Experiences of an English Language Teacher

Tag: TEFL Tips

Emojis in the English Classroom

Introduction

Last week, on the Twitter sphere, Tyson Seburn was polling to see how many tutors were using emojis with their general communication with students – either in email or via class pages (such as Canvas or Blackboard).

If you aren’t following Tyson on Twitter, why not?

This got me thinking about the pedagogical benefit of using emojis within a teaching context, and I had used emojis to teach basic vocabulary to beginner online students. For example, for learners who has very little to no English, this difficulty is alleviated with the use of images or pictures, and thus emojis are a quick and easy solution. If I wanted to ask students if they liked or dislike apples, I would use the following emojis to help express the question.

As you can see, for lower levels of learners, teachers have a quick and easy way to use emojis within an online environment. However, you don’t have to stop there with regards to using emojis with beginner students. You could use emojis in a more creative manner. I have created a free emoji worksheet for teachers to use with their face-to-face or online lessons. It is probably best suited for the general English classroom, possibly younger learners, with an emphasis on adjectives and general feelings (i.e. exhausted, well off, etc.).

Lesson Material for Teachers

A screenshot of the worksheet available for all.

The first task is for learners to match emojis to their corresponding adjectives – the first one is done. The next is for learners to guess the possible translation, before learners check with their translating tools.

There is a brief discussion for learners which could be used as a prompt to discuss the use of emojis within their context. Next, there is a story, with gaps and emojis to help, which students are to complete before sharing with their fellow students. The final part of this lesson is for students to retell the story without referring to the script. I hope you enjoy this lesson activity, and a huge thanks to Tyson for the Tweet which got me inspired to create a lesson using emojis. I may even use emojis with my EAP students!

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Teaching Tips: Avoid These Ten Mistakes As A New Teacher

Teaching is regarded as a very noble profession where one can really educate future generations. However, when teachers start their career they usually make some fundamental mistakes. In today’s blog post and video, we look at ten common mistakes new teachers usually make and should avoid. 

Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honour for me. (Abdul Kalam)

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How To Make Reading More Engaging

In this quick post, I share five tips to make your reading more engaging and entertaining for your learners. I have also supplemented the post with a video for those that want to watch something for 5 minutes.

Should you enjoy the video, please leave a Like and Subscribe if you haven’t already.

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Teaching With Just a Piece of Paper

The other day, I decided to create, edit and share a video aimed for teachers (with minimal experience) on how to teach with just you and a piece of paper. It seemed to be quite popular and I hope there are some useful tips included within the video. The video is available below and it would be great if you could show your support by Liking and Subscribing to my YouTube Channel. 

If you have any suggestions about future video content, I am all ears as I have a lot of time to create content for you. Take care and stay safe at the moment.

Episode 5: How To Teach A Grammar Auction

A few days ago, I decided for the first time ever to deliver a grammar auction activity to my group of learners. I had never done this activity before but had done variations from it: awarding points for correct answers, etc. In this blog post (and video below), I would like to share my tips to ensure that you are able to deliver a fantastic grammar auction lesson.

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10 Tips for Teaching Young Learners

When teachers complete their CELTA (or equivalent course), they are more than likely going to be teaching young learners. Something which is not necessarily covered in great detail during their course. You are expected to teach young learners of any age – and I have written a blog post about teaching primary aged learners – I hope this post is more focused on the teaching of learners which are from the ages of 10 years or above. I personally remember completing the CELTA course, only to return to teaching young learners.  Much of what I learnt teaching young learners was through personal experience in the classroom and chatting to other young learner teachers. However, it can be quite daunting for any newly certified teacher to enter a YL class and expect to teach. Hopefully, this post will give teachers – no matter their experience – ten practical ideas to develop confidence when entering a young learner class.

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