8 THINGS TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

1.- What are ways in which you help build a comfortable and effective learning community for teenagers in your classroom? I think that there are some things that are necessary in a class. For many years I have been working on making a list of these things which I consider important to create a comfortable class and give my students the opportunity to learn English in a different way to the one they are used to doing it.

8 THINGS THAT I TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN TEACHING.

1.-KEEP THE CLASSROOM IN GOOD  CONDITIONS

It is our responsibility to show our students how to  work in an organized clean environment. If you come into a classroom where there is garbage all over the floor or where the chairs and tables are not properly placed, you should ask your pupils to pick up their trash and put their chairs and tables in order.

2.-COME MOTIVATED TO WAKE UP MOTIVATION IN YOUR STUDENTS

How can you ask your students be participative if you do not do it when you are right in their side? Give them the example. Show motivated to encourage them to participate.

3.- CALL YOUR STUDENTS THE WAY THEY PREFER TO BE CALLED

The first thing I do is learning my students’ names. I always ask them the way they prefer me to call them in the class. This builds their confidence; they feel comfortable the same way they feel at home.

4.- INTERACT WITH YOUR STUDENTS

You are the teacher does not mean you are unreachable. Let your students make you questions if they have any doubt, mark the activities they do by themselves. When making a dynamic or an interactive activity, supervise their work by moving to the place they are located, see what they are doing and cheer or tell  them how to do it.  

5.- TAKE YOUR TIME AT HOME AND PLAN YOUR CLASS

It is a  wrong thing not to design a plan anymore, because you think that the way you have taught a topic is the only one in  which it  works. It is necessary we to revise and perform our plans. Up-to-date them education is not static.

6.- USE DIDIACTIC MATERIAL

Nowadays there are dozens of resources that we can use for making an interesting class. Try to use unless one of them every single class,  since the routine is not part of a good class environment.

When planning your class be sure that you have included a variety of dynamics where your students are able to practice and consolidate the topic . Try not to repeat or play them more than once in the course, in order not to become a predictable teacher. Teenagers love moving.

7.- SET  THE RULES AND DO NOT BREAK THEM

It is known that rules are  everywhere  and the classroom is not the exception.  Order your students with humanity and benevolence.  Unify them in a strict and firm way.

Sun Tzu says: “When benevolence and firmness are evident it is possible to be sure of victory.”

 8.- SPEND THE FIRST CLASS FOR SETTING THE RULES AND MAKING AGREEMENTS

The first day is the ideal to make agreements and establish the rules in the class. When the commands or instructions are given in a clear way since the very beginning, students will accept and obey them.

If you have told them the way it works, do not change your mind and do something different.  When the orders are confusing and contradictorily changing the students will reject them or will not understand them taking your course to the failure.

So that, the rules must be fair, simple, clear and consequent; this way there will be a satisfaction among the students and as a consequent they will learn.

2.-What are ways in which you strengthen your teens' cultural identities while teaching them about different international cultures of the world?

I tend to show them videos focusing on very specific topics such as: general data, food and drink, touristic places. They make charts by classifying  adjectives, typical food and drink, places to go and what to do there. Then they choose a country where English is the main language and they make an exposition.

Another one is talking about traditions and holidays in other countries. We compare and contrast those festivals. Students disguise and investigate any of them and recreate it in the class.

Students invent stories, but first of all we read some legends from other countries.

I try to get them involved, but I always insist on our rich and vary culture as Mexicans and that they need to be proud of it.

3.-What are ways you prepare your teenagers for communication in the 21st century?

Well, I try to use TIC’s, for example, I created a group in the Facebook called (LANGUAGE), they interact in English evidently, they make peer-correction, upload material they find important to share, the more well-done activities and oral exams are posted there.

I ask them log in to some web sites where they can interact with other college students from Tabasco; even more foreigners who are  learning English, too.

We use cellphones, for example:  they make phone calls and send  messages to me and others  in English. In the class we have found a positive use to it. They record or film activities. The have an e-dictionary, they can access to look for any kind of information required.

I ask them to see movies with the audio and subtitles in English and take notes of some expressions, the ones are written on the board every Friday; in order to make a glossary and try to use them in their daily life, for not to sound like a text book when speaking.