Katie Gaffney

In the classroom, games can be a very useful and valuable resource. A teacher with a good mental list of games can make even the blandest information interesting. Games warm-up a class, rev-up a class, give an opportunity to change the mood of the class, or give the students a good send off so they leave excited about the class (Ruyter, 2000). Games can be used during any part of class, any stage of the learning process, and with any age group or level. Games can be used to get the students interested in a topic, to introduce a topic, to teach a topic (logic games are great for this stage), to review and practice, even to test the students (Myerhoff, 2001;Ruyter,2000)! Games are not limited to vocabulary and spelling. Games can be used during reading, testing (lowers testing...  [Read more]

  So, now we're going to fill the actual procedure of the lesson plan out itself. We mentioned at the start, the first thing we do, is to get some general information about the class that we'll be teaching and then, in order for someone to be able to cover our lesson, we need to present enough information in our lesson plan that they can actually carry it out. What I'm going to do is for each stage of the lesson, I'll indicate what I'm going to do in the lesson and then, we'll cut away from that to have a look to see how that will actually be achieved. So, our lesson is going to be based on a 45-minute lesson and the first phase is going to be the engage phase and it's going to be a straight arrow ESA lesson. I'm going to take approximately five minutes on my engage phase and in...  [Read more]

The rise of TEFL, TESOL, CELTA, and similar organizations is by no doubt a reflection of the increasing demand for English to be taught in numerous countries worldwide. What actually constitutes a global language is in and of itself an entirely separate debate. For the means of this particular essay, English as a ?global language? will be used loosely to refer to the rise of English internationally in many different bodies. Whatever the reasons for the rise may be, it does not have to diminish the cultural uniqueness of individual countries. Rather, the idea of a global language can be embraced as advantageous, especially as a means of uniting various countries, as seen by the rise of many teaching organizations. In 1997, David Crystal wrote, English as a Global...  [Read more]

Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in China is for the most part pleasant and exciting. Students are eager to learn. However, one of the frustrations ESL teachers often complain about is that students seem to make the same mistakes repetitively. Learners will often transfer the rules of their first language to express something in their second language. This transference happens when they have insufficient knowledge of the rules of the second language. In China, students fall back on the rules of their first language (Mandarin) when they do not know the rules of the second language (English). The result is a poor form of English, informally referred to as "Chinglish". The errors that occur are also called language interference errors. These...  [Read more]

Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in China is for the most part pleasant and exciting. Students are eager to learn. However, one of the frustrations ESL teachers often complain about is that students seem to make the same mistakes repetitively. Learners will often transfer the rules of their first language to express something in their second language. This transference happens when they have insufficient knowledge of the rules of the second language. In China, students fall back on the rules of their first language (Mandarin) when they do not know the rules of the second language (English). The result is a poor form of English, informally referred to as "Chinglish". The errors that occur are also called language interference errors. These errors affect...  [Read more]

I went to France when I was fourteen and I didn?t speak any French. I lived in Toulon where barely anyone spoke English; I was therefore forced to speak French everyday at home and at school. Being surrounded by French resulted in me being able to speak it fluently with no knowledge of French grammar. After ten months, I returned to Australia speaking French as my second language. I continued to study French at school, but in a completely different approach. The lessons were carried out in English and we studied the French news and French current affairs. I learnt a lot more complicated vocabulary and was able to form more complex sentences. I also studied beginner Spanish at school. From the first class, we were only allowed to speak Spanish. This approach...  [Read more]