Classroom Teaching ESL In Primary School Can Be Quite An Entertaining Experience

If you are classroom teaching in a non English speaking country the first thing you must realize is most if not all the students don’t understand

you. So forget about lecturing and stick to acting or drawing and you should be alright.

I think flashcards and chalk are the way to go. I can’t handle whiteboards or PowerPoint presentations. You can do a lot with chalk and the kids love it when your drawing is terrible. But you must draw very fast. If you are too slow the kids fall asleep.

Also when you start acting they love it but then give them a go and see how good they can act. If the students do things they love you so let them read out loud or play with the flash cards. When they start drawing they take forever so expect that and you should be okay.

Young students up to 10 or 11 years old will do things in class but with 12 year olds just forget it, they wont even get off their seats. If you can get them up to the front of the class to write on the blackboard you’re a better teacher than me. It’s a struggle, they are too afraid of making a mistake.

I always get the kids under 10 to write on the blackboard, they love it and they don’t mind making mistakes. If they make mistakes I just correct them, I don’t criticize the student because they will never come back. If I do spelling competitions on the board on put as many students as the board will hold and then say very easy words or get a student to say the word. This way it improves confidence.

For more information about reading courses I recommend including a Montessori course see our Teach Reading page.