you’ll create a classroom environment where your students can thrive. Plus, they might even leave your class with a smile!
References
False, Keith S. Key to Teaching Grammar to English Language Learners. University of Michigan Press: 2019, pages 26-27
This article includes content paraphrased by ChatGPT.
