EFFECTIVE TEACHING

EVENT: RETIF 2003

DATE : 2003-02-03

PLACE : IBR1 TRAINING CENTRE

EFFECTIVE TEACHING

BY : BADRIA K. AL MA'MARI

HAJR UM ISMAEEL SECONDARY SCHOOL

It is well known that foreign language Teachers always suffer from the low standard of their students,It is one of the main obstacles that we face as English teachers in our schools. The observed weakness of English teaming is related to many reasons-

1.Four to six periods per week arc not enough to help pupils practice more English ,so more time is needed if we want to raise the standard of our pupils.

2.Teaching aids that play an important role in teaching arc not available in many schools:

3.In General Education the age of our students is not suitable to begin learning a new language. They should start learning English earlier at the primary schools as what is happening now hi Basic Education .

4.Some pupils do not have die desire to learn English. other students are very dull and lazy, so their classmates try to imitate them as ((Ideals)) and they are easily affected by them and carelessness of some students affects on others, So motivation is sometimes the key to students learning.

5.Schools do no( provide ideas and materials to parents on how to help their children at home .The curriculum does not contain effective forms of communication to encourage student speak the language through situations . Each unit in OWTE has only one lesson speaking lesson .Tins lesson doesn't meet what is needed to be developed. And student's practice of the language communication

inside the class is poor because of the short rime allotted.

7.Interference between languages makes a lot of problems for students. They try to relate the learned language to their mother tong .Students try to implement what they have learned in Arabic situations into similar English situations . An example, like this sentence, was translated by a 3rd secondary student into (car Ahmed big) in which he means ( Ahmed's car is big), This is just one simple example of what we get from our students every day .

8.Some teachers do not follow the instructions of the Teachers Book, so they misuse the allotted time for each activity and sometimes they go far away beyond the lesson.

9.The co-operation between the administrations of schools and teachers should be better. They should spread awareness and guidance among students and give more respect to English teachers and (he subject.

10..Most of English teachers are overloaded with other school activities and that affect badly on students standard.

11.Some teachers are disable to innovate and create new techniques through situations and that affects badly and create monotonous daily work .

What makes a good teacher?

Well, that probably depends mainly on the subject matter and the level of the students However, some teachers can make even the most boring material seem interesting (and alternately, some teachers can make interesting materials boring). Some of it has to do with personality and charisma, but part of a teacher's effectiveness is due to his/her knowledge and application of good teaching practices- These teaching practices range from setting goals for the class to making effective presentations to listening to students questions.

Effective teaching begins prior to tine teacher entering the classroom. Teachers must formulate their goals and think about how they will achieve them before facing the students. Once in the classroom, the teacher must be able to apply a number of different methods of teaching to reach students with different learning styles. In order to encourage critical thinking and real life application, students must be pushed to think outside the books. This means teachers need to be able to create an environment for this to occur.

The ideas presented in this topic were developed to share information on teaching practices that have been found to be effective. They contain general teaching behaviors and strategies that we think will lead to successful teaching.

Important effective teaching tips :

I* Teachers' knowledge of the subject matter is essential to the implementation of important teaching tasks

Teachers who know their subject mailer thoroughly can be more effective and efficient at organizing the subject matter, connecting the subject with the students' previous knowledge, finding useful analogies and examples, presenting current thinking on the subject, and establishing appropriate emphases.

2''*Effective teachers state their teaching goals :

Most successful people say that part of the reason for their success is because they practiced goal setting in their personal and professional life. When this way is used in schools , m most cases; it is not practiced effectively -

There are a variety of reasons why teachers should state their goats- First, goals will force the teacher to think critically about what the important concepts are and how a subject should be taught .With the appropriate goals implemented in the classroom, students will be forced to take a more active role in their learning process-They will also likely develop a continuous interest in and concern about the world around them.. Students will also develop flexible

thinking skills-

3.Effective teachers develop communication skills :

An important aspect of learning for students is to be able to communicate what they know, or think they know- The best way for teachers to encourage communication from all students is through classroom discussion or small group work - There has always been me notion that you learn best when you actually have to teach or explain to someone else. This means being able to verbalize what you know- So teachers need to encourage their students to verbalize their own knowledge so that they can learn more efficiently- Students on the listening also benefit from hearing their classmates explanations. When students listen to each other, they often benefit from hearing concepts being explained from different points and in ways that might be closer to the students way of thinking- When students listen effectively they generate

questions to further everybody's thinking and learning

4*Effective teachers develop problem - solving skills :

Learning skill and problem solving skills are arguable the most important products of the education process. Students must learn to investigate, experiment, relate information and draw logical conclusions. The learning process is much improved when students arc challenged to seek answers and are driven by a curiosity to learn. They should be able to review previously studied materials to refresh their memory and correctly construct their knowledge base.

5* Effective teachers help students overcoming the fear of making a mistake :

it is difficult for many students to have the courage needed to voice their opinions or to openly explore unfamiliar ideas. Teachers must work hard to make everybody feel like they are an important asset to the classroom. They can do this by not always calling on a select group of students and never rejecting students* answers- Instead, teachers should encourage participation from all students and ask students to explain their thinking even if it is wrong.

One of the educators said , "When students feel good about themselves as learners, they are willing to take risks " . Teachers should also frequently reinforce that the purpose of the class is for learning and that when someone is Seaming they don't have all the right answers and may even make a mistake.

6*Effective teachers practice effective questioning :

There arc many ways to ask a question and some ways are better than others. Thinking about the types of questions that could be asked or even preparing specific questions will often lead to more effective classroom discussions. It is important to think of thoughtful questions that encourage students to think critically about the concept being learned. In order to be successful at effectively questioning students, teachers must be aware of the type of questions they arc directing to the students and use effective questioning practices. For example , ask students to seek out for an evidence - ask them to explain , to relate concepts , ideas and opinions ,ask questions that encourage them to predict or describe-

7*Effective teachers know that there is not always just one right answer:

To some questions, there is only one right answer. But some questions can have many correct answers. It is not always clear to students that there could be more than one right answer, Students need to be encouraged to express their views about the issue even though others might have a different or opposing view. They need to be able to accept it when their answers do not correlate with others, and learn how to back up their findings with accurate information. They also need to be respectful of other's opinions and express their opposing views in a respectful manner.

When students understand that there will not always be one right answer they will become better critical thinkers and this kind of thinking will lend itself to ail other subject areas. This is a skill that the students will hopefully use throughout their life.

8*Effective teachers evaluate themselves and their students as well:

It is important for teachers to model self-assessment after each class to see what went wrong and find ways for improvements. This shows that continuous improvement is important.

Without feedback neither learner nor teacher can improve because they wilt not know what they need to know or to what extent they are fulfilling their goals, The learners' behavior will more quickly reach the objectives if they are informed (or given feedback) frequently about the correctness of their responses. A positive rein forcer is anything that will increase the probability (hat the desired behavior

will be repeated-

*Suggested ways  to deal with students inside English classroom :

1. Always speak in a conversational voice at a normal speed. Don't shout too much ,

2. Don't exaggerate intonation patterns.

3,Students need lo practice producing sentences in English, therefore the teacher shouldn't talk too much. Before students should learn to read or write they need a good oral base, so give the chance to speak even if they make a mistake-

4. Before starting a lesson, have a warm-up lesson. Loosen up their speaking mechanism and remember drill and repetitive learning. Seek for their background knowledge .

5.Don't worry that they don't understand you.  They pick up a great deal. Give them opportunity to converse back with you with no threats. Use anything in their environment to help them to talk. The more you gel (hem talking the faster they will learn. Use gesture, movements, facial expressions objects, pictures, etc.. to help interpret the situation from your students.

6.When talking to the students, slay reasonably within the vocabulary and sentence patterns they have learned in their text books -

7.Be sure all pupils have a chance to participate and don't allow the aggressive ones to monopolize class time and try to involve weak students in your discussions

8.Don't be tightly bound by the answers in the text. if a student gives a correct, plausible answer. accept it,

9.If you are instructing English, speak English. If you speak the student's native language, use it as little as possible-

10, Learning a language is difficult; it  needs continual repetition.

b- il lakes !i me. so :

a, make it meaningful,

b. make it useful.

c. give students time to answer,

d. make it a good experience for them.

! I .Before students should learn to read and write they need a good oral base .so give them the chance to speak even if they make mistakes.

If a sound is not in their language, they will have difficulty hearing in English. Practice the sounds that are difficult for them. Give useful pronunciation guidance; isolate the syllable where the error occurs, pronounce it correctly, and then model the entire sentence for the student to repeat

If  a sound is not in their language, (hey will have difficulty hearing it in English, Practice the sounds that arc difficult for them.

14.Give students time to answer. They hear it in English, translate it to native language, organize thoughts into native language, think up a response in the native language, and then translate it to English.

15.Learn about your students' cultural backgrounds. This will help you understand their needs, their responses, and how to respond to them.

16.Keep a record of what you have covered and how they have done. Give feedback and reward good responses.