English is the number one most widely taught language in the world, studied by people of all ages in over 118 countries. Despite its global prevalence, it has been referred to as one of the most challenging languages to learn, thanks to its difficult grammar structure and often-contradictory spelling rules. While teaching English can be a challenge, there are established tactics that can simplify the process — and even make it fun.
The Skills Students Need When Learning English
Several skills need to be addressed in the classroom when creating a comprehensive lesson plan. These include:
- vocabulary and grammar
- reading comprehension
- listening comprehension
- spoken ability and pronunciation
Although there is often a correlation among the above skills, you may find certain students excel in areas such as speaking, but struggle in others such as writing. As a teacher, you must understand where there may be skill gaps, so that you can tailor your plan to address specific needs.
Developing Your Lesson Plan
When developing a plan for teaching English, your first step is to identify the level of proficiency of your students. Understanding your students’ abilities will shape the tone and pace of each lesson and help set a standard for what success looks like for your students at the end of the curriculum. While novice learners must focus on mastering basic vocabulary, intermediate learners will be ready to express simple thoughts and ideas clearly, and advanced learners will work on fine-tuning their grammar and practicing longer conversations.
Once the level is identified, you are ready to develop a lesson plan. This plan will include learning objectives for English learners. These will have to cater to the class's level of understanding and age. English teachers often have to switch between classrooms full of young children and groups of adults. Though lesson plans may differ slightly in tone depending on the student demographic, the techniques and formats can generally remain the same.
Four Practical Tips for Helping Students Learn English
If you are already familiar with the native language of your students, it can be tempting to use that knowledge as a crutch when giving instructions or explaining a difficult concept; however, it is important to stick to English as much as possible to challenge them and allow them to become comfortable. At times, when you believe you have explained a concept simply and conveyed clear instructions, you may still have a sea of puzzled faces looking back at you. In those moments, it can be helpful to lean into a tactic referred to as Total Physical Response. Known as TPR, this practice uses the body — such as hand motions and facial expressions — to relay a message. Generally, these motions are universal and can be a quick and effective method to provide clarity to students. You can also leverage props to help reaffirm specific concepts and vocabulary.
1. Provide English Entertainment and Media
Reading and comprehension are vital parts of any language curriculum. Books, magazines and newspapers can be effective materials to engage students in the classroom. Leveraging newspaper articles in English can also provide relevant cultural context to students who will likely travel to these countries in the future. Additionally, entertainment news can be a great way to highlight what is happening in pop culture while catering to more advanced language learners.
For novice learners, using materials such as picture books and magazines can be key in developing early comprehension skills. For example, young students can benefit from texts taken from The New York Times for Kids. While it mimics the format of a standard newspaper, it focuses on content that matters most to younger audiences. For adult novice learners, teachers can license photos from award-winning photojournalists and accompanying headlines from publishers such as The New York Times. Showcasing an image with a simple headline can help adult learners make connections and draw conclusions in English, without being overwhelmed by long or dense texts.
2. Showcase the Culture
Incorporating movies, music and podcasts can be a powerful and effective way for students to learn English. Listening to the language allows students to hear how the language sounds naturally, as well as get a sense of its tone and pace. This can prepare them for interactions with native English speakers in real-world situations. Not only is it helpful to get a grasp of the phonetic aspects of the language, but it can also provide greater cultural context and awareness.
3. Encourage Discussion and Discourse
When going over cultural characteristics, reading materials and articles, be sure to encourage discussion among your students. They can dissect themes in the movies they watch and spot the differences between their culture and what they see depicted.
Facilitating dialogue with your students can help them both practice using the words they have learned and further build their vocabulary. You can also have students read passages out loud to help them with their spoken English, beginning with easy passages for beginners and progressing to more challenging articles for intermediate and advanced English speakers. It can be helpful to have students record themselves too, so they can further improve their spoken English skills.
4. Play Games to Build Vocabulary
Learning a new language comes with its challenges. For young learners, it can be hard to stay focused. For adults, learning something from the ground up can be discouraging. Incorporating games within the classroom can be an effective method to maintain concentration and inject fun into a frustrating situation. For beginners, teachers can incorporate matching games where students pair photos with their corresponding vocabulary terms. This visualization can help a word or phrase stick in their minds.
As students progress, you can create an added challenge by incorporating word puzzles such as crosswords. For novices and advanced learners, role-playing can be a fun way to facilitate real-world conversations and interactions. Another advanced learning method can involve one student explaining a scene in English and having the rest of the class draw what they hear based on the speaker’s description. This exercise can help to foster listening skills and comprehension.
5. Leverage newspaper articles
Learning English through newspapers articles can be an effective way to build vocabulary while showcasing high-quality writing in the target language. For professionals, newspapers have the added benefit of allowing students build vocabulary that can be applied at work and in their careers. By discussing business news and industry insights, adults can learn how to better express ideas both verbally and in written form. Using this kind of content to learn English can better assist adults in their language development.
6. Make Sure You Provide Clear Instructions
When addressing a beginner class of English learners, it can be easy to speak in your native language with more words than necessary, especially when trying to be polite, however, this can make instructions a lot more difficult for those who know a limited amount of the language you are speaking in.
Instead of jumping into long, confusing sentences, make instructions as clear as possible by using fewer words and gesturing when possible. It can also be helpful to break down a series of instructions into smaller, more comprehensible units.
7. Teach Phrases Related to Comprehension
Classroom language can be really helpful with adult beginner students of English. No matter how inviting you make your classroom atmosphere, learning a brand new language can still be scary. This can be exacerbated when a student feels like they’re not completely following what’s going on. Equipping students early on with classroom language will help them be able to navigate the lesson more smoothly so they get more comfortable in the learning environment.
Classroom language includes some of the following phrases:
- Can you speak more slowly?
- I do not understand.
- Can you repeat that?
- What does “X” mean?
- How do you say “X” in English?
8. Prepare Extra Activities
While it can be easy to recycle the same activities during the course of a single lesson, this can reduce the amount of engagement your students may be doing. You’ll want to make sure you have a large range of activities to use. It’s also smart to always be over prepared in case the activity you have planned takes less than the time you have forecasted in your lesson plan.
9. Repetition is Key
Repetition is crucial to beginner learners, especially when they come to grips with the sounds of a new language. It may seem boring to continually go over the same sentences over and over, however it is necessary.
10. Check for Understanding
A mistake many English teachers make is assuming their students understand the lesson or classroom instructions. Because of the different styles of teaching in other countries, your students may not be accustomed to raising their hands if they don’t understand. Instead, they may remain silent.
11. Give Them Time to Practice
In beginner English lessons, you can’t expect that your students will get every lesson immediately. You’ll need to provide students with lots of examples, check their understanding, and make sure your class also has enough time to practice different topics.
Even for more advanced learners, it’s imperative that they practice. Verbal understanding and written language skills can always be improved through repetition. Make sure the resources for advanced speakers are challenging enough.
Additional Tips for Teaching English to Beginners
In addition to the tips mentioned above, there are some other methods you can use to start teaching English to beginners, and engaging them along the way:
- Break up lessons into bite size pieces and categorize vocabulary lessons.
- Use plenty of props and hand movements to explain physically as well as orally.
- Get students to do group activities to practice their abilities.
- Give plenty of encouragement to students.
Final Thoughts
Teaching English can be a challenging, tumultuous process. However, having a clear objective, a well-thought-out plan of action and the right tools can make it enjoyable, rewarding and effective. Whether you are teaching young students or adults, novice or advanced learners, it is crucial to have a stockpile of resources and materials on hand to supplement your curriculum or to use as the basis for lessons. The New York Times Licensing Group offers compelling content spanning virtually any subject and format that can be integrated into themed lessons to engage students and provide worldly context.
Contact us to learn more about our content licensing solutions. Be sure to also check out our 5 tips for using news articles in education for other ideas on how to incorporate new ideas into the classroom.
