Content

• Steps
• Advice

Teaching English as a second language for a beginner is no easy task for anyone. Regardless of your qualifications and experience, you will constantly face new challenges in doing this job. As with other subjects, you will find that each student has a different learning style. Also, depending on the native language of each learner, you will be faced with other specific difficulties with that language. With knowledge and effort, however, you will acquire the skills needed to teach English as a second language to a beginner.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Teaching the basics

1. 

   Starting with the alphabet and numbers. One of the first things you should teach your learners is the alphabet and numbers. By teaching letters and numbers, you will create a solid foundation for learners to acquire other knowledge.
   • Have the students learn the alphabet to a certain point. You can start with the letter "a" and continue on to the "m" as you like. Help learners complete the alphabet at a speed that both sides are comfortable with. The key here is to encourage but not push the learner too hard.
   • Teach numbers. As with letters, let students start to learn numbers and stop at what point is up to each person's ability. Consider creating a practice board so that students can practice writing letters and / or numbers.
   • Use the learning cards, starting with each letter of the alphabet to reinforce the lesson.
   • Letter learning is easier for native language speakers who use the Latin alphabet.

2. 

   
   
   Teaching pronunciation, especially difficult sounds. Pronunciation is extremely important when you teach English as a second language. You should consider focusing on sounds that are particularly difficult for English as a second language learners such as:
   • Sound." The "TH" sound (as in "theater" or "thing") is not available in some other languages. As a result, this sound is relatively difficult to pronounce for some people (like those who use a Roman or Slave language).
   • Sound "R." The "R" sound is also difficult for many learners for many reasons, including the pronunciation of different local accents of each region.
   • The "L." sound The "L" sound is another difficult sound, especially for students from East Asia. You need to spend more time teaching the "L." sound.

3. 

   
   
   Teach nouns. After teaching the alphabet and numbers, go ahead and teach nouns. Nouns are one of the easiest parts to learn, as your students can see everything around them to learn.
   • Start with the common objects in the classroom.
   • Switch to things in the city or area where you live, such as cars, houses, trees, roads, and the like.
   • Continue to teach things your students encounter in everyday life like food, electronics, and other objects.

4. 

   
   
   Instruct learners about verbs and adjectives. The next step after teaching nouns is to switch to verbs and adjectives. Teaching verbs and adjectives will be a big step in the learning process, because from which students will form a complete sentence (write or speak).
   • Adjectives have the function of altering or describing other words. Some adjectives you could teach are: wild, silly, troubled, and agreeable.
   • Verbs are words that describe an action. Some examples of verbs you can teach are: to speak, to talk, and to pronounce.
   • Make sure your students understand the difference between verbs and adjectives. If students do not know how to use them, they will not be able to speak or make sentences.
   • Spend more time teaching irregular verbs. "Go" is a great example of the difficult English irregular verb. The past tense of "go" was "went." The past participle of "go" is "gone."

5. 

   Explain tenses and articles. After you've taught nouns, verbs, and adjectives, you need to move on to teaching tenses and articles. Without understanding the correct use of verbs and where to place the articles, learners will not be able to formulate a complete sentence.
   • Tenses in English have the function of interpreting the time that an action or state takes place. You need to teach past, present and future tenses.
   • Compositions and adjectives provide more information about nouns. The articles include: a, an, and the.
   • Make sure students have a thorough grasp of the use of tenses and articles, as this will help students improve their ability to put sentences and speak correctly.

6. 

   Practice with common terms. A great way to teach English is to encourage students to practice and use common terms. This is an important step, because learners will not be able to understand the meaning of many phrases based on the literal meaning of each word.
   • You should have your students repeat these terms (and use them) until they feel comfortable using them in conversation.
   • Start with some buzzwords like "never mind," (never mind) "no doubt," (no doubt) or "make believe" (pretend).
   • Provide learners with a list of common phrases to practice and think about.

7. 

   Teaches the basic structure of sentences. After teaching the alphabet, verbs, and other components, you should start to teach the basic structure of sentences. This is very important, as it provides the foundation for a learner's ability to write and helps improve learners' reading skills. You need to teach five main sentence patterns in English:
   • Subject-Verb sentences (sample subject sentence - verb). These sentences have a subject and a verb. For example, "The Dog runs."
   • Subject-Verb-Object sentences (sample subject sentences - verb - object sentences). This type of sentence has the subject, followed by the verb and the verb is followed by the object. For example, "John eats pizza."
   • Subject-Verb-Adjective sentences (sample subject sentences - verb - adjective). These sentences include a subject, a verb, and then an adjective. For example, "The puppy is cute."
   • Subject-Verb-Adverb sentences (sample subject sentence - verb - adverb). This sentence pattern has a subject, a verb, and then an adverb. For example, "The lion is there."
   • Subject-Verb-Noun sentences (sample subject sentence - verb - noun). This sentence pattern consists of a subject, a verb and ends with a noun. For example, "Emmanuel is a philosopher."
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Part 2 of 3: Applying best practices

1. 

   Encourage students to speak English only in class. One very excellent method is to encourage students to only speak English in the classroom. This will force them to use their English knowledge and practice to improve their proficiency. In addition, this method also helps teachers make effective use of teaching time and create opportunities for learners to practice.
   • This strategy is most effective when students have acquired the basics (basic questions, greetings, alphabets and numbers).
   • When a learner uses the wrong English language, you need to correct it in the appropriate way.
   • Always encourage learners.
   • This strategy works well when you ask the student to "repeat" and / or "answer the questions". For example, you could say a question or ask a question to a student. This will give learners a chance to answer in English.
   • Don't do a "language police". If someone has trouble and has to speak in their native language, don't embarrass them. Listen to the students' problems.

2. 

   Instructions verbally and in writing. When demonstrating an activity or giving homework, working in class, or working on a project, give instruction in both oral and written ways. That way, students will both hear and see the words at the same time. This will help students improve their word learning and pronunciation.
   • Print out your instructions and hand them out to participants before explaining the upcoming activity. If you teach online, you can email the instructions to them before the video explanation.

3. 

   Continuously monitor your learners' progress. No matter what type of lesson you're teaching or what your students are doing, you should keep an eye on your students. This will also help you see your learners' progress and see what they are struggling with.
   • If you are teaching in a classroom, walk around the classroom and talk to your students to see if they are having any problems.
   • If you teach online, text or email your students and ask them if they need any help.
   • Be available as much as possible when students participate in class activities or other activities.

4. 

   Encourage diverse learning methods. Teaching English as a second language for beginners is much more effective when you use multiple learning styles. Diversity in learning methods is important, because each student is different and learning is different.
   • Practice speaking
   • Learning to write
   • Encourage reading
   • Learn to listen
   • Try to encourage all learning methods to be equal.

5. 

   Divide the lessons into smaller sections. When teaching beginners or younger students, break the lessons into intervals of about 10 minutes. This will help keep the students from distracting, while also ensuring that you don't overwhelm your students.
   • You do not have to maintain the exact 10 minutes. A few minutes of tutoring also helps if it can support the lesson.
   • After each mini-lesson, move on to a new lesson format. This will help the learners stay awake and focused.
   • Change to daily mini-lessons. Try to combine as many different lessons as possible to keep learners focused and to challenge them.
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Part 3 of 3: Create excitement in learning English

1. 

   Use games that reinforce the topic of the lesson. Games benefit learners because they make lessons interesting and encourage students to think in new and different ways.
   • Try the Jeopardy game, which uses a scoring system for students to compete with.
   • Consider using the Family Fued game format if you want students to work in groups.
   • Use memory or word guessing games using learning cards. For example, you could pull out a cue card to see if the student made a correct guess.

2. 

   Use visual effects to teach languages. An important method in language teaching is the use of pictures to create associations with words. By using pictures to stimulate associations, learners will be able to make stronger connections between ideas and new words they are learning in class. Consider the following tools:
   • Pictures and photos
   • Postcard
   • Video
   • Map
   • Comic. Comics are especially effective because the images are accompanied by the passages.

3. 

   Encourage use of language learning applications on mobile devices. A great way to teach English as a second language is to incorporate language learning apps on your smartphone. These apps are a great way to reinforce what you've taught in class, as learners can use them to practice language skills and learn new words and phrases.
   • Language learning apps are typically available on certain smartphone operating systems.
   • There are many types of free language learning apps, such as Duolingo.
   • Some apps allow multiple learners to work together.

4. 

   Use social media. Social media is a great way to teach English as a second language for beginners. The social network offers a great opportunity for you to teach colloquial phrases and commonly used words. In addition, learners also have the opportunity to consider using words and practice what they have learned.
   • Try using the "idiom of the day" lesson. Accordingly, you can choose idioms or common phrases and give explanations to the class.
   • Encourage students to follow social media celebrities and translate their posts.
   • Create a group on social media and have students share new stories and explain or translate them into English.
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Advice

• Consider taking a training course, whether it's a short one-week or one-month session. This training course will provide you with the foundations, ideas and techniques of teaching English. These programs are open all over the world.
• Always prepare adequate resources when teaching in class.
• Have the class prepare materials that will be used during class. Prepare to add additional documentation in case you need it. In some cases, you may be using the document faster than you expected. Some of the materials are not very appealing to students, and even ten minutes of study may seem like too long.