Recommended ESL teaching book
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007November 13, 2007
^^^ My new fav ESL teaching book; Ideas, teaching analysis and more!!! ^^^
“Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language” by Jerry G. Gebhard
I love, love, love this book.
Doing the CELTA was great, but there isnt much chance in the hectic, underpaid/overworked world of ESL, at least not in the places have taught, to really get down and dirty with career development. Thank goodness for books like this.
I originally got this book because I was looking for some new activities, and it has that. Everything from the video activity I did last week (1/2 the class watches and listens while the other 1/2 listens only. Then you create discussion groups about the video with a mix of the listen and listen/look folks.) Brilliant.
But then there is SO much more. There are Teacher Self Development Tasks, tons of book recs on the topics in each chapter, real life examples of the author and his fellow teachers. The one thing I will never, ever forget from this book (and that it was nice to see in print).
1. teaching is HARD work
2. EVERYTHING you do in English in the classroom is teaching English. Everything.
Its a nice mix of thinking and doing in the same book. Below are some of my favorite bits from the book.
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* p. 53-What makes an interactive classroom interactive?
- Reduction in the centrality of the teacher
-An appreciation for the uniqueness of individuals
- Chances for the students to negotiate meaning with each other and the teacher
- Choices, both in relation to what students say and how they say it
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* p. 78-Some ways to give instructions include
-writing down instructions and giving them verbally
-giving instructions verbally and role-playing them; showing the ss what they are to do
-having a ss read the inst., then having a student or two paraphrase the inst. to the class
-giving them inst. as a dictation, then having the students check each others dictation
-miming the inst. as ss guess and tell u what they are supposed to do
-whispering the inst. as ss lean forward in their seats, having them repeat the inst. to the person next to them in a whisper