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Make Teaching English To Beginners Fun And Engaging With Our 5 Effective Tips

12th May 2023


English is one of the most spoken languages worldwide. Every parent wants their children to learn the English language. Even adults want to master this language as it will help them to succeed in corporate and any other jobs.

According to dotefl.com, it has been found out that the most spoken language worldwide is English in 2022.
 

spoken language worldwide
Source: https://www.dotefl.com/english-language-statistics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=english-language-statistics
 

This creates a huge demand for TEFL teachers who have done courses like Online TEFL Courses. However, teaching English to beginners is not that easy of a task. One of the most important things to do when teaching them is to keep your lessons short and sweet.

However, that’s not it, there are more things you need to keep in mind while you’re teaching English to beginners, What are they? You might be thinking.

Keep reading further to know some effective tips for teaching English to beginners.

So, without any further delay, Let’s begin!

1. Keep Your English Teaching Style Simple

When teaching English to beginners, you must need to make sure that whatever lessons you are teaching should be in a simple language so that they can comprehend easily. Below we have added some tips for it.

  • Don’t use too many synonyms. Instead, use the same words repeatedly to help students become more familiar with them.
  • Use short sentences and, when absolutely necessary, longer sentences with subordinate clauses.
  • Use visual aids such as pictures and diagrams to help students understand the language.
  • Speak slowly.
  • Ask questions to check the understanding of your students.
  • Give plenty of examples to illustrate points.

By keeping your language simple, you will set your students up for a successful English learning experience.

2. Encourage Your Students To Communicate In English

Once your students learn the basics of English, it’s important for them to practice as much as possible. Encourage them to speak English as often as possible with their family and friends. Here are some ways you can help your students use English as much as possible:

  • Suggest activities that involve students engaging with English. For example- They can watch English movies or web series with subtitles of their own interest.
  • Encourage your students to read books and newspapers in English. They could even start a book club in which they discuss the books they’ve read.
  • Ask your students to listen to English music and podcasts.
  • Suggest them to make friends from language exchange groups online with Native English speakers and talk with them online
  • They can also write daily journals in English about how their day went.

3. Explain things clearly

Explaining things clearly is a vital skill for any English teacher. The best way to help your students learn is to explain things clearly and slowly. This will not only aid in their understanding but will also create an environment in which they feel comfortable asking questions. Here are a few tips that you as an English Teacher can use to improve your explanations:

  • Utilize visuals or demonstrations to explain concepts
  • Ask the students to briefly review materials
  • Break down difficult concepts into simpler parts
  • Rephrase questions in simpler language
  • Keep the explanation concise
  • Use language they understand
  • Simplify abstract ideas by providing concrete examples
  • Use worksheets and activities to practice the topic further

4. Take Help of Fun Activities

Activities are an integral part of teaching English to beginners. They provide an interactive element to your lessons and offer an experiential way for your students to learn information. Here are a few activities that you can use to engage your beginners:

  • Pair-work

Beginner lessons can benefit from a social element, so engaging in pairing activities can be an effective way of getting your students to practice their English. Pair your students off and have them complete activities like role-plays, dialogues, discussions, or other written and verbal exercises.

  • Games

Regardless of age, everybody loves to participate in games. You can organize some games in the classroom like board games or digital English learning apps.

  • Video Learning

You can take help from any video like a TED talk video, from that they can learn English and as well, they can learn something meaningful as well.

  • Listening Exercises

Listening is an important component of language learning. Utilizing listening exercises helps students understand native English speakers better, and can also teach them about intonation, pronunciation, and other aspects of the language.

In any language, listening is more important than speaking, without understanding properly one can’t give a proper response. You can arrange some conversation clips from online and play, after it ends you can ask students to tell what they have listened to and understand from that conversation.

  • Writing Activities

Writing is also a main aspect of learning English. You can give them creative writing tasks like, what they want o become in the future they can write about it. It will help them to understand to use the right grammar, vowels, verbs, correct sentence formation, etc.

5. Be patient

Learning any new language takes time, so as a TEFL teacher, you must be patient with the progression of your students. You can do that by applying the below-given tips.

  • Give your students ample time to think and process what they want to say.
  • Remind your students that making mistakes is part of the process and part of how they will learn.
  • Swallow your temptation to offer immediate corrections.
  • Encourage your students to practice speaking, even if they are not perfect.
  • Be mindful of your body language and try to remain calm and patient with your students.
  • Encourage healthy competition to help motivate your students in a positive way.
  • Reinforce positive behaviour by praising and rewarding your students.
  • If a particular student is struggling, try to tailor your lesson plans for that student to better help them learn.

Make Teaching English to Beginners Engaging

Those who have completed courses like Online TEFL Courses, know exactly it’s not an easy task to teach English to beginners. However, they are also aware of how they can make that task easy for them and for students as well. Additionally, our blog will also help you to make the teaching fun, engaging and interactive so that both entity students and teachers can enjoy it.


Written By: Abhishek

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