The Rules for Being a Great ESL/ EFL Teacher

The reality is thatalmost
anyone on this planet can become a
teacher. In other words, they can obtain
the necessary credentials that will land them a job teaching a
subject of some capacity in a public or private school or
institute. Whether it is ESL, foreign languages, computers or
teaching kids in a public school system, there has always
been and will always be a high demand for teachers. While
there are thousands out there that call themselves a ‘teacher’
as designated by their job title, only a minority of these so-
called instructors are actually any good. No matter what the
subject, teaching is a craft and not everyone excels at it.
However, most individuals can eventually become good
teachers over time and the majority of quality teachers start
off poorly.
I’ve been teaching in some capacity for over eight years. While
I’ve mostly taught ESL, I’ve also spent a fair amount of time
instructing political science at the university level along with
stints as a substitute teacher in American public school
systems, a teaching assistant as a graduate student and even
a few TESOL courses. I still remember my first couple of
years. I was awful to say the least, but I worked at it, matured
as a person and I consider myself now to be quite good. This
blog is about teaching ESL. So the rest of this article is going
to focus on how to be a superb ESL instructor. However, my
recommendations can in reality be applied to most levels of
teaching, age groups and demographics. Whether you are
teaching English, computers or basket weaving, teaching is
ultimately about making connections with others in a
classroom setting. Is less about disciplining and more about
inspiring, engaging and getting results. If you find yourself
teaching English as a second language to a group of adults,
here are ten tips that you should keep in mind that will surely
make you a better instructor.

1. Don’t be a dictator when teaching ESL

As a teacher, the classroom is never about you, but only the
students. This is not to imply that you should let students
walk over you or that they shouldn’t conduct themselves in a
respectful manner. What it means is that you should create a
classroom environment where the students feel comfortable to
speak, ask questions, be creative and engage not only with
you, but with their fellow classmates. It is not your job to get
up there and lecture and talk down to the students. If you are
a person with control issues, then you ought not to be
teaching ESL or any subject for that matter. If you are
teaching adults, remember that your students are adults and
never treat them like children. Just because they speak
English at a low-level doesn’t mean they aren’t well-educated
and dignified in their own language. If you are teaching adults
at a private language school, the reality is that if they can
afford to take your course, then they are probably a hell of a
lot more successful in life then you are, so give them their
respect.

2. Teaching ESL is all about maximizing
student talk time

This one is somewhat related to the first tip. If you are a
dictator in the classroom, then your students aren’t talking
enough. If the students aren’t talking, then they should
demand a full refund or complain to management. Whether it’s
English, Spanish, Chinese or any language, class time is for
the students to talk as much as possible and not for you to
carry on about some nonsense. Remember that if you are
teaching at a private institute, the students are also paying
customers who are eager to practice the language. I’ve walked
by many classrooms where the students sat in complete
boredom as the teacher kept droning on about some minute
grammar point. In an ESL class or any langauge class for that
matter, the students should be talking at least 60% of the time
and the best teachers get their students to speak 75% of the
time. If you are teaching grammar, show them a few examples
on the board, check their understanding and then have them
engage with each other in pairs or find other activities. Every
opportunity to speak in the classroom should be afforded to
the students. If someone asks a question about vocabulary,
ask a more advanced student to explain the answer. Don’t read
directions of an assignment, but have a student do it. In other
words, make the students do as much work as possible,which
ultimately will make your job easier and provide them with
more opportunities to speak.

3. Learn to be a coach

Teaching English as a second language or any language is not
really about being an instructor in the traditional sense. You
should never be lecturing or have a regimented structure to
your class. Instead, your class should be fluid, creative,
innovative and open. While doing do, you have to learn to be a
coach. Each student and class has different needs, strong
points and weak points. It is up to you to identify needs and
proceed from there. The mentality in your classroom should
not be that they will master English in 60 minutes, but rather
that you as the teacher-coach introduce a grammar point,
vocabulary or pronunciation patterns and it is up to the
students to practice outside of the classroom. As a coach, you
should provide feedback on a weekly or biweekly basis. Point
out positive things that they are doing and remind your
students of their weak points. While reminding them of their
weak points, do so in a constructive way and offer advice on
how to rectify them. Finally, as a coach it your job to motivate
the students and give them a reason for being there.

4. Look presentable when you are
working as an ESL teacher

This might seem like a no-brainer, but you would be amazed
by some of the things I’ve seen over the years. How you look
in the eyes of the student has a significant impact on how
they perform in the classroom. If you make an effort to look
presentable, the students will be more inclined to work hard.
Think about it. Would you want to take a language class from
an instructor with wrinkled clothes, messy hair, who is
unshaven and wearing tennis shoes? I am not saying that you
have to dress in business attire. In fact, I am quite opposed to
wearing a suit while teaching a language since language
teaching requires a fair amount of movement and activity on
the part of the teacher. I actually wear jeans on some days.
This is partly because I prefer to work in more casual
institutes. However, while I may wear jeans, I wear a nice shirt
or sweater and attempt to dress at least with some sense of
fashion. In the morning, I am clean shaven, fresh, showered
and smelling good. Yes, this is another issue with many
teachers. That being hygiene. If you were going out on a date,
you would certainly be expected by the other person to arrive
smelling good and looking sharp. There is no exception to this
when teaching. Don’t enter the class with messy hair, sand
under your eyes as if you haven’t showered or even washed
your face and smelling of mildew or alcohol. I’ve caught both
male and female teachers that have been guilty of this. In fact,
take a page out of your students’ book as people from non-
Western countries tend to make more of an effort in looking
presentable for work or school.

5. Don’t be sensitive and uptight if you
want to be a good ESL teacher

One of the
great
contradictions of the English-speaking West is that although
we champion our individualism, we tend to be quite uptight,
bound by political correctness and entirely too sensitive about
what others say. The reality is that Western individualism is
often pretentious and most of us are terrified sheep that are
desperate to fit in with the crowd. If you going to teach ESL
either abroad or in your home country, then you need to
develop thick skin and realize that political correctness is not
widely accepted in other countries. There also isn’t this
underlying friction between the sexes in other cultures as there
is in say the United States or the UK. For the most part, people
throughout Latin America and Asia are quite flirtatious, playful
and enjoy teasing each other. Nobody wants some uptight
Westerner telling them how to think and behave. Although we
think we are saving the world via our crusade of political
correctness, aren’t we in reality merely espousing our
ethnocentric views? My point is that people of Asia, Latin
America, Africa and even parts of Europe simply do not think
like us and we shouldn’t want them to change. They are
wonderful the way they are. They often say what is on their
minds and you have to respect them for that. Remember that
the ESL classroom is not a platform for you to get on your
high horse and preach your world view. Of course you can
share your opinions and your students will value your views,
but you need to accept their perspectives as well.

6. Don’t talk too much about your
personal life

Remember that classroom time is for your students and not
for you to go and on about your personal life. Of course it is
great to share stories with your students. This is particularly
true if you have traveled as they will always appreciate hearing
about your adventures. However, keep your personal issues
and problems to yourself. Maintain a positive classroom that
encourages learning, engaging and having fun. More
importantly, never let your personal problems show in the
classroom. This can be quite difficult at times since teaching
does not afford the opportunity to zone out like you can
working in an office. There are days when you don’t want to
speak to anyone, yet it is your job to be active and to engage
with your students for hours at a time. It is difficult to keep a
smile on your face and to be cheerful when dealing with a
personal issue. However, you will lose credibility quickly with
your students if you appear to be irritable, upset or aloof.
Sometimes you just need to power through.

7. Use humor in the classroom when
teaching ESL

I feel that this is one key component to teaching English that
is ignored too often. There are some Westerners who feel that
they must be uptight and on some kind of power trip when
instructing a class. But being too serious in the classroom is
the worst thing you can do when teaching ESL and such an
attitude will antagonize a great deal of students. In reality,
teaching ESL is half teaching and half entertaining. This is not
to say that you have to be a clown and you should never be a
clown. There is a qualitative difference between being a clown
and being humorous and funny. As mentioned before, people
from other countries aren’t as uptight and pretentious as we
are in the English-speaking West. They are serious about
studying, but they want to be entertained and laugh
consistently throughout the class. It’s perfectly fine to make
jokes, tease students and allow the students to act in a
humorous way with each other. One way of creating a class
full of humor is to use a lot of activities. If you are teaching
adults, have some interesting, yet funny discussion questions
and implement some creative group exercises into the mix. If
you are teaching kids, make sure to have plenty of fun games
and never be too serious with them. From my experience, the
most successful ESL teachers have always been the ones that
are good at injecting tasteful humor into the class. Most
importantly, a good laugh here and there will allow your
students to relax, stimulate the creative parts of their brains
and feel more comfortable speaking up in front of the class.

8. Be creative as an ESL teacher

Think back to a few boring classes you had in high school or
university. Can you remember a class or two where the
instructor was painstakingly dry, mundane and seemed to
drone on and on for eternity? Better yet, can you remember a
class when the instructor just lectured the entire time like a
dictator with little feedback from the students? Your ESL
classroom should never resemble this scenario in no shape or
form. As stated before, you should never be lecturing up there
even when teaching grammar. The ESL classroom has to be
fluid, fast-paced, engaging and active. In my opinion, this
should apply to all language courses. I’ve taken a few Spanish
and Japanese courses in which I felt I was being held hostage
for 60 minutes. Never let your students feel in this way.
Traditional teaching methods do not work when it comes to
language instruction. It is your job as the ESL/language
instructor to construct a classroom setting around creative
activities, exercises and discussion questions. Teaching
grammar is no exception. It’s ok to show them a few
examples on the board and explain it, but do it quickly and
efficiently. Find creative ways to allow them to practice the
language during class time, so they can effectively use it
outside of school. As stated in point number 2, student talk
time should always be maximized in the ESL classroom and
being creative is the only way to hit that 70% mark.

9. Don’t be a racist

This one might seem obvious, but I’ve come across quite a
few teachers both in the United States and abroad that
seemed a bit racist and xenophobic. If you are going to spend
a significant portion of your day around people of other
cultures and colors, then you need to be open-minded and
receptive to these differences. If your only interest to teach
abroad is to save money, then you should reconsider. Sure,
saving money is a worthwhile goal, but teaching abroad is
also about the experience of living in another country. It’s
2015 and the world has changed drastically during the past
twenty of thirty years. If you think that because you are white,
people will love you everywhere you go, think again. The world
has become hip to reality and knowledgeable on matters of
race and culture compared to even twenty years ago. This rule
also applies to how you treat other teachers. If you are
planning on teaching in Asia. you are going to be working with
teachers of other colors as the demographics these days of
who actually teaches abroad is changing rapidly. When living
abroad, you will be in the same boat as every other foreigner,
so learn to get along and put preconceptions about people on
the back-burner.

10. Be knowledgeable of other cultures
and countries

This one goes a long way when teaching ESL and it will gain
the respect of your students. Whether you are teaching
domestically or in a particular country, be knowledgeable your
students’ countries and cultures. I am not saying that you
need a master’s degree in East Asian studies or Latin
American politics, but having a general grasp of the history
and cultural nuances will make your life a lot easier. Being well
versed in geography, historical cities, ancient capitals and so
on will also draw the admiration of your students. Basically,
you don’t want to be the socially awkward, red-faced English
teacher, but rather the open-minded one that can have fluid
discussions with his or her students about such matters. Don’t
be afraid to use class time as an opportunity to learn about
the culture of your students as most students will be eager to
share during periods of classroom discussion. Personally, I
encourage all of my adult students to bring in food to the
classroom. A potluck is a great way to get to know another
culture. I also to do this because I love to eat and have fun
during my classes.
Teaching can often be a rewarding experience and a chance to
make genuine connections with others. However, different
approaches in the classroom are needed according to the
subject that is being taught. Instructing a class in English as a
second language or any language needs to be taught in a
certain way since the way in which we learn a language may
be quite different than other applications. In my opinion, being
creative, engaging, open, active and encouraging students to
speak as much as possible is the best way to teach another
language.

Benifits of Character Education

The present and future well being of a society requires and involved, caring, citizenry with good moral character. People do not automatically develop good moral character; therefore conscientious efforts must be made to help your people develop the values and abilities necessary for moral decision-making and conduct. Educators the world over believe that appropriately implemented discipline policies are vital to establish a positive school climate. Updating a school wide disciplinary process to match the goals of moral-discipline policies requires a meaningful commitment of time and effort.

Character is integral in our lives as water. We need water to survive, It encompasses our body and our surroundings and without it, life is dull and brittle. Sometimes I forget to drink enough of it and don’t realize until later that I have forgotten.Character is like the game of golf. You know all the basics to the game. However you are often faced with dilemmas. When you make the right shot (choice) there’s no better feeling. Then there are times you don’t give it enough thought and you think you know it all and you make the worst possible shot. This results in a range of feelings from “oh well” to down right anger. Then there are times you have thought it through, still you are unsure about your choice, but give it your best shot. Maybe you will get lucky and maybe you won’t. Either way as long as you walk off the golf course having learned something from the day, then you are successful.

Character Education is nourishment for the healthy development of child. Character Education is the process of learning behaviours that help you throughout your life. These behaviours- good and bad are taught to you consciously and unconsciously by our family, friends and teachers and the community at large. We are our own creation of character from all our experiences, it will either be acceptable by others or not. Students participating in an effective, integrated character education program should increase their achievement level, as well as become socially responsible persons with greater co-operation in the classroom, good decision making skills, and a more caring, thoughtful attitude towards others.

There is a long list of character traits that can be taught in schools. Following are some of the values that can be taught. Each character trait can be the focus for each month. Classroom activities are focused around the character traits. The character trait is integrated into each subject for the each month.

Responsibility is a willingness to complete assigned task, use self-control and to be accountable for your behaviour.

Trustworthiness is being honest with words and actions and keeping your promises.

Respect it to treat others in a polite and courteous manner. Show concern for all things; people, property and authority.

Caring is to show love, kindness, and understanding towards others.

Compassion is to be sympathetic towards others, and reach out to those in need.

Justice is to speak out for what is fair, right and true.

Tolerance is to recognize and respect opinions and beliefs of others without judgement.

Co-operation is the ability to work and play with others in a fair and responsible way to complete a task.

WHAT WE WANT FROM OUR STUDENTS:

Listen to parents and respect authority: Show respect for authority, beginning with parents and extending to elders, teachers and in time employers. It is also important for students to respect each other.

Value the good for its benefit: Understand that strong character contributes to personal and social well being. Demonstrate the ability to utilize met cognitive skills as means of understanding the role of ethical behaviour and good citizenship.

Be aware, even sceptical of persons, places or things that might cause a lapse in character: Know personal strengths and weaknesses. Acknowledge that actions have consequences to self and others. Realize that not all people have your best interest in mind and identify which people or situations can be trusted.

Provide for modelling and practising of social skills that demonstrate core values (e.g perspective taking, critical thinking, problem solving, ethical decision making

Using reading, writing and higher order thinking skills to enhance an understanding of the understanding of character education tenets.

WHAT WE WANT FROM OUR TEACHERS:

Teachers should communicate to parents through a classroom newsletter, which will be sent at least once a month.

Teachers will incorporate character education into the curriculum.

Students will be provided with opportunities across the curriculum to apply problem-solving skills.

Reading stories about character building concepts. Activities for students to learn about character building.

Student’s work on character education (writing and artwork) should be displayed.

Don’t allow unkindness of any kind in your classroom no “put downs.”

Write, call or visit parents to praise their child.

Have students write their own sayings or significance or create a personal motto; display on wall.

Encourage students to bring articles about moral issues.

Facilitating discussions and role-play activities

Encouraging students to explore a variety of problem solving techniques as alternatives to anti-social behaviour.

WHAT WE WANT FROM ADMINISTRATORS:

An atmosphere of mutual respect, fairness and co-operation that pervades all relationships- those among the adults in the school, as well as those between the adults and the students.

There should be sense of pride and recognition that character is important, improvement in overall school behaviour.

An increased power to change student’s moral behaviour, create an environment for learning positive character traits and increase parental support. Improved communication with families also.

Use morning announcements, school/classroom bulletin boards or the school newsletter to highlight various accomplishments- particularly character-oriented ones- of students and faculty members.

Be a good role model and ensure whatever expectations they have for their students they also follow with their colleagues, parents, staff and students.

Serve as ethical mentor- providing direct moral instruction and guidance through explanation, storytelling, classroom discussion, encouragement of positive behaviour, and corrective moral feedback.

A strong middle school advisory system provides both adult mentoring and positive peer partnerships. The advisory program group should meet and discuss school issues, share what is happening in their lives, plan group activities and discuss current events.

WHAT WE WANT FROM PARENTS:

Parents can visit school and learn what their children are studying and what interests them. Model the behaviour you want the children to follow.

Visit school to share about a personal hero.

Take an active role in childcare’s lives. Spend time with them, volunteer at a school, lead a club, or coach a team.

Give teachers items they may need in the classroom like scissors, old magazines etc.

As parents are crucial component of the learning process, schools design activities for parents and children to do together. For example instead of science fair the school may sponsor a family science night and invite parents to participate not just observe.

TEACHING STRATEGIES IN CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM:

Summarize exemplary behaviours from the story

How gossip can distort information and make it untrue.

Appeals to student interest

Read stories to the students that how families, friends and neighbours in the community help each other.

Provide opportunities for student reflection on character related issues e.g. journal writing, essays, class meetings, class discussions, artistic expression.

Read stories about character building concepts. Develop activities for students to learn and practice what they read.

Work with colleagues at grade level to share ideas and resources.

With students brainstorm ways to improve the school. Put some into action as a class project.

Stories enlighten and inspire; they attract the listener to goodness. In their journals, the students assess books characters positive and negative decisions.

We want to see students who are actively engaged in meaningful work, who know important things and can use them and who can tell us what they are doing and why. Teachers should tape record all children twice a year to document how they handle written text and how they talk about books and language. A group of teachers should meet and setup the monthly character education themes, words of the week and character education lessons. Lessons should include introducing virtue of the month and words of the week. Students will learn to avoid risk- taking behaviour through responsible decision making and thoughtful future planning as well as through the observation of caring and responsible behaviour modelled by parents, teachers, and school personnel.

10 Steps To Developing A Quality Lesson Plan

Below is a list of the steps that are usually involved in developing a quality lesson plan as well as a description of what each component should be. They will be listed in 10 of the best points.

1. The first thing that you will have to consider, obviously, is what you want to teach. This should be developed based upon your state or local school standards. You also need to be aware of what grade level you are developing the lesson plan for, as well as record a time estimate for your lesson plan to help you to better budget your time.

2. If you want to make sure that your lesson plan will teach exactly what you want it to, then you will need to develop clear and specific objectives at the start. You must note that these objectives should not be activities that will be used in the lesson plan. Rather, they should be the learning outcomes of those activities.

3. You would probably find out exactly what materials you are going to use later, however, they should be shown early in your lesson plan. This way, if someone else decided to start using your lesson plan, they would know in advance what materials would be required.

4. You may also want to write out an Anticipatory Set, which would be a great way to lead into the lesson plan and develop the students' interest in learning what you are getting ready to teach. A good example deals with a lesson on fractions. The teacher could start by asking the students how they would divide up a pizza to make sure each of their 3 friends got an equal amount of pie, and tell them that they can do this if they know how to work with fractions.

5. At this point you need to write the step-by-step procedures that will be performed to reach each of the above mentioned objectives. These don't have to involve every little thing that the teacher will say and do, but they should list the relevant actions that the teacher needs in order to perform them.

6. After the above mentioned procedures have been completed, you may want to provide your students with time for independent practice. For the example of above, students could be given some time to add different numbers of unifix cubes together that a partner would provide them with.

7. Just before you start moving on to the assessment phase you should be prepared to create some sort of closure for the lesson plan. A good idea for this is to return to your anticipatory set, for example, you can ask students how they would divide up that pie now that they know how to work with fractions (check step 4).

8. Now you want to write your assessment/evaluation. Many lesson plans don't really need them, but most of them should have some sort of evaluation of whether or not the objectives were reached. The key to doing this is to make sure that the assessment specifically measures whether the objectives were reached or not.

9. You should make different directions for students with learning disabilities and extensions for others. Examples of this would be adding 1 unifix cube to 1 unifix cube for students with learning disabilities and adding 9 unifix cubes to 13 unifix cubes for the more advanced students and somewhere in between for everyone else.

This is most effective when you use specific adaptations for specific students to take into account their individual differences.

10. It's a really good idea for you to include a “Connections” section, which really shows how the lesson plan could be integrated with other subjects. An example of this would be to have students paint 2 oranges, then 3 more oranges below them, etc. so that they can learn how to integrate Art into the lesson plan.

Error Analysis

Brief Overview

This is a brief overview of error analysis for the reader to understand the main points. Readers are encouraged to study more in-depth to gain a full appreciation of error analysis. At the end are guiding questions for the educator to contemplate instruction and error analysis.

Error analysis has had a long history as far as second language learning is concerned. Individuals have always been interested in why errors were made, but in the early years before WWII there was not a drive for deep research. Also, with behaviorism coming to the forefront, interest in error analysis began to wane as errors were seen as improperly formed habits or interference from the native language.

However, as contrastive analysis began to crumble and the mentalist movement started gaining momentum, the emphasis transferred from the grammatical structure of language to the underlying rules governing language. Error analysis again emerged into scientific thought and fixated on two elements of the error produced: 1. what was the error? 2. why was it made?

Stephen Pit Corder is credited with reviving the interest in error analysis with publishing several articles and providing a basis for research. Corder created five procedures to analyzing errors (Saville-Troike 2006):

1. Collect samples of learner language

Data is collected over a period of time and compared.

2. Identification of errors

What kind of errors are they? A difference is made between an error and mistake. An error is where the language learner does not possess the knowledge of the correct usage. A mistake is where the language learner possesses the knowledge, but has a lapse in memory. An example of a mistake is when a learner, who knows the distinction between men and women and pronouns, uses the pronoun ‘she’ when referring to a man.

3.Description of errors

Once the mistakes are eliminated from the errors, what classification is the error? Is it language level (structural- phonology, etc…), general linguistic (passive sentences, etc…) or specific linguistic elements (nouns, articles, etc…)

4. Explanation of errors

Why was the error made?

• Interlingual (between two languages): the error could be interference from first language to the second language
• Intralingual (within the language): the error could be developmental which shows a gap in knowledge of the rule.

5. Evaluation of errors

How serious are the errors? Does it cause a lack of understanding?

These procedural steps would later spawn the interlanguage hypothesis by Larry Selinker, which asserts the language learner will occupy a limbo state between the rules of the native language and target language being learned. For now, interlanguage hypothesis will be left alone as it is an extremely deep concept that warrants its own article and study.

Results

Error analysis was extremely helpful in progressing research to delve deeper into understanding the errors language learners made. It has been a useful approach that has generated a lot of research. However, it is not without its faults (Saville-Troike 2006). First, how does one accurately classify errors? Some errors may be first language interference or an overgeneralization of a second language rule. Second, as the second language learner increases in level, the ability to avoid problematic structures becomes more common. Last, errors alone can not provide details on what the learner actually knows.

How Not to Use

• Error analysis is not a tool of judgment- it is a tool for helping. For example, a student may look straight ahead and not answer a question requiring the past tense. This may lead the educator to think the student is lower level and needs to be re-taught the past tense, but in reality, the student may have recently been studying the present perfect and the additional information has him unsure of how to respond.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Drama in an EFL Classroom

The advantages of using drama/theatre in an EFL classroom can be summarized as follows:

·         It increases students’ motivation, participation, confidence and fluency in the spoken English as well as communication through the body language.

·         It extends the emotional range of expressions.

·         It develops creativity and spontaneity.

·         It provides opportunities for group and self-expression.

·         It promotes confidence, trust, cooperation and group cohesion.

·         It provides opportunities for group and self-expression.

·         It develops the students’ performance skills.

·         It fosters verbal and non-verbal communication.

·         It feeds the speakers’ need to exchange ideas and make decisions.

·         It maximizes students’ use of English.

·         It ensures students’ involvement and decision-making.

·         It stimulates authentic conversations that aim at developing conversational competence among foreign language learners.

·         It serves as a fluency activity.

·         It creates sensitivity and a sense of awareness.

·         It prepares students for real life and unpredictability.

Disadvantages:

The use of drama in teaching learning situations might sometimes fail for the reasons below:

·         Activities are artificial. The situations are sometimes and irrelevant to the learner’s need.

·         Activities are difficult to monitor both physically and verbally.

·         There is a fear among teachers that drama use may cause sort of uncontrolled fun among learners.

·         It causes embarrassment and awkwardness, in some situations, especially among adult learners.

·         It encourages incorrect forms of language as long as the teacher is not encouraged to correct mistakes immediately so as not to discourage students.

·         Activities may not be suitable to all the class. The activities that succeeded with a group of students may fail with another.

However, these problems could be solved if careful thought and planning are used in the classroom. Teachers themselves must be convinced of the effective use of such activities if they want to encourage their students to have a positives attitude towards language learning in general and above all they must be willing to bring about some change in the way they are working.

The Benefits of Using Drama in the ESL/EFL Classroom

As an English teacher, I have often been amazed at how effective drama is to capture the attention of the students in the ESL/EFL classroom.  Drama activities would sometimes have surprising and unexpected results.  ESL/EFL professionals need to use this medium more because the artificial world of the classroom can be transformed into a quasi-real language situation and provides an endless amount of opportunities for student’s personal growth.  We cannot only teach grammar and phonetics with drama but also it has the power to transform the actors as well as the audience.  We shouldn’t underestimate this powerful teaching tool to reach our students.

Introduction

William Shakespeare claimed that

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143

    
If so, then maybe we need to use drama more in the schools.  Using drama in the ESL classroom is not a new concept.  Drama provides an excellent platform for exploring theoretical and practical aspects of the English language (Whiteson,1996).  The improvisation aspect of drama gives students opportunities for developing their communicative skills in authentic and dynamic situations.  By using drama in the English classroom, we can use English with our students in intriguing and useful ways. The language can be used in context and makes it come to life.  Drama has the potential of making the learning experience fun for the students and even memorable because it is interactive and visual.

There are many studies about using drama to learn English. Wan Yee Sam talks about the communicative approach, drama techniques, value of drama in education, advantages and disadvantages (Sam,1990). Alan Maley and Alan Duff are classic sources for the benefits of using drama techniques; how it helps to learn new vocabulary, builds confidence, motivates the students and helps shift the focus from the teacher to the students (Maley,1982). Drama is a special communication situation which makes considerable demands on the flexibility and skills of the teacher (Kao,1998). We have Morrow (1981) who gives some guiding principles behind the use of the communicative activities. Susan Holden (1981) adds some definitions as to what drama is and how it provides opportunities for a person to express themselves. The personal nature of improvisation provides many outlets for self-expression. We even hear that children need to play as an important developmental process.

Benefits of Using Drama

This is all very relevant information concerning using drama in the ESL/EFL classroom. We can sum up the benefits of drama in language teaching as follows:

·         the acquisition of meaningful, fluent interaction in the target language;

·         the assimilation of a whole range of pronunciation and prosodic features in a fully contextualized and interactional manner;

·         the fully contextualized acquisition of new vocabulary and structure;

·         an improved sense of confidence in the student in his or her ability to learn the target language.” (Wessels, p.10). 

Drama puts the teacher in the role of supporter in the learning process and the students can take more responsibility for their own learning.  Ideally, the teacher will take a less dominant role in the language class and let the students explore the language activities.  In the student centered classroom, every student is a potential teacher for the group.
    
Drama for second language learners can provide an opportunity to develop the imagination of the students. The students can go beyond the here and now and even 'walk in the shoes' of another. It provides an opportunity for independent thinking  (McCaslin 1996). Students are encouraged to express their own ideas and contribute to the whole.  Creative drama will offer exercises in critical thinking and the chance for the students to be creative. A good example of this is role-plays in small groups The ESL/EFL group will have many situations where they can develop their own ideas as well as skills of cooperation when interacting with classmates.  The group work builds social awareness and understanding as we walk in the 'shoes of another'. Drama gives an excellent method for studying human nature and working in harmony.  The play acting provides the opportunity for a healthy release of emotion in a safe setting which can work to relieve the tension of learning in a second language.

Drama Brings Literature to Life

Most teachers see the value of drama in offering training in speech. What is not obvious is how even abstract learning is easier when acted or demonstrated. Drama can also be used to bring literature to life for the students. It is more dynamic than simple text and helps the visual learners as well as recycles new vocabulary. While drama does have a characteristic of recreation, the fun aspect should not be under-estimated.  When the students are enjoying an activity, they are learning and letting their guard down.  The shyness and fear of using English very often blocks learning.  When the students are submerged in an active fun activity, they are more open to new concepts and learning will occur. When the students are having fun, they let their second language guard down and become less inhibited.  The student will tend to relax and stop blocking out the new language.  They will forget how hard it is and start absorbing the ideas presented. Changing the students’ perception of the language learning from a negative to a positive is a huge plus for the learning process.
    
A good example of the attributes of drama being used outside the classroom is the game of theatre sports. Starting out in Loose Moose Theatre Company in Calgary, Canada (Johnstone,1999). This drama activity has grown to become an international endeavour, taken up by practitioners the world over, which involves the audience as much as the actors in creating a very spontaneous event. Theatre sports demonstrates how powerful a motivating force role-playing can become for the actors as well as the audience. There are presently teams in many different countries using different languages who put on an unrehearsed game for countless spectators and the appeal is only growing. 

Drama as a Powerful Teaching Tool

In the ESL/EFL classroom, role-playing is a powerful tool.  It teaches cooperation, empathy for others, decision making skills and encourages an exchange of knowledge between the students.  These aspects alone make role-playing beneficial because the students are learning from each other.  Yet, there are many other positive aspects to the role-playing.  Apart from the obvious development of communication skills, it encourages leadership, team work, compromise, authentic listening skills and practice with real life savior-faire.  However, it does not stop there.  It teaches cooperation, empathy, develops decision making skills, promotes the exchange of knowledge, builds confidence and self-esteem, refines presentation skills, encourages self-acceptance and acceptance of others, features of empowerment, pride in work, responsibility, problem solving, management and organizational skills, begets creativity and imagination.

A good drama teacher can use the practice with role-playing to contribute to the self-esteem of the students, build their confidence in using the target language (English) as well as develop many of the skills mentioned above which will carry over to real life.  It is certain that self-acceptance can be encouraged in subtle ways and acceptance of others.

Drama has the potential to empower the students, give them many opportunities to have pride in their work, it teaches them responsibility, problem solving, management and directing proficiencies.  The many activities of team work force students to develop organizational skills and to think on their feet.  These are tools that can be used in all aspects of their lives.  These skills will be useful in the future job market when the students need to work with others or even in the future job interview when the potential employer asks an unexpected question and you need to think quickly.

Drama Reveals Aspects of the Human Condition

When you think about it, drama is a method to reveal aspects of the human condition, life is nothing more than a grand series of improvisations (Price 1980).  Through the games, the students begin to realize the importance of shared space, time, attention, information and ideas.  The games spark spontaneity and minimize self-consciousness which often inhibits learning.  The games are also good for developing concentration and trust in the classroom.  While the students are having all this fun, they are developing skills of coordination, imitation while focusing on the task at hand.  The improvisation enables the students to flex their emotional, mental as well as physical muscles in a safe and controlled setting. A good example of this was a role-play one group performed where they displayed their displeasure with the school principal. There was no harm done and all the students were feeling the same.

Final Reflections on Improvisations and Benefits of Drama

'Improvisation, then, is an organic experience where skills are constantly being refined.  In particular, students develop an increasing facility to meet changing or unknown stimuli with immediate responses.  Ideally, improvisation leads to a blending; the students create the personality traits as he/she simultaneously identifies with the character as it evolves.  Obviously, the teacher-director should never lose sight of the metamorphic and highly personal nature of improvisation; therefore, there must never be the question of success or failure.' (Price, p. 6)

Drama in its purest form gives the student several avenues to self-awareness.  It is one of the closest literary forms to life itself.  It is a dynamic process that reveals and examines aspects of the complicated lives we lead (Price 1980). All of this leads me to believe that there are many subtle benefits to drama in the ESL classroom.

The benefits of drama to develop the imagination should not be undervalued.  In our rote school routines of memorization and compulsory subject matter, we sometimes do not spend enough time on encouraging our students to use their imagination.  It is the spark that makes the ordinary into something incredible.  Imagination is the magic force that is beyond facts, figures and techniques which can inspire new ideas.  It is with imagination that the ordinary is transformed into something significant.  There is a need to cultivate this trait in our students.  Imagination is closely linked to dreams and inspire us to get up every morning.  Drama has the capability to keep this alive and/or rekindle what our routine daily lives are burying in ourselves.  We need imagination to make a better world. In order to accomplish anything worthwhile, we first need to imagine and dream it.  We should not neglect this facet of human sentience. It may seem like a trivial point, but dreams without imagination would be like life without colour.  We would all be worse off without it.

The Power of Transformation with Drama

We all present ourselves in everyday life as we want to be perceived. Erving Goffman (1958) talks in detail about how we present ourselves in everyday life from a sociological perspective.  We are all acting out theatrical performances to present ourselves in regard to how we wish to be seen. When we are in the presence of others, we are to some extent on stage. We will act and communicate in our own interests to influence the people around us to act voluntarily in accordance with the individuals plans (Goffman,1959).  We are in essence, recreating ourselves all the time as our social world evolves. In everyday life, first impressions are so very important.  So, how we are perceived often depends on a blink of a moment which may define us for a long period if not forever. Our communication skills are so important in how we are seen by others. Our words and body language project subtle messages to those around us and others respond in accordance to what they perceive as "us".  In life, we are all playing many roles, therefore, we are wearing many masks.

In a sense, and in so far as this mask represents the conception we have formed of ourselves- the role we are striving to live up to- this mask is our truer self, the self we would like to be (Goffman, p.30). 

We know that an individual will attempt to induce the audience to see them in a certain way.  The more convincing we are in our own roles only help to create the persona that we wish for. The better we are at communicating our ideas helps ourselves to become who we want to be.

Therefore, it makes sense that dramatic skills can help us become the person we want to be. In this way, drama has a wider reach than simply making us more fluent in a second language.  It has the potential of making our lives better as we will be better understood and may help us become the people we want to be. Drama is all about how we present ourselves. If the student can communicate better, the more likely others will see him/her as he/she wishes to be seen.  Therefore, the skills of drama can help the student become the person that he/she wants to be.

How to deal with challenging pupils

Pupils peeing in buckets during lessons. Groin-grabbing games. A boy called Fred Flintstone who bullies other kids because of his name. As the resident agony uncle on the TES online behaviour forum for the past 18 months, I have met and tried to deal with all of these.

Fortunately, most teachers will not be confronted with these problems, but behaviour is still the number one concern for many. And this is especially true for new teachers. Whenever student teachers get together to discuss their greatest fears, there is one thing that everyone agrees occupies their worst nightmares: what if they do not do as I ask?

Well all teachers should take comfort from this: you are not alone, and you most certainly are not as awful as you think you are.

One of the most depressing things a new teacher faces is the gap between what they expect of the pupils, and what actually happens. You may wonder how some teachers have the ability to walk into a room and the pupils all fall silent. This is the new teacher’s dream come true but, the truth is, it all takes time and effort. Other teachers make it look easy because all their effort has been done in the past. Teachers you see around school will appear to have behavioural superpowers because their classes will already be drilled into compliance.

Give it time and don't give up

You need to get some perspective about what is expected of you, and what is possible. If you walk in with expectations of instant authority, you will be crushed by the indifference of some pupils towards your finely crafted lesson plans. So expect everything from them, but do not expect it instantly. There is a myth, usually perpetuated by people who have not taught challenging classes for a while, that you are a rubbish teacher if you cannot control the class. You have no power to control it: the class allows itself to be controlled. This can be achieved by many methods, and they all take time.

Gone are the days of instant, craven submission to authority figures. Pupils now wait to see what you are made of, and they quickly make their minds up. When they first encounter a class, even the most experienced teachers will be tested. Your job is simply to show the pupils that you care enough about their education and well-being to be tough with them. And keep doing it: never give up, even when you feel like it.

What if you do everything you should with classes, but they are still roasting you like a rotisserie ham? One of the most important things I tell new teachers is to do everything that their mentors and tutors have recommended (recording incidents, following up, setting detentions) and keep doing so.

For a while it might seem pointless: the same children keep repeating the same misdemeanours, and worse. The same class tears your lesson to pieces. The same pupils do not submit homework.

Do not think for a second that your methods are not working - they just have not worked yet. Did the slave workers at Giza tip one enormous stone block into position and then give up, saying, “It’s not a pyramid yet, let’s go home”? No, they did not. You are building a pyramid, but for a while it might seem like nothing is happening.

You're not dealing with Moriartys here

In one of my earlier classes, I turned my back to the pupils every time they asked me to write something on the board. And every time a small asteroid of paper would bounce playfully off the back of my head. It took me a fortnight to realise that turning my back to them wasn’t a good idea. It took me another fortnight to find large pieces of paper torn out of one charming girl’s exercise book. Lesson number two: take their books in more often. You are not dealing with Professor Moriartys here.

You also need to recognise that there are some situations that are beyond your control. Every teacher will face the devolution to the jungle-state that results from the arrival of any insect in the classroom larger than a fruit fly, and God forbid you should entertain anything as enormous as a bee. Imagine the Lord of the Flies diorama that followed a pigeon flying into one of my lessons in my training school. I could not have kept the pupils in their seats if I had promised them JLS were coming. The kids seemed to think they were filming for Saw VIII, with the plot revolving around a small bird perched in the rafters, looking stupid and terrified. In such cases, you do not manage the behaviour, you accommodate it, and make sure that no one breaks a leg trying to run through a wall like Wile E. Coyote.

Focus on the lone wolf

You might not have to tame the whole class: they might be fairly well behaved with one or two who spoil everything. Congratulations, you have a normal classroom. In fact, this is one of the easiest problems to tackle (despite appearances to the contrary) because if the majority of your class are behaving well, you can temporarily focus your energy on resolving the situation with the lone wolf.

The few pupils who are kicking off need to be detained, punished, talked to and isolated. Parents can be called in. Special needs can be assessed professionally. What must not happen is to let them carry on misbehaving without consequence, otherwise their poor behaviour will infect other more agreeable children.

Yet sometimes you have to be prepared for the unexpected. I once worked in a school where I found a boy sitting by himself in a classroom at breaktime. He refused every request I made to leave, until I threatened to get “someone he did respect” to turf him out. It was only then he told me that he had accidentally soiled himself. There are times when sympathy for human tragedy overwhelms even the hardest of hearts.

Whole-school support

One thing you need to be aware of is the whole-school behaviour policy. Every school should have one, describing what steps you should take in the event of misbehaviour, and what misbehaviour looks like in that school. This is an invaluable support for new teachers. The pupils will already know what the system is, so if you show that you have understood and bought into it already, you have got the full weight of the school behind you.

Some new teachers complain that they do not feel the school supports them particularly well and they feel abandoned to deal with their problems alone. Shame on those schools. New teachers are given next to no explicit, dedicated behaviour management training throughout their initial teacher training, so cannot be expected to know exactly what to do in all circumstances.

Teaching can usually only be improved and reflected upon by doing, and that means being in a classroom, trying things out, succeeding and failing, reflecting and improving. That is a sensitive process, requiring much observation, advice, and room to grow. What it does not mean is turning new teachers over to the wolves and seeing how long they last before applying to other schools.

On the other hand, teachers old and new need to acknowledge the responsibility they have to manage their classrooms. If you are not putting the time and effort into setting and attending detentions, planning lessons to avoid poor behaviour and reporting transgressors, you are not pulling your weight for the school and cannot expect your colleagues to solve your problems for you.

Do not suffer alone

You need to all work together. So if you feel like you are not getting enough from the school, do not suffer alone. Speak to someone about it, and do not give up until you are happy with the answers you have been given.

Refusing to get others involved is just another way to beat yourself up. I suffered for a year as an NQT because I thought that asking for help would make me look like a failure. So week after week, I put up with my bottom set GCSE class making up their own lessons and texting each other gaily while I put fires out every 10 seconds. Eventually they started to come around, but that was more because they had warmed to me than because I had worn them down with rigour, rules and relying on the school policies. If I had tried the latter, I would have had them on course in about a term.

Another behaviour puzzle most new teachers will face is the problem of lazy pupils. What if they are behaving politely or manageably enough, but are reacting with slothful indolence to any task? One way to encourage them is to light a fire under their tails, figuratively speaking. Connect some kind of penalty with low output, such as keeping them in after lessons to complete work, if timetabling allows; or setting a detention for significant underperformance.

Reward good output

The other way to tackle it is to put a rabbit under their noses and let it race off. Incentivise them with rewards for good output: lots of praise for those finished first or to a satisfactory level of quality. And finally, the best way to get pupils motivated to work is to differentiate appropriately so they can access the tasks, and keep the tasks interesting and varied to drive pace.

These are just some of the ways you can turn the first fearsome few weeks into a gentler experience. Unless you are very lucky, you will have a testing, tiring time. That is the job: it is not glamorous, it is difficult at times, and to begin with you might wonder why you chose it.

But if you start it right, get into good habits, and - more importantly - get your pupils into good habits, it is the best job in the world.