David Chapman - Teaching English as a Second Language: A Guide for Teaching Children (TESL or TEFL)

Teaching
English as a
Second
Language

A Guide for Teaching Children

(TESL or TEFL)

By: David Chapman

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Copyright 2010, 2011 David Chapman.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4269-5257-9 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4269-5258-6 (e)

Trafford rev.01/13/2011

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

There are several people I would like to take some time to thank. Without these people in my life, there is no way this book couldve been created.

First and far most, without question the first people I have to thank were all of my students, and there were hundreds of them. They were the ones who challenged me to become a better teacher every day. There was never a dull moment, helping all these children learn English was a very rewarding experience indeed. It is the real reason I wrote this book, it was to make sure that class was always fun and productive for them. I wish them all great success and a happy future, I miss you all!

Second, I would like to thank my older sister who has always encouraged me to write. Without her constant encouragement and financial support this book may never have been published.

Thirdly, I must thank my younger sister who is also a teacher and reviewed my book and shared her opinions and gave input during the early stages of writing.

I would also like to thank my Mom and Dad who taught me to love and care for people. It is because of them that I realize how important it is to help others.

I cannot forget my brother. Thank you for doing so many favors for me, even if it was just buying me a coffee at Tim Hortons or the time you offered me a place to stay at your home when I first came back from Asia. You are an amazingly kind individual and I wish you nothing but the best.

Also, special thanks to all the parents who spent a lot of money to have their kids / my students learn English. I would never of had the opportunity to go overseas and enrich my life the way I did if it werent for you. Thank you!

Thank you Taiwan! This is where I spent most of my time teaching English as a second language. What a wonderful country you have and what wonderful people you are. I had the time of my life and I cant wait to go back and visit or teach again soon.

Thank you.

Introduction

About this Teaching Guide

1. The following TESL / TEFL guide (Teaching English as a Second Language or Teaching English as a Foreign Language) is what I have come up with so far in my exciting career of almost 10 years as an ESL Teacher. It is a summary of all my teaching ideas, combined with the games & activities that I use for teaching English as a second language to children. The purpose of this guide is to show you what you can teach children, what you can do with your students and how to teach them. But, dont stop here. Go out and find better strategies for teaching. Go out and find more games & activities that work for you. Do whatever you need to do to become a better teacher and I would strongly encourage you to do those things. This is a guide that I made and I strongly feel will give a new teacher that much needed helping hand or an experienced teacher a few fresh reminders and some new ideas. I wish someone gave me this guide when I first started teaching English as a second language, thats for sure!

2. Obviously your school should have a curriculum for you and they should have materials and books that you can use to teach with. But, the reality is unfortunately many schools have very short and poor curriculums. Even in the best schools you will still find yourself with a lot of lesson planning and time to do your own things in class. This is just part of being a teacher. I hope this guide can help fill in some of that dead time and I hope this guide can give you lots of ideas on how to run your class.

3. I know this isnt a complete guide to everything you need to know, but I did my best to simplify and organize it to only include information that works, and will be useful for you. Nothing in this guide is filler, just there to fill space. Every game, every activity, every point is the best ideas I have come across. All the things that didnt work for me have been discarded, they are not included in this guide. I have used all the games and activities in this guide over and over again in my own classrooms. And often, have used the same game or activity with just one class over 100 times. I also hope this guide will get your mind thinking about the right ideas on how to teach your class and how to make your class more fun and successful. Good luck!

Get Ready for Some Hard Work

1. Never forget that teaching is an ongoing and never ending process to always be on the ball. You need to expend a lot of energy every day. You need to always try your best if you truly want to be an effective teacher.

2. The most important thing you can do is work hard and give your best effort. The more effort you put into your work, the more you will get out of it. The more effort you put into your teaching, the better teacher you can be. The better teacher you can be, the more your students can benefit from you. The more your students benefit from you, the more your students will learn. The more your students learn, the more you will learn about how other people learn. You are not only teaching the students, you are teaching yourself about intelligence. Its a win / win situation.

3. Have fun with it! The more fun and entertainment you can create in your classroom, the more fun your students will have. The more fun your students have, the more fun you will have. Another win / win situation.

Becoming a Teacher is a Huge Responsibility

1. You chose to be a teacher. If you wanted to, you could of chose to do anything you wanted, but you chose to be a teacher.

2. Becoming a teacher is taking on an enormous responsibility. If you wanted a laid back, chilled out job, you chose the wrong job!

3. You are now the guide for each childs future. You will have everlasting effects on each student you come across. What you say might be remembered by a child forever. What you do and how you act, your students will follow your lead. How much you teach them, and how well they learn will stick with them forever. They cant change this, they cant go back and do it again. They are only a child once, so give them the best chance possible to be smart and succeed.

4. When you decide to work with children, their lives, their futures are in your hands. You cant be lazy, they are our future! If you want to be a lazy and chilled out employee, please choose another job.

5. Thank you for choosing to work hard. The children, their parents, the school, their country, our whole world and the future appreciate it. Thanks a lot!

Structure In The Classroom

Keeping Your Classroom Under Control

1. Children need guidance. Just letting your students do anything they want creates chaos and is an incorrect learning environment for the children to experience.

2. Being firm, enforcing rules and showing professionalism around your students will have a positive effect on the whole class.

3. Keeping your classroom under control ensures safety for all. If you allow your classroom to run away from you and you lose control of it. Your students could become in dangerous situations and they will not be learning correctly. A very sad situation indeed.