Chapter 1
Grasping The Basics Of TEFL Teaching
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 TEFL Language Terminology
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).
Verbs and tenses
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 hasn’t been changed in at all. Take off the word ‘to’ and you can find the infinitive form in a dictionary.
On the other hand, ‘went’, ‘was’ and ‘had been reduced’ have been transformed into particular tenses. Often, extra verbs are added to the main one to create a tense. These extra parts are called auxiliary verbs (for example, ‘have seen’). When ‘ing’ is tacked on to the end of a verb it is called a gerund (for example ‘listening’).
Table 1-1 shows you the names of the various tenses. So, for example, ‘I have taught’ is called a present perfect sentence.
Nouns and pronouns
You use nouns and pronouns to indicate a place, person, an animal, or a thing. They can also represent more abstract ideas. In the following sentence the nouns are in bold:
I use a diary to write down my thoughts.
As you can see, nouns can be singular or plural. Nouns you can make plural are called countable nouns, but others are uncountable so they use words like ‘some’ or ‘a little’ instead of a specific number to define the quantity.
Use
of my
money to buy
bread at the supermarket.
Pronouns replace nouns so that sentences become less repetitive:
- Florence needs water and Florence gets the water from the kitchen.
- Florence needs water and she gets it from the kitchen.
Subjects and objects
The subject of a sentence is a noun, a pronoun or an entire phrase, and it tells you what the sentence is about. For example:
- Florence needs water.
- I went to the shop.
- Reading books is fun.
After the subject of a sentence there is generally a verb. Then, sometimes there is another noun or pronoun that receives the action and this is called the object. For example:
- I love it.
- She reads a book.
- They waved to the boys.
Prepositions
Prepositions introduce the object of a sentence. They include words such as ‘with’, ‘through, and ‘among’. For example:
- You should walk through the park.
- Mike lives with Jenna.
Adjectives
Adjectives give more information about nouns or pronouns. They may indicate size, colour, or quality. For example:
The enormous book lay on the fabulous desk.
Adverbs
Adverbs give more information about a verb, often showing how it is carried out:
The girl smiled sweetly and timidly as she stepped behind her sister.
Qualifiers
Qualifiers appear before adjectives and adverbs and show degree. For instance:
- That meal was rather nice.
- Gold is quite expensive.
Articles
Simply put, the articles in English are the indefinite articles ‘a’ or ‘an’, and the definite article ‘the’. These words come before nouns and are types of adjective. However, the indefinite articles show that something is general, while the definite article indicates something more specific. For example:
A man arrived and the nurse greeted him.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions, sometimes called linking words, join parts of a sentence together and they include ‘because’, ‘but’ and ‘although’. Note how they connect the words in this example:
I like plays and films, although I don’t enjoy operas much.
Recognising the Different Types of English Course
It isn’t enough to get a job a job teaching English. You really must know what kind of course it is and, in addition to its target age and level, how each course differs. Here’s a breakdown of the main English courses available:
- Academic English: For students who want to undertake a course of higher education in the English language. On a course of this nature students learn how to express concepts, ideas, and theories using formal, impersonal language. Students also practise essay writing, giving formal presentations, listening, and note-taking for lectures.
- Business English: Tends to cover the same grammatical structures as general English. However, the context for using the language is always a business meeting, a negotiation, a formal letter, or another function of day-to-day business life. These courses may be sponsored by a company for its employees.
- English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL): For students who are now living in an English-speaking country where they want to settle. Practical skills such as speaking to employees at government offices and banks or visiting healthcare professionals are included in the course material.
- English for Specific Purposes (ESP): A branch of teaching whereby you analyse exactly what the student needs to do in English and gear the whole course towards that outcome. For example, you may teach English for nurses, or English for the banking industry.
- Exam classes: When students plan to take a particular exam, the preparatory course is entirely focused on this outcome. So you show students how to tackle the exam questions, breaking them down so that they understand what the examiners are looking for. Students analyse past papers and do practice tests.
- General English: Teaches students everyday language and usually comprises reading, writing, speaking, and listening, which are the four main skills of language learning.
- One to one: This might also be called a private lesson, although it could be arranged in the teacher’s own time or as part of a job at a school. It basically means that there is one teacher and one student in the class, so you get to focus on the learner’s individual needs.
- Presessional and Insessional: These courses are for students who have received an offer of a place on a degree course. A presessional course is generally run by the university that’s offering the placement and is designed to acclimatise students to cultural differences and academic expectations. Successful completion of the course may be a requirement before the student can take up his place on the degree course. Then, insessional lessons are for international students who are already doing their degree course but require extra support in using academic English in order to succeed.
Determining the Common European Framework Levels
Most courses divide students into varying levels of proficiency. These days the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) descriptors are frequently used to specify a student’s level in a particular language. The framework is based on what the student should be able to do in that tongue when a particular level is reached. Table 1-2 breaks down the levels.
Table 1-2 Classifications of proficiency levels in language teac...
