The “skills” in English language teaching are: reading, writing, listening and speaking. These are sometimes broken down into sub-skills.
Each one requires a different approach, different exercises and activities, and different assessment. Some students will have a bias towards one or more skills and in a very general way, some nationalities will also. This depends on how they have been previously taught as well as how their mother-tongue compares to English.
The articles here look at the different skills in TEFL and how you can deal with them as a TEFL teacher.
Guess Who is a simple ice breaker which can be used on the first day of class. There’s little preparation and it can easily develop into a chat or discussion with more advanced classes. All you need to prepare this activity are small strips of paper; say two for each […]
Clap Slap is a simple game which is great fun with younger children. It practices listening comprehension, word groups and also helps them to let off a little steam! Decide first on an appropriate word group. This will depend on your class and their level, but could be, for example: […]
Teacher Talking Time (TTT) is the amount of time the teacher talks in the classroom. It pays to make this as little as possible. Look at this typical TEFL classroom dialog: Teacher: Jamal, what’s your favorite TV show? Jamal: Er… Teacher: Baywatch? American Idol? Top Gear? Jamal: Baywatch. Teacher: Great! […]
Variations in spelling exist in English words. In Great Britain and Canada, some words have spellings that differ from American spellings. Readers of books by British and Canadian publishers will note these differences. Some confusion may arise depending on the writer’s experience with these variant spellings. Many nouns that in […]
Storytelling is an ancient art that developed alongside the development of language and it is one of the earliest forms of folkart. The story can be of a real event or it can be made up. Storytelling has been used over the millennia not only as a means of entertainment […]