Anatomy of an ESL Class

I teach a 3 hour class. Students attend two nights a week. In each class I cover the following:

• Listening


• Reading


• Speaking


• Writing, and


• Grammar

Jan 8th 2007 - First Class

I teach English as a Second Language to adults. The first class of a new semester is the hardest. You need to establish the control of and the tone of the class. I also believe you need to be a good improviser because sometimes the makeup of the class does not always fit that planned class lesson. Sometimes the students are not really ready for the level of your class even though they are placed in your class. Sometimes they are more advanced and your class lesson is not as challenging as it needs to be. Luckily this class and my class plans are in sync.

I put a lot of emphasis on the tone and structure of the class specifically during the first few classes. For example, how do I react if a student doesn't do his or her homework? If I want the class to take homework seriously, the class needs to see this in how I respond to those that haven't done theirs.

I use a mixture of humor and sternness. For example, like children, the adult excuses for not doing homework are the same - I forget to do it, I left it home, etc. When I get a poor excuse, I ask the class to help the student out. Help him or her create a more exciting and better excuse. This gets the class thinking and gets them to exercise some vocabulary.

Of course the student is not off the hook. If the homework is writing a composition, for example, What I Miss About My Country, I interview the student in class. They have to answer questions about what they miss about their country. If the homework is a grammar exercise, for example, identify the nouns in the following sentences, I'll ask the student to explain what nouns are and the student answers more questions than if they did the homework.

I do it in a humorous manner so the student knows I'm not insulting him or her, but they also know they are not getting a free pass. I also observe the students and make sure that I'm not challenging a student where the challenge will do more harm than good. For example, some students are initially nervous or afraid, they may not understand something and because of previous experiences are afraid to ask. In these cases, I speak to them privately and they begin to open up.

Knowing when to back off is important. I had one class where a student always refused to read out loud. She spoke well, was not shy, but refused to read. Each class she refused and I continued with the other students giving her a chance to see that other students had more pronunciation problems than her. I also gave her the chance to see that I was helpful and strictly warned any student that laughed when another was reading. After a few classes I was more adamant and the class tried to encourage her. She refused. At the end of that class, her friend hinted to me that the student was illiterate. She spoke well but could not read or write. I was glad that I backed off.

Unfortunately that student left the class for different reasons. She didn't drive and the friend who drove her to class couldn't continue because of changes in his work schedule.

Jan 2007 - ESL Thoughts

I begin teaching ESL for the winter semester on January 8th. This blog will contain many of the lessons that I will use in class this semester. The class is an intermediate class but I believe the lessons will be useful for any beginner wanting to improve their English.

I look forward to sharing these lessons with you and always feel free to ask questions.

Your teacher,
Alan

The Simple Past Tense

The Simple Past Tense

I played guitar last weekend. I also listened to the radio.
What did you do last week? Yesterday? Last month?

We use the simple past tense to describe actions that occurred in the past. These actions may have happened earlier today, yesterday, last week, last year, and so on.

Add ed to the end of the verb to form the past tense.

Here are some examples.

Present Tense	Past Tense
listen	listened. Yesterday, I listened to the radio.
watch	watched Last week, I watched the football game.
jump	jumped The children jumped on the bed.
walk	walked I walked to the store this morning.

The simple past tense describes actions that happened in the past.

The Present Continuous Tense

The Present Continuous Tense

What am I doing now? I am drinking tea.
Am I doing anything else? I am recording this lesson.

When am I drinking this tea? Now.
When am I recording this lesson? Now.

We use the present continuous tense to describe actions that occur right now, in this moment.

How is this different from the simple present tense?

The simple present tense describes actions that occur daily or on a regular basis. For example:
➢ I drink tea. I may drink tea every morning or every night before I go to bed.

The present continuous tense describes actions that are happening in this moment, right now.
➢ I am drinking tea. This sentence tells me I am drinking tea right now, in the present moment.

You form the present continuous tense by using the present tense of the verb to be, plus the present tense of the verb, plus ing.

The present tense forms of the verb to be are:

Singular	Plural
am, I am	are, we are
are, you are	are, you are
is, he, she, it is	are, they

What are some things you can do right now?

➢ You are eating breakfast.
➢ You are sleeping.
➢ You are brushing your teeth.
➢ You are cleaning your house.

The present continuous tense describes actions that are happening in this moment, right now.

The Simple Present Tense

The Simple Present Tense

What happens in the winter? It snows.
Is winter warm or cold? Winter is cold.

Is winter cold every day? Yes!

Does it snow every day? No. Does it snow regularly or often? Yes.

We use the simple present tense to describe actions that occur daily or on a regular basis.

What are some things you do daily or on a regular basis?

➢ You eat breakfast.
➢ You sleep.
➢ You brush your teeth.
➢ You clean your house.

The simple present tense describes actions that occur on a regular or daily basis.

An Unexpected Visitor, Part 3

An Unexpected Visitor, Part 2

An Unexpected Visitor, Part 1

Storytelling

You Are What You Say

Reading

New Lessons Coming Soon

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that new entries are coming sooned. I just moved and am doing some private tutoring so I haven't has as much time. However, I soon plan to dedicate more time for this project.

Alan