Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
Teach English to students whose first language is a language other than English.
A Wednesday morning with mixed levels
You are an English teacher running a morning class for adults who speak other languages at home, in a room at a local library. Fifteen students are due at 9:30am. Some have been here for months and some arrive for the first time today. You have a lesson plan, and about five minutes before class, the plan starts to change.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Please correct every mistake I make. I want perfect English. I do not mind if you stop me each time. It is the only way I will improve, my last teacher did not do enough.
Correct everything she says as it happens, since she asked for exactly that and does not mind being stopped
Valentina stops mid-sentence so often that she stops speaking freely at all. Other students notice the interruptions and become nervous about speaking near her.
Correct the two or three patterns that matter most and review the rest in writing
Valentina agrees to try it. She is surprised how much more she says when she is not stopped every sentence, and the written list gives her plenty to work on.
Tell her that making mistakes is normal and that she should not worry about being perfect yet
It is a true and kind thing to say, but she asked for something specific and feels dismissed. She asks a classmate to correct her instead, and that classmate often gets it wrong.
Teacher, tomorrow I must fill in a form at my new job. It is for safety and the words are very hard for me. Today your lesson is about the past tense. Can you help me with the form instead?
Run the planned lesson as set and offer to help after class if there is time and a free room
You deliver a clear lesson. After class there is only five minutes before the room is needed, so Gebre leaves with a few words explained and a form he still half understands.
Stop the class and spend the full lesson on his form, since his job tomorrow matters most
Gebre is helped, but the other fourteen sit through a lesson that does not apply to them. Two of them mention it to the coordinator.
Set a past tense task in pairs, then spend ten minutes with Gebre on the key form words
The class gets on with the task, and Gebre learns the key words in the form. The others see you adapt, and a few ask whether there is a similar session on work paperwork.
Our funder wants attendance for the term. I notice Mr Hassan has missed three weeks. Can you update the list and tell me whether to take him off the class so that we can offer his place to someone else?
Take him off the list, because the funder needs accurate numbers
The list is accurate, but Mr Hassan was away because of a family emergency. When he returns he finds his place gone and does not come back.
Ask for a few days, contact Mr Hassan to see what is happening, then decide with Dina
Mr Hassan replies that his mother has been unwell and he has been at the hospital. He is relieved you asked. The coordinator notes the reason, and he keeps his place.
Mark him absent, but leave his place until the end of term
The record is accurate and his place is safe. But no one has checked in with him, and a person who has fallen behind in a language class often doesn't return on their own.
How it went
At the end of the morning, you have taught a lesson, helped with a work form, and checked on a student who vanished. Teaching English to adults is about language and also about confidence, patience and noticing who is struggling. Does that mix of teaching and caring about the whole person appeal to you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The engineer who could not order lunch
A fictional case set in a community English class in a library meeting room.
The situation
Amira taught a morning English class at a community library. One of her students, Mr Pham, had worked as an engineer overseas. He read technical manuals easily and understood much of what was said around him, but when it was his turn to speak he went silent and looked embarrassed. He told Amira he felt like a child. He had stopped going to the cafe next to the library because he was afraid of the counter. Amira could see his written English was far ahead of his speaking.
What they did
Amira stopped asking Mr Pham to speak in front of the class and set up pair role plays about real situations: ordering food, booking a doctor, asking a neighbour about noise. She paired him with a patient classmate and gave him phrases to practise before saying them aloud. She asked him to teach the class a few technical words from his field, so he felt like an expert in something. After three weeks he walked into the cafe with a classmate.
How it turned out
He ordered a coffee and a sandwich and nearly walked out without paying, because he was so pleased. His speaking was still hesitant, but he was no longer silent. He told Amira that being useful in class had made it easier to be a beginner.
What would you do?
- Why might a skilled adult feel like a child when learning a language?
- What would you want to practise first if you moved to a new country?
- How can a teacher help someone speak without putting them on the spot?