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Teach Abroad teaching tips
If you end up teaching English abroad you may find
yourself needing ESL ideas for the class and other teaching ideas and
teaching tips to
stay one step ahead of your students. The following "Dividing Class
Time" was provided by Allen Williams who really walks his talk and has
the teaching abroad experience to backup his strategies and teaching
ideas.
Dividing Class Time
It is important that your classes are not always the same not just in
content, but in structure. Nothing breeds boredom or complacency more
than, well, boredom and complacency.
You need to divide your class time up into blocks. This will help you in
several ways.
1. It will make the time for each class pass more quickly for the
students and the teacher.
2. It will allow students to change their focus and bring their focus
back to you, the teacher, rather than setting tasks and waiting for the
energy to run out before you move on.
3. It will also allow you to 'do' more and leave the students with the
same impression.
4. This method of classroom time management will also give more
opportunities for the student and you to find the exercises that work
best for you and your situation.
No one method or lesson will meet the learning style needs of all
students. Some students need to be doing, while others need more
listening, or visualizing, or one-to-one practice time. Dividing your
class time into blocks for several activities will increase the chances
of each student getting to do an activity that matches their learning
style without being negligent about trying to improve their other areas.
Some things to keep in mind.
Be flexible. Sometimes you'll find a particular exercise is going very
well. Let it run for a bit more. The same is true when an exercise is
not working as well as you would like. You can shorten the time and then
prepare a different approach for covering that material in a later
class.
Vary the amounts of time for your blocks. Don't try to stick to a class
of 5 ten-minute blocks, or whatever your case may be. One week do two 30
minute blocks. Next time try two 20-minute blocks.
Vary the activity and intensity required for the exercises. That is, do
an exercise where everyone is seated. Then one where they have to walk
around, or stand. Then go back to a seated exercise.
Use a stopwatch. This is one of my favorite techniques, and my cooking
timer clock is well-known in my classrooms. It also has a magnet on the
back so I can affix it to the board, punch in the time, count down the
start, and then press "start."
This works for you in a couple of ways. It keeps you to your word. If
you say, "you've got 5 minutes to do this exercise," your students will
know you mean it. It also provides a sense of urgency. The clock is
ticking. It even adds a bit of fun, or game-like, atmosphere to the
activities and your class.
Try these techniques and you will see that you will enjoy your classes
more, students will enjoy them more, and the benefit will be that
students will want to come to your classes, you will feel better about
what you are accomplishing in your classes, and students always learn
and remember more when the environment is an interesting one.
About the author:
Allen Williams is a professional educator, speaker, and writer. You can
find out more of what he is up to by visiting:
http://www.tcobag.com
kNow Thinking Aloud
-- or --
http://www.powermeup.com
Personal and Professional Growth
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