This is the second part of our teacher communication series. In this article we are going to cover the following points:
1. How to pitch your language at the right level.
2. Body language to fill in the gaps.
3. Grading language context for intermediate and more advanced students.

The classroom can be a wonderful place to work but for the untrained, the new and the unprepared it can be frightening prospect. To face your students in the aforementioned conditions would test the metal of even the most naturally confident people. While sometimes we don’t want to have our students get too out of hand with excitement the opposite is even more true “total silence and blank stares”. Silence is the enemy of all teachers and there are many reasons why this can happen and here are some common ones.
– students don’t understand either what the teacher is saying or expecting
– the students are not really interested in what task they have been assigned (this is less common)
– if the teaching assistant is just as confused the translation may be not quite what the students were expecting and an unexpected task could disrupt the perceived flow of a class.

In any case the main crux is the actual misunderstanding of the teacher by the students and the results are usually students looking left and right at each other to see if anyone actually knows what is going on.

1. How to pitch your language at the right level

For smaller classes the logistics of this is not so difficult because of the numbers. The “OPT” or oral placement test, is a really useful tool to use to gauge the spoken English level of an individual. There is no one set test or standard and many companies use OPT’s to suit their own standardized materials, however there are many good generic tests which can identify students English abilities and gives them a easy to understand English rating which sets out students “can do” statements. No matter the international standardizing “can do” statements can at least tell the teacher what the students can say and understand giving the teacher some guidelines as to the level of language they can and can’t use in the classroom. With a small class have someone test all the students while with a big class give OPT’s to 10-20% of the students to get a good cross section of abilities. Once you know their levels adjust your lesson plans accordingly.

Remember that language learners know quantifiable chunks of language in set “vocabulary sets” the more vocabulary a student knows the more complex you can pitch your own in class’s language level. As an ESL teacher our job is to help our student’s language grow by:
– Teaching new language and language forms
– Understand new concepts
– Apply new language and concepts through practical use.

They say that practice make perfect, but I totally disagree with this statement. (PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT).

2. Body language to fill in the gaps

Body language is great and its use is not limited to just showing how excited you are by throwing your arms in the air when your football team wins the world cup. In some studies they have said that 38% of communication is in the voice and intonation, only 7% of communication are in the words we use and around 55% of communication is in body language, so you can see that non verbal communication is both important and useful. This is especially true in the
classroom, when communicating to young learners body language can solidify the context of something new through demonstration.

A good example is when trying to explain something like “how much” for something, the undisputed international gesture for this is rubbing your thumb over the inner side of the index finger. This kind of reinforcement of understanding fills in the gaps for the lack of second language knowledge and also becomes a very useful teaching technique. Also when expressing your feelings with body language while you talk helps students to follow topics and subjects like expressing moods.

Gestures can help with all aspects of communication from nodding, smiling, shaking your head, thumb/s up, patting the back, clapping and the obligatory counting down with your fingers are all effective forms of generically and universally understood ways to communicate non verbally and very transferable from the classroom to everyday life, as well as being quite readily seen in all forms of visual media such as TV and even (emoticons or emojis) on your phones. When body language is used effectively it really does cut through the language barrier and help you teach English.

Body language can also help your person-ability in the classroom. Our biggest draw as foreign Teachers is that we sometimes provide a welcome relief to our Chinese students who have quite a tough and focused school life and for that 1 hour English class they have with their international teacher, it is a time where they have the opportunity come out of their shells, have a bit of fun, self expression and watch something completely different to the norm. Our actions and teaching methods must be amplified to extend the level of communication and personal expression.

As foreign teachers especially with younger learners our own personal concepts of embarrassment and self consciousness need to be thrown out the window, because each day we as educators may need to be singers, animals, slapstick comedians, clowns and a little crazy to get through our lesson plans. Something I learned very early in my teaching time in China, on my very first day on the job in fact. So I learned very quickly the importance of effective body language.

My advice though is never use body language without an accompanying voice over in tandem, it helps to get the students to listen to the dialogue and not just look at the teacher be a mime wannabe to be laughed at. Before you know it you will have the expressive hand skills of an Italian grandmother.

3. Grading language context for intermediate and advanced students

This is one of the most fun ways for students to raise their fluency and accuracy levels of English. When we speak English at native level we contextualize our language automatically and naturally. Grading our language is where we give a strength or weakness rating to what we mean. For example (ecstatic would be a No#10 Happy) where No#1 is the weakest form and No#10 is the strongest form. Grading
language is a big jump in a language learners growth and changes their responses from set and standardized to how they actually want to express themselves, with the correct use of vocabulary and intensity.

There is a big jump from beginners level to pre-intermediate level and an even greater jump from intermediate to pre-advanced levels and one of the main reasons it is such a jump, is students are starting to grade their language in order to effectively and accurately express themselves in comprehensive terms not in memorized generic pharasals. While this may not sound difficult, it really is because the learner must decide in their mind the appropriate expression, then put it into the context of the sentence and then grade the expression for its relevant strength so that the listener can understand exactly how the speaker is trying to express themselves.

There are two main ways to grade language for fluency.

– First is to choose the correct adjective that is suitable for the intended strength
– Second is to add a suitable adverb or intensifier to your expression.

Here is a useful activity you can use for helping your students expressive English grow.
– First get a good list of adverbs and adjectives that are broken up into categories

Categorization and classification of word groups helps with eventual intrinsic understanding by directing the student’s attention towards correct language context. With these lists you can choose smaller chunks of useful words as per your lesson plans requirements. When going through the new words and their definitions with your students grade each word’s strength rating from 1-10 as previously mentioned. Then set up dialogue situations where your students must choose appropriate responses from the word list supplied with the correct language grading.

This is a great way to get your students to use their new more complicated vocabulary in real situations and in turn help build their fluency towards native like (in due time, of course). While most ESL teachers don’t get too many classes where the student’s level is much higher than beginner, for those of us who do, raising our student’s English fluency and accuracy is our primary goal and it is quite rewarding to facilitate this.

When teaching it is important to understand that in each class there will nearly always be a broad range of abilities and levels. While this is the case we need to pitch our lessons towards the middle so that as many students as possible can benefit from the lesson. Then best teachers I have come across over the years are the ones who always have a plan B,C,D etc.

They will know their students and levels and try to accommodate all of them by planning, using or making extra resources and materials for the students who have the lowest levels and in turn the highest levels as well. These are the consummate professionals who take pride in their work and have the respect of their peers and student alike.

Keep up the good work, Teachers.

The Importance of Grading / Gauging

For those of us who have taught English as a second language in a country where there might not be an official second language, the ability to effectively gauge, grade and contextualize language is absolutely paramount, when we consider that in China each age group may not have a set standard of second language ability. Getting a sense of how we should speak in order to teach effectively and also have the students understand not just what they are learning but also all the directive and incidental language which is used by teachers each and every lesson, is not something that is necessarily an easy or natural thing for us to do.

Why Choose China to Teach in?

China is a wonderful place to live and teach. Its rich and ancient culture is to be in awe of. It is the fastest developing nation in the world and the world’s second largest economy. With the mix of new and old everywhere we as tourists can experience the sights and sounds of an old and wise culture along side with the modern conveniences we all enjoy from any technologically advanced western equivalent, so the best of both worlds. This makes living and working in China not such a daunting proposition.

Having said that, China is a country of international advancement but still does not have an official second international language (eg English, French or Spanish etc.). While this is the case China has embraced to an extent English as a pseudo second language, but as a result the mean English levels on an age base changes considerably from city to city and province to province, resulting in quite a random experience for Teachers of English as a Second Language throughout the country. Something that only either quick learning on your feet or a lot of well directed Teacher training can remedy.

So here are some guides to help us understand what is language gauging, grading and contextualizing and understand why this occurs. The points of consideration are:

1. What to expect from your students?

The false sense of fluency. When a new teacher arrives off the plane and then into the classroom perhaps fresh out of TEFL school the first thing that hits them is how well the students can greet them and how good their English is, but soon after a sense of disappointment when they realize that this is not the case. Language is taught in little groups or (chunks) of vocabulary and grammar.

While a student will feel comfortable using the language they have learned and can apply it quite fluent sounding, anything outside of their learned language group is completely not understood. So while a student may be able to talk quite confidently about how they feel that day (“I’m fine thank you, and you?”), as soon as you ask them “why” they may freeze and stare quite blankly at you and whisper out of the side of their mouth to their friend “ting bu dong” at the same time as their friend is smiling widely and nodding yes at you. At this point you should understand that you have used language forms out of the student’s knowledge base and they have no way to understand you.

When first learning another language, teachers teach and student’s learn very set language forms and functions in very sequential grouping types: numbers, colours, family, things at home, greetings, feelings etc etc, along with well established practical phrasal forms “what’s your name?”, “my name’s___.” So the first thing a teacher should endeavor to do is to discover what the students actually know and pitch and direct their language accordingly. As a student’s language base grows, so will the complexity in which a teacher can communicate with them. A teacher’s job is to facilitate a student’s growth and development, something they should take seriously and at the same time have fun doing with a sense of pride of their student’s achievements.

2. Student’s Listening Skills

Listening skills, scanning skills and the voice emphasis for teachers. Listening skills are probably the most challenging of all of the language acquisition skills out of (reading, writing, listening, speaking). This is partly because (particularly new students) of the unfamiliar sounds of the new language. When listening to a new sentence, for example a student will hear ”Blah Blah Blah red ball Blah Blah I like Blah Blah mum and dad Blah Blah park”, now while listening to the sentence the student will be listening for what they can actually understand, tune out what they don’t and then try to put meaning to sentence though reasoning skills, this is called scanning. They are scanning for what they can understand and then apply natural deductive reasoning to interpret meaning from.

The way a teacher can help this process in the language learning process is to use voice emphasis which is the use of over emphasizing the parts of the sentence which the teacher wants the student to understand. So with the sentence example above the student hears: ”Blah Blah Blah red ball Blah Blah I like Blah Blah mum and dad Blah Blah park” so the teacher changes the volume and pitch of their voice to bring attention to what they want the student to hear specifically, so the student should hear: _______/^^^^^^\ ___/^^^^^^\_____/^^^^. (__is low emphasis) and (^^^is high emphasis). This method helps guide the student’s listening skill and promotes increased overall understanding. While some academics say this may not be a good representation of true native natural speaking, others like myself use this for what it is, a tool to help teach, especially lower level students.

3. Use Classroom Language

Incidental and directive language. Incidental language is language that we don’t necessarily teach as part of our curriculum but we would use it in most of our classes, for example “Jack, could you turn the lights off please but leave the dim light on?” something you wouldn’t teach but would use as practical language. Incidental language is good for improving everyday talk and helps with a natural sounding class, however this can backfire on a teacher who changes their incidental language each lesson, the teacher must be very deliberate in their use of this kind of language and it should be repeatable and repeated for it to be effective in the classroom.

Directive language is the practical language or (classroom language) that all teachers need to use to run a class, for example “Stand up, close your books, open your books to page 45 “, etc. This language is imperative to the smooth running of a class and helps prevent teachers from doing absolutely everything for the students in the class. To do this a teacher needs to make all of the directive language repeated and standardized so not to confuse the students, so it is ill advised to use different directive language each week (get up, stand up, up, could you all please get out of your seats and move into the upright position) pick one and stick to it. When students have a good grasp of this, they would be close to the stage where a local teaching assistant is superfluous and you should be teaching without help.

While having a local teaching assistant is very helpful, it can also be a crutch for teachers who use direct translation as a big part of their lessons. It slows down the immersion process and the students listening skill progress and in some cases is like spoon feeding the students to the point where they tune out the English part of the lesson.

As educators abroad we pride ourselves on the fact that we play an important role for our students as well as reminding our friends and family that we have an interesting and enjoyable job and live in an incredible part of the world where we get to do and see new and wonderful things every day. But we do need to develop and update our professionalism and teaching skills all the time to keep ahead of the game. The bigger our tool belt is the easier our jobs are and the easier our job is the more intrinsic effort we put into it.

In part 2 of this article we will talk about the following:

4. How to pitch language at the right level.
5. Body language to fill in the gaps.
6. Grading language context for intermediate and advanced students.