How To Teach Someone To Speak English

  For statements in the negative form, what we have to do is add the auxiliary verb 'to do'. For subjects 'I', 'you', 'we' and 'they', we simply leave 'do' as 'do', use the word 'not', and keep the base form of the verb now for the negative statements. However, for 'he', 'she' and 'it', we have to conjugate our auxiliary verb into 'does'. We still use 'not' and we still keep the base form of the verb. The pattern performing questions is very very similar to the pattern performing negative statements. However, what we've done is invert our subject and our auxiliary verb so that the questions read the auxiliary verb first. Of course, again, we use 'do' for 'I', 'you', 'we' and 'they' and use 'does' for 'he', 'she' and 'it'. In both cases, we've left our verb form as the base form of...  [Read more]

  Our next consideration is going to be how we actually group our students. There are perhaps three types of grouping arrangements that we can consider and within those we'll have a look at the potential positive and negatives of those particular arrangements. So firstly, what arrangements can we use? We could arrange our group as a whole class so all of their activities will be done as a whole class. They could be working as individuals and the final grouping arrangement we'll consider is that of small groups or indeed the use of pair work. So for each of these types of arrangements what are the potential positive and negatives with that type of arrangement? For the whole class certainly one of the main positive features is that it gives that class a sense of belonging. Secondly...  [Read more]

Creating Materials In my experience of teaching English, I think the most fun I and my students had was with created materials, or realia, used in conjunction with the planned lessons in the text. As a photographer, I had a number of images that could be printed out and used in games, for vocabulary lessons and also as a basis for dialogues created by the students themselves. An article about realia by Stefan Chiarantano (2005) describes using plastic fruit, toy animals, Christmas cards, maps and other items to introduce new vocabulary to his young students. Cultural items, such as the Christmas cards, can also be used to teach students about customs in other nations. They are often very curious about other customs and their very curiosity will improve their attention spans and help them...  [Read more]

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Foreign Language Experience I come from a country, which is with high cultural values and great diversity. There are different languages spoken and different customs and traditions followed all over India. When I was in school, which was English medium school, we had Marathi and Hindi as our second language, Hindi was introduced from grade 3 and Marathi from grade 4, both these languages have almost similar script but there is a difference in the way we speak the language thus the difference in these two languages. It was easy for me to learn to read and write Hindi. It was very difficult for me to learn Marathi, my struggle worsened as my mother too was not able to help me as being from south of India she had never heard or spoke Marathi .It was compulsory in school to score same amount...  [Read more]

Should Students Be Allowed to Use Their Native Language in the Classroom When I first began teaching lessons during the TESOL Course I found myself almost automatically saying to the students, “English please,” after all it is an English class. However, I began to question myself about whether or not this was “correct” practice or if the students should in fact use their native language to assist them in the learning process. After doing some research I found the TESOL Law Code of Ethics. The Law of Ethics provided many vague and open-ended ideas. It suggested things along the lines of, “The foreign language teacher shall direct her whole professional effort to assist the students to develop his/her second language speaking ability.” It also mentions that TESOL teachers are to...  [Read more]

Songs in the Classroom The use of songs in the ESL classroom can be a fun and innovative way of covering a range of English language topics. Songs can be used for vocabulary, grammar, dictation, pronunciation (stress and intonation), phonetics, speaking, writing, listening, integrative skills, and many other ESL points. Furthermore, songs can invite the non-native speaker into the English speaking culture. For instance, pop music gives the learner a taste of what is trendy at the moment. Meanwhile, the lyrics to classic rock songs can give a sense of history and the attitude of the country at the time of recording (for example, “Give Peace a Chance,” John Lennon, 1969). Additionally, children’s songs are crucially important for the young learner as they are an easy way to encourage...  [Read more]

This region, encompassing Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam offers a wealth of different experiences. Highly developed Malaysia and Singapore, stand in stark contrast to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, whom only relatively recently normalised their relationships with the US. You can expect Islam and Buddhism, communism and capitalism. It really is a fascinating region where you have to learn to expect the unexpected! The market for teachers is both phenomenal and varied in nature. Malays seek to send their children to university in English-speaking countries; in Singapore, English is the lingua franca of commerce, and dexterity is seen as a must. In Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam there is huge demand for TESOL teachers due to the inrush of western development capital, and the...  [Read more]

Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) can be simply defined as any situation where a native or non-native English speaker is teaching the English language to students whose first language is anything other than English. This is a very common scenario that occurs every day in virtually every country in the world due to the fact that the English language is the number one second language of choice in many areas. There is no one type of person from one type of background who decides to teach English, just as there is no one classroom environment that awaits those who choose this particular path. For some people it means teaching a few individual students on a part-time basis as a way to add some funds on a gap year adventure, while for others it is a full-time job that provides a...  [Read more]

British english vs american English With English being recognised as the global language of choice, which one is considered the official language? So just how did American English diverge from British English in the first place? American English roots back to the early colonial days of the late 16th century, were a whole gamut of cultures converged into a single society. In some colonies English wasn’t even a spoken language and in those colonies that did speak English it was quite different from the English we know today. The Elizabethan English of the day consisted of many varieties of regional English dialects. All these different dialects, intermingled with a multitude of cultures formed one big boiling pot, of which over time, a new variant was produced – American English. And...  [Read more]

Phonetics and TESOL Phonetics, the study of the sounds of human speech, and in particular “Articulatory Phonetics”, are not commonly taught to native speakers of English, let alone learners of English as a second language. However if the learner is serious with their English and wish to progress to an advanced level, learning phonetics, in particular the International Phonetic Alphabet, would be of immense benefit. English spelling is often contradictory, devoid of relation to the pronunciation of a word, and lacking in clear patterns. Patterns that do exist are numerous, with a large number of exceptions, and all of this makes it very difficult for the learner of English as a second language to master pronunciation. The International Phonetic Alphabet puts all of the individual...  [Read more]

Building Confidence in Students Education is certainly the birthright of all people. The motivation of every nation should be to generate literate, well-educated and intelligent residents who are able to add to the proper progress and progress of the whole society. There is still mystery on how accurately a foreign language is learnt. On the subject of building confidence there are yet more theories which are even more difficult to confirm. I myself do not trust that confidence is built using one magic activity, but rather it is continuously acquired all over the learning process. That’s why, all the theories I pick to focus on three things Grammar, Drilling, and of course the role of the teacher. All of these will prepare the student for circumstances they might meet later. [1] After...  [Read more]