The toughest challenge that many teachers have to face is to connect with the students at their level. There are many teachers that are very qualified and smart, but they cannot produce results. Getting the students to understand you is even more difficult when there is a language barrier and teaching English to foreign students is a very difficult task. There are a lot of unique techniques and methods that need to be employed when you are teaching English to non-native speakers.
So, if you are planning to teach English abroad and you do not have a TEFL certification yet, here is a list of some incredible techniques that could get you started on the right track. Employ these tactics in your teaching, and you will definitely see an improvement in your results.
- Increase the interaction of the students with the language
One of the main things that determine how quickly you learn a new language is the time you spend with it. If you want your students to learn English faster, you will need to maximize their interaction with the language. Nobody can learn a new language by sitting in a classroom and continuously listening to lectures. You should dedicate two or three classes in a week to English conversation, as it is the most important part of the language.
Encourage your students to speak English and tell them about their mistakes after they are done speaking. Also, try to make your classes and lectures interactive and exciting, and engage with the students as frequently as possible to increase their interaction with the English language. You should also encourage your students to start using English in their daily life. Encourage them to watch English news channels and read some English books as well.
- Encourage your students to speak more
Speaking and conversation are the most important skills you need to focus on, when you are trying to teach a language. You should encourage your students to speak more English. Once a week, you should have a class in which students are asked to reenact daily life scenarios in English language.
This is a great way to start practical learning of the language, and it will allow your students to start conducting basic conversations in English within the first month of teaching. This will also motivate your students to keep learning as they will see instant results and improvement in their speaking.
- Use social media and chatbots to teach English
Another way to increase the learning of your student is to use social media. Most of the common social media platforms are in English language by default. Encourage your students to use these social media platforms and interact with other English speakers. You can make them join chat groups of English learners so that they have people to converse with, this will not only help your students practice their communication skills in a low-pressure environment, but it will also improve their reading and writing skills.
- Create a plan and follow it
This is a tip that you should follow no matter what you are teaching. When you are teaching the English language, you should create an effective plan to teach your students. You should divide the classes of the week to learn reading and writing on some days, and focus on listening and speaking skills of the students. Start teaching the language from basic rules and teach the students small and basic phrases that they can use in their daily life. Also, incorporate regular quizzes and exercises in your study plan to make it more effective and produce better results. A solid plan is one of the essential elements of teaching English or any other subject for that matter, so create it carefully and considerably.
- Start teaching the basic rules of the language
It is highly unlikely that any native English speaker would know about the certain rules and regulations that are used in the language, and they do not need to know them either, but if you are going to teach English to foreign students, then you need to teach them the rules and tenses of the English language. This is very essential for the improvement and development of the writing skills of the students. English comprehension should be a significant part of your English teaching course, if you want your students to start using the language. Learning these rules and tenses will allow your students to give better results, and learn English more effectively and easily.
You should also try to understand some of the basic rules of the native language of the students you are teaching, so that you can assist them properly in translating from their language to English.
- Improve listening skills by listening to music
A great and super effective way to increase the listening skills of your students in an effective way is to encourage them to listen to English music. This is a fun way to increase one’s interaction with the English language. Also, music will introduce your students to a lot of slang words that they will not be able to learn otherwise. Music can significantly improve the listening skills of your students, if they are able to understand the lyrics of the songs, then understanding normal speech will not be an issue for them.
- Encourage your students to watch movies in the English language
Another fun and exciting way to increase the interaction of your students with the English language and improve their learning abilities, is to encourage them to watch movies in the English language. When we watch a movie, some of the words that we do not know the meanings of, are also understandable because of the situational context. Watching movies will increase the vocabulary of the students, and it will also improve their accent, which is one of the hardest parts of learning a new language. Watching movies is also a fun way to learn English and your students will be more willing to learn in this way. You should watch the movies with subtitles so that some of the more difficult accents are easier to understand.
About the Author:
After graduating in Industrial Engineering in 2007, from day one, Marcel has been working as a freelance writer, digital marketer, and business trainer. He’s very much into foreign cultures and learning languages and enjoys leaving his office for backpacking and hiking trips in the countryside. Together with his team, he blogs about teaching English as a foreign language on
