Teaching across proficiency levels

Proficiency levels become a fundamental factor when teaching a target language. A teacher must be prepared in any of the three levels: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced.

Beginning level

Teaching beginners can be a difficult step for teachers because teachers will be the ones who will create a good insight of English in their students` mind. Students at this level don`t need to be so focused in grammar and other complex sides of the target language. In this level, the teacher should use students´ native language in a measured way because they don´t have any knowledge about their target language; therefore, they need to get meanings, pronunciations, and spelling of the words they are learning. Furthermore, in this level the teacher has to teach students simple greetings, and instructions as well as choral repetition, short and simple activities. However, the material the teacher uses has to be related with the real life situation, and the teacher´s pronunciation and correction must be clearly visible during the class so that they are a model to be followed by his/her students.

Intermediate level

At this level, students are capable to hold some easy conversations, structures, and sentences and one of the teacher´s task is to help students continue automatizing their learning process of the target language. Now, students are able to do better in activities such as: working in pairs or groups, fluency exercises, chain stories, short role-plays, and many others. The teacher´s task at this level is to continue improving students´ understanding, listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills, obviously adequated in the level they are. Moreover, the teacher now is able to give some sorts of short grammar explanations and pronunciation is more emphasized. A last point to take into consideration is that Student Talking Time (STT) should take place instead of the vague overuse of Teacher Talking Time (TTT).

Advanced level

Advanced students are capable to stand long conversations, understand more grammar complex explanations, and comprehend complex listening and reading practices. The natural language must be taught in its natural fluency, pronunciation and flow. The teacher must be ready with his working- material in the classroom for students are demanding lots of activities in order to improve their target language knowledge. Activities such as: complex role-plays, skimming ad scanning reading practices, and others should be implemented in the class. At this level, students are more likely native speakers. Consequently, they need to be involved in a context where they can put into practice all the knowledge they have acquired.

Teaching across age levels

Teachers are not supposed to teach just children but adults and teens as well. It is uncertain what age level the teacher might face; and for that reason, he has to be always ready to work with any person.

Teaching children is a big step to start the awesome labor of being a teacher, but the teacher must have a wide knowledge about children behavior; if not, this would lead the teacher into many classroom troubles. Children are mostly involved in both cognition and effective effort. So, the teacher´s task is to keep them motivated on their learning by stimulating their attention spans, sensory inputs, affective factors, and the authentic, meaningful language.

Teaching adults is treating with mature-cognition- persons. Though adults are older than children, it doesn`t mean that they are not able to learn a target language. Actually, adults count with a mature cognition that can be a beneficial factor for teachers because this raw material can be mold quickly and better than children´s way of learning. Moreover, adults have to be performing activities in which real-life situations are involved. Because they are adults, they are expected to be treated as so in the classroom. Not treating them as kids, not belittling them, and respecting them are good ways for keeping a great classroom interaction.

On the other hand, we have teaching teens which is a good age to work with. Teens are in an age that they change a lot not only psychologically but also physically. Teachers have to know that teens are in an age in which life changes. Therefore, they tend to be more curious with new things, more interested in their appearance, and so picky with their classmates as well as with their teacher. Teachers need to motivate teenagers for keeping them active in the classroom and thirsty in getting new knowledge because teens, somehow, are thinking in their future life and want to get prepared for it.

Activities of the Methods

What I liked from my presentation was that I started with great enthusiasm, and that my classmates and the teacher were really putting attention to what I was doing. Also, I liked the way my classmates cooperated with me when developing the activity. Nevertheless, I know that I could have improved my presentation by giving a quick explanation on what were the advantages of the activity, or maybe the disadvantages when performing it in the classroom. This could have implemented on my classmates an idea of when they become a teachers they could use that activity.

Since the very beginning of my presentation until the end, I felt totally comfortable with the performance of my activity (Chain Drill). And, I think that being comfortable with yourself and the rest of the class makes you do things in the best way because you do not feel any kind of pressure by anyone, even conscious that that is a grade that you are getting.

About the activities my other classmates presented, I think that some of them did it well but some others need to improve the classroom management, the pronunciation and the fluency when speaking. Although some of my classmates didn´t do it so good, the rest did it just great because they had the attitude of a future teacher, and they felt the role of a teacher when they were performing their presentation. 

Likes and Dislikes of the Methods

What I liked from my method (audio-lingual method) is that the teacher doesn´t use the mother tongue, and that really helps students to be more critical in the target language because they are capable to develop their thinking in the target language; additionally, pronunciation and memorization are exclusively highlighted by the teacher. Thus, I think that is amazing to have these skills being taught as the students become more likely target language speakers.

What I didn´t like from my method (audio-lingual method) is that the teacher doesn´t teach the pupils some drills, such as: writing and reading, that are totally essential for the learning of the target language. Consequently, the teacher doesn´t lay emphasis on the grammatical points that are really important for writing and even for speaking in the target language. Furthermore, the repetition of dialogues can be boring for the students and that can led the students not to pay attention during the class.

What I understood from the Direct Method is that the teacher involves his teaching with the communication of the students, so that, they are able to engage a conversation to one another but in the target language, which is the center of this method. Likewise, what I understood from the Silent Way Method is that students develop their own learning, and that the teacher is just the mediator of his/her pupils´ learning process. Additionally, the teacher gives the students the material or tools, and the students are required to work by their own. To sum up, Students are the authors of their own learning.

"The expert in anything was once a beginner"

THE EXPERT IN ANYTHING WAS ONCE A BEGGINER

Many people sometimes might ask themselves: “Who can be that person such a wonderful, intelligent professional?” Instead of saying: “Who could have been the person who taught to that professional?” Many times people don´t realize that we were not born professionals, and they think that professionals were born “professionals”

In this way, we can see the value that teachers have in the formation of new professionals in specific areas. Furthermore, we know that teachers are the ones who teach to all professions. That means that with no teachers we wouldn’t have other professions in this world which is, actually, demanding pretty good professionals.

We have to be aware that any kind of expert was once a beginner and that he/she didn´t have all the knowledge that he/she has now. For instance, we have to notice the value that teachers have, in order to accomplish with their task, which is teaching to his/her pupils. Nonetheless, there are some teachers that don´t accomplish with their task because they don´t really care about if their students are learning or not.

According to some surveys that have been made recently by important Universities around the world, have shown that the vast majority of teachers, worldwide, really care about the learning of their students. In contrast, this idea tells us that the value of students´ learning process is taken seriously by the teachers in the world.

To sum up, all students that are now studying at schools, colleges or universities one day are going to be professionals, but if they really propose themselves to reach a major in the future. As teachers, professionals and experts were once beginners and now teachers, we students have to follow the same instruction they followed in the past in order to continue with the natural reproduction of professionals in the world.


Here you have a video that shows the importance of the teachers´profession