6 Steps for Effective Troubleshooting in a TEFL Classroom
When relevant to teaching English as a second language. There are some common problems happened in classes, this phenomenon is normal and it should be understood by qualified teachers, teachers should accept this challenge and be well-prepared. How can we handle the trouble arisen in classes correctly and successfully? This is what we will discuss below.
Table of Contents
1. Relationship between teachers and students
2. Students' Language Level and Learning Ability
4. English as the Main Source of Communication
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dan S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
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Problem Awareness
At the very beginning, teachers should be aware of this problem and have a good mental preparation, which means a good attitude to troubleshoot rather than ignore or give up solving problems. Actually, the class effect would be totally different depends on teachers attitude. the solutions to fix troubles no need to be too complicated.
1. Relationship between teachers and students
Establish rapport with students benefits the whole class, students will cooperate with teachers during the class if you've earned their trust, it also helps you to find out student's strengths and weaknesses, aspirations and their English level which in favor of the teaching. There are so many ways to establish a successful connection with students like questionnaires and games. Teachers should try creative activities rather than just resort to course books.
Also Read: What does TEFL mean?
2. Students' Language Level and Learning Ability
For this problem, teachers should be familiar with balance and use resources flexibly. Teachers can pair strong students with weak students, assign different materials according to student's level or give different tasks with the same material. The key point is to make strong students bored or weak students frustrated, engage them with the right method so that all students enjoy the learning process.
3. Class Size
Teachers need to pay attention to clarity so that the whole class can follow up with the teacher's instructions. as for conducting a successful class with so many students, teachers can use choral repetition, pair or group work, appoint group leaders, or worksheets to make sure all students involved in the class.
Also Read: 4 Super Easy Tips for Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners
4. English as the Main Source of Communication
It is easy to notice that students tend to use native language during class, to solve this problem, teachers need to figure out the reasons, for students, they will use native language when they are confused with the content or feel unable to express in English. they didn't do it on purpose but resort to native language instinctively. To avoid this trouble, the teacher should make sure the level is appropriate for students and give clear explanations to the whole class. remind the students constantly to help them form a good habit of learning English.
5. Students' Motivation
Some students are not motivated or reluctant to express themselves actively, that's teachers' responsibility to encourage them to speak. But teachers can't just force students to say English, using pair work or role-play to relax students, they won't feel embarrassed when they are not able to produce language, controlled practice is essential for students' speaking. Once they have confidence in the material, they have the courage to try to speak out.
Also Read: How A TEFL Certificate Can Help You Open Your Own English Language School
6. Language Environment
Listening problems, this is common to all second language learners, how to help students to improve this receptive skills? Students should be exposed to the language environment. teachers should select the listening text carefully and pre-teach some difficult vocabulary if necessary.
Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today!
In brief, teachers should take the initiative to solve problems in classes in order to make sure the smooth of the class using different methods, it takes time to master some methods and control the whole class successfully, there is no need to worry about troubles, face it with correct attitude and always be prepared, be creative and flexible occurs to troubles, don't be rigid and just resort to books!
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