Thanks for your thoughts which provoke reflections on past experiences in language classes. I suppose I my most successful classroom learning experience was when I enrolled in a class at Goethe Institute (long ago) which was at a higher level than I tested for--it forced me to work more both to catch up to the rest of the class. On the other hand, I've been in classes where individuals who were far behind the others in language competence determined the pace of the class; a challenge for a teacher, I know, but something of a time-waster for other students.
I'd like to hear more on your thoughts about teaching pronunciation. How does a teacher help someone who has severe problems pronouncing a language intelligibly in a classroom situation?
Anyway thanks again for your advice on what to look for in a language class.
Placing students into “the correct level” is sn art form. Some students, like you, react well when put with stronger students, others drain the energy of the class and others get so intimidated they give up learning the language altogether. It’s hard to explain this to learners who may lack self-awareness or who prioritize their timetables above all. A thoughtful and dedicated teacher can often manage some of the challenges, but it can be very demanding.
In terms of teaching pronunciation, a few things can be helpful in group situations. For context, most of my experience has been with groups of students who all speak the same first language.
1. Explicitly teaching tricky sounds. Either through IPA (international phonetic alphabet) or minimal pairs activities (like sheep vs ship or tout vs tu in French)
2. Teaching elements of connected speech and how words sound when pronounced together naturally. For example, liaison in French. This might also include word and sentence stress. This helps with listening as well.
3. Include lots of imitation exercises to create bridges between sound and form. Shadow reading and pair dictation exercises are two examples. Shadowing is so easy to do now that we have infinite access to video footage of people speaking almost every language!
I like to use students with clear pronunciation as the “accent” models to give others a realistic standard to match. Speaking with native-like pronunciation is not always the goal. (Especially for English as a foreign language.)
Thanks as always for engaging and reflecting in writing. 🤍
These are all excellent ideas and you've captured so many of the key elements. I really like your point about classroom management with adult learners. In many ways, this can be more challenging than with younger learners (especially with the adults who act like children!). I've had my fair share of moments with an overly dominant student, where the other students are looking at me with a look in their eyes, begging me to do something, and I'm sat there squirming in my seat. Another challenge are the students who complain about working with a weaker partner, this can get tricky.
A friend of mine, fellow teaching colleagues, always used to say 'I teach the way I wish to be taught,' which I thought was a nice sentiment early in my career. But as I gained experience I realised that we can't necessarily adopt that approach. Catering to each and every student is critical. My same friend also told me about a student in his school who complained all the time that the teachers weren't teaching in a style he liked, and he made all sorts of demands. After one too many complaints, the exasperated director of studies lost his temper and said, 'Look, our classes aren't like a f***ing Chinese buffet where you can just take what you want and leave the rest!' I'd also compare it to the lottery - there's luck involved in the classroom dynamic and the students you're surrounded by, but obviously the teacher can play a big role in this too.
Thanks for your thoughts which provoke reflections on past experiences in language classes. I suppose I my most successful classroom learning experience was when I enrolled in a class at Goethe Institute (long ago) which was at a higher level than I tested for--it forced me to work more both to catch up to the rest of the class. On the other hand, I've been in classes where individuals who were far behind the others in language competence determined the pace of the class; a challenge for a teacher, I know, but something of a time-waster for other students.
I'd like to hear more on your thoughts about teaching pronunciation. How does a teacher help someone who has severe problems pronouncing a language intelligibly in a classroom situation?
Anyway thanks again for your advice on what to look for in a language class.
Placing students into “the correct level” is sn art form. Some students, like you, react well when put with stronger students, others drain the energy of the class and others get so intimidated they give up learning the language altogether. It’s hard to explain this to learners who may lack self-awareness or who prioritize their timetables above all. A thoughtful and dedicated teacher can often manage some of the challenges, but it can be very demanding.
In terms of teaching pronunciation, a few things can be helpful in group situations. For context, most of my experience has been with groups of students who all speak the same first language.
1. Explicitly teaching tricky sounds. Either through IPA (international phonetic alphabet) or minimal pairs activities (like sheep vs ship or tout vs tu in French)
2. Teaching elements of connected speech and how words sound when pronounced together naturally. For example, liaison in French. This might also include word and sentence stress. This helps with listening as well.
3. Include lots of imitation exercises to create bridges between sound and form. Shadow reading and pair dictation exercises are two examples. Shadowing is so easy to do now that we have infinite access to video footage of people speaking almost every language!
I like to use students with clear pronunciation as the “accent” models to give others a realistic standard to match. Speaking with native-like pronunciation is not always the goal. (Especially for English as a foreign language.)
Thanks as always for engaging and reflecting in writing. 🤍
These are all excellent ideas and you've captured so many of the key elements. I really like your point about classroom management with adult learners. In many ways, this can be more challenging than with younger learners (especially with the adults who act like children!). I've had my fair share of moments with an overly dominant student, where the other students are looking at me with a look in their eyes, begging me to do something, and I'm sat there squirming in my seat. Another challenge are the students who complain about working with a weaker partner, this can get tricky.
A friend of mine, fellow teaching colleagues, always used to say 'I teach the way I wish to be taught,' which I thought was a nice sentiment early in my career. But as I gained experience I realised that we can't necessarily adopt that approach. Catering to each and every student is critical. My same friend also told me about a student in his school who complained all the time that the teachers weren't teaching in a style he liked, and he made all sorts of demands. After one too many complaints, the exasperated director of studies lost his temper and said, 'Look, our classes aren't like a f***ing Chinese buffet where you can just take what you want and leave the rest!' I'd also compare it to the lottery - there's luck involved in the classroom dynamic and the students you're surrounded by, but obviously the teacher can play a big role in this too.
I totally know what you mean about squirming in your seat. 😅 It can be so uncomfortable.