"Oscar Wilde once said, 'Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes'. This holds true for everyone starting out in a new career, and ESL teachers are no exception. But one thing is accepting we’ll make mistakes as we go and chalk it up to a lack of experience, and another is completely ignoring the worst kind of mistakes you could make. Since anyone can learn from their mistakes, then we can certainly learn from the five worst mistakes beginner ESL teachers make.
In an ESL class, what is the most common reason students are enrolled? They want to SPEAK English! And what happens when the teacher speaks most of the time? They don’t have enough chances to actually practice their speaking skills. Those who are new to ESL teaching often make this very crucial mistake: They take up too much of the talking time, either because they feel uncomfortable around silence or long pauses, or because they are over-enthusiastic to share their knowledge. So clearly, hogging most of the talking time is out of the question. But, how to find the right balance between student talking time and teacher talking time?
As a general rule of thumb, students should speak for 70% of the class time, while teachers speak for the remaining 30%. These percentages could be tweaked in cases where students are absolute beginners (50-50), or at the other end of the spectrum, very advanced learners in need of intensive speaking practice (90-10). This means that in most cases, your participation should be limited to giving instructions and explaining essential points, but above all to eliciting response from students and facilitating all types of speaking activities."
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| Image Credits: BusyTeacher.org |
This article was written by Claudia Pesce for BusyTeacher.org. She has been an ESL teacher for 20 years and has taught a wide variety of students from pre-schoolers to senior citizens, complete beginners to advanced students. This vast teaching experience has helped her write over 100 articles for BusyTeacher.org. Follow this link in case you want to read the full article, the title of which is '5 Worst Mistakes All Beginner ESL Teachers Make (And You Too?)'. Suggestions of speaking activities are also presented.
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