This document provides an overview of the author's experience becoming and developing as an English teacher over 4 years. It discusses challenges they faced as a new teacher, including lack of confidence in English proficiency and classroom management. The author shares techniques they found useful, such as brainstorming, diagrams, and games. Advice is given to new teachers to continuously improve language skills and classroom practices through experimentation.

1. CAMBRIDGE
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES
Memories from an English Teacher
Final Paper presented as a requirement in order to obtain the
Diploma of Sufficiency in English
Written by: Rommel Patricio Maigua Sigcha
March, 2012

2. CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER 1
AT THE UNIVERSITY ................................................................................................ 2
CHAPTER 2
FIRST STEPS AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER .............................................................. 3
ASPECTS I HAD TO DEAL WITH ............................................................................. 4
NERVIOUSISM OF THE FIRST DAY ........................................................................ 4
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY LACK OF CONFIDENCE ................................................. 4
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT .................................................................................. 5
TEACHING METHODOLOGY ................................................................................... 6
TEACHING TECHNIQUES ........................................................................................ 7
BRAIN STORM .......................................................................................................... 8
DIAGRAMS ................................................................................................................ 9
FLASH CARDS .......................................................................................................... 9
DICTATION .............................................................................................................. 10
ORAL REPETITION ................................................................................................. 10
ROLE PLAY ............................................................................................................. 11
MEMORY GAME...................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 3
GROWING IN SELF CONFIDENCE ........................................................................ 12
EXPERIMENTING IN THE CLASSROOM ............................................................... 13
CHAPTER 4
4 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE .................................................................................... 13
ADVICE FOR NEW TEACHERS.............................................................................. 13
TO CONCLUDE ....................................................................................................... 14
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 15
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3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to the people who have helped and
supported me throughout my Final Paper. I am grateful to Cambridge School of
Language for its continuous support for this written work, from initial advice and
contacts in the early stages of conceptual inception and through ongoing advice and
encouragement to this day.
I wish to thank my mother for her support and interest who inspired me and
encouraged me to go my own way, without her I would be unable to complete my
Final Paper. At last but not the least I want to thank my friends who appreciated me
for my work and motivated me and finally to God who made all the things possible
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4. INTRODUCTION
When we are in our childhood and our parents or relatives ask us this question:
What are you going to be when you grow up? Many answers come to our mind,
ideas like being a doctor, engineer or even an astronaut.
I remember I wanted to be a lawyer and every time I heard that question, I used
to answer proudly: “I’m going to be a lawyer”.
As the time goes on and our mind has many changes, the reality makes us open
our eyes, and then in the high school we realized that our objectives differ too much
from the ones we had had in our childhood.
When I was in the high school my first idea was to be a doctor, but by economical
stuff it was just a dream. After graduating from school my first job was as a sales
person. Then as I liked to interact with people I studied Marketing in the Instituto
Tecnológico Benito Juárez.
I worked as a sales person for 4 years but in a point in my life I realized it was not
for me so I looked for another job. I looked for a career to study at the college. Being
a doctor impossible no money and the class schedule did not fix with my needs.
A chemical engineer y did not like chemistry at school so it was not a good idea, a
dentist the only problem was the schedule and I needed a job during the morning. I
do not remember exactly how I went to Facultad de Filosofía in the Universidad
Central but I do remember is the first day when I was in class Miguel Agreda, a
Spanish Linguistics professor told us as a joke: “you are not here in order to be
models or flight attendants; you are here in order to be teachers”
Those words are always in my mind, and the ones that marked the beginning of
my new path.
This work has been made in order to share some of my experiences in the
beginnings of my career, some of the obstacles I had to go through, and the
development as a teacher. The techniques presented in this document are the ones
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5. that have been used with my groups of students, they come from my personal
experience.
CHAPTER 1
AT THE UNIVERSITY
With no knowledge of English language I came into the university, I remember
having a placement test and the required grade was eight, in order to start the
studies from the first year otherwise the student that did not get the grade had to
take an updating level of three months and at the end of this course we had to take
other test.
Once we had reached the grade, we were in that time students of the Universidad
Central del Ecuador. With a limited knowledge of English I started learning little by
little, paying attention in every class, at that time all the structures, vocabulary and
sounds were new and strange. Grammar was no difficult, learning vocabulary it was
not a problem.
The hard issues in learning English were listening and speaking. To understand
the words of my teacher or a recording it was really hard.
In this point I want to make reference to Gosher, S. and Gosher, B. (2009) they
say: “You can practice your listening skills by listening carefully to a recorder TV
news broadcast or an interview on the radio” (pg. 2)
The following are words about how to improve the listening skills from Gear, J. and
Gear, R. (2006) they say:
The more you practice listening, the better listener you will become.
There are many ways in which you can practice your listening skills. If
you don´t have the opportunity to listen to native English speakers in
person, you can hear English spoken in movies, on TV, on the radio, or
on the Internet. (pg. 250)
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6. When I was coursing the second year I was offered a job in a primary school as
an English teacher. My answer was no, because I felt I did not have enough
proficiency at my language skills. That year I studied hard, reading books, practicing
grammar, listening to music in English and watching videos captioned in English.
On the other hand, when I had to give a speech in front of the whole class, I used
to hesitate and being nervous. Speaking is a vital part especially if you are a teacher;
the following are words by Baker, J. and Westrup, H. (2003) about the reasons for
practicing speaking and state: “speaking activities can reinforce the learning of new
vocabulary, grammar or functional language. Speaking give students the chance to
use the language they are learning.” (pg. 6)
My confidence grew; I started to talk in English by myself, when I was travelling
by bus I used to name the objects as the bus was going down the street, when I was
watching a movie I repeated the characters dialogues or short phrases.
By the next year my knowledge of English had increased a lot. That year I was
offered a job again and that time I accepted.
CHAPTER 2
FIRST STEPS AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER
When I went for first time to my new job, I bought a brand new suit; it was gray
my favorite color, it fixed with a sky blue shirt and with a tie with both colors. I just
knew my classmate that was working there too.
The first class day had come and I had to introduce myself to my pupils,
motivated and with fresh ideas for teaching in my mind but without teaching
experience before of that, I began working with them.
Non - experienced but full of spirit a day came after the other, and the problems
began.
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7. ASPECTS I HAD TO DEAL WITH
NERVIOUSISM OF THE FIRST DAY
It was my first day and I had to meet my students, the night before I had been
getting some ideas, for activities in order to deal with them, games such as Simon
says and hangman were the ones that were in my repertoire.
I started the class saying hello and they had to repeat their names in a kind of
chain, this activity took some minutes and at the end of the class we all were happy
and I realized that I did not have reasons for being worried.
The following classes the students wanted to play games only, they asked for
hangman and other kind of games I looked for, there was just a problem they had
fun but the content I expected them achieve they simply did not have.
I mean the games were not related with the structure we were studying. About
language games Miller, C. (2008) says: “using a language game in the classroom
can be difficult. One reason why educators don’t use them is because it is hard to
focus learning in a game […] Games are considered the desert, not the main meal in
the classroom.” (pg. 230)
Games in the classroom are good ways to get the students alive and interested in
the topic. Trying to adapt them with the content that is been studied could be
fantastic, and sometimes there would be contents adaptable and in other situations
simply there would not be that opportunity.
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY LACK OF CONFIDENCE
In my first year as a teacher I learned a thing; I learned that English teachers
must be sure of themselves. As a teacher is very important to be self confident and
learn that the fact we are teachers we do not have to know everything and every
word, because we are not walking dictionaries.
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8. If a teacher is not sure of his/ her knowledge the students will notice this, and if
you lose the respect of the pupils you are done. Jagla, V. (2012) related to
confidence say: “Confidence is a significant issue related to the teacher’s use of
imagination and intuition in daily classroom activities” (pg. 77)
This point of view reflects my idea of lack of confidence, because self confidence
is a base for a good instructional program. When you think you are doing things
badly, actually you are doing things badly, because in your mind you are
predisposed for getting these results.
Being a teacher means have a plenty of ideas, for being a teacher you must have
imagination and put in practice the ideas that come to your mind.
As a teacher a well knowledge of grammar and pronunciation is vital, when you
work with children and you pronunciation is not the correct, your pupils will
pronounce badly.
In order to get confidence in your language skills practice with them, think in
English and if you do not know how a specifically word is pronounce do not be
worried about it just look for the pronunciation in the dictionary and your problem is
solved.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
An important aspect is the teacher´s language knowledge, but another important
aspect is the motivation, the discipline and the respect that a teacher reflects through
himself by the students.
Marzano, R. (2003) says:
Effective teaching and learning cannot take place in a poorly managed
classroom. If students are disorderly and disrespectful, and no apparent
rules and procedures give behavior, chaos becomes the norm. In these
situations, both teachers and students suffer. Teachers struggle to teach,
and students most likely learn much less than they should. (pg. 1)
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9. Classroom management has a big influence in the scholars, when the class is a
complete chaos, there is a lack of learning in the pupils, but if there is control during
the lesson students learn better.
To get the pupils engaged and motivated by learning the language is important
because when a person likes and enjoys learning, it becomes easier and funnier. A
way for getting our students engaged is through games. After a lesson they seem to
be bored a game is the right option in order to get the alive.
Playing a game is funny and as teachers and the classrooms gets noisy. The
discipline is an important aspect when everybody is playing. At the beginning you
can speak aloud and make them stop little by little, but at the end shouting them for
paying attention to you is a waste of time.
It is a good idea to set games routines it could be about the time that you allow
your students the game. Counting from one to ten could mean the game is over.
Clapping when you want they go back to their seats.
Respect to everyone, listening their ideas and save every idea from each one,
respect their differences and being worried about their problems could save many
headaches when you are teaching a lesson.
TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Many ways for teaching English are shared, different points of view and ways to
make easier the language for our learners, but we have to have clear what is a
method for Larsen, D. (2000) referring to a method says: “A method is a coherent set
of such links in the sense that there should be some theoretical or philosophical
compatibility among the links” (pg. 3).
A Teaching method is the group of ideas that rule a way of teaching, it leads our
practice in the classroom, and set the aims we want the scholars achieve. The
following is the method with great popularity nowadays. It is called the
communicative approach.
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10. The aim of the language is being understood, a person can have a great
knowledge of grammatical rules, this is known as linguistic competence, but in a
communicative context the student must have the ability of transmit a message in
different situations, such as promising, inviting and declining invitations.
If students learn sentence structure or tenses only they are able to produce
sentences orally or written correctly, but depending on the context a sentence could
have different meanings and it could be misunderstood by the one that receives the
information.
In a communicative situation the most efficient communicator is not the one that
knows all the structures, is the one that code and decode proficiently a message. It
means that communicative competence grows up through interaction, this implies
that learners should be encouraged to interact using the language.
TEACHING TECHNIQUES
During the time of learning in the university, there are many things a college
student learns, but teaching techniques are not in the curriculum, at the time you are
coursing the third year teaching practice is common, you learn how to do a class
plan; following the instructions of a mentor you are assigned. In the practice is
common to follow the instructions from the teacher´s guide, and the techniques that
are immersed in that teaching program.
I learned some of those techniques by practicing them. But an amateur teacher
has to have in mind that those techniques could work well with a group and could be
wrong with other group of students.
It lays on the facilitator’s necessity of knowing about the social characteristics of
the group of learners, it means to have the knowledge about the school, community
and the materials available. In addition teachers have to know themselves, strengths
and weaknesses.
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11. We have to understand, exactly what a technique is and Dhand, H. (2008) state:
“Techniques of teaching are the day to day activities which the teacher may design
for a particular lesson. They may include group discussions, projects, the use of a
textbook or field tripping” (pg. xiv)
In order to choose the right technique, teachers must have the objectives of the
lesson clear; they have to know the procedures for applying a technique.
The following are some useful techniques I have learned during this time as an
English teacher.
BRAIN STORM
Brain storm generates the participation from the students, is a way to getting
them active and engaged. I use this technique in order to activate previous
knowledge of a topic; it is also useful to save time, because if the students know the
vocabulary it is not necessary to spend time on teaching these words.
Dhand, H. (2008) related to brainstorming declare: “Brainstorming is a superior
technique for generating ideas. This technique is used for generating any and all
possible solutions to a problem” (pg. 13)
Brainstorming is also useful in order to accomplish a listening activity, I use this in
the classroom for making predictions from the title of the listening and the possible
things they could hear in the recording.
How to use brainstorming
1. Select a topic, it could be vocabulary such as fruit, sports, parts of the body,
with a superior level get the summary from a reading, the options are endless.
2. Write the topic you have chosen on the middle of the board in a circle or other
shape you like.
3. Draw lines as connectors from the topic word.
4. Ask students give their ideas.
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12. 5. As an important fact you have to keep the discipline a way for doing this is let
talk the student that raises his/ her hand.
DIAGRAMS
Using diagrams in order to show the differences in use of a grammatical structure,
an example this graphs is the Venn diagram, which presents the differences and
similarities between objects of study. The use of this technique makes pupils to
recognize clearly the structures in example, differences between simple present and
present progressive.
The advantage from this technique is represents visually an important information.
How to use diagrams
1. Teachers have to have the objective for using a diagram.
2. Practice drawing diagrams with students for making them related to this kind
of technique.
3. Let students some minutes for analyzing the information presented on the
diagram.
4. Let them tell you the things they understood from the diagram.
5. Correct their answers and explain once more or the times you consider
necessary.
FLASH CARDS
Using flash cards in the classroom is a very popular technique; it could be used
when teaching vocabulary and pronunciation, you can make your students play with
the cards. Assign them making their own flashcards is a good way to save time.
How to use flashcards
1. Show the flashcard to the group of pupils.
2. Repeat the word and at the same time show the flash card, it permits the
student relate the pronunciation with the object.
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13. 3. Repeat this activity, but this time show the flashcard and let the students to
pronounce the word.
4. If you want to use this as a game, past the picture faster.
5. In order to students practice writing you can use puzzles or other kid of
technique for connecting the word with the spelling.
DICTATION
This technique is used in order to develop listening and writing skills. Dictation
seems to be boring. In fact listening to the teacher or a recording could make the
scholars bored. On the other hand if the teacher sets this technique lively an active,
students will be exited with this kind of activity.
How to use dictation
1. You can use this with a listening or writing task you have developed in
previous lessons.
2. For listening you could let students hear a short dialogue, may be an
interview, conversation or other recorded material according to the level of the
students.
3. After the usual listening activities, ask the students to construct their own
dialogues, check their working and help with vocabulary and the corrections
they could need.
4. Now they have to work in pairs, students have to read each other the
dialogue.
5. They have to recall what his/ her partner said. Permit them to repeat as many
times as they want.
6. At the end they have to compare if their written work is similar to the original.
ORAL REPETITION
Oral repetition is also a very popular technique, let the student repeat out loud
allows them to practice the pronunciation and the development of listening skills.
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14. How to use repetition
Repeating words for many times could be boring the following are steps that have
worked with different groups of students.
1. Show the content to the pupils, may be isolated words or phrases.
2. Repeat them faster, slowly, or imitate sounds of animals, monsters, etc.
3. If it is a paragraph, students could clap, or follow the rhythm hitting with their
feet on the floor.
4. Let them practicing in groups or pairs is a good way to set a climate without
stress or fear to making mistakes.
ROLE PLAY
Role play is a good way to practice speaking; it can be used with written
dialogues, or after watching a movie or story.
How to use a role play
1. After the students have watched a movie, listened to a dialogue or read a text,
put them into groups.
2. Assign each member of the group a character.
3. Provide them with the script of the dialogue, or part of movie.
4. Students have to memorize the dialogue and act out in front of the class.
5. If there is not enough time, you would prefer doing this as a class project; your
pupils could record themselves acting the dialogue or part of the movie.
MEMORY GAME
A memory game permits the scholars practice vocabulary they have learned, if you
do not have enough cards for the students, you could send as homework.
How to use memory game
1. Make pair or groups.
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15. 2. Students have to set the cards upside down.
3. They have to turn the cards and look for the pair.
4. When they have found pairs they have to mime the action or meaning of the
card.
5. The winner is the student with the major number of cards.
The techniques showed above are the ones that have showed effectiveness in
the moment they were put in practice. Those techniques have been applied, and
have come from my personal experience.
The steps detailed have been the ways I have been using them in my daily
activity as English teacher.
CHAPTER 3
GROWING IN SELF CONFIDENCE
Through the years of practicing, planning and being with the students a teacher
grows in confidence. There is not too much hesitation at the moment of speaking,
classroom management is easier, organize the student into groups without wasting
too much time are some of the aspects that a teacher can manage with no difficulty
as during the first year of working.
At the moment that a teacher has been in many seminars of methodology,
techniques, planning and much more information shared in English, grows in
confidence; due to those seminars give the opportunity of sharing ideas, among
teachers.
Group development gives the chance of learning from other people with different
skills in many areas.
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16. EXPERIMENTING IN THE CLASSROOM
Searching ideas, new trends and ways for teaching are now available in a click of
distance, surfing the web, looking for groups with the same interests is easier than
other years.
Materials, planning, are easier to download from thousands of web pages, putting
in practice those ideas in the classroom and make a register of things that worked
and things than need improvement is a way of continuous learning. An example of
web page with these characteristics is Shaping the Way We Teach English is an
example on this page you can find videos, materials, discussion forums to share
experiences.
CHAPTER 4
4 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
After four years of working with children, there are few things to share, some
ideas and aspects very important that I wish somebody told me in those days as non
experienced teacher. Advices related to classroom management, motivation,
methodology, techniques, and other personal aspects that I had to learn on the go.
The next lines are some of the aspects I think could be helpful for new teachers.
Feel free on using the ones you think could work with you and your way of teaching.
ADVICE FOR NEW TEACHERS
There are some things you have to keep in mind:
1. Set the rules in the first day. - A good way for setting the rules is talking with
the students about the rewards and punishment for the actions they do.
Practice this rules for a period of time at the beginning, middle of end of the
class. Put on the walls posters made by them with pictures, collages or
different materials the children are very imaginative. Doing this saves you
from bad moments.
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17. 2. Set routines. - It is a good idea to set routines when you are working in
groups or playing a game, routines save time and permits to use that time on
productive activities.
3. If you promise something do it.- When you make a promise you have to do it,
prizes or punishment you have to make it for real, if you do this pupils will
know you are not joking.
4. Check their homework and grade it. - Check homework every moment you
can do this and grade it, students will know their work is recognized and with
a good grade they feel they are doing well.
5. Keep contact with their parents.- Communication with their parents is a way to
get better results from the students that are limited in the language skills,
homework or behavior issues, it is a good way to control disruptive students.
TO CONCLUDE
1. Teaching English is a profession full of great aspects, working with people
and share with them a little about your knowledge is a prize that not all people
can have.
2. Being new in a profession could be hard, but nowadays we find information
and share ideas with colleges from all over the world.
3. Put in practice all the resources you find will help you to master in this
profession that is the most regarding of the world.
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18. REFERENCES
Baker, J. and Westrup, H. (2003) Essential Speaking Skills. London, Great Britain:
VSO/Dandi Palmer
Benati, A. (2009) Japanese Language Teaching. A Communicative Approach. USA,
New York: Continuum.
Dhand, H. (2008).Techniques of Teaching. Darya Ganj, New Delhi: APH Publishing
Corporation.
Gear, J. and Gear, R. (2006). Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL test. United
States: Cambridge University Press.
Gosher, S. and Gosher, B. (2009).X-kit The definite exam preparation kit. South
Africa: Pearson
Jagla, V. (2012). Teacher’s everyday use of imagination and intuition: In Pursuit of
the Elusive Imagine. New York, USA: State University of New York Press, Albany
Larsen, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. (2 ed) USA,
New York: OXFORD
Marzano, R. (2003). Classroom Management that works. United States: ASCD
Miller, C. (2008) Games Purpose and Potential in Education. United
States:Springeer
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