Foundation online unit-3

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Online TESOL Course – Unit 3
Teach International version 1.1 © 2018-2028 1
Unit 3 – Teaching and Learning of TESOL – First Steps
Basic principles of the Communicative Classroom
Can you remember the DVD of the classroom which you watched back in Unit 1? What you watched was an
example of an English language lesson which follows the Communicative Approach to language teaching. This
approach to teaching languages is one that has been around now for about 25 years, and remains one of the most
successful approaches to language learning.
Since its inception, this approach has grown, changed and developed so that there are now many different ideas
of what actually defines a classroom as communicative. However, the basic principles remain the same, and when
implemented, this approach is an extremely successful one.
The fundamental principles of the Communicative Approach are as follows:
• The teacher encourages students to be competent communicators, through use the of activities and
authentic materials which get students using situational language they can use in their real lives
• Learners learn the language by using it to communicate, through set tasks and problems completed in
groups or pairs
• The language learnt should be realistic and meaningful, therefore being interesting and motivating to
the students
• Fluency as well as accuracy in use of the language both have importance, with an importance placed
on speaking and listening over reading and writing
• Learning is a gradual process which is built upon over time, and making mistakes is part of the learning
process
In order to implement the Communicative Approach successfully, the role of the teacher and the students will be
different to that of a traditional classroom environment. English language teachers are more than just suppliers of
knowledge: they also help to organise and facilitate learning. Students are more than just passive listeners and
language translators, but also need to practise and experiment with language and actively participate in activities
that get them using English. In creating a busy and noisy classroom, a very positive learning situation is fostered
for both you and your students.
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Teaching Tools and Objectives
Teaching Objectives
The theory of Communicative Language Teaching which we have just looked at has told you some of the broad,
fundamental aims which you need to achieve when you are teaching English. There are, however, some more
specific objectives or goals which you can try and implement, in order to accomplish a successful language learning
environment. We will now look at seven important objectives to follow in order to create a successful communicative
classroom.
1. 80/20
This is referred to as the Student-Talk-Time to Teacher-Talk-Time Ratio. Ideally, your students will speak 80% of
the time, and your speaking will be limited to a mere 20% of the classroom time. This is a difficult goal to achieve,
as it’s very easy to stand at the front of the class and talk endlessly to your students. However, keep in mind that
it’s your students who need the practice in speaking- not you! Always try and think of ways that will get your
students doing the speaking, and try and take the attention away from yourself. Remember that your students will
learn from speaking themselves, and not from listening to you speak!
2. Student-Centred Classroom
Essentially, this means that your lessons should be prepared with your specific students’ needs, interests,
motivations and goals in mind. Develop lessons that are interesting to your students—not that you find interesting!
Give your students some new language which they will find useful and then make them practise using it. You
should include lots of tasks and activities that encourage your students’ speech production, always thinking about
the age and level appropriacy of what you are teaching so that your students stay motivated and interested.
3. Teacher as Facilitator
A teacher becomes a facilitator when they step back and assist and watch their students, gently guiding them to
become more and more successful. During tasks, walk around the class and listen to what your students are
saying, help them when they get stuck and tell them if they have said or done something wrong. Facilitation allows
you to see if your students are making errors, or if there are inconsistencies in the new language being taught. It’s
only through active facilitation that you will know what areas you need to work on in the future to be able to further
help your students.
4. Monolingual Classroom
This is one of the most important goals to try and achieve. The Communicative Approach discourages translation,
and it is through creating a classroom environment where only English is spoken, that students will stop translating
from their native language into English. Not everything can be translated directly from one language to another.
Translation does not allow fluency to happen, but immersion in the English language does! If your classroom is the
only time that your students get the chance to speak in an English-only environment, then you really need to push
your students to only use English for the time they are in class with you, so that they can start to think in and use
English naturally.
5. Meaningful Usage
This objective is all about making the language that you teach your students as real as possible. You can’t just
teach a word, or grammar, in isolation. If you do, your students won’t be able to use that vocabulary or grammar
when they are outside the classroom, and learning how to use the language is why they come to class! Whenever
you teach something new, it needs to be meaningful, showing your students how that language is used in real
situations. For example, if the topic you’re teaching is fruit, then don’t just teach the words “apple”, “banana”, “pear”,
“orange” in isolation. Instead, think about a situation in real life when your students would need to talk about these
fruits, and present the language to them in a dialogue of that situation. Perhaps if you’re teaching adults, the
dialogue could be between two people who are buying fruit at the supermarket, or if you are teaching children, the
dialogue could be between two kids talking about what’s in their lunch box. These exchanges would show your
students how to communicate using that language, and not just memorise words which they won’t know how to
put into a meaningful sentence!

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6. Socio-Linguistic Relevance
This refers to the way that you show your students how language varies according to the context in which it is
being spoken. English varies from place to place and situation to situation, and it’s your job as a teacher to set
your students up to be successful communicators no matter which situation they are in. For example, the way that
you say “no” to your boss is very different to the way you would say “no” to a small child. The way that you greet
your best friend will be different to the way you greet a colleague at work. The way you apologise in different
situations, the way you make suggestions, how you request something from someone—these exchanges will all
vary dependent upon the social situation your students are in. Teaching the difference between polite and impolite,
formal and informal language is vital to your students’ success.
7. Socio-Cultural Relevance
Language and culture are intrinsically linked, and it’s practically impossible to teach the English language without
teaching some of our culture. This will include things such as our facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms- a lot
of this is learnt by your students just by watching you, and doesn’t need to be taught explicitly. As a teacher, you
also need to make sure that you are considering the culture of your students, so that you are using situations that
would be relevant to them. Use examples from within your students’ culture so that it remains relevant.
Knowing your students’ interests and motivations, and incorporating these into your lessons, is an important key
to achieving this objective.

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Activity Tasks:
“This activity is part of a paid TESOL certificate program by Teach International. If you aren't enrolled in
the online course and you would like to find out more details, please visit our website to log in or sign up"
Teaching Tools
It might seem like there is a LOT to think about when it comes to planning a communicative lesson. However, there
are some tools which you can use to try and accomplish the seven objectives we have just looked at. Let’s look at
seven Teaching Tools which you can add to your teaching toolkit.
1. Lesson Plan
You must always come to class with a pre-prepared lesson plan. This is vital for the organisation, structure, flow
and smoothness of your lesson. Without it, your students will not be productive and your lesson will be a failure (or
a waste of your students’ time and money!). We will look at the suggested lesson plan outline to use in your lessons
in the next section.
2. Model the Language
You are potentially the only contact that your students have with a native speaker, so therefore, it is important that
you always present good English language usage. You are the model, the representative, of the language and
everything you say and do will be heard and observed by your students. Watch the way you say things, and try
and avoid using too many idioms and colloquialisms- especially if you are teaching low level students. Avoid
uncommon or irregular English usage, and give many examples of the structures you are teaching. Try and present
the best English usage whenever you speak to your students in class, so they get into good habits with their own
speech.
3. Demonstrate, don’t explain!
This is potentially the most important tool for you to utilise well, but also one of the most difficult! We have already
talked about the importance of achieving the 80/20 ratio and giving your students the chance to speak English as
much as possible. As well as achieving these goals, you need to pare back the language you use in class, because
your students will not necessarily understand what you are saying if you are just talking at them. Instead of talking
lots and explaining everything to your students using words, you need to find ways to demonstrate using as minimal
language as possible. It is also important to remember that your students will usually know these concepts that
you are teaching, but don’t know what the words for those concepts are in English. If you are trying to teach some
adult students the words for the numbers 1-10, always bear in mind that they know the use of these numbers in
their own language. It’s the language, not the concepts, which you are teaching.
Activity Tasks:
In addition to teaching new language, you will also be teaching your students new games and activities. It’s easy
to fall into the trap of standing at front of the class, and explaining the rules of an activity using excessive language.
The problem is, when you say something like: “we are going to do a new activity, the rules are that the first person
will have to pick up a card and then read what is on that card, then the second person has to continue on from that
and eventually you will make a complete sentence…”. Woah, this would be just plain confusing! This will really
sound just like “blah, blah, blah” to your students, and you will have lots of blank expressions staring back at you.
Imagine if somebody said all those words to you in a foreign language! You would have a very difficult time knowing
what to do with such an explanation. Instead, you need to demonstrate.

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Show your students what you want them to do, by just doing the activity! There are two main ways that you can
demonstrate:
1. Use a student to assist you. So, this would mean you get an able student to stand at the front of class
with you, and you do the activity with that student, thereby showing the rest of the class how the activity
will be performed. Be careful who you choose though! Make sure your “volunteer” is a confident student.
2. Use the Split Personality Teacher technique. This means that you act out the roles of each student in
the activity you want your students to do. You could use props such as a hat or funny glasses to show
that you are being a different person, and you basically act out the role you want each student to perform
in the task. By doing and saying exactly what you want students to do in each role, they will know what
is expected of them, and will be able to do it themselves.
Using these two techniques will ensure you are not using excessive language, and your students will have a clear
idea of how to perform the task you have set.
4. Repetition and Drill Work
Repetition of new language is vital for the retention of new language. It is said that students need to repeat new
words and phrases about 50 times before they have actually learnt it! The way that you can achieve this kind of
repetition in class is through the use of drill work. There are a few common types of drills used in the EFL/ESL
classroom:
1. Choral drills
Choral drills are performed first, and allow the students to get practice in saying new words and language in a
chorus with the rest of the class. The choral drills help to build confidence in making the new sounds, and give
students a chance to speak without feeling self-conscious.
2. Teacher-Class drills
Teacher-class drills follow on from the choral drills. They are virtually the same, as students say the new language
in a chorus, but this time, if the new language is in the form of a dialogue, the teacher takes one role, and the
students, as a whole, take the other role. This makes it feel more like a conversation, but is still very protected.
3. Split class drills
Split class could follow, and this time the teacher divides, or splits, the class into two groups, and each group says
the new language for each role. Again, a dialogue would be necessary here, so each half can take on one role.
4. Chain drills
Chain drills can be done after the above group drills; these give individual students practice in the new language.
You will ask individual students to repeat the language you have just choralled with the whole class, giving you a
chance to check how well everyone has grasped the new words.
5. Pairs
After all the above drills, you may want to put your students in pairs and let them practise together, while you rotate
and assist students. Again, this would be done if the new language was in the form of a dialogue, however simple
or short.
It’s important during all stages of drill work that you maintain a positive atmosphere, with plenty of praise and
positive reinforcement. It can be very difficult and scary for students to speak new words for the first time, and you
want to encourage, not embarrass, your students.

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Activity tasks:
“This activity is part of a paid TESOL certificate program by Teach International. If you aren't enrolled in the online
course and you would like to find out more details, please visit our website to log in or sign up"
5. Board Work
In many classrooms overseas, the black board or white board is one of the only resources you will have available
to you. It is one of the most valuable and useful learning and teaching aids. Most students need to see new
language written down to help them with understanding successfully. We will look in a later Unit at ways you can
use the blackboard in class, but for now, the important things to consider when using the board are that you
always:
- write legibly with big writing so all students can read it clearly
- write in lower and upper case (not block letters) so that you are presenting correct usage
- have it prepared before class whenever possible so you don’t have your back turned for long periods in
class
- be aware of using appropriate colours—certain colours may not be seen from the back and others may
have cultural connotations
As mentioned previously, dialogues are sometimes presented on the board. Let's look at some of the
considerations involved, in the following questions:
Activity tasks:
“This activity is part of a paid TESOL certificate program by Teach International. If you aren't enrolled in the
online course and you would like to find out more details, please visit our website to log in or sign up"
6. Echo Correction
We have already mentioned that it’s a normal part of the learning process for your students to make mistakes when
they speak. It’s also important that you maintain a good rapport with your students, and keep a positive atmosphere
whenever possible. This does not mean, however, that you never correct your students’ errors, but you need to do
this in an upbeat way. A suggested technique for doing this is echo correction. When your student makes an error,
repeat the correct way of saying it to them, and get them to repeat it back to you. By doing so, you are correcting
them subtly and keeping the vibe positive, but also making them aware of the error they have made.
7. Activities
In the ESL classroom, activities make up the bulk of the lesson. The use of activities has many purposes; they:
• keep the lesson fun and encourage student involvement
• provide your students with practice in using the new language you have taught. Your students will never
become confident in using the new language if they don’t get this chance to practise it and repeat it.
Much like a student learning a musical instrument will never become accomplished without actually
practising it, your students will never become successful without plenty of repetition and reinforcement
• encourage spontaneous, natural conversation
• show variation in the way that the new language can be used
• make the new language meaningful
There are three levels of activity which can be used, based upon a continuum.

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1. Controlled
Controlled activities have most of the language structure provided to the students, in written form, and the activity
aims to build confidence in saying the new material. It’s important with low level students to provide many
controlled tasks.
2. Semi-Controlled
Semi controlled activities are slightly less structured, and some of the language is taken away for the students to
think about and provide. These activities are more challenging and can push your students beyond their level.
3. Free
Free activities have no, or almost no, structure and allow more spontaneous language use. Free activities are used
in higher level classes where students need practice in recalling grammar and vocab which has been taught.
You would always include controlled activities in your lesson before semi-controlled ones, and would never do a
free activity first! You need to build your students’ knowledge gradually, step-by-step.
Activity tasks:
The more activities which you can have in a lesson, the better! We are going to be giving you plenty of activity and
game ideas as we move through this course, so take note of the examples provided so that you can use them
when you plan your own lesson at the end of this course (and when you get overseas!).

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Organising Lessons
It’s really important that you organise your English lessons to teach new words, grammar and functional language
using a variety of different teaching techniques and activities. This will keep your lessons fun, interesting and
motivating! We will now look at the lesson planning framework which you can use to plan one lesson, or a whole
series of lessons. With this framework, you’ll be able to build and adapt lessons for all ages and levels, using ideas
that we show you in this course, and new ideas that you come up with yourself. This lesson framework is designed
for a 50-minute lesson, which is the most common lesson length for the EFL/ESL classroom.
Lesson Plan Model for Adults (13 years and over)
This is the lesson plan model which you should follow for teaching adults and teenagers (13 years of age and
over). We will recommend you use a slightly different format for teaching children. It follows the same principles;
however, the lesson timings are slightly different, to accommodate for shorter attention spans in children.

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Lesson Plan Model for Children (12 years and under)
By following these lesson plan models when organising your lessons, you will introduce new language, help
students to practise it and also give students a chance to communicate freely with each other in English. These
are all things which will meet the aims of the communicative classroom, thus helping your students to learn well
and to succeed.

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Activity tasks:
“This activity is part of a paid TESOL certificate program by Teach International. If you aren't enrolled in the
online course and you would like to find out more details, please visit our website to log in or sign up"

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