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This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:
Teaching beginner studentsTeaching beginner students can be very intimidating to inexperienced teachers, however; many of them find the experience rewarding and worth the challenge. The term “beginner” can fall under many categories. One being the absolute beginner, another being the false beginner, the adult beginner, the young beginner, and even the beginner without Roman alphabet. Teaching an absolute beginner is working with a student who has no english skills at all. A false beginner is a student that may have been exposed to english in the past but has not retained much of the information. It is common that they will be able to produce a few basic sentence structures. The adult beginner is a student who has made the decision to learn the language for a purpose that he or she considers beneficial. There is strong motivation behind this purpose, possessing them with the will to learn. However, young beginners are often forced to learn the language and lack the motivation to do so, yet they tend to learn faster than most adults. As for the beginner without Roman alphabet, he or she will require a lot of work on basic literacy skills as well as a lot of practice with reading and writing. As you can see, there are different language levels for beginners, and every teacher will find advantages and disadvantages to each one. Teaching these students requires special skills in being able to understand your students’ by reading their needs psychologically through body language or expressions. The teacher must determine his or her students’ needs because by doing so, she or he will be able to configure the lesson plans accordingly and motivate the students to learn if they have faith that their needs are being met. Because beginners have little to no experience with the language, it is likely that they will feel insecure, intimidated, and unmotivated. By having clear and realistic goals for the students, the teacher alleviate some stress, creating a comfortable environment for the students to become acquainted with. Another way to teach beginner students more effectively is to give direct and simple instructions, being very careful not to overwhelm or bombard the students with information. The lessons should be very well paced, while providing as much feedback as possible. By having them work in pairs or groups will also take some pressure off their shoulders, allowing the students a chance to gain confidence in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere. Beginners must feel very out of place and vulnerable with the subject material that they are so unfamiliar with, that it must be a huge relief to have a partner or group they can work with. However, the teacher should always respond to students as individuals and encourage them to speak to each other in english as much as they possibly can. Teaching beginners a new language can be intimidating and beginner’s learning a new language can be just as intimidating. As long as the teacher provides a comfortable and positive environment for the students to learn, then they will gain confidence. Once they gain confidence, then they will have more motivation to continue on with the learning process. And while they are in the process of learning, the teacher must keep his or her students motivated by being attentive, understanding, and acknowledging their needs as a whole and specific needs for individuals, taking the learning process one step at a time.
