Throughout your career teaching English, you are often exposed to technology used to deliver your lessons. Some technology can even run on autopilot these days. You prepare lessons using videos, podcasts, and images that your students finds interesting.
You adhere to pedagogical methodologies using technology to engage your learners. However, there is one critical component missing…the classroom you are now walking into does not have access to the technology you are used to. In fact, the only technology they do have (a computer) is dedicated to the admin office!
You have just stepped through a time warp from modern technology and teaching conveniences into a world where there are no classroom computers, projector screens, podcasts, YouTube, PowerPoint, iPods, iPads, or other electronic teaching aids that we often take for granted.
In fact, all you can see in your classroom is a whiteboard, chairs, windows, and four walls. What do you do now? What is your Plan B? Here are a few fallback ideas for teaching in situations with little to no technology that may help you gain confidence in such situations.
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5 Ways to Help Students Do Well on English Speaking Tests
/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Jerry SmithTESOL 101: How to Teach Language Acquisition
/0 Comments/in Communicative Approach /by Jerry SmithLanguage is for communication, not for study alone. That is one reason why the old grammar translation method lost its foothold once new approaches came on the scene. Yet a common mindset until today by both students and teachers is that English is still a subject.
I am also known for saying, put the books down, and let’s learn English. But what do I mean by these words? The idea being conveyed is this: Stop viewing English as a subject to be mastered by memorizing and studying endless rules. Begin to use English as it was meant to be—a language for communication.
Are we not living in a global environment where English is the main mode of communication? How then can one develop their ability to function in this environment? They will need to go beyond the books and pick it up. Read more
4 Ways To Be Culturally Sensitive In The ESL Classroom
/0 Comments/in sensitive topics /by Jessica WhitehorneAbout the Author: Jessica Whitehorne is a graduate of OnTESOL’s 250-hour TESOL diploma, Teaching English to Young Learners Specialist Course and Teaching Business English Course. She currently lives and teaches in rural Madagascar.
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Five Reasons Why the 70-30 Rule Is Useful In ESL Conversation Classes
/0 Comments/in Teaching English Conversation /by Jerry SmithSeventy-thirty provides a formula for monitoring talk time in ESL conversation classrooms and an effective strategy. It is a guide for how much teachers should be talking and how much freedom students should be afforded to talk. It is not a hard and fast mandate where measurements need to be made. But it is a rule of thumb that helps teachers manage their conversation classes. The following are five reasons why the 70-30 rule is useful in ESL classrooms. Read more
3 Perspectives on Teaching ESL
/0 Comments/in Classroom Management /by Jerry SmithRead more
10 Ways To Give Feedback in English Conversation Classes
/0 Comments/in Teaching English Conversation, Uncategorized /by Jerry SmithA teacher may have one of the best lessons of all time prepared, but without providing feedback, learner development can only go so far. Feedback in the context of TESOL is providing information to improve English language use. This information can be grammatical, lexical, or phonetic. When a dull pencil does not produce fine print, […]
Is a Conversation Lesson a License to Just Talk?
/0 Comments/in Teaching English Conversation /by Jerry SmithLesson Planning 101: How to Develop Meaningful ESL Lessons
/0 Comments/in Lesson Planning /by Jerry SmithThen you bring your lesson to class eager to present it, and to finish it. Why? Because you know it is what the class needs! But do they need this lesson you have laboured over, or do they need something more?
More, you say—I have just spent hours working on this lesson, and I will finish it! Yes, more. Have we ever stopped to ask the question, should I be teaching the lesson, or should I be using the lesson to teach?
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Teaching English With Little to No Technology
/0 Comments/in Technology in the ESL Classroom /by Jerry SmithYou adhere to pedagogical methodologies using technology to engage your learners. However, there is one critical component missing…the classroom you are now walking into does not have access to the technology you are used to. In fact, the only technology they do have (a computer) is dedicated to the admin office!
You have just stepped through a time warp from modern technology and teaching conveniences into a world where there are no classroom computers, projector screens, podcasts, YouTube, PowerPoint, iPods, iPads, or other electronic teaching aids that we often take for granted.
In fact, all you can see in your classroom is a whiteboard, chairs, windows, and four walls. What do you do now? What is your Plan B? Here are a few fallback ideas for teaching in situations with little to no technology that may help you gain confidence in such situations.
Read more
5 Ways Teaching English Changes Your Life and The Lives of Others
/0 Comments/in TESOL Job Search /by ClareRead more