With all the technology today, students have many outlets to learn language such as YouTube videos, podcasts, audio file (I once had a Japanese i pod i”d listen to on the way to work) students can learn a lot of English on their own.
They can also find grammar worksheets online (though I have often found free worksheets either sub par or the websites to be sketchy)
So what’s the point of class. Conversation! You can’t talk to YouTube, you can’t talk to a worksheet. You can’t talk to a podcast.
And one-on-one conversation classes aren’t exactly an authentic experience. You only speak to one person who is speaking slowly, the sound isn’t perfect and it’s fairly impersonal.
As a teacher in this modern era, the two most important roles of an ESL classroom teacher is to be a guide and provide opportunities for conversation. Note – these are not your only roles by any means, but these are the ones you will be using the most.
As a guide you:
– Provide vocabulary and grammar at the students level
– Direct students to habits outside the classroom that will help them grow. Learning language is an every day – every minute thing – students need to learn how to process this information.
– You need to provide encouragement and suggestions when the student is struggling.
As a conversationalist you:
– Model good conversational skills yourself.
– Teach students the proper grammar and vocabulary for a topic
– Encourage talking by asking open ended questions
– Provide activities where students need to gather information whether through surveys or games. You can find a few of these types of activities in my book Essential English (which can be found on Teachers Pay Teachers.)
– You gently correct students when they make a mistake.
Think of yourself as an English trainer or coach.
You teach the students things they can practice outside the classroom at home and you provide exercises in the class time. This is one reason the levels in my program are based on martial arts belts. I’m teaching my students to have strong English skills so they can be prepared to conquer social conversations and daily life.
Around the World Learning 