Introduction
Successful teaching is indeed an art and a science. The necessary components include great lesson plans,
a spot-on curriculum, interesting and authentic teaching materials, adaptive and organized teaching methods, and an attractive
and clean classroom. Yet beyond all of these, the best teachers have a love of
learning, dedication to their students, as well as enthusiasm and energy for their classes.
First, It will usually be effective to build some kind of pre-conversational context into the lesson by
using or referring students to pictures, real life objects, actions, key words, common past or present experiences to the
students (school, local, national events or television), or your own personal experiences, or from videos, music, or stories
read aloud together.
Whatever context is chosen should be recognizable and of interest to the students. The target language could be a single question and a variety of expressions which answer it, a series of
related questions and answers, a short conversation, a short discussion, a set of related vocabulary, or expressions which
allow students to communicative specific functions. The target language (TL)
should be presented in as many modes (video, audio, visual, written text) as applicable. As
students become more advanced and / or familiar with specific TL, it is a good idea to see if they can practice using the
language from memory. After TL has been introduced, the teacher should allow
students to practice in pairs while the teacher monitors, corrects, and supports their practice efforts. It isn’t necessary for the teacher to correct every mistake, since fluency may suffer if too much
attention is paid to the correctness of form. Naturally, some activities may
always require correction if the goal is mostly to produce correct form (grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation).
It is also good goal to have students practice substituting vocabulary within the target language: question,
answer, expression, conversation, situation or topic. To do this is it is a good
idea to have pictures, or lists of words which the students can see and readily use to replace parts of the target language
while they practice.
For example, What are you studying? I am studying English, could
be changed by the students into What are you eating? I am eating rice. OR Where are you studying? I am studying in school.
Whatever lesson activities or ESL teaching / learning styles you choose to use, some of the most important
aspects perhaps to develop in your classes are:
(1) a friendly, supportive rapport with each student,
(2)
real, authentic communication,
(3) active student involvement, and
(4) opportunities for spontaneous / creative / fun learning.
Some other general teaching recommendations are that instructors should:
(1) guide
students in developing confidence, motivation,
responsibility concerning their education;
(2) lead students in learning and
using class content in
as enjoyable and professional
atmosphere as
possible;
(3) communicate to students what the
test content will
be
like, as well as the manner in which they will be
tested and scored;
(4) evaluate
students only on material that has been
covered,
in the same ways they practiced the
target
content and skills;
(5) check for understanding of
each learning point, by
first observing students practice and explain those
ideas and skills being learned, and then, offering
positive feedback and suggestions;
(6) encourage students to ask
for further explanations or
examples, or just to announce whenever they still
don’t truly understand;
(7) give
students sufficient opportunity to practice,
experiment with, and review the target language;
(8) give
students further practice which helps them
discriminate when and how to use similar language
forms (past tense vs. present perfect, formal vs.
informal
expressions, for example);
(9) regularly give homework
assignments which reinforce
and review what the students were
taught in class,
both recent and past;
(10) plan
and implement opportunities for students to take
part in creative, evaluative, and practical applications
of class content and skills;
(11) lead
students in gaining useful skills in
communicating
in a diversity of relevant media
genres: stories, news, pictures, personal journals,
conversations, role-plays, speeches, presentations,
discussion,
debates, essays, reports, periodicals,
music, television, films, computers, and the Internet;
(12) plan
related transitions between class activities and
between
classes (building on what they have just
learned);
(13) Link
learning activities and content with other classes,
school-wide events, vocations, and the local and
world
communities;
(14) always be supportive to the lower level students who
may be struggling.
Testing
Course
Coordinators design and create the tests. These tests should be given to the
cooperating teachers about 3 days to 1 week before the actual test date. If they have not been, the cooperating teacher should
check with the coordinating teacher, and if necessary, inform the head English teacher of the situation.
Grading
Only
the Course Coordinators calculate the exam scores and grades for all students of a particular course. However, each cooperating
teacher should determine the Class Participation score for each student. It is
worth 50 percent of their overall grade. Complete your Class Participation Scores
before marking your tests, so that course coordinators can go ahead and finish their grade sheets. See Class Participation Guidelines for further information.
Absent Students
As
soon as any students in your classes start missing several classes, speak to the homeroom teacher to find out the reason. Whenever possible, prepare study support for work at home, and for when students return
to class such as: unit outlines, target language, worksheets, homework assignments, textbook pages covered. If students are absent for most of a term yet return for the tests, please give homeroom teachers the test
guides to be given to these students as soon as possible.
Other Information
Especially
teachers in first-year classes should be on the lookout for students to be moved from these original lists, either because
it seems some students cannot work well in the same class or classes have an imbalance of academic abilities.
If
a student is absent for 3 straight classes, check with the homeroom teacher to see what the cause is. Be ready to prepare make-up work (mostly homework) and a lesson points summary for this student from your
lesson plans.
If
a student has been completely absent or has stopped attending recently, check to see if the student has withdrawn from the
school. Scores for most cases as this will mean leaving the score columns blank
for that student, but check with the homeroom teacher to see what they would like in this case.
Each
teacher should give their old tests from the last year to the teacher who will teach those students for the following year. Give to the coordinating teacher for that year to hand out. Teachers can them
choose to review these tests to get an idea of what was studied and how well certain students are learning.
1st
and 2nd year Seniors do not have classes after 3rd term exams.
3rd
Year Seniors do not have classes after 2nd term exams.
After the first few classes, consider whether any students would be better off in a different class, due
to individual student compatibility, motivation, or ability level.
Keep
attendance recorded regularly in your grade books. At the end of the term, each teacher should give your coordinator your
total of absences for each student. The homeroom attendance books (生徒出席簿) should be updated everyday or by the end of the term.
Consider
assigning summer make-up work for students whose attendance is very low, or whose tests scores are very low. Give such work to the homeroom teacher.
