what is the best way to teach english?

Answer 1

If you are getting ready to teach English, then someone already taught you English at the college level. There are a couple things I can pass on to you that really helped me when I started teaching:

1. Think back to your student years. Remember what seemed difficult / boring to you. Remember what it was your teacher did or said to make you feel good about yourself and finally "GET" what he or she was saying. Remember what it was like to sit in front of your teacher (and never forget that feeling).

2. Start from the beginning. Do not assume everyone knows something. Teach to your slowest student (in the form of a review). Even the brightest students forget the basics.

3. Make your students write. You can talk about the rules all day. They can pass illiteracy tests, comma tests, and fragment tests all year, but can they WRITE without using fragments?

4. When you grade their writing, no matter how horrible and hopeless a paper may seem, kill your first reaction to mark it up and tell the student his or her paper stinks! Think of at least three good things the student did. Start with praise and go for correcting ONE or TWO things, for a start. We learn better when we are praised for what we do properly.

5. Your students will do what you tell them to do. When you get 50 papers back, and none of the papers are what you asked for, then, you didn't explain, in plain terms, what you wanted from them. They are like pets: they want to please you. They want the A. So, before you assign a paper, sit down at the computer and list everything you want an A paper to be. When you know what you want, they will know.

6. Set the rules from the first day. TELL them what you expect (behavior, homework, tests, etc) and MEAN IT. When they know the rules, it is fun to watch the creative things they do to break them!

Your question is very broad, and I could write a fifty page essay in response. In fact, there are several thousand books out there in the library and collecting dust on shelves that try to answer your question (The author, Peter Elbow comes to mind first). There are many theories, and I did, indeed, take some of my philosophies from the greatest of them; however, the ones I am passing on to you are the ones that took me years to perfect--or, so I would like to think, right? But, the most important piece of advice I can give is this: Take English personally. Be offended when it is misused. Stand up for it. Love it. When you teach a one-hour class and you are exhausted at the end of that hour, you REALLY TAUGHT ENGLISH! (One day, you will experience this and say, "Wow! She was for real!" )

But, for now, see if some friends or faculty have a syllabus from which you can work for the first sememster or two. Get a feel for the organization, then get creative with a syllabus of your own.

Gotta Love It!

Answer 2

English class, or language, can be boring for students. What I find works best is to use all aspects of literacy: reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and creating. The more experiences they have, the more likely the students are to find something they like.

In my class I also like to make the lessons memorable. For instance, as a review of pronouns and their functions in sentences, I had the students write a journal entry about what they had done so far that day. They were not permitted to use any pronouns in their writing, and they had so much fun reading their entries out loud and lauging at how silly they sounded. Then I challenged them to spend the rest of the class period speaking without using pronouns! I got in on it too, and we had a blast. They tried it out with their other teachers for the rest of the day.

Answer 3

Well, the best way to teach English it to be loaded with information about what you want to teach.

Answer 4

in my english class, it sreally boring becasue #1: teacher is a monotone
#2: english is not my fave subject
#3: its never fun.
what u need to do is be enthusiastic but not weird, tell a different joke every morning (that willl get people in a good mood) , ahve class pets, dont be too strict, and let epole have free time when they r done with their work... but on the other hand, do not be too easy, give them work dont let them take advantage of u. it all depends on what age ur teaching actually. im in 7th grade and all those tips are what my old teacher did. he was the best english teacher ever!!!!!!!!!!!! wait a minute.... u mean being a teacher of the subject right?

Answer 5

Follow mad_madison_maiden_x's advice, above. She "gets it." You'll never find a more complete or more succinct set of guidelines for teaching English. She's got my vote for best answer.

Answer 6

Be different. Make it fun and interesting. How you teach it though would depend on the grade level and what you're teaching, I suppose.

Answer 7

By growing up in an english-speaking town. but we don't have those anymore due to immigration.

Answer 8

human+picture cards with small words like cat+brain=english tutor