Michelle M. Maxom - TEFL Lesson Plans For Dummies

Michelle Maxom began teaching part-time in 1997 after doing an intensive Trinity TESOL certificate. She later moved to Italy where she furthered her studies in EFL and honed her skills working with students of all ages and from a wide variety of backgrounds. She toured secondary schools and gave seminars in Caribbean literature and Britains multi-ethnic culture showing how the English language can open doors and minds. On returning to the UK she took on the post of Director of Studies at a central London EFL school, bringing it to accreditation by the British Council for the first time and learning how to work behind the scenes in the industry. She has made an instructional film for Thomson ELT and become a specialist in one-to-one courses. After becoming a freelance teacher/trainer Michelle delivered a work experience programme, taught on intensive TEFL courses in London and Paris, and tutored those studying EFL by distance learning. These days she can be found teaching at the University of the Arts, London.

Many thanks to those who supported me during the writing of this book. In particular, I would like to thank The Language Centre staff at UAL for being flexible and providing many wonderful colleagues to learn from. Thanks to Rashida for helping me hit my dealine and to all my students who inspire amazing ideas with their enthusiasm. Lorraine and Letitia you egged me on all the way. As usual, my family have been supportive at every turn, especiallly Myrtle May. I appreciate you all.

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Chapter 1

In This Chapter

Demystifying language terms

Looking at the English courses on offer

Knowing the lingo for lesson planning

Understanding jargon in the staffroom

The Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL) industry has been in full flow for many years now. In this chapter, I give you an overview of workplace jargon, and various points that may be taken for granted in language schools but are still unclear for many new teachers. The chapter aims to help you understand the job of a modern-day teacher of English as a foreign language, which sets you up to dive into the lesson plans I provide in the later sections of the book.

Understanding how sentences are put together is essential. Words have different classifications, and defining how these work in English provides the rules and patterns that help students learn. You, as the teacher, must know the terminology for describing language appropriately.

For a more detailed description of TEFL grammar, please refer to Teaching English as a Foreign Language For Dummies (Wiley, 2009).

At primary school, pupils often learn that verbs are the doing words. They tend to describe both actions and a state of being. For example, look at the following sentences in which the verbs are in italic:

I went to the shop to buy a newspaper. I was happy to find that the price had been reduced.

Notice the verbs in their most basic form: to buy and to find. This is called the infinitive and it means that the verb hasnt been changed in at all. Take off the word to and you can find the infinitive form in a dictionary.