I teach a certification class on weekends for people that want to teach English overseas. They have to get a certification to teach in many countries in addition to their college degree. I was hired because I have 8 years of experience teaching in Korea plus 10 years teaching ESL here in California. I have been teaching this certification class for over 4 years. I work for a company headquartered in Canada. One thing I really like about their curriculum, and the primary thing I emphasize in my class, is what they call ESA. ESA stands for Engage, Study, Activate. Engage is a way to introduce the subject, not just saying, "today we are going to talk about giving directions". It is less obvious as in asking questions about how people give directions. I tell them about the time I was in Korea and I asked people to tell me how to get to their house. One man said to get on bus number 34 and get off at the twelfth stop and then go to the 7-11 on the corner and yell, "Hey, Mr. Kim", and he would come down and get me! I laughed when he said that thinking about how many "Mr. Kims" would be in the area. Using the Engage also gives the teacher the opportunity to assess if the students need the lesson, and if the lesson needs to be made more difficult or easier depending on the students' present level. The Study is actually teaching something. After every lesson the kid should be able to go home to his parents, or the adult should be able to go home to their spouse, and tell what they learned. The problem is that teachers often just tell students to do something, rather than instruct them how to do it. In many classes the teaching is self taught, and the teacher just acts as a guide rather than a teacher. If that is done once in a while it might work, but the teacher needs to show the students how to learn. They need a step by step process to show the students how to master the new skill. I'm tired of watching teachers just tell the students to read the book and not teach anything. I try to force my students, who are future teachers, to TEACH something. Not to just expect the students to learn through osmosis. I don't know how effective I am in teaching how to teach, but I spend a lot of time showing them how to teach something. If I am teaching them how to give directions I will teach them what block means, teach what on the corner and in the middle of the block is. I will tell them go up and go down mean the same thing. I will keep teaching them about giving directions. I have attached a the first half of the lesson I use to teach my students how to teach. The third part of the way I teach my students how to teach is the Activate. Activate often is a game, using the skill taught during the lesson. Students need some way of practicing what they learned in class. Sort of like in Math class where the students would practice what they learned in class. In the class where I teach them how to give directions I will give them a map and give their partner the same map. The two maps will have different buildings marked and then they will give each other directions to find the different buildings around the map. The important part is they speak English and use the vocabulary and phrases I taught them in class. I think my classes are successful if my class is noisy and people are laughing. I always teach future teachers that "They can't learn if they don't laugh"!!
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