teaching efl quick guide

7/31/2019 Teaching EFL Quick Guide

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Jose M. Batista De Leon Page 1

Peace Corps Panama

TE Project

TEFL, Quick Reference Guide

August 24th, 2011


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Teaching ESL / EFL

The TE Project emphasizes on the most important aspects of teaching includingteaching speaking, grammar, listening, reading and writing skills as well as how toassess student needs, develop a syllabus, hints and tricks for a more enjoyableteaching environment and a large number of ready to go lesson plans. The TE Projectalways works with new teachers, volunteer teachers and those who are thinking aswell as teachers who are looking for new teaching ideas, lesson plans and activities.

Here is an outline of some of the TEFL topics to know before entering on an EFLclassroom:

1. Introduction to ESL / EFL: Basic Theory2. A Variety of Teaching Techniques3. Teaching Skills: Grammar4. Teaching Skills: Writing5. Teaching Skills: Listening6. Teaching Beginners7. Assessing Student Needs / Creating Your Own Courses8. Helpful Teaching Tools, Hints and Activities

Approaches to Language Teaching

Popular language teaching methods today include grammar-translation, audio-

lingualism, cognitive-code, the direct method, the natural approach, total physicalresponse, and Suggestopedia. How do these methods fare when they are evaluatedby Second Language Acquisition theory? Each method will be evaluated using thefollowing criteria:

Requirements for optimal input -- comprehensible -- interesting/relevant -- notgrammatically sequenced -- quantity -- low filter level -- provides tools forconversational management

Learning restricted to: -- Rules that are easily learned and applied, and not acquiredyet -- Monitor users -- Situations when the learner has adequate time and a focus on

form

1. GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION

Grammar-translation usually consists of an explanation of a grammatical rule, withsome example sentences, a bilingual vocabulary list, a reading section exemplifyingthe grammatical rule and incorporating the vocabulary, and exercises to practice


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using the grammar and vocabulary. Most of these classes are taught in the student'sfirst language. The grammar-translation method provides little opportunity foracquisition and relies too heavily on learning.

2. AUDIO-LINGUALISM

An audio-lingual lesson usually begins with a dialogue which contains the grammarand vocabulary to be focused on in the lesson. The students mimic the dialogue andeventually memorize it. After the dialogue comes pattern drills, in which thegrammatical structure introduced in the dialogue is reinforced, with these drillsfocusing on simple repetition, substitution, transformation, and translation. Whilethe audio-lingual method provides opportunity for some acquisition to occur, itcannot measure up to newer methods which provide much more comprehensibleinput in a low-filter environment.

3. COGNITIVE-CODE

Cognitive-code is similar to grammar-translation except that it focuses on developingall four skills of language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Communicativecompetence is focused upon. Since the cognitive-code approach provides morecomprehensible input than grammar-translation does, it should produce moreacquisition, but other newer methods provide even more and have better results.Learning is overemphasized with this method.

4. THE DIRECT METHOD

Several approaches have been called the "direct method"; the approach evaluatedhere involves all discussion in the target language. The teacher uses examples oflanguage in order to inductively teach grammar; students are to try to guess the rulesof the language by the examples provided. Teachers interact with the students a lot,asking them questions about relevant topics and trying to use the grammaticalstructure of the day in the conversation. Accuracy is sought and errors are corrected.This method provides more comprehensible input than the methods discussed so far,but it still focuses too much on grammar.

5. THE NATURAL APPROACHIn the Natural Approach the teacher speaks only the target language and class time iscommitted to providing input for acquisition. Students may use either the languagebeing taught or their first language. Errors in speech are not corrected; howeverhomework may include grammar exercises that will be corrected. Goals for the classemphasize the students being able use the language "to talk about ideas, performtasks, and solve problems." This approach aims to fulfill the requirements for learning


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and acquisition, and does a great job in doing it. Its main weakness is that allclassroom teaching is to some degree limited in its ability to be interesting andrelevant to all students.

6. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

Total Physical Response, or TPR, involves the students listening and responding tocommands given by the teacher such as "sit down" and "walk," with the complexityof the commands growing over time as the class acquires more language. Studentspeech is delayed, and once students indicate a willingness to talk they initially givecommands to other students. Theory predicts that TPR should result in substantiallanguage acquisition. Its content may not be always interesting and relevant for thestudents, but should produce better results than the audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods.

7. SUGGESTOPEDIA

Suggestopedia classes are small and intensive, and focus on providing a very low-stress, attractive environment (partly involving active and passive "seances"complete with music and meditation) in which acquisition can occur. Some of thestudents' first language is used at the beginning, but most in the target language.The role of the teacher is very important in creating the right atmosphere and inacting out the dialogues that form the core of the content. Suggestopedia seems toprovide close to optimal input while not giving too much emphasis to grammar.

What does applied linguistics research have to say about these methods? Appliedresearch has examined the older methods of grammar-translation, audio-lingual, andcognitive-code much more than it has looked at the newer methods. There seems tobe only small differences in the results of the older methods. While much researchremains to be done, Total Physical Response and the other newer approaches"produce significantly better results than old approaches."

So what is better, the classroom or the real world? "Quite simply, the role of thesecond or foreign language classroom is to bring a student to a point where he canbegin to use the outside would for further second language acquisition.... This meanswe have to provide students with enough comprehensible input to bring their

second language competence to the point where they can begin to understandlanguage heard 'on the outside'.... In other words, all second language classes aretransitional."

In the real world, conversations with sympathetic native speakers who are willing tohelp the acquirer understand are very helpful. These native speakers engage in what


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is called "foreigner talks," not very different from the way that a parent would talk toa child.

Voluntary pleasure reading is also beneficial for second language acquisition,especially as the reader is free to choose reading material that is of interest and the

proper level in order to be understood.

Taking content classes in the language that is being acquired can also is helpful to themore advanced learner, especially when the class is composed of students who areall acquiring the second language.

How does all of the above affect our views on achievement testing? As students willgear their studying to the type of tests they expect to take, the kinds of languagetests that are given is very important. "Achievement tests...should meet thisrequirement: preparation for the test, or studying for the test, should obviouslyencourage the student to do things that will provide more comprehensible input andthe tools to gain even more input when the class is over." With this in mind, generalreading comprehension tests are helpful, as would be a test that would encouragestudents to participate in conversations and employ the tools of communicativecompetence.

20 TEFL Teaching Tips

http://www.tefl.net/teacher-training/index.htm

These teaching tips by Liz Regan will be of general help to new teachers or otherswho simply wish to brush up on their technique.

Teaching Tip 1: Pairwork / Groupwork

How:

1. Make a list of pairs of names before the lesson starts or while the students arecoming in, or just tell them when the time comes: "Gianni, you work withPaola; Marta, youre with Stefano this time."

2. If there is an odd number of students make a group of three but break themup later in the lesson and put them into pairs with someone else so they getmore chance to speak.

3. You could put them in small groups to start with if the activity allows. Youcould even make the activity a competition in small teams if the activity
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allows, seeing which team gets the most answers right. Use the board or apiece of paper for keeping score.

4. Change the partners quite often so that the students dont get bored withtheir partner. This is especially important if there is a student who isnt very

popular with the others.

Teaching Tip 2: Reading Aloud

How:

1. Pick a student and ask him/her to read the instructions for Activity 1/2/3 orwhatever. "Marco, please read the instructions for Activity 2 for us".

2. Pick a different student each time.Teaching Tip 3: Checking Understanding

How:

1. Ask your students "Is that clear?".2. If its clear, fine. If anyone says "No, can you explain that?/Can you explain

again?", dont. Ask if one of the other students can explain it.

3. If nobody understands it, go through an example step by step together. Theyshould get it then.

4. If they still dont get it, go through another example together.5. If the poor things are still lost either...

o Do the whole activity together as a class, if possible, or...o Give up and go to the next activity.o If its a word they are having difficulty understanding, you could set it

for homework and get the students to explain the meaning to you nextlesson.

6. Another way to check understanding of instructions is to ask the students toimagine that you are a new student who has just come in - can they explainhow to do the activity?

7. Another way to check understanding, not only of instructions, is by conceptchecking (see TT19).

Teaching Tip 4: Pronunciation


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How:

1. Model the word yourself. (This means you say it in a normal way to thestudents). Then get the students to repeat it after you, all together like in achorus until they get it nearly right. Dont worry if they arent perfect. Who is?

2. Then model the word again and ask individual students to repeat the wordafter you.

3. You could put the word on the board and ask the students how many syllablesit has and then practise some stress placement. Ask them which is thestressed (strong) syllable. For example:before = 2 syllables be FORE = The second syllable is stressed.after = 2 syllables AF ter = The first syllable is stressed.computer = 3 syllables com PU ter = The second syllable is stressed.afternoon = 3 syllables af ter NOON = The third syllable is stressed.

If you know the phonetic alphabet you could write the words in that too.

Teaching Tip 5: Speaking to Other Students in English

How:

1. Put the students into pairs or small groups (SeeTT1for further explanation).Teaching Tip 6: Guessing Answers

How:

1. When there is a list of possible answers, encourage students to guess theanswers (by saying things like "There are two words to choose from and onlyone gap to fill so you've got a 50% chance of being right!)

2. Encourage students to look at the words before and the words after the gap(in a gap-fill - a.k.a. cloze - exercise) to help them decide what type of word isneeded in the gap. Will the answer be a verb? An adjective? A noun? In mostexercises this will limit their choice of answers and therefore increase their

chances of guessing the right one (see the previous point I made).

3. If they are still looking a bit blank it's probably because they are sufferingfrom "gap-fill tunnel vision" which means that this is what they see:Irrelevant gobbledygook an __________ with I needn't read this because itcomes after the gap.Would you know what to write in the space? I wouldn't!
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4. Encourage them to try to guess the meaning from the context (i.e. thesentence or paragraph the gap is in). Lets look at the same example again,this time with the context: It rained yesterday when I was out but I hadn't gotan __________ with me so I got wet.In this example the context tells us that the missing word is probably going to

be "umbrella".

5. This technique also works well when there is a word which the students don'tknow in a sentence. If they have never seen the word "umbrella" before and itis in the sentence then the sentence will look something like this to thestudent:Irrelevant gobbledygook an umbskjdhfskjflla with I needn't read this because itcomes after the gap.Some students will panic at this point and ask you what an umbskjdhfskjflla is.You don't need to spoon-feed them the answer. If the students use thecontext to help them they will probably be able to work out the meaning forthem (see point 4 above) and thus gain confidence as learners.

Teaching Tip 7: Stopping an Activity

How:

1. If you have a small enough group that you can be heard by everyone, just saysomething like "OK, you can stop there. Well done everyone. Thank you, you

can stop now. Yes, that includes you, Giovanni!" Then give the students a fewseconds to finish their sentences until the room falls quiet. Let them finishwhat they were saying.

2. If you have a big group so you won't be heard if you try talk over everyonethen don't bother to shout yourself hoarse, simply have a certain place in theclassroom where you go and stand when you want everyone's attention andgo and stand in it. The students will stop talking very soon. (I stand in front ofthe board, facing the class which gets their attention because for the previousten minutes or so I've been cruising round the room monitoring). You canexplain to students at the beginning of the course, "When I want yourattention I will stand here and you will stop what you are doing and listen tome because I don't like shouting for your attention. Is that clear"?


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Teaching Tip 8: Feedback

How:

1. Ask one of the students what the answer to question 1 is. If s/he gets it right,fine. If not, ask if anyone else knows the answer. (If nobody knows andnobody can guess, you'll need to give it to them).

2. Ask one of the students what the answer to question 2 is. If s/he gets it right,fine. If not, ask if anyone else knows the answer. (If nobody knows andnobody can guess, you'll need to give it to them).

3. Ask one of the students what the answer to question 3 is. (Are you getting thehang of this?)

4. In the "True or False?" activities on my worksheets, the feedback questionswould be: "How many of your guesses were right?/How well do you knowyour partner?/Which of your partner's answers surprised you?"

Teaching Tip 9: Dealing with Vocabulary Queries

How to avoid doing it:

1. Get the students to read the exercise completely before starting to actuallydo anything. They can underline the words they don't know, or (morepositively) underline the words they do know. 2. When a student asks you to

explain the meaning of a word, don't. Ask the other students if anyone canexplain it.

2. You could put the students in pairs or small groups and get them to explainthe words they don't know to each other. This sounds daft but it's quitelogical really - the words Gianni is having difficulty with won't necessarily bethe same ones that Marco is struggling with. (Beware of the students'tendency to translate the words. SeeTT17for info on Translating).

3. It's a good idea to get the students to try to guess the meaning of the wordfrom the context it's in. (See TT6 for further information on "deducing

meaning from context").

4. Get the students to look the word up in a (preferably English to English a.k.a.monolingual) dictionary, should such a thing be available (seeTT20for furtherinformation about dictionaries).
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Teaching Tip 10: Monitoring

How:

1. While the students are doing an activity you walk slowly round the classroomand listen to their conversations.

2. You can sit down too, if there are enough chairs, but try to sit in thebackground a bit or the students will direct their conversation to you.

3. Look at one pair whilst actually listening to a different pair nearby. Correct thepair nearby (which will probably make them jump because they thought youwere listening to the pair you were looking at) just to keep everyone on theirtoes - they never know when you're listening to them so they can't everswitch off or revert to their mother-tongue.

4. Be ready to massage any flagging conversations back into life, to stopstudents monopolizing conversations, to stop students falling out with eachother and to offer encouragement and praise where appropriate. Listen andsupervise.

5. Take a piece of paper and a pen with you on your travels round the classroomso that you can jot down any howlers (which can then be dealt with at the end- seeTT11for further explanation).

Teaching Tip 11: Error Correction

How:

1. Let the students make mistakes. They need to. We all learn best throughmaking mistakes. Trial and error is the name of the game.

2. Give the students time to realise they've made a mistake and try to correct itthemselves. If they can't, maybe someone else can help them. If nobody canhelp then you can either step in and give the correct form or make a note of itfor later.

3. As far as possible, correct mistakes anonymously. Do this by making notes ofstudents' mistakes as you monitor (see TT10 for further explanation) thenputting them on the board later and give the students themselves theopportunity to correct them, in pairs or small groups. If no one knows theright answer, give it to them, but only as a last resort. Anonymous errorcorrection is a kind way to deal with mistakes. It isn't important who made themistake originally - the point is, can the students all correct it? I tend to doctorthe mistakes so that even the perpetrator doesn't recognise them as his/her
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own. For example:Original error: "I have been to Paris last year." = On the board: "I have been toLondon last week."

Teaching Tip 12: Eliciting

How:

1. Instead of giving information, ask if anyone in the class can provide it. When astudent asks "What does this mean?" or "What's the past of this verb?" etc.say something like "That's a good question - what do you think?" Can youguess? Can anyone help Maria here?"

2. If you want to teach some vocabulary, for instance, then rather than giving itto the students, try to get them to give it to you. For example: I want to teachthe word "cow". I could draw a little picture on the board. I could explainwhat a cow is. Or I could elicit the word from the students along these lines:"What do we call/What's the word for an animal which makes milk and goes"mooo"?! With any luck the students will say "cow". There you go - I'veelicited the word "cow" from the students. I didn't say it to them - they said itto me; that's eliciting.

Teaching Tip 13: Checking Together

How:

1. When the students have finished doing an activity on their own, put them inpairs or small groups and tell them to check their answers together.

2. Tell the students that if the answers are the same, they are probably correctbut if they are different they need to explain/justify their choice of answer totheir partner - in English! They can change their answers if they like.

Teaching Tip 14: Reading before Writing

How:

1. Tell the students to read the whole exercise first before writing anything.(This will be unbelievably hard for some students to do).

2. Once they've read it all, let them begin doing the exercise.


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Teaching Tip 15: Brainstorming

How:

1. Ask the students to think of all the words they know connected with thetopic.

2. Tell the students to write them on a piece of paper.3. Give them a couple of minutes to do so.4. Put them in pairs or small groups to compare their vocabulary and transfer

words they hadn't thought of from their partner's list to their own.

5. Feedback (seeTT8) on to the board.6. Or you could do it all on the board in the first place - just ask the class to giveyou words to write on the board. (Or give board pens to one or more students

and get them to do the writing!)

Teaching Tip 16: Personalising

How:

1. It's been done for you on the worksheets. All the gap-fill exercises, question-forming exercises and even the majority of the grammar analysis exerciseshave been made to include that ever-important word "I". The discussionquestions are mostly aimed at encouraging the students to give theirpersonal opinion on aspects of the topic.

Teaching Tip 17: Translating

How to avoid doing it:

1. Refuse to give translations for new vocabulary yourself. Pretend/admit youdon't speak the student's language.

2. Encourage the students to guess the meaning of words they don't know or toask each other for help or to look it up in a monolingual dictionary instead.(See TT6 , TT9 and TT20 for further explanation).

3. Explain that you are a teacher, not an interpreter.4. Remind students that you are a teacher, not a dictionary.


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Teaching Tip 18: Pacing

How:

1. Change the pace of the lesson by breaking things up a bit. Instead of simplydoing one activity straight after another, allow a little time for somethingdifferent (pronunciation work, for example - seeTT4for further information).

2. You can also change the pace during a lesson by allowing time for abrainstorming session (seeTT15for further explanation).

3. Another way to liven up the pace is to put a time limit on some activities -"You have 2 minutes for this, so get going!" Or introducing an element ofcompetition - put the class into small groups and tell them that these areteams and the first team to finish this activity is the winner. (Prize = nohomework, or something like that.) Maybe the activities which involve

matching words with pictures would be a good one for this).

4. Use other material during the lesson - your coursebook etc.5. Wake people up by giving them a 2 minute test on last week's vocabulary.6. Allow silence at appropriate times during the lesson - while students are

reading the questions or during speaking activities when students areformulating a response (thinking of something to say). Silence in theclassroom can be a bit unnerving at first but it doesn't mean you're not doingyour job - students need time to absorb information and time to think. We all

do.

Teaching Tip 19: Concept Checking

How:

1. Ask the students a question closely related to the target concept. Forexample, if you are working on a third conditional sentence like this: "I wouldhave done my homework if I had had enough time", your concept checkingquestions could be these: Did you do your homework? Did you have enough

time? If you're checking the understanding of instructions which say: "Guessyour partner's answers to the true or false questions below", you could ask:Do you need to speak to your partner at this stage?
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Teaching Tip 20: Using Dictionaries

How:

1. If possible, give the students each an English-English dictionary.2. Make sure they know how to use it. If not, teach them how. (If you don't

know how to teach them how, see Extra Info below for some ideas).

3. Encourage the students to refer to their dictionary whenever appropriateduring the lesson, though they should try to guess the meaning from thecontext first where possible (SeeTT6for further info).

Teaching Grammar in an ESL / EFL SettingTeaching grammar plays a central role in every ESL / EFL teacher's classroom. Theimportant question that needs to be answered is: how do I teach grammar? In otherwords, how do I help students learn the grammar they need. This question isdeceptively easy. At first look, you might think that teaching grammar is just a matterof explaining grammar rules to students. However, teaching grammar effectively is amuch more complicated matter. There are a number of questions that first need tobe addressed for each class:

What are the objectives of this class?

Is the class preparing for an examination? Is the class improving their English forbusiness purposes? Is the class preparing for summer holidays? etc.

The answer to this question is important as it will help you decide on how muchgrammar really needs to be taught. If students are preparing for a CambridgeExam then grammar will play a large role in your lesson plans. On the other hand, ifyou are teaching a business class, linguistic formulas may play a larger role as youprovide the learners with standard phrases for written documents, participating in

meetings, etc.

What type of learning background do the learners have?

Are the students at school? Have they not studied for a number of years? Are theyfamiliar with grammar terminology?


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Adults who have not been attending school for a number of years are likely to findgrammar explanations confusing while as students who are currently studying willprobably be much more adept at understanding grammar charts, expressions, etc.

What learning materials and resources are available?Do you have the latest student workbooks? Do you have no workbooks at all? Isthere a computer in the classroom?

The more learning resources you have the easier it will be for you to employdifferent strategies when teaching your students grammar. For example, a groupof students who like using computers could use the computer to study a certaingrammar task while another group who prefers spoken explanations might preferto have you explain the point with a number of examples. Obviously, the more

varieties of learning opportunities the better your chances are that each studentwill be able to learn the grammar point well.

What kind of learning style does each student have?

Is the learner comfortable with standard right brain learning techniques (logicalcharts, study sheets, etc.)? Does the learner work better with listening andrepeating exercises?

This is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching - especially teaching grammar.

If you have a class of learners with similar learning styles, you can afford to use asimilar approach. However, if you have a class of mixed learning styles then youneed to try to provide instruction using as many different methods as possible.

Once you have answered these questions you can more expertly approach thequestion of how you are going to provide the class with the grammar they need. Inother words, each class is going to have different grammar needs and goals and it isup to the teacher to determine these goals and provide the means with which tomeet them.

Inductive and Deductive

First a quick definition: Inductive is known as a 'bottom up' approach. In other words,students discovering grammar rules while working through exercises.


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For example:

A reading comprehension which includes a number of sentences describing what aperson has done up to that period in time.

After doing the reading comprehension, the teacher could begin to ask questionssuch as: How long has he done this or that? Has he ever been to Paris? etc. and thenfollow with When did he go to Paris?

To help the students inductively understand the difference between the simple pastand the present perfect, these questions could be followed with which questionsspoke about a definite time in the past? Which questions asked about the person'sgeneral experience? etc.

Deductive is known as a 'top down' approach. This is the standard teaching approachthat has a teacher explaining rules to the students.

For example:

The present perfect is made up of the auxiliary verb 'have' plus the past participle. Itis used to express an action which has begun in the past and continues into thepresent moment... etc.

I personally feel that a teacher needs in the first place to facilitate learning. That iswhy I prefer to provide students with inductive learning exercises. However, thereare certainly moments when the teacher needs to explain grammar concepts to theclass.

Generally, I recommend the following class structure when teaching grammar skills:

Begin with an exercise, game, listening, etc. that introduces the grammar concept.Ask students questions that will help them identify the grammar concept to bediscussed.

Follow with another exercise that more specifically focuses on the grammarconcept, but takes an inductive approach. This could be a reading exercise withquestions and responses in the structure that is being taught.

Check responses, ask students to explain the grammar concept that has beenintroduced.

At this point introduce teaching explanations as a way of clearing upmisunderstandings.


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Provide an exercise which focuses on the correct construction of the grammarpoint. This could be an exercise such as a fill the gap, cloze or tense conjugationactivity.

Ask students to once again explain the concept.

As you can see, the teacher is facilitating students to do their own learning ratherthan using the 'top down' approach of dictating rules to the class.

Beginner English - Content Overview

Order of Introduction - Teacher Lesson Plan

When teaching beginners, it is very important to proceed methodically building onwhat has been introduced. Here is a progressive list of points to be taught in order tobuild up the 20 points listed above. Most of the points have specific lessons teachingthe various grammar and usage skills. In the case of definite and indefinite articlesand basic prepositions, the points are taught through assimilation throughout thevarious lessons, as the explanations required would involve vocabulary skills beyondthe means of most absolute beginners.

These exercises will appear very simple to you, and you might even feel that they areinsulting. Remember that the students are taking very little steps to quickly establish

a base on which to build.

Here is a list of each of the 20 points to be covered, as well as a brief descriptionand/or list of what is included in each point:

Give Name & Personal Information

Name, telephone number, address

Greetings - Introductions

Basic small talk including 'How are you'

Numbers 1 - 100

Pronunciation, counting skills, telephone numbers


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Alphabet

Spelling Skills

This, that, here, there

Recognizing the connection between 'this, here' as opposed to 'that, there'

Present of the verb 'to be'

Conjugation of the verb, question and negative forms for all subjects

Basic descriptive adjectives

Ability to describe objects simply

Basic prepositions use

in, at, to, on, etc.

There is, There are

Difference between singular and plural, question and negative form

Some, any, much, many

When to use some and any in the positive, negative and question forms. Questionsusing much and many

Question Words

The use of 'wh-' question words as well as 'how much' and 'how many'

Adverbs of Frequency

The use of adverbs of frequency such as: always, often, sometimes, never


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Subject Pronouns

I, You, He, She, It, We, You, They

Possessive Adjectives

My, Your, His, Her, (Its), Our, Your, Their

a, an, the

Basic rules for usage definite and indefinite articles

Jobs

Names of the most common jobs

Telling the Time

How to tell the time

Time expressions

Using 'in the morning', 'in the afternoon', 'in the evening', 'at night', and 'at' with

time

Everyday Objects

Well rounded basic vocabulary

Present Simple

The use of the present simple for describing everyday routines, positive, negative andquestion forms


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Beginner English - The Present of the Verb 'to Be'

When you begin teaching beginners it is important to use gestures, pointing andwhat is often called "modeling". You can begin teaching subject pronouns and also

introduce the verb 'to be' at the same time with this simple exercise.

Part I: I am + Name

Teacher: Hi, I am Ken. (Point at yourself)

Teacher: Hi, I am Ken. (Repeat stressing each word)

Teacher: (Point to each student and have them repeat 'I am...')

Part II: He, She, is

Teacher: I am Ken. He (stress 'he') is ... (Point at a student)

Student(s): Paolo (Student(s) give that student's name)

Teacher: I am Ken. (Point at the student again and then circle your finger in the airindicating 'everybody')

Student(s): He is Paolo.

Teacher: I am Ken. She (stress 'she') is ... (Point at a student)

Student(s): She is Illana. (If students make a mistake and say 'he' instead of 'she', pointto your ear and repeat the sentence stressing 'she')

Teacher: (Point at different students and repeat a number of times)

Part III: Question with 'is'

Teacher: I am Ken. Is He Ken? No, He is Paolo. (Use modeling here - ask yourself thequestions)

Teacher: Is he Paolo? Yes, He is Paolo.


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Teacher: Is He Greg? (Point to various students illiciting a yes or no response)

Student(s): Yes, He is Paolo, No, She is Jennifer, etc.

Teacher: (Point from one student to the next indicating that he / she should ask aquestion)

Student 1: Is he Greg?

Student 2: No, He is Peter. OR Yes, He is Greg.

Teacher: (Continue around the room)

When you begin teaching absolute beginners it is important to use gestures, pointing

and what is often called "modeling". You can begin teaching subject pronouns andalso introduce the verb 'to be' at the same time with this simple exercise.

Part I: You are, We are + students

Teacher: Hi, I am Ken. I am a teacher. We are teachers. ( Point outside the classindicating you and other teachers)

Teacher: We are teachers. You are students. (Stress 'we' and 'you' to point out thedifference, indicating the entire class when using 'you')

Teacher: (Point to all of the students and have them repeat 'we are students')

Part II: They are + teachers

Teacher: (Model that you belong to the group students at this point by sitting withthem or in some other manner) We are students. They are teachers (stress 'they' -Point at a student indicating the 'other' teachers)

Student(s): They are teachers.

Teacher: (Continue around the room indicating students to repeat either 'They areteachers' or 'We are students' based on what you indicate)

Part III: Question with 'are'


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Teacher: Are you students? No, we are students. (Use modeling here - ask yourself thequestions)

Teacher: Are you students? (ask a student)

Student(s): Yes, we are students.

Teacher: Are you teachers?

Student(s): No, we are students.




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Beginner English - This and That - Classroom Objects

Learning 'This is' and 'That is' at the very beginning can help you quickly move ontopicking up some basic vocabulary so that students can start building vocabulary from

the very beginning.

Part I: This is, That is

Teacher: This is a pencil. (Stress 'this', hold the pencil up in your hand)

Teacher: (Signal students should repeat)

Teacher: That is a book. (Stress 'that', point to a book somewhere in the room)


Continue this exercise with some basic objects around the room such as: window, chair,table, board, pen, bag, etc. Make sure to stress the difference between 'this' and 'that'when you hold or point to something.

Part II: Questions with this and that

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself by first holding the object and then laying it

down for the response, you can also change places in the room, or change your voice toindicate that you are modeling.) Is this a pen? Yes, That is a pen.

Teacher: Is this a pen?

Student(s): Yes, that is a pen. OR No, that is a pencil.

Continue this exercise with some basic objects around the room such as: window, chair,table, board, pen, bag, etc. Make sure to stress the difference between 'this' and 'that'when you hold or point to something.

Part III: Students ask questions


Student 1: Is this a pen?


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Student(s): Yes, that is a pen.



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Beginner English - Negative statements with 'to be'

Now that students have learned some basic vocabulary and can respond to questionswith yes or no, it is time for them to pick up the negative form of the verb 'to be'.

Notice that we can now use all of the subject pronouns, as well as some basic objectvocabulary. You might also want to bring in a few pictures from magazines tointroduce some other professions to give your students further vocabulary.

Negative statements with 'to be'

Part I: Are you a...? No, I'm not a...

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself changing places in the room, or changing yourvoice to indicate that you are modeling.) Are you a student? No, I am not a student. I

am a teacher.

Teacher: Paolo, are you a teacher? (ask a student)

Student(s): No, I am not a teacher. I am a student.

Continue this exercise around the room with each of the students. If a student makes amistake, touch your ear to signal that the student should listen and then repeat his/heranswer accenting what the student should have said.

Example:

Teacher: Are you a teacher?

Student(s): No, I not a teacher.

Teacher: No, I AM not a teacher. I am a student.

Part II: Expand to 'he', 'she', 'this' and 'that'

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself changing places in the room, or changing yourvoice to indicate that you are modeling.) Is she a teacher? No, she isn't a teacher. Sheis a student.

Teacher: Paolo, is he a teacher? (ask a student)


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Student(s): No, he isn't a teacher. He is a student.

Teacher: Georgia, is this a book? (ask a student)

Student(s): No, that isn't a book. That is a pen.


Example:

Teacher: Is this a pen?

Student(s): No, that not pen.

Teacher: No, that ISN'T a pen. That is a book.

Part III: Introduce 'we', 'you' and 'they'

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself changing places in the room, or changing yourvoice to indicate that you are modeling.) Are you teachers? No, we aren't teachers. Weare students.

Teacher: Paolo, are you teachers? (ask a student)

Student(s): No, we aren't teachers. We are students.

Continue this exercise around the room with each of the students.

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself changing places in the room, or changing yourvoice to indicate that you are modeling.) Are they students? No, they aren't students.They are teachers.

Teacher: Paolo, are they students? (ask a student)

Student(s): No, they aren't teachers. They are students.



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Part IV: Students ask questions


Student 1: Is this a pen?

Student(s): No, that isn't a pen. That is a pencil.

Student 1: Are we teachers?

Student(s): No, we aren't teachers. We are students.



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Beginner English - Possessive Adjectives

Your learners have now learned some basic vocabulary, simple positive and negativestatements with 'to be', as well as questions. Now you can introduce the possessive

adjectives 'my', 'your', 'his', and 'her'. It is best to stay away from 'its' at this point.You can work on getting students to know each other by using their names for thisexercise, before going on to objects.

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself changing places in the room, or changing yourvoice to indicate that you are modeling. ) Is your name Ken? Yes, my name is Ken.(stress 'your' and 'my' - repeat a few times)

Teacher: Is your name Ken? (ask a student)

Student(s): No, my name is Paolo.


Part II: Expand to include 'his' and 'her'

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself changing places in the room, or changing yourvoice to indicate that you are modeling. ) Is her name Jennifer? No, her name isn't

Jennifer. Her name is Gertrude.

Teacher: (Model a question to yourself changing places in the room, or changing yourvoice to indicate that you are modeling. ) Is his name John? No, his name isn't John. Hisname is Mark.

(Make sure to accent the differences between 'her' and 'his')

Teacher: Is his name Gregory? (ask a student)

Student(s): Yes, his name is Gregory. OR No, his name isn't Gregory. His name isPeter.



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Part III: Having students ask questions

Teacher: Is her name Maria? (ask a student)

Teacher: Paolo, ask John a question. (Point from one student to the next indicatingthat he / she should ask a question thereby introducing the new teacher request 'ask aquestion', in the future you should then use this form instead of pointing to move awayfrom the visual to the aural.)

Student 1: Is his name Jack?

Student 2: Yes, his name is Jack. OR No, his name isn't Jack. His name is Peter.



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Beginner English - The Alphabet

At this point learners need to be able to use the alphabet in order to assimilate newvocabulary and ask spelling questions about new vocabulary they will be learning in

future lessons. You should take in an alphabet chart for this lesson, this chart shouldhave pictures of various objects beginning with the various letters of the alphabet(pre-schoolers alphabet books would work well in this situation).

Teacher: (Read the alphabet list slowly, pointing to pictures as you speak. The followinglist is just an example, make sure to use something with pictures if possible. )

A as in "apple"B as in "boy"C as in "car"

D as in "dog"E as in "ear"F as in "flag"G as in "great"H as in "house"I as in "insect"J as in "joy"K as in "kind"L as in "light"M as in "magic"N as in "night"O as in "orchestra"P as in "people"Q as in "question"R as in "red"S as in "sure"T as in "truck"U as in "unique"V as in "video"W as in "wow"X as in "xerox"

Y as in "yes"Z as in "zebra"

Teacher: Repeat after me (Model the idea of repeating after me, thus giving thestudents a new class instruction that they will understand in the future.)

A as in "apple"


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B as in "boy"C as in "car"D as in "dog"E as in "ear"F as in "flag"

G as in "great"H as in "house"I as in "insect"J as in "joy"K as in "kind"L as in "light"M as in "magic"N as in "night"O as in "orchestra"P as in "people"

Q as in "question"R as in "red"S as in "sure"T as in "truck"U as in "unique"V as in "video"W as in "wow"X as in "xerox"Y as in "yes"Z as in "zebra"

Student(s): (Repeat the above with the teacher)

Part II: Spelling Names

Teacher: Please write your name. (Model the following new class instruction by writingyour name on a piece of paper. )

Teacher: Please write your name. (You may have to gesture to students to take a pieceof paper out and write their names.)

Student(s): (Students write their names on a piece of paper)

Teacher: My name is Ken. K - E - N (Model spelling your name.). What is yourname?(Gesture to a student.)

Student(s): My name is Gregory. G - R - E - G - O - R - Y


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Beginner English - Jobs Vocabulary

Learning the names of various jobs can help students get involved by speaking abouttheir lives. At this point, you can go beyond having students identify objects and

naming other students to getting them to speak about their profession. This exercisewill also continue to work on their spelling skills. You should bring in a magazine oranother source of pictures of various jobs.

Teacher: (Point to your photos or illustrations of various jobs. I think it is best to limitthe number of jobs to around 10 different professions.) He is a policeman. She is ateacher. He is a pilot. She is a nurse, etc.

Teacher: Teacher: Repeat after me (Model the idea of repeating after me, thus givingthe students a new class instruction that they will understand in the future.)

Teacher: He is a policeman.

Student(s): He is a policeman.

Teacher: She is a teacher.

Student(s): She is a teacher.

Teacher: He is a pilot.

Student(s): He is a pilot.


Part II: Asking questions about jobs

Teacher: Paolo, is he a policeman?

Student(s): Yes, he is a policeman.

Teacher: Susan, is she a teacher?

Student(s): No, she isn't a teacher. She is a nurse.


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Teacher: Paolo, ask Susan a question. (Give the student a picture)

Student(s): Is she a nurse?

Student(s): Yes, she is a nurse. OR No, she isn't a nurse. She is a teacher.


Part III: Spelling jobs

Teacher: I am a teacher. T - E - A - C - H - E - R. Please repeat after me.

Teacher and Students: Teacher. T - E - A - C - H - E - R.

Continue this exercise spelling each of the jobs.


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Beginner English - Questions with 'Who' and 'What'

Now that students have learned a number of jobs, you can introduce questions with'who' and 'what'.

Teacher: Ken, what are you? I am a teacher. (Model the next question to the students.)

Teacher: Susan, what are you?

Student(s): I am a nurse.

Teacher: Susan, ask Paolo a question.

Student(s): What are you?

Student(s): I am a student.

This exercise can get complicated because many of the students' jobs will not have beenincluded. If this happens, point to a picture and then model a question pretending to besomething from one of the pictures.

Part II: Who is a ...?

Teacher: What are you? I am a teacher. Who is a nurse? Susan is a nurse. (Model thedifference between 'what' and 'who' by first asking yourself 'what are you?' andaccenting the 'what' in the question and 'teacher' in the response. Next, show thedifference by asking the question 'who is a ...' accenting 'who' in the question and theperson in the response. This use of accenting differing words with your intonation helpsstudents distinguish the differnce between thing and person.)

Teacher: Paolo, who is a policeman?

Student(s): Olaf is a policeman.

Teacher: Susan, who is a teacher.

Student(s): You are a teacher.


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Part II: Mixing up 'who' and 'what'

Teacher: Paolo, what are you?

Student(s): I am a clerk.

Teacher: Susan, who is a clerk?

Student(s): Paolo is a clerk.

Teacher: Olaf, what is Paolo?

Student(s): Paolo is a clerk.

Continue this exercise around the room with mixing 'what' and 'who' in the questionform, be sure to also vary the questions using 'you', 'he' and 'she'.


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Beginner English - Basic Greetings

This is a simple exercise to get students communicating with basic greetings. Noticein the second part of the activity that you can use this opportunity to recycle spelling,

object and job vocabulary.

Teacher: Hello, How are you? Hi, I'm fine. - Hi, How are you? Hello, I'm OK. - Hi, Howare you? Hi, I'm well. (Model the question to the students. You can make gestures suchas the thumbs up sign, etc. as well as strong facial gestures to help students understandthe differences.)

Teacher: Susan, hi, how are you?

Student(s): Hi, I'm fine.

Teacher: Susan, ask Paolo a question.

Student(s): Hi Paolo, How are you?

Student(s): Hello, I'm well.

Continue this exercise around the class.

Part II: Goodbye

Teacher: Hello Ken, how are you? Hello, I'm fine. - What is this? That's a book - B - O -O - K. - What are you? I'm a teacher - T - E - A - C - H - E -R. - Goodbye. Goodbye. ( Modelthis dialogue physically, you may want to model this exercise a few times as it willdemand a number of skills from the students.)

Teacher: Hello Paolo, how are you?


Teacher: What is this?.

Student(s): That is a pencil - P - E - N - C - I - L.

Teacher: What are you?


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Student(s): I'm a pilot - P - I - L - O - T.

Teacher: Goodbye, Paolo.

Student(s): Goodbye.



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Beginner English - Questions and Answers

This exercise builds on basic greetings and introduces the names of the nations,cities, etc.

Teacher: Where are you from? I am from the USA.(Model 'where' and 'from' byaccenting 'where' and 'from' in the question and 'from' in the response. This use ofaccenting differing words with your intonation helps students learn the new form. Youmight want to repeat this question a few times also including city names.)


Student(s):Hi, I'm fine.

Teacher: Where are you from?

Student(s): I'm from Russia.

Teacher: Susan, ask Paolo.

Student(s): Hi Paolo, how are you?


Student(s): Where are you from?

Student(s): I'm from Pisa.


Part II: Asking questions with 'he' and 'she'.

Teacher: Where is Paolo from? He is from Italy.

Teacher: Susan, where is Olaf from?

Student(s): He is from Poland.



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Student(s): Paolo, where is Maria from?

Student(s): She is from Brazil.

Student(s): Where are you from?

Student(s): I'm from Pisa.



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Beginner English - Nationalities

This activity expands students' vocabulary by adding nationality adjectives andmaking a comparison between nations and nationalities. At this point, it would also

be a good idea to introduce a map and/or write the names of various nations andnationalities on the board.

Teacher: Where are you from? I am from the USA. Are you American? Yes, I amAmerican. (Model the difference between nation and nationality by accenting thenationality in both the question and response. This use of accenting differing wordswith your intonation helps students learn the differnce between nation and nationality.It might also help to point to the board when asking this question.)

Teacher: Where is Paolo from? He is from Italy. Is he American? No, he isn't American.

He is Italian. (Go through the various nationalities in the classroom. This is also anopportunity to repeat the negative forms of 'to be' for 'he' and 'she'. You may also wantto go through the list of nations and nationalities having students repeat after you tofocus on pronunciation for a moment.)

Teacher: Paolo, where is Olaf from?

Student(s): Olaf is from Poland.

Teacher: Is Olaf Polish?

Student(s): Yes, he is Polish.

Teacher: Olaf, ask Susan.

Student(s): Is Paolo from Italy?

Student(s): Yes, he is from Italy?

Student(s): Is he Italian?

Student(s): Yes, he is Italian.


Introduce and review the negatives.


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Teacher: Paolo, where is Olaf from?

Student(s): Olaf is from Poland.

Teacher: Is Olaf American?

Student(s): No, he isn't American. He is Polish.

Teacher: Olaf, ask Susan.

Student(s): Is Paolo from Italy?

Student(s): Yes, he is from Italy?

Student(s): Is he Polish?

Student(s): No, he isn't Polish. He is Italian.

Part II: Expanding to a mini-conversation.





Teacher: Are you American?

Student(s): No, I'm not American. I'm Russian.


Student(s): I'm a nurse.

Teacher: What's this?

Student(s): That's a book.


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Teacher: Goodbye.


Continue this exercise with each student around the class.


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Beginner English - Numbers

At this point, students should feel comfortable performing simple conversationsspeaking about where they are form, what their jobs are and naming a number of

objects. It's time to go back to some basic rote repeating for students to learn theirbasic numbers.

Teacher: (Write a list on the board and point to the numbers.)

1 - one 2 - two3 - three4 - four5 - five6 - six

7 - seven8 - eight9 - nine10 - ten11 - eleven12 - twelve13 - thirteen14 - fourteen15 - fifteen16 - sixteen17 - seventeen18 - eighteen19 - nineteen20 - twenty

Teacher: Please repeat after me.

Teacher: (Point to the numbers.)

1 - one Student(s): 1 - one

2 - two Student(s): 2 - two

3 - three Student(s): 3 - three, etc

4 - four5 - five


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6 - six7 - seven8 - eight9 - nine10 - ten

11 - eleven12 - twelve13 - thirteen14 - fourteen15 - fifteen16 - sixteen17 - seventeen18 - eighteen19 - nineteen20 - twenty

Teacher: (Write a list of random numbers on the board and point to the numbers.)

Teacher: Susan, what number is this?

Student(s): 15

Teacher: Olaf, what number is this?

Student(s): 2


Part II: The 'tens'.

Teacher: (Write a list of the tens and point to the numbers.)

10 - ten20 - twenty

30 - thirty40 - forty50 - fifty60 - sixty70 - seventy80 - eighty90 - ninety100 - One hundred


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10 - ten Student(s): Ten

Teacher: 20 - twentyStudent(s):Twenty

Teacher:30 - thirtyStudent(s):Thirty, etc

40 - forty50 - fifty60 - sixty70 - seventy80 - eighty90 - ninety100 - One hundred

Part III: Combined 'tens' and single digits.

Teacher: (Write a list of various numbers and point to the numbers.)

2236

485169718594


22 Student(s): 22

Teacher: 36Student(s): 36

Teacher: 48Student(s): 48, etc


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5169718594

Teacher: (Write another list of random numbers on the board and point to thenumbers.)

Teacher: Susan, what number is this?

Student(s): 33

Teacher: Olaf, what number is this?

Student(s): 56


Part IV: Contrast 'teens' and 'tens'

Teacher: (Write the following list of numbers and point to the numbers.)

12 - 20

13 - 3014 - 4015 - 5016 - 6017 - 7018 - 8019 - 90 Be careful to pronounce slowly, pointing out the difference in pronunciationbetween 14, 15, 16, etc. and 40, 50, 60, etc.


12 - 20Student(s): 12 - 20

Teacher: 13 - 30Student(s): 13 - 30


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Teacher: 14 - 40Student(s): 14 - 40, etc.

15 - 5016 - 60

17 - 7018 - 8019 - 90


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Beginner English - Personal Information

Now that students can spell and count, they can also begin giving personalinformation such as their address and telephone number. This activity also helps

review and build on their counting and past exercises.

Teacher: What is your telephone number? My telephone number is 586-0259. (Model'telephone number' by accenting 'telephone number' in the question and in theresponse.)



Teacher: What is your telephone number?

Student(s): My telephone number is 587-8945.




Student(s): What is your telephone number?



Part II: What is your address?

Teacher: What is your address? My address is 45 Green Street. (Model 'address' byaccenting 'address' in the question and in the response.)




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Teacher: What is your address?

Student(s): My address is 32 14th Avenue.




Student(s): What is your address?

Student(s): My address is 16 Smith Street.


Part II: Personal Information - Bringing It All Together



Teacher: What is your address?

Student(s): My address is 32 14th Avenue.

Teacher: What is your telephone number?




Teacher: Are you American?

Student(s): No, I'm not American. I'm Russian.



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Student(s): I'm a nurse.

Teacher: What's this?

Student(s): That's a book.

Teacher: Goodbye.




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Beginner English - Everyday Objects

Students are familiar with 'this' and 'that', so this is a good time to quickly expandvocabulary by using a structure students already know. You will need to bring in

pictures or illustrations of a number of everyday objects.

Teacher: This is a car. (point to a picture or illustration that you have brought intoclass.)


Teacher: That is a purse. (Stress 'that', point to a purse somewhere in the room)


Continue this exercise with the everyday objects you have brought into class. Alternatethese objects with objects in the classroom that they have already learned so that youcan reinforce the difference between 'this' and 'that'.

Part II: Questions with this and that

Teacher: Is this a car?

Student(s): Yes, that is a car. OR No, that isn't a car. That is a light.

Continue this exercise using the illustrations you have brought into class.


Teacher: (Hand each student a different illustration.) Susan, please ask Paolo aquestion.

Student 1: Is this a car?

Student(s): Yes, that is a car. OR No, that isn't a car. That is a ball.



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Beginner English - There is, There are

Building on the new vocabulary students have just learnt, you can introduce 'there is'and 'there are'. You will need some more images, some of these images should have

a number of the same item in order to practice both the single and plural form.

Teacher: Is there a car in this picture? Yes, there is a car in that picture. Is there abook in this picture? No, there isn't a book in that picture.(Model the differncebetween the question and answer by accenting 'is there' in the question and 'there is' inthe response. )

Teacher: Is there a computer in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there is a computer in that picture.

Teacher: Is there a computer in this picture?

Student(s): No, there isn't a computer in that picture.

Continue this exercise with the everyday objects images you have brought into class.Alternate these objects with objects in the classroom that they have already learned sothat you can reinforce the difference between 'this' and 'that'.

Part II: Are there four..., there are four...

Teacher: Are there three cars in this picture? Yes, there are four cars in that picture.Are there two books in this picture? No, there aren't two books in that picture.(Modelthe differnce between the question and answer by accenting 'are there' in the questionand 'there are' in the response. It is very important that you use specific numbers at thispoint as students are not yet familiar with 'some' and 'any')

Teacher: Are there four people in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there are four people in that picture.

Teacher: Are there three lamps in this picture?

Student(s): No, there aren't three lamps in that picture.

Continue this exercise using the illustrations you have brought into class.


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Teacher: (Hand each student a different illustration.) Susan, please ask Paolo aquestion.

Student(s): Is there a car in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there is a car in that picture. OR No, there isn't a car in that picture.

Student(s): Are there three books in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there are three books in this picture. OR No, there aren't threebooks in that picture.



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Beginner English - Basic Adjectives

At this point students are able to identify a number of basic objects. Now is a goodtime to introduce some basic adjectives to describe those objects. You will need to

bring in some illustrations of similar objects that look different.

Prepare the lesson by writing a number of adjectives on the board. I like to useadjectives that are paired in opposites and I would suggest the following:

beautiful - uglyold - newhot - coldold - youngbig - small

cheap - expensivethick - thinempty - full

Notice that you should use adjectives which describe the outward appearance of thingsbecause students have only learned basic everyday object vocabulary up to now.

Teacher: (Take two illustrations which show similar objects in different states.) This isan old car. This is a new car.

Teacher: (Take two illustrations which show similar objects in different states.) This is abeautiful city. This is an ugly city.

Continue pointing out the differences between the various objects.

Part II: Getting Students to Describe Illustrations

(Once you feel comfortable that students are familiar with these new adjectives, beginto ask students questions.)

Teacher: What is this?

Student(s): That is an old house.

Teacher: What is this?


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Student(s): That is a cheap bag.

Continue choosing between the various objects.


Teacher: (Hand out the various images to the students, you can also make a game outof this by turning over the images and having students choose one from the pile.)

Teacher: Paolo, ask Susan a question.

Student(s): Is this a new hat? OR What is this?

Student(s): Yes, that is a new hat. OR No, that isn't a new hat, it is an old hat.



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Beginner English - Countable / Uncountable

Now that students are familiar with 'some' and 'any' you can extend this knowledgeby adding the questions 'How much' and 'How many', as well as the quantifiers

'some', 'a lot of', 'a little' and 'a few'.

Prepare the lesson by once again writing a few headings on the board. I would include'Some', 'a lot', 'a little' for uncountble objects and 'some', '4', 'a lot' and 'a few' forcountable objects. Under these headings, add a list of the countable and uncountableobjects that you have introduced - or will be introducing - during the lesson. This willhelp students continue to expand on the concept of countable and uncountable nouns.

Teacher: (Take an illustration or picture that contains many objects.) How much wateris there in the glass? There is a lot of water in the glass. ( Model 'how much' and 'a lot

of' by accenting 'how much' and 'a lot of' in the question and response. This use ofaccenting differing words with your intonation helps students learn that 'how much' isused in the question form for an uncountable object and 'a lot of' in a positivestatement.)

Teacher: How much wine is there in the glass? There is a little wine in the glass.

Teacher: How much cheese is there? There is some cheese.

(Repeat with several different uncountable objects.)

Teacher: Paolo, how much water is there in the glass?

Student(s): There is a lot of water in the glass.


Part II: Asking Questions With How Many

Teacher: (Take an illustration or picture that contains many countable objects.) Howmany apples are there in the picture? There are a lot of apples in the picture. ( Model'how many' and 'a lot of' by accenting 'how many' and 'a lot of' in the question andresponse. This use of accenting differing words with your intonation helps studentslearn that 'how many' is used in the question form for countable objects and 'a lot of' ina positive statement.)


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Teacher: How many glasses are there in the picture? There are a few glasses in thepicture.

Teacher: How many oranges are there? There are some oranges.

(Repeat with several different countable objects.)

Teacher: Paolo, how many books are there in the picture?

Student(s): There are a few books in the picture.


Part III: Expanding into a Mini-Conversation

Teacher: (Choose an image)

Teacher: Paolo, is there any water in this picture.

Student(s): Yes, there is some water in that picture.

Teacher: Paolo, how much water is in this picture.

Student(s): Yes, there is a lot of water in that picture.

Teacher: (Continue around the room - make sure to repeat students' incorrectsentences accenting the mistake so that they may correct themselves.)


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Beginner English - Some / Any

The use of 'some' and 'any' is rather challenging for students. You will need to beespecially careful and model many times when introducing 'some' and 'any'.

Repeating students mistakes while accenting the mistaken word is especially helpfulas the student will be prompted to change his / her response. Practicing 'some' and'any' also offers a perfect oportunity to review the use of 'there is' and 'there are' tointroduce countable and uncountable nouns. You will need to bring in someillustrations of both countable and uncountable objects. I find a picture of a livingroom with many objects helpful.

Part I: Introducing Some and Any with Countable Objects

Prepare the lesson by writing 'Some' and a number such as '4' at the top of the board.

Under these headings, add a list of the countable and uncountable objects that you haveintroduced - or will be introducing - during the lesson. This will help students recognizethe concept of countable and uncountable.

Teacher: (Take an illustration or picture that contains many objects.) Are there anyoranges in this picture? Yes, there are some oranges in that picture. (Model 'any' and'some' by accenting 'any' and 'some' in the question and response. This use of accentingdiffering words with your intonation helps students learn that 'any' is used in thequestion form and 'some' in a positive statement.)

Teacher: (Repeat with several different countable objects.) Are there [u]any[/u]glasses in this picture? Yes, there are [u]some[/u] glasses in that picture.

Teacher: Are there [u]any[/u] glasses in this picture? No, there aren't [u]any[/u]glasses in that picture. There are [u]some[/u] apples.

(Repeat with several different countable objects.)

Teacher: Paolo, are there any books in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there are some books in that picture.


Part II: Introducing Some and Any with Uncountable Objects


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(At this point you might want to point out the list you have written on the board.)

Teacher: (Take an illustration or picture that contains an uncountable object such aswater.) Is there [u]any[/u] water in this picture? Yes, there is [u]some[/u] water inthat picture.

Teacher: (Take an illustration or picture that contains an uncountable object such aswater.) Is there [u]any[/u] cheese in this picture? Yes, there is [u]some[/u] cheese inthat picture.

Teacher: Paolo, is there any cheese in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there is some cheese in that picture.



Teacher: (Hand out the various images to the students, you can also make a game outof this by turning over the images and having students choose one from the pile.)

Teacher: Paolo, ask Susan a question.

Student(s): Is there any water in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there is some water in that picture. OR No, there isn't any water inthat picture.

Student(s): Are there any oranges in this picture?

Student(s): Yes, there are some oranges in that picture. OR No, there aren't anyoranges in that picture.

Teacher: (Continue around the room - make sure to repeat students' incorrectsentences accenting the mistake so that they may correct themselves.)


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Beginner English - Telling Time

Telling the time is a basic skill that most students will eagerly acquire. You will needto take some sort of clock into the room. The best clock is one that has been

designed for teaching purposes, however, you can also just draw a clock face on theboard and add various times as you go through the lesson.

Many students might be used to a 24 hour clock in their native culture. To begin tellingtime, it's a good idea to just go through the hours and make students aware of the factthat we use a twelve hour clock in English. Write the numbers 1 - 24 on the board andthe equivalent time in English, i.e. 1 - 12, 1 - 12. It is also best to leave out. 'a.m.' and 'p.m.'at this point.

Teacher: (Take the clock and set it to a time on the hour, i.e. seven o'clock) What time

is it? It's seven o'clock. (Model 'what time' and 'o'clock' by accenting 'what time' and'o'clock' in the question and response. This use of accenting differing words with yourintonation helps students learn that 'what time' is used in the question form and'o'clock' in the answer.)

Teacher: What time is it? It's eight o'clock.

(Go through a number of different hours. Make sure to demonstrate that we use a 12hour clock by pointing to a number above 12 such as 18 and saying 'It's six o'clock'.)

Teacher: (Change the hour on the clock) Paolo, what time is it?

Student(s): It's three o'clock.

Teacher: (Change the hour on the clock) Paolo, ask Susan a question.

Student(s): What time is it?

Student(s): It's four o'clock.


Part II: Learning a 'quarter to', 'quarter past' and 'half past'


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Teacher: (Set the clock to a quarter to an hour, i.e. quarter to three ) What time is it?It's a quarter to three. (Model 'to' by accenting 'to' in the response. This use ofaccenting differing words with your intonation helps students learn that 'to' is used toexpress time before the hour.)

Teacher: (Repeat setting the clock to a number of differ net quarters to an hour, i.e.quarter to four, five, etc.)

Teacher: (Set the clock to a quarter past an hour, i.e. a quarter past three) What time isit? It's a quarter past three. (Model 'past' by accenting 'past' in the response. This use ofaccenting differing words with your intonation helps students learn that 'past' is usedto express time past the hour.)

Teacher: (Repeat setting the clock to a number of differ net quarters past an hour, i.e.quarter past four, five, etc.)

Teacher: (Set the clock to half past an hour, i.e. half past three) What time is it? It's halfpast three. (Model 'past' by accenting 'past' in the response. This use of accentingdiffering words with your intonation helps students learn that 'past' is used to expresstime past the hour, specifically that we say 'half past' an hour rather than 'half to' anhour as in some other languages.)

Teacher: (Repeat setting the clock to a number of differ net halves past an hour, i.e. halfpast four, five, etc.)

Teacher: (Change the hour on the clock) Paolo, what time is it?

Student(s): It's half past three.



Student(s): It's a quarter to five.

Continue this exercise around the room with each of the students. Watch out forstudents using o'clock improperly. If a student makes a mistake, touch your ear tosignal that the student should listen and then repeat his/her answer accenting what thestudent should have said.

Part III: Including the minutes


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Teacher: (Set the clock to a 'minutes to' or 'minutes past' the hour) What time is it? It'sseventeen (minutes) past three.



Student(s): It's ten (minutes) to five.

Continue this exercise around the room with each of the students. Watch out forstudents using o'clock improperly. If a student makes a mistake, touch your ear tosignal that the student should listen and then repeat his/her answer accenting what thestudent should have said.


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Beginner English - Present Simple

Now that students can communicate basic ideas with the verb 'to be', it's time tomake a huge leap to include the present simple. At this point, learning becomes a lot

more fun, as students can begin learning various verbs and talking about a number ofsubjects. However, introducing the present simple needs to be down slowlybeginning with students only responding to your questions in the present simple.

You will need to a fair bit of modeling during the introduction of the present simple. It'sa good idea to take in illustrations of various jobs once again, as most students willintuitively know what people in the various professions 'do', and will be able totherefore infer the meaning of new verbs introduced.

Teacher: (Mode the questions to yourself) Ken, what do you do? I teach English. - Ken,

what do they do? They study English. (Model new verbs by accenting the verb in theresponse. This use of accenting differing words with your intonation helps studentslearn the verbs which they will be able to infer because of past lessons.)

Teacher: Paolo, what do you do?

Student(s): I study English.

Teacher: Susan, what do I do?

Student(s): You teach English.


Part II: Present Simple - He, She

Teacher:(At this point, take out a number of images - five or so - and model what thedifferent people do, repeat a number of times) What does he do? He drives a taxi.(accent the 's' to make students aware of the conjugation)

Teacher: What does she do? She works in a hospital. etc.

Teacher: Paolo, what does he do? (pointing to an image)


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Student(s): He works in a bank.

Teacher: Susan, what does she do?

Student(s): She flies an airplane.



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Beginner English - Continue Present Simple / When

It's time to introduce 'when'. Students can tell time and can now answer questions inthe present simple. It's a perfect time to introduce a number of new verbs

concerning everyday actions.

Write a list of times on the board followed by common actions typically performed atthe various times of the day. For example:

7.00 - get up8.00 - eat breakfast9.00 - go to work10.00 - type letters12.00 - eat lunch

This also gives you an excellent opportunity to introduce some new vocabulary such asthe meals of the day, objects at work, etc.

Teacher: (Model the questions to yourself. It would also be a good idea to point to thevarious times of the day to help students imagine what could happen at the time of day.You will probably also have to do some acting to demonstrate the various verbs. ) Ken,When do you get up? I get up at seven o'clock. ( Model 'when' and the verb byaccenting 'when' and the verb in the question and response.)

Teacher: Ken, When do you eat breakfast? I eat breakfast at a quarter to eight.

Continue to model a number of verbs.

Teacher: Paolo, when do you get up?

Student(s): I get up at seven o'clock.

Teacher: Susan, when do you have lunch?

Student(s): I have lunch at half past twelve.

Continue this exercise around the room with each of the students. Try to include anumber of verbs that you have in

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