В данной статье речь идет о том, как использовать виртуальные ресурсы в преподавании иностранных языков студентам лицеев и колледжей, а также даны рекомендации для учителей по развитию навыков изучения английского языка.
Ключевые слова: репетитор, технология, профессиональная поддержка, управление классом.
This article deals with how to use virtual resources for the teaching of foreign languages lyceum and college students,and adviced tips for teachers to develop the skills of students in English.
Key words: tutoring, technology, professional support, classroom management.
In this article, key issues related to teaching young learners are explored. While there are many issues we could discuss in this, I have chosen to focus on ones teachers face on a regular basis. TeachingESLorEFL to young learners and lyceum and college students are an evolving field, and many efforts are being made around the world to improve the process for both teachers and students.
You will read about ways to work with student and to effectively manage their behavior in the classroom. You will also learn about working with students on a one-to-one basis as well as the dangers that students face when they work on the Internet.
Classroom management. One of the biggest challenges facing teachers of young learners is classroom management. On one hand, you want to be a kind and loving caregiver for your students. You don't want to be a taskmaster student fear. On the other hand, you want to maintain order in your classroom so that instruction can take place. Creating the balance between a caring environment and one where there is control is not an easy task for any teacher. However, it's especially difficult for new teachers. In this section, we will look at some classroom management strategies that will facilitate an environment that is conducive to learning. Establish clear rules at the beginning of the year. Students appreciate knowing what your expectations are. It's important to have rules that are stated in positive terms and establish what the students are expected to do clearly. There are a number of things you should do with the establishment of rules. First and foremost is to find out what your school's policies are regarding rules. Your supervisor should be able to tell you if a set of rules exist. There may also be a list of rules in the teacher's handbook. You also need to find out whether rules have been sent to parents in their native languages. These may or may not be exactly the same rules as in the teacher's handbooks because one set of rules may have been updated without the others also being updated. Whenever possible, the rules should be consistent among different teachers. The consequences for breaking the rules should also be consistent among the faculty and staff.
Tutoring. You may be in a situation where you are giving private English-language lessons to student on a one-to-one basis. In many ways, teachers find tutoring more difficult than working with several students for a variety of reasons. First, you have to provide constant energy and attention which isn't necessary when students are together and can get some of this from each other. Second, parents may have unrealistic expectations about the amount of material that can be covered in a session. Third, students may be referred to tutoring because they are having trouble in school. They may have special needs which have not been diagnosed, or if they have been diagnosed, adequate recommendations for how to address them have not been provided.
It is important to have realistic expectations regarding what can be covered and learned in a tutoring session and in a series of tutoring sessions. From the beginning, you need to sit down with the parents and negotiate what the expectations are from your perspective as well as from theirs. For example, you may find yourself explaining to parents that you can not make a child, who has never spoken English, fluent in six months.
You should also match the activities to the language cognitive level and intelligences of the learner. Select activities and content based on the learner's interests. This may mean extra time planning your lessons since your learner's interests may be unique. For example, you may find yourself searching online for the English names for horseback riding equipment. Finally, observe how much the student is able to absorb during a session as well as the learner's interest level during each activity.
Technology. The expansion, or rather explosion, on the Internet has been invaluable for teachers of young learners. If you are living and working in a country where there is limited access to English-language materials, then you are probably delighted at all of the resources that you can now access via the Internet. For example, throughout this book, I have provided numerous Web sites that can help you become a better equipped teacher. If you do have Internet access, I would strongly advise you to spend a couple of hours a month searching the Web for new information on teaching young learners. While the Internet can be a useful tool to use with your learners, safe sojourning on the Internet is an issue that should be taken into account when setting up technology-based programs for young learners. Before you allow students in your classes to use the Internet, be sure that you have the skills and expertise to properly supervise them. You would not allow young learners to explore the neighborhood around your school without adequate supervision. The same amount of caution must hold true for the Internet. Without adequate supervision, students can easily become victims to Internet crime and can visit sites which are very inappropriate for them. Before allowing students to use computers in your classroom, at the very least make sure you know how to set and use the parental blocks. In addition, it is very easy for anyone, especially children, to accidentally download a computer virus. Following all of the safeguards for computing is difficult enough for an adult, let alone for a young learner. It is important to use a strong firewall and virus protection program and to perform virus scans on a regular basis.
Professional support. As was mentioned previously in this chapter, teaching English to young learners is an evolving field. Traditionally, teachers were either trained as English-language specialists or as specialists in the education of students. Very often, these two teacher education programs did not even exist in the same higher education institution. Because of this, it has and is taking longer for the specialty of teaching ESL or EFL to young learners to evolve. I would recommend that anyone teaching young learners ESL or EFL to join a professional organizer aimed at helping teachers work with EFL and ESL learners.
Two of the most well-known professional organizations designed to support teachers working with students who are learning English as a second, foreign, or additional language are Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL). TESOL has done a great deal of work to advance the profession of teaching ESL to young learners in the United States. Their efforts for teaching EFL to young learners have not been quite as comprehensive. IATEFL, on the other hand, is focused on EFL and in recent years has been putting more and more emphasis on young learners. Both organizations have affiliates in many different parts of the world and have Web sites.
In addition, there is another professional organization aimed at helping teachers of school-age learners. The Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), which has affiliates in many parts of the world, is aimed at helping teachers. On a daily basis, ASCD sends out: SmartBriefs via email. SmartBriefs is a summary of articles on interesting educational developments from around the world.
In this article, I presented a number of different issues that impact teachers working with young learners. I discussed classroom management because it is necessary to create an optimum environment so that learning can take place. I also talked about tutoring and the use of the Internet because these may very easily impact your work in the young-learner classroom. Finally, I suggested several professional organizations that teachers of young learners can join for extra support and information.
References:
- Myrray,B.P.2007.The New Teachers Complete Soursebook. New York.
- Caroline.T.L.2009.Practical English Language Teaching:Young Learners. New York.
- Lewis.G.2007.The Internet and Young Learners.Oxford.
