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If you have never taught English to complete novices before, the prospect of spending an entire lesson speaking with students who don't comprehend a single word you say may seem frightening. Teaching absolute beginners differs from teaching other courses, as any ESL teacher will tell you. It can be difficult, but it may also be one of the most enjoyable and gratifying language levels to teach. Every new word your students learn is important at this level, and the greatest approach to teaching it is to be as creative and funny as possible. Generally, teaching the letters and numbers should be one of your first priorities. You will lay a solid foundation for everything else your students will learn by teaching them the letters and numbers at the start of the course. Ascertain that your...  [Read more]

Like the people of other nations, Thai people face many problems when trying to learn English; some of these problems are cultural and some are more rooted in the many obvious differences between the two languages. Different age groups or students of different levels may not always face the same problems. A class of intermediate children is likely to have different problems to those of an adult class of beginners. One issue that can be quite frustrating as a teacher is rooted in the Thai culture of not wishing to lose face. This often leads to students being shy and unresponsive in class. They are scared of making mistakes in front of their peers as this would cause them to lose face. Another issue that is based on culture and can also be frustrating for a teacher is a tendency...  [Read more]

Phonetics has been defined by Roach (1992) as the 'scientific study of speech' (Roach, 1992: 81.) It is concerned with how speech sounds are formed, how we use them in our spoken language and how we can record these speech sounds using written symbols. Phonology on the other hand has been defined by Roach (1992) as 'the study of the sound systems of languages' (Roach, 1992: 82.) According to Roca and Johnson (1999), the way in which we speak is somewhat similar to playing a recorder. This is because when you play a recorder you have to blow air from your lungs, as you do when you speak. However, to play a tune, you cannot simply blow air into the recorder; you must have your fingers over specific holes. Therefore, when we speak, we have to interfere with the air that comes out...  [Read more]

Since we expect, D.v., to be in Bangkok, Thailand, from this January to May to teach English it seems quite appropriate to explore some of the challenges that we may encounter.During our previous year in Chiang Mai our Thai landlady came monthly to collect our rent money and always stayed to visit for an hour or so to practice her English. She consistently expressed frustration saying that ‘my English has gone back to my teacher.’ This probably rather common problem seems to stem from the Thai educational system’s approach to teaching English in the classroom. Typically English is taught from the earliest grade in school along with Thai, classes are often quite large, 30-40 students or so, and the style of instruction is by rote. It is hard to imagine that...  [Read more]

Since we expect, D.v., to be in Bangkok, Thailand, from this January to May to teach English it seems quite appropriate to explore some of the challenges that we may encounter. During our previous year in Chiang Mai our Thai landlady came monthly to collect our rent money and always stayed to visit for an hour or so to practice her English. She consistently expressed frustration saying that ?my English has gone back to my teacher.? This probably rather common problem seems to stem from the Thai educational system?s approach to teaching English in the classroom. Typically English is taught from the earliest grade in school along with Thai, classes are often quite large, 30-40 students or so, and the style of instruction is by rote. It is hard to imagine that the ...  [Read more]

Humans speak with each other by creating sounds. That is how we communicate with each other. Over the centuries the different languages have created systems of grammar to explain how the words in their languages work. Sometime after that, they began to create systems to explain how the sounds, or phonemes, of the different words work. Two disciplines arose out of this: phonetics and phonology. Phonetics is the study of the sounds themselves. In the world there are a limited number of possible sounds which the human vocal tract can produce. Of these sounds, the distinctive pronunciations of the different languages are produced. But how are theses sounds produced and represented? The answer to this question is the area of study of Phonetics. Generally, Phonetics is ...  [Read more]

Humans speak with each other by creating sounds. That is how we communicate with each other. Over the centuries the different languages have created systems of grammar to explain how the words in their languages work. Sometime after that, they began to create systems to explain how the sounds, or phonemes, of the different words work. Two disciplines arose out of this: phonetics and phonology.Phonetics is the study of the sounds themselves. In the world there are a limited number of possible sounds which the human vocal tract can produce. Of these sounds, the distinctive pronunciations of the different languages are produced. But how are theses sounds produced and represented' The answer to this question is the area of study of Phonetics. Generally, Phonetics is subdivided into...  [Read more]

China has been proclaimed to be the largest market for English learners. In the last twenty years, progress in teaching and learning of English has exploded. Arriving in China August 1993 was not my first time there. Though it was my first time in the Northeast. I was to spend the next twelve years of my life in the city of Shenyang. An industrial city of 7 million people. My first impression was that it was like being in a 1950´s black and white movie with no sub-titles.. I was to teach at Shenyang Institute of Technology. My first year, I had 800 students. All except one of the classes, were freshmen. One was a class of 25 graduate students. Shenyang was my home until October 2005. There were tremendous changes in China during those years affecting...  [Read more]

China has been proclaimed to be the largest market for English learners. In the last twenty years, progress in teaching and learning of English has exploded. Arriving in China August 1993 was not my first time there. Though it was my first time in the Northeast. I was to spend the next twelve years of my life in the city of Shenyang. An industrial city of 7 million people. My first impression was that it was like being in a 1950´s black and white movie with no sub-titles..I was to teach at Shenyang Institute of Technology. My first year, I had 800 students. All except one of the classes, were freshmen. One was a class of 25 graduate students. Shenyang was my home until October 2005. There were tremendous changes in China during those years affecting all aspects of life....  [Read more]