Introduction

• 1 How do you currently teach new vocabulary to your students? Is it successful? Why / why not?

• 2 What are the main challenges you face when teaching students new vocabulary?

• 3 The following words about teaching and learning vocabulary are used in this chapter. What do you think they mean?

Teaching words

Without words, students cannot communicate in the target language. The ability to use or understand just a few words is empowering for students. It can give them confidence in their language learning ability and feel like they are making progress – even if/when they find things like grammar or reading difficult. A crucial issue when teaching new language is: how can students develop their active vocabulary (i.e. the words they can use) and not just their passive vocabulary (i.e. the words that they know, or can understand)?

Internalize, retain and retrieve

Introduction

• 1 Do you use technology effectively in your teaching? Does it add value to the learning? How?

• 2 Do you allow students to use mobile phones (or other electronic devices) within lessons? Do your students use them for learning outside lessons? Why / why not?

• 3 Are there any specific websites which you use in your classroom or to prepare for your lessons?

• 4 What experience, if any, do you have of online learning and teaching? How do you think it could be useful in your situation?

Technology in teaching

Teachers sometimes think that just using technology means that learning will automatically follow. While it is true that showing a video or sharing a slideshow presentation can provide educational benefit, this is not enough by itself. If not used well, technology can have zero, or even a negative, effect on learning. Technology helps learning, but it is not a magic solution. Technology supports, rather than replaces, good teaching. Consider, for example, the situations outlined below.

Introduction

• 1 Think of a class you teach. What different skills and abilities do the students in that class have? What impact does this have on your teaching?

• 2 Look at the list of teaching skills below. How would you do them differently for weaker and stronger students?

What is a mixed-ability class?

There is no such thing as an ‘average student’. Students have different skills and abilities in different areas, both linguistic and non-linguistic. However, when teaching large classes, it can be difficult to find out what these different skills are. Generally speaking, you don't have the time to know the students well on an individual basis. In challenging circumstances, you may be teaching students who have had very difficult educational and life experiences. This is likely to affect the way you teach.

Classes with mixed-ability students offer several advantages. However, you should be aware of some of the potential negative outcomes, and take steps to avoid them. Not only may stronger students feel bored and lack interest, weaker students may also feel lost and confused. There is also the risk of ▸stereotyping students according to their sex, ethnic ▸identity or language which they speak (e.g. ‘girls are good at X’, ‘boys are bad at Y’).

Note

Keep a notebook so you can make notes about individual students’ different skills and knowledge. Recording this information can help you recall key facts about them (e.g. Student A likes flying kites, or Student B knows a lot about animals), which you can use and refer to at appropriate times.

Introduction

Answer these questions about textbooks in your language teaching environment.

• 1 Do textbooks help you teach more effectively? Yes / No —

• 2 Are textbooks the main teaching resource in your school? Yes / No —

• 3 Do your students have enough textbooks? Yes / No —

• 4 Do your students like the textbooks they use? Yes / No —

• 5 Are the textbooks up to date? Yes / No —

• 6 Do the textbooks have a communicative focus? Yes / No —

• 7 Have the textbooks been used before by students in previous years? Yes / No —

• 8 Do textbooks allow your teaching to be creative? Yes / No —

Do textbooks help you teach more effectively?

Textbooks can be very helpful to teachers, especially new and inexperienced teachers. These benefits include:

• • a structure and an overview for the content to be learned;

• • teachers not having to spend so much time planning;

• • models of well-tried classroom routines;

• • consistency between lessons, and between levels;

• • advice on the best way to teach the material.

This said, using textbooks is not always simple and straightforward, and it is important not to confuse them with a curriculum or syllabus.

Introduction

• 1 How do you feel when you do something new? Think of a recent experience when you faced this situation.

• 2 What challenges do inexperienced students face when coming to school? Consider some of the ideas below.

Why some students may not have much experience of education

Students learning in challenging circumstances may have little or no experience of education, either within the home or in formal institutions, such as schools. Reasons for this may be that:

• • they are from a low socio-economic background and are unable to afford the ▸direct costs or ▸opportunity costs of sending them to school;

• • their parents may not be literate and may have had no formal education themselves; as a result, they may therefore be unable (or feel they are unable) to help their children in practical terms;

• • because of their personal circumstances, their parents may lack the mental or emotional ability to support their children's education;

• • they are ▸refugees or have been ▸internally displaced, and schools are generally found in a fixed location;

• • even when children may have been to formal schools, the quality of education which they received may have been poor.

Depending on the situation, your students lack of formal education experience may actually have some advantages. For example, they may:

• • have a very positive attitude to education, seeing it as a privilege and not something they have to do;

• • have avoided some of the negative ‘conditioning’ aspects of formal education;

• • be more willing to involve themselves in more community- / environment-based learning activities (see ▸Chapters 18 and 28).

Introduction

• 1 What do you understand by the term ‘social, emotional and behavioural difficulties’? To what extent is this an issue in your institution?

• 2 How do you deal with students who display these difficulties? Does your institution have policies on what to do?

• 3 As a professional working in challenging circumstances, what do you do to look after yourself? Should you be doing more?

Dealing with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties

When teaching in challenging circumstances, it's important to remember that you are ‘just’ a teacher. When faced with students whose lives may be unimaginably hard, you might feel the pressure to be more than this. Indeed, in many cases, you might be one of the most important people in the students’ lives, if not the most important. If you teach children or teenagers, this is even more likely. However, you might teach tens, if not hundreds, of students. You simply cannot provide the support and care which is needed for them all. You also need to think of yourself and your own well-being.