How to be an Effective EFL Teacher

Over the short history of the ESL/EFL
field various methods have been
proposed. Each method has in turn
fallen out of favor and has been
replaced with a new one.
Audiolingualism, functionalism,
communicative paradigms, and now
the fad is "task-based syllabuses." In
his critique of the task-based syllabus
Sheen (1994:127) points out,
"frequent paradigm shifts in the field
of second and foreign language
teaching have not resulted in
significant progress in language
learning." Since no method has been
proven to be more effective than
another, many teachers have jumped
on the "eclectic" bandwagon.
Common sense would have this as
the best available choice since variety
is the spice of language.
Other than considering method, what
can the EFL teacher do to ensure
success? What follows are some DOs
and DONTs that I have found to be
very useful in teaching EFL in Japan.
None are revolutionary; these are
principles I didn't necessarily learn in
ESL graduate school, but should have
been taught.

1. Learn your students' names.

This cannot be overemphasized. You
will be able to control your class
better and gain more respect if you
learn the students' names early on. If
you are one who has a poor memory
for names, have all the students hold
up name cards and take a picture of
them on the first day of class. On the
second class, impress them by
showing them you know all their
names.

2. Establish authority from the
beginning.

Expect your students to use English
100% of the time, and accept it if they
only achieve 95% usage. Do not let
them get away with speaking their
mother tongue to communicate with
their partner. Deal quickly with
inappropriate conduct in a friendly yet
firm manner.

3. Be overly prepared.

If you don't have a clear lesson-plan
down on paper, then make sure you
have a mental one. You should know
about how long each activity will take
and have an additional activity
prepared in case you have extra time.

4. Always consider the learners'
needs when preparing for each
lesson.

Why are your students studying
English? How will they use English in
the future? What do they need to
learn? If many of the students are
going to study abroad at an American
university, for example, then the
teacher should be preparing them for
listening to academic lectures and
academic reading to some extent. If,
on the other hand, most of the
students have no perceived need for
English in the future, perhaps you
should be focusing on useful skills
that they may use in the future, but
may not be essential--skills such as
understanding movie dialog, listening
to music, writing an email to a pen
pal, etc.

5. Be prepared to make changes to or scrap your lesson plan.

If the lesson you have prepared just
isn't working, don't be afraid to scrap
it or modify it. Be sensitive to the
students--don't forge ahead with
something that is bound for disaster.

6. Find out what learners already
know.

This is an ongoing process. Students
may have already been taught a
particular grammar point or
vocabulary. In Japan, with Japanese
having so many loan words from
English, this is especially true. I have
explained many words carefully
before, such as kids, nuance,
elegant, only to find out later that
they are now part of the Japanese
language.

7. Be knowledgeable about
grammar.

This includes pronunciation, syntax,
and sociolinguistic areas. You don't
have to be a linguist to teach EFL--
most of what you need to know can
be learned from reading the students'
textbooks. Often the rules and
explanations about structure in the
students' texts are much more
accessible and realistic than in texts
used in TESL syntax courses.

8. Be knowledgeable about the
learners' culture.

In monolingual classrooms the
learners' culture can be a valuable
tool for teaching.

9. Don't assume that your class
textbook has the language that your
students need or want to learn.
Most textbooks follow the same tired,
boring pattern and include the same
major functions, grammar and
vocabulary. The main reason for this
is not scientific at all--it is the
publisher's unwillingness to take a risk
by publishing something new. Also, by
trying to please all teachers publishers
force authors to water down their
materials to the extent of being
unnatural at times. It is the teacher's
responsibility to add any extra
necessary vocabulary, functions,
grammar, or topics that you feel the
students may want or need.

10. Don't assume (falsely) that the
class textbook will work.

Some activities in EFL textbooks fall
apart completely in real classroom
usage. It is hard to believe that some
of them have actually been piloted.
Many activities must be modified to
make them work, and some have to
be scrapped completely.

11. Choose your class textbooks
very carefully.

Most teachers and students are
dissatisfied with textbooks currently
available. Nevertheless, it is essential
that you choose a textbook that is
truly communicative and meets the
needs of your students.

12. Don't neglect useful vocabulary teaching.

The building blocks of language are
not grammar and functions. The most
essential thing students need to learn
is vocabulary; without vocabulary you
have no words to form syntax, no
words to pronounce. Help your
students to become vocabulary
hungry.

13. Proceed from more controlled
activities to less controlled ones.

Not always, but in general, present
and practice more structured activities
before freer, more open ones.

14. Don't neglect the teaching of
listening.

It is the opinion of many ESL experts
that listening is the most important
skill to teach your students. While
listening to each other and to the
teacher will improve their overall
listening ability, this can be no
substitute for listening to authentic
English. As much as possible, try to
expose your students to authentic
English in a variety of situations. The
best way to do this and the most
realistic is through videos. Listening to
audio cassettes in the classroom can
improve listening ability, but videos
are much more motivating and
culturally loaded.

15. Turn regular activities into
games or competition.

Many familiar teaching points can be
turned into games, or activities with a
competitive angle. A sure way to
motivate students and liven up your
classroom.

16. Motivate your students with
variety.

By giving a variety of interesting topics
and activities, students will be more
motivated and interested, and they
are likely to practice more. With more
on-task time they will improve more
rapidly.

17. Don't teach linguistics.

Language and culture are inseparable.
If culture isn't a part of your lessons,
then you aren't really teaching
language, you are teaching about
language.

18. Don't teach phonetics.

By all means teach the more
important aspects of pronunciation,
but don't bombard the students with
minimal pair drills that cannot be
applied to real communication. They
don't really understand the meaning
of any of those minimal pairs you
teach anyway, do they? A more
rational approach would be to teach
pronunciation in context, as
necessary. For example, if you are
teaching a section on health, teach
syllable stress with sickness words:
fever, headache, backache, ear ache,
constipa tion, etc.

19. Don't leave the learners in the
dark.

Explain exactly what they are
expected to learn in a particular
lesson. Make sure that students know
what they are doing and why. The
lessons should be transparent to the
students, with a clear organization.

20. Be enthusiastic! Don't do it just for the money.

You don't have to be an actor or
clown, but students appreciate it
when the teacher shows genuine
interest in teaching. Teachers who are
jaded with EFL would do best to hide
it, or consider moving on to another
profession.

21. Show interest in the students as individuals.

Treat students as individuals, not
subjects. Don't patronize or talk down
to them; talk to them as you would
any other person. Only in this way will
true communication take place.

22. Allow opportunities to
communicate directly with
students.

Students want, more than anything,
to talk with the teacher. Don't overdo
pair and group work to the point that
they haven't had a chance to interact
with you, too.

23. Allow time for free
communication.

For speaking this would mean
allowing time for free conversation,
for writing doing freewriting, for
reading allowing time for extensive
pleasure reading, and for listening,
listening for entertainment sake.

24. Use humor to liven up the class.

Make it a habit to get the students to
laugh at least once per lesson.

25. Show an interest in the
students' native language.

This is especially important in the
monolingual classroom. Ignoring their
L1 causes some students to think
(erroneously) that you don't respect
them. If possible, use the L1
periodically as part of the lesson. If
nothing else, it will show the students
respect, and may loosen them up.

26. Don't have pets.

This is extremely hard to avoid,
especially when a student is more
outgoing or interesting than others.
Nevertheless, try to call on and attend
to students as equally as you can.

27. Circulate.

Move about the classroom. At times
sit with groups and monitor, as well as
joining in on the communication. At
times walk about, listen and observe.

28. Make your instructions short
and clear.

Demonstrate rather than explaining
whenever possible.

29. Speak up, but don't break
anyone's eardrum.

If the students can't hear you, you are
wasting your breath. Not as bad, but
still annoying is the teacher who
thinks s/he must speak louder to be
comprehended. Research has already
proven this to be false.

30. Don't talk too much.

Depending on the subject, you should
be talking from about 5% to 30% of
the lesson. For speaking or writing,
more than 10-15% would probably be
too much. Most lessons should be
student-centered, not teacher-
centered.

31. Don't talk too slow.

How do you expect your students to
understand real English if you don't
speak at a fairly natural speed?
Oversimplified and affected speech
will hurt your students in the long
run. Shoot for moderate complexity
and more repetition if needed.

32. Be sensitive to your students.

Watch their faces and reactions. Do
they understand you? Are they
interested or bored? Try to be aware
of what is going on in your classroom
at all times. If you are starting class
and one student is still talking, try to
gently get him/her to stop. If you are
sitting with a pair of students on one
side of the room, try to be attentive to
what is happening in other groups as
well. There may be a group across the
room that is confused and doesn't
know what to do.

33. Don't be a psychiatrist.

Shy, introverted students are not
going to change their personalities
overnight in order to learn English.
Give these students opportunities to
talk in small groups, but don't expect
them to shout out answers in front of
the whole class.

34. Respect both "slow" and "fast" learners.

Language learning is not about
intelligence; the important thing to
stress is that the students are
improving.

35. Don't lose your cool.

If you do, you will lose hard-won
respect. Even if you have to go so far
as to leave the classroom, do it in a
controlled manner, explaining to the
class or student why you are unhappy
with them.

36. Be frank.

Praise your students when they are
getting better, and encourage them
when they are not doing as well as
they can.

37. Be a coach.

At times you must be more of a coach
than a teacher. Push the students to
write those few extra lines, to get into
their groups faster, to extend their
conversations.

38. Be fair and realistic in testing.

Teach first and then test; don't test
things that haven't been taught. Also,
remember that the main purpose of
language is communication. This
means that when marking a dictation
portion of a listening test, for
example, a "What [ ] your name?"
response should get nearly full points
because the listener has
demonstrated full comprehension.

39. Don't overcorrect.

For example, when correcting a
narrative composition at low-
intermediate level, it doesn't make
much sense to correct mistakes with
relative clauses. Likewise, if your class
is practicing simple past tense, don't
correct article usage at the same time.
If you think a student can correct their
own mistake, don't supply the
correction for them, rather allow for
some self-monitoring.

40. Be reflective.

Think about your own teaching. After
each lesson is over take some time to
reflect. Was the lesson effective? What
were the good and bad points? How
could it be improved?

41. Keep in shape.

EFL teachers don't have to become
jaded with teaching. Get into it. Look
at new coursebooks and teacher
training books to get new ideas. Share
your ideas with colleagues. Go to
conferences.

42. Laugh at yourself sometimes.

There are those times when nothing
goes right despite our best intentions.
We must be humble enough to admit
to ourselves and to our students that
we just messed up.