Teaching Genre Writing

Planning a writing lesson 

 

What is genre?
A genre can be anything from a menu to a wedding invitation, from a newspaper article to an estate agent's description of a house. Pieces of writing of the same genre share some features, in terms of layout, level of formality, and language. These features are more fixed in formal genre, for example letters of complaint and essays, than in more 'creative' writing, such as poems or descriptions. The more formal genre often feature in exams, and may also be relevant to learners' present or future 'real-world' needs, such as university study or business. However, genre vary considerably between cultures, and even adult learners familiar with a range of genre in their L1 need to learn to use the conventions of those genre in English.

Good Activities to Do in Teaching Pronunciation

There are lots of activities you can do with your child to practise pronunciation. Choose the activities that you think your child will like best. Try to make the activities as fun as possible, and stop when your child has had enough.

Here are some ideas for activities:

• Songs and rhymes; Songs, nursery rhymes and chants are a great way to introduce younger children to the sounds of English. Many chants and nursery rhymes are repetitive and easy to remember, and your child will not need to be able to read or write English. You'll find some traditional songs and nursery rhymes on LearnEnglish Kids. Listen to the songs, learn them together and sing the rhymes wherever and whenever you like - in the car, on the way to school, at bathtime! You can also read some tips for using simple rhymes with children. You'll find some rhymes that you can listen to, or download. You'll also find a fun resource you can try with your children called 'Rhyme and record'.

5 Principles in Encouraging Students to Speak English

Principle 1: Positive Reinforcement

As a teacher, you should focus on your students successful attempts to use English. At first, reward ANY success however small. If students speak out loudly and clearly, but make a mistake, praise them just for speaking out or for pronouncing it well. As students improve, you can focus on the most outstanding successes. Whatever you encourage, students will continue to do. On the other hand, if you do not encourage them, they will likely become passive in class. 

Principle 2: Clear Goals and Instructions

Students need to know exactly HOW an activity is done, otherwise they will be out of control when the activity starts. If necessary, write the instructions on the blackboard or overhead projector. Or, model the activity with one of your best students so everyone can see what they need to do.

Students also need to know WHY an activity is being done. Dictations are done to train the ear, so they will be more successful in learning in the future. Pair practice is a simulation of real-life conversation, so they should not show their questions to their partner. Without understanding why, many students think an activity is not important and give up or practice half-heartedly.

Be sure to include goals and instructions in your lesson plan. That way you will be sure to remember to do them, and if you do have any problems, you will easily see how to fix them in future lessons.

Teaching Reading Comprehension; Guides for teachers

The followings are seven strategies to implement by teachers in improving students' text comprehension;

1. Monitoring comprehension

Students who are good at monitoring their comprehension know when they understand what they read and when they do not. They have strategies to "fix" problems in their understanding as the problems arise. Research shows that instruction, even in the early grades, can help students become better at monitoring their comprehension.

Comprehension monitoring instruction teaches students to:

• Be aware of what they do understand
• Identify what they do not understand
• Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension

2. Metacognition

Metacognition can be defined as "thinking about thinking." Good readers use metacognitive strategies to think about and have control over their reading. Before reading, they might clarify their purpose for reading and preview the text. During reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text and "fixing" any comprehension problems they have. After reading, they check their understanding of what they read.

Students may use several comprehension monitoring strategies:

Tips for Teaching Reading to Children

Tips for Teaching Reading to Children

 Be mindful of your goal.

To be mindful means being inclined to be aware or conscious. It implies focusing your attention on something. The goal is the end toward which effort is directed.
If your end goal is to teach your child to read, to be mindful of it means consciously making efforts or doing things to reach that end. Some of these activities may include putting up on the wall an alphabet poster or chart, buying early reading children's books, playing with your child using educational toys like magnetic letters or letter puzzles, and telling them stories or reading together.
You intentionally spend some time doing these things with your objective in mind. You can start by spending a few minutes each day reading to your child so she will develop the love of reading. Later on, more time can be spent in the teaching-learning activities as she becomes more prepared to learn the skill.
I've learned from Simpleology 101 that the scientific formula for success is: See your target; Keep it in your sights; and Hit it (until you hit it). This is a good formula to follow in order to succeed helping your child to read.

Teaching Speaking Skills

 Teaching Speaking Skills 

'I can understand my teacher's English, but when I speak to 'real people' I can't understand them'. This is a comment I'm sure many teachers have heard. While it is a bit of an exaggeration, students clearly feel that classroom-based speaking practice does not prepare them for the real world. Why do students so often highlight listening and speaking as their biggest problems? Partly because of the demands of listening and speaking and partly because of the way speaking is often taught. It usually consists of language practice activities (discussions, information-gap activities etc.) or is used to practise a specific grammar point. Neither teaches patterns of real interaction. So what can we do in the classroom to prepare students for real interaction?

What do students need?

• Practice at using L1 (mother tongue) strategies, which they don't automatically transfer.

• An awareness of formal / informal language and practice at choosing appropriate language for different situations.