Foreign Language Lessons in CELTA – Why I agree

One of my teacher trainers Chia Suan Chong posted on her blog about why bringing Foreign Language lessons back into the CELTA timetable benefits trainees. Since I’ve been teaching, so many of these points ring home. I remember the Japanese and Chinese mini lessons she did for us and how eye-opening they were. The things I learnt from the course had only sunken in when I started teaching and now, I can appreciate even more of what she was trying to teach us. So far, I have managed to remember and achieve or at least be aware about almost all of the points raised for this argument. And the great thing is, the points are just as relevant for group lessons as they are for one-to-one lessons. I have taken each of the points she made and provided my own experiences with them.

1. It’s scary being a learner.

This is so true! So many of my students feel embarrassed, ashamed or have even used the words ‘stupid’ or ‘dumb’ when learning English. It doesn’t matter what jobs they have or who they are, they all react and feel the same. Often, I can see the frustration so there’s a lot of encouragement, reassurance and sensitive guidance during parts of the lesson where they feel stuck or hesitant to speak or write. I find smiling and nodding helps too!

2. Context is everything.

This is obvious to me but perhaps not for others. Without context, there is possibility for ambiguity and confusion for the student. As you all should know, certain words or phrases can have more than one meaning. By using context, you can teach the target language with the correct meaning for that particular context as well as choosing a context that is useful and even fun for your student. I only give them the other meanings if the student asks for it; otherwise I try not to as it could overwhelm them. However, I do have moments where I have given random examples or have introduced a second unrelated context. This is something that I have to improve on as a teacher.

3. Drilling isn’t boring… and it isn’t just about pronunciation.

For me, drilling is the most fun part of the lesson for both me and students and it doesn’t hurt to add some humour! One of my favourites at the moment is teaching them the phoneme   /eə/     vs.     /ɜ/ as a student was pronouncing the words ‘where’ and ‘were’ as the same word.

So after drilling these words with the aid of similar sounding words (‘where’, ‘care’, ‘bear’, ‘air’ and ‘were’, ‘fur’, ‘bird’, ‘hurt’), I’d make them say this silly dialogue I made up. Perhaps to us native speakers, this isn’t so amusing, but I’ve had a few students chuckle when saying this and you can role-play it too. You can also get them to practice it using different intonations, stress and teach emotions and states at the same time. For example, person A is really angry and person B is really happy. If the student can say this dialogue correctly, they should be able to hear the difference and hopefully, feel very pleased with themselves! If I were to only drill the target language individually, it wouldn’t quite have the same effect – don’t you agree?

Context: A has been looking for B for some time. B is with some friends. Now B has just arrived.

A: Where were you?

B: We were here, under the stairs.

A: Where?

B: Here. Where did you think we were?

A: Over there.

B: There? No. We were here.

A: Not over there?

B: No. We were right here.

4. Pronouncing unfamiliar sounds in a foreign language can be frustrating.

Many countless times I have had students comment on how they’ve never produced certain phonemes before. These are the ones that they find most frustrating to produce and it really does help if you are able to explain what your mouth and throat does to produce it correctly. Pictures or drawing diagrams can help. I would get the student to write down the phoneme with one or two words using this phoneme. Then I would draw a picture of what the tongue, teeth, lips do or shape of the mouth next to it. Get them to watch you say it as you’re drawing it too. This is far more effective than just repeating the phoneme or word over and over again – trust me!

5. Language learning isn’t always about learning single words.

When teaching new vocabulary, providing common phrases using the new words is far easier for the student to remember than individual words. In their vocabulary books, I get them to write an example sentence meaningful to them. If they have trouble pronouncing it, I would give my own example of words they may already be familiar with that have the same problematic phoneme. For example, to teach the correct pronunciation and use of the word ‘bench’, I would say ‘Ben is sitting on the bench’. This is the assumption that they can already pronounce ‘Ben’ correctly.

6. It can take multiple encounters with a language item before it is retained and produced.

There’s no point in teaching new vocabulary and then never or rarely use it again in the following lessons. Students usually forget them and that could be down to not being able to practise them enough. I always make my own list of new vocabulary introduced for each student and try to incorporate them in future lessons. If we don’t get through them all, that’s OK. If there’s time at the end of the lesson, I work through the list and do simple drilling exercises in sentences or phrases. Then I ask them to produce their own examples. Students seem to enjoy this way of learning and often, remember the correct pronunciation. If they have trouble with spelling, you could ask a question using the word(s) and they write down or/and say their answer. I found this more effective than just saying the individual words or getting them to transcribe what I have just said. Not only do they get more fluency practice but it also makes them think!

7. Don’t overwhelm learners with too much information at a go.

This is something that’s hard to control in any lesson. Usually, 5 or 6 new lexical items are enough in a one hour lesson. Imagine learning 5 new Chinese symbols and their meanings – would you be able to recall, write and pronounce them correctly after 60 minutes? I would struggle with 2 or 3 let alone 5!

However, sometimes students will ask you lots of questions about lexical items they’ve never heard of or are unfamiliar with that are not within the scope of the lesson. This could amount to a lot of new items learnt in a lesson. I would allow a time for these at either the start or the end of the lesson where I can give quick explanations for their vocabulary books. I would also make a note of them for myself to use in future lessons. The focus of the lesson could either follow on from these questions or be set aside for next lesson.

8. Don’t just say them, board those new lexical items.

I don’t have a board but I use a notebook. Imagine teaching a new word such as ‘stubble’ but not showing how it’s spelt. You’ll get students writing down ‘suitable’ or ‘subtle’ or any other word they’ve seen elsewhere or some really bizarre guesses using the phonemes from their first language. Some teachers say that it’s better to write the word down much later, after some drilling to avoid them pronouncing it by the way it’s spelt. This may be true but I think a lot of students prefer to see it written down before they practise using it.

I would write down the word and then write down how it is said by using either phonemes or whatever system they feel comfortable using. Sometimes, the students are able to write down the pronunciation themselves right after I have said it. Not all students are familiar with phonemes and they may have their own system they prefer to use. If they are tempted to pronounce the word by the way it’s spelt, I would cover the word and then write down other words containing the same phonemes. The student then reads them out loud before getting to the new problematic word. Obviously, check they’re comfortable with the other words first before drilling. It’s not necessary for them to know the meaning of them for this task. It’s the pronunciation that is important.

9. A tolerance for ambiguity is crucial to being a good language learner.

This is particularly true for students preparing for exams. Students can have problems with time management and often spend too long trying to interpret every single word in a text. In the real world, when you don’t have much time, you don’t read like this.

Now imagine reading a text in a foreign language, I bet you’ve tried to translate every word in the hope it’d help you better understand it right? Hands up if you’ve ever given up on a sentence because you got stuck on a few words?

Getting students to get the gist of a text and then scan for specific information are two quite important things. I often tell students that they won’t have time in the exam to read and fully understand everything in the text. Matching words from the question to the text doesn’t always work either as there may be synonyms. Teaching students to quickly read or scan the text without the aid of a dictionary or translator is a good start.

10. This is what a beginner’s class looks like.

When I’ve been teaching elementary level students, the techniques used in teaching foreign languages still apply. Miming the actions or drawing diagrams help a great deal. Using very clear and concise instructions, keeping the language as simple as possible and making sure they are watching your mouth movements whilst drilling, all useful in teaching at all levels. The worst thing you could do is start assuming what they do or should know. Always ask concept check questions if in doubt! I myself am guilty of forgetting to ask concept check questions before moving on. I also talk too much! Oh well, we can’t all be perfect!