Teaching Esol / English

ESOL and English are a requirement in our country and a lot of businesses work in English so learning English is essential.

As English is not very easy to learn, it`s not just a matter of standing in front of a class and talking to students in English and having them repeat what you say until they remember it (choral drilling)it`s more a matter of helping them understand it and retain that understanding in the most meaningful and imaginative way possible.

Like word association, where you relate a word to a picture or scene, for example, when I was learning Spanish the word Pato meaning duck, I remembered it by imagining I was patting a duck on the head and it worked a treat. A picture does speak a thousand words in teaching English and this should be borne in mind at all times when teaching it.

Various methods can be use dot facilitate this, role play where students imagine themselves in various roles and have to interact and communicate with each other is a good way of learning, discussion, where each student takes part is another good way to help them with word shapes and pronunciation. Role plays or similar are suitable for class room and one to one teaching but difficult over the internet in online tutoring so the tutor has to be more creative and adaptable but with the right tools visual learning can help tremendously.

As with everything, it`s about using the right tools for the job and having the right mind set.