Edgar

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English
Reading
Literacy
Grammar
Creative writing
Literature

English teacher teaching English lessons up to senior level (speaking, reading and spelling)

English
Reading
Literacy
Grammar
Creative writing
Literature

Lesson location

- online

About Edgar

I am a Compliance Officer who is fluent in English, looking for students to teach reading, speaking and writing in English.

I have tutored South African students in English, Accounting and Economics for 2 years for matric students

I guarantee professional services and lessons.

About the lesson

1. Grammar-translation Approach
This is the scene: A teacher stands in front of the class, telling her students to turn their textbooks to chapter four, “Verbs and Tenses.” She writes on the board the different ways of forming the past tense of verbs. She lists the general rules, and this list is promptly followed by—you’ve guessed it—the exceptions to the rules, those special cases that make grammar so exciting.
This is the classic way of teaching language. It began as a method to teach Latin and Greek and was generalized to teach any second language. The Grammar-translation Approach uses the students’ native language to teach the target language.
If you’re over 30, have ever learned language via the textbook or have spent many a night memorizing a list of 30 foreign words, you’ve experienced the Grammar-translation Approach.
Grammar and vocabulary are memorized rote. Plenty of written examples and drills are given where grammar rules are elegantly observed:
The dog is black.
The cats are cute.
The approach has strong structural underpinnings and the emphasis is on the correct use of grammar, regardless of the substance or context. The Grammar-translation Approach is best when the goal is for the students to read/write the target language, as well as appreciate its literature.
2. Direct Approach
Okay, turn Grammar-translation Approach on its head. What do you get?
Right. We have the Direct Approach. It’s a response to the Grammar-translation school and, this time, rather than the written form, the emphasis is on the spoken language and the development of oral skills.
Grammar isn’t taught explicitly but is learned inductively by the students through repeated exposure to the spoken language. Activities like pantomiming, word-picture association, question-answer patterns, dialogues and role playing give the students the chance to figure out the rules for themselves. And good news for your students—there are no grammar drills or analyses of written sentences.
Oh, and by the way, only the target language is used in class. That’s a biggie. As teacher, you won’t use the students’ mother tongue to teach concepts. Listening and comprehension thus become central to this approach. There are no vocabulary lists to memorize, but there are a lot of words and phrases to listen for and become more familiar with.
All things considered, it wouldn’t be hard to understand why the Direct Approach has also been called as “The Anti-grammatical Method” and “Reform Method.”
3. Reading Approach
This is a very specific approach designed for a specific type of language learner.
The type of student that most appreciates this method probably never intends to interact with native speakers in the target language. She may be a psychology doctoral candidate studying German in order to understand the experts in her field. Or she may be a culinary student whose only desire is to make lots of delicious food and understand the French techniques in her gastronomie book.
A student like this requires only one linguistic skill: Reading comprehension.

So you do away with pronunciation and dialogues. Vocabulary words are learned in context. The little grammar that you teach must be oriented towards understanding a piece of reading. You need to teach elements like conjunctions, which nestles phrases and sentences together, and negation, which changes the meaning of a sentence by 180 degrees.
In the Reading Approach, learning a language is employed as a means to a higher end. This approach has both structural and functional underpinnings.
4. Audiolingual Approach
This approach is also known as “The Army Method.” At the height of the events in World War II, military personnel needed to learn the languages of allies and enemies alike as they swept through the fields of Europe and Asia.
The approach, which blossomed in the 50s and 60s, is all about structural patterns. Proponents believe that a language can be reduced to a basic set of sounds. Combine them and you have spoken words. Those words, when phonetically joined, become phrases and later become sentences.
Unlike the Reading Approach, the Audiolingual Approach gives higher priority to the spoken form than the written form. Classes are generally held using the target language.
Activities like role playing are dialogues are drilled into students until they get the pronunciations and rhythm right. And because Audiolingualism borrows from the behaviorist school of psychology, languages are taught through a system of reinforcement.
A single word like “Good!” with a pat on the back, a clap from the class, a star on her paper are some of the reinforcements used. (Side note: How do we know if something is a “reinforcement”? Answer: If it makes the students feel good about themselves or about the situation, then it is one.)
Mistakes on the other hand, are quickly, but gently corrected. The end goal is the forming of linguistic speaking habits through correct repetitions.
5. Communicative Approach
What good would it do any of your students if they know all the different ways of conjugating a verb but fail to communicate a coherent message?
Communication is essentially the rationale for language and the Communicative Approach seeks to develop those skills that enable students to meaningfully engage with each other.
Interactive activities are the hallmark of this approach. As the teacher, your responsibility is to give the students as much opportunity to give and receive meaningful communication as possible. For example, you can let students introduce themselves, share their hobbies using the target language. Instead of just presenting the language, you’re giving them a task that can only be accomplished by using the target language.
The difference between statements shared in a round of show and tell and those found in textbooks is that the former are much more meaningful to your students. They’re purposeful and in context—not a list of discordant sentences used to illustrate a rule of grammar. Authentic materials are used every so often.
A poster touting a concert or a flyer about some huge sale at a mall can be fertile ground for learning. In the Communicative Approach, students experience the target language as experienced by native speakers.
6. The Silent Way
Imagine a teacher who talks as little as possible.
You better believe it’s more than a fantasy. Proponents of this “alternative” approach believe that teaching too much can sometimes get in the way of learning. It’s argued that students learn best when they discover rather than simply repeat what the teacher said.
The Silent Way uses silence as a teaching tool. Your students might feel you’re giving them the silent treatment if you don’t keep things friendly and explain the process to them. You’re really encouraging them to do the talking themselves.
You’re encouraging learners to be independent, to discover and figure out the language for themselves. Learning the target language is therefore seen as a creative, problem-solving process—a engaging cognitive challenge.
So how does one teach in silence?
Well, because you talk as little as possible, you need to employ plenty of gestures and facial expressions to communicate with your students. You can also use props.
A commonly used prop option is Cuisenaire Rods—rods of different color and lengths. In an English class for example, you can pick up any rod and say, “rod.” Pick another one, point at it and say “rod.” Keep on repeating until students understand that “rod” refers to the objects in front of them.
Then pick a green one and say, “green rod.” With an economy of words, point to something else green and say, “green.” Keep on repeating until students get that “green” refers to the color.
7. Community Language Learning
It’s called Community Language Learning because the class learns together as one unit. Not listening to the same lecture, but interacting in the target language. The teacher’s role is that of a counselor, a guide, an encourager.
Here’s what might happen in an innovative CLL class: Students sit in a circle. Because the approach is learner-led, there’s no set lesson for the day. The students decide what they want to talk about. Someone might say, “Guys, why don’t we talk about the weather?” That student will then turn to the teacher (who’s standing outside the circle) and ask for the translation of his statement. The teacher, acting as facilitator, will give him the translation and ask him to utter it out loud.
She’ll guide his pronunciation at the same time. The class, listening to the teacher and student, are already learning from the interaction.
When the teacher is satisfied that the first student got the pronunciations right, she’ll deliver her statement to the group again. (There’s a recorder standing by to record the first line of conversation.)
After that, another student might chime in to say, “I had to wear three layers today.” She then turns to the teacher for help. The process is repeated until a whole conversation is saved in the recorder.
This conversation is then transcribed and mined for language lessons featuring grammar, vocabulary and subject-related content.
In this approach, the students work as a community—learning together and negotiating the lessons. Your role as a teacher is to encourage them to open up, participate in the discussion and contribute to the whole process.

English teacher teaching English lessons up to senior level (speaking, reading and spelling)

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English teacher teaching English lessons up to senior level (speaking, reading and spelling)

Lesson location

About Edgar

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Pack rates

online

Other tutors in English

Laura

Camille

Mary

Davayne

Al Hamza

Blake

Sandy

Johann Nicholas

Victor

Lyle

Brais

Robert

Beccalynn

Victoria

Finn

Mimi

Joe

Nikola

ANSHUL

Daniel

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