Teaching English as a Foreign Language FOR DUMmIES ‰ Teaching English as a Foreign Language FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Michelle Maxom A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, Publication Teaching English as a Foreign Language For Dummies® Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd The Atrium Southern Gate Chichester West Sussex PO19 8SQ England E-mail (for orders and customer service enquires): [email protected] Visit our Home Page on www.wiley.com Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex All Rights Reserved. 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She toured secondary schools and gave seminars in Caribbean literature and Britain’s multi-ethnic culture showing how the English language can open doors and minds. On returning to the UK she took on the post of Director of Studies at a central London EFL school, bringing it to accreditation by the British Council for the fi rst time and learning how to work behind the scenes in the industry. She has made an instructional fi lm for Thomson ELT and become a specialist in one-to-one courses. Since becoming a freelance teacher/trainer Michelle has delivered work experience programmes for trainee TEFL teachers, taught on intensive TEFL courses in person and tutored those taking distance learning courses. She is a member of the College of Teachers. Michelle loves voluntary work, fi nding out about other languages and working at home by the river Thames. Dedication This book is dedicated to Mrs Keturah Samuels, her children past and present and all my family members who approach life with such faith, courage and grace. Author’s Acknowledgements I would like to thank my colleagues and students who responded to this project with such enthusiasm. You truly inspired me. During my career there have been certain TEFL people who have given me special support. These are the folks at Salisbury School of English, Oxford School Mantova, Avalon School of English and TEFL Training. Thank you for giving me one stepping stone after another while allowing me to be myself inside and outside the classroom. The input from Wejdan Ismail, Simon Bell and Kathleen Dobie at John Wiley has been invaluable. I certainly could not have written this book without you. Last but not least, thanks to Mum, Monique and all my dear brothers and sisters for constantly egging me on and for putting up with me. Publisher’s Acknowledgements We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Cartoons: Rich Tennant Development (www.the5thwave.com) Project Editor: Simon Bell Composition Services Content Editor: Jo Theedom Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford Acquisitions Editor: Wejdan Ismail Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis, Christin Swinford Publishing Assistant: Jennifer Prytherch Proofreader: Susan Moritz Copy Editor: Sally Lansdell Indexer: Cheryl Duksta Technical Editor: Chris Groves Production Manager: Daniel Mersey Cover Photos: © avatra images / Alamy Contents at a Glance Introduction ................................................................ 1 Part I: Getting Started in TEFL ..................................... 7 Chapter 1: Discovering the Wonderful World of TEFL ..................................................9 Chapter 2: Looking at What TEFL Teachers Actually Do ............................................19 Chapter 3: Examining Courses, Qualifi cations and Jobs ............................................31 Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together .......................... 47 Chapter 4: Starting from the Beginning: Planning the Lesson ...................................49 Chapter 5: Standing in the Spotlight: Presenting to the Class ...................................67 Chapter 6: Holding the Reins and Letting Them Loose – Giving Students Practice ..............................................................................................85 Chapter 7: Giving Correction and Feedback ..............................................................101 Chapter 8: Being Materialistic! Using Course Books and Other Materials .............115 Chapter 9: Who’s The Boss around Here? Managing Your Classroom ...................125 Part III: Teaching Skills Classes ................................ 137 Chapter 10: Taken as Read: Teaching Reading Lessons ...........................................139 Chapter 11: Write or Wrong? Teaching Writing Lessons ..........................................157 Chapter 12: What Accent? Teaching Pronunciation..................................................171 Chapter 13: Setting Their Tongues Wagging: Speaking and Discussion .................183 Chapter 14: In One Ear, Out the Other: Learning To Listen .....................................195 Part IV: The Grammar You Need to Know – and How to Teach It ................................................. 209 Chapter 15: Stop Press! Student to Deliver Sentence ................................................211 Chapter 16: Feeling Tense? Sorting Out Verb Tenses ...............................................227 Chapter 17: Exploring More Important Verb Structures ..........................................247