| The first requirement in teaching a group of complete | | | | frequency of the class among others. |
| beginners (English 1) is to understand the purpose of | | | | When Everybody Fails an English Course Level |
| their learning, i.e., General English, Technical English, and | | | | An additional point is that on occasion, when a large |
| English for travel or for their employment, needs to be | | | | number of learners fail an English course level, |
| considered. Beginning themes would include the | | | | regardless of which level, the institute director will |
| alphabet and its pronunciation in English. This can be | | | | assign the group to me for a repetition of the failed |
| especially important if learners use a different alphabet | | | | course level the following semester. I then use the |
| in their first language (L1). | | | | theory of Multiple Intelligences (H. Gardner, 1983), |
| Practice with spelling in English, when giving information | | | | determine the strengths, weaknesses and learning |
| on the telephone, for example. I would communicatively | | | | styles of the students. Using this information, I prepare |
| teach giving and returning greetings and introducing | | | | materials, activities and lessons suited specifically for |
| yourself and others. Then the teaching of basic | | | | this particular group of learners. The ensuing success |
| numbers, counting, saying and writing telephone | | | | rate of my repeating-learner courses is about 96%. |
| numbers. Pronunciation practice might also be an | | | | Don't Use the Learners' First Language |
| increasing important aspect, especially if the learners' L1 | | | | Finally, I try, as much as practically possible, NOT to |
| used a different connected speech model from English | | | | use the learners' first language (L1). This focuses them |
| i.e., tonal, syllable-based or stress-based. | | | | on working, learning and communicating ONLY in |
| Using a Variety of EFL Classroom Activity Types | | | | English. Yes, it is a shock to many learners at fist, but |
| Additional basic themes along with essential | | | | they usually soon adjust and learn the use of the |
| vocabulary would follow being taught in context or | | | | language much more quickly, in my personal |
| actual use. I would teach vocabulary and use in | | | | experience. As learners progress through higher levels |
| context of clothing, foods, days of the week, months | | | | of English language learning, their appreciation of using |
| of the year, house and home, furniture, etc. while using | | | | English-only in the classroom is heightened. They have |
| a variety of class room activity types and available | | | | also been trained to eliminate bad language-learning |
| resources such as videos, CDs, flash cards, games | | | | habits such as translation and over-reliance on their |
| and so forth. Actual practice would depend on such | | | | first language for meanings, definitions, questions and |
| factors as the learners' first language (L1), learner | | | | explanations. |
| profiles, available resources, length, duration and | | | | And that's definitely a good thing, right? |