How To Teach English

When I first began teaching Spoken English I had no clue what I was doing. I was unaware of the differences between written and oral skills. I learnt on the job and I learnt fast.Essentially there are Four... keep reading →

What a broad, and yet very interesting question.

Without knowing exactly what you are talking about or what the circumstances are my best answer to you is that English, or any language for that matter is best taught through immersion in that language at as an early an age as is possible. For first language learners that age is pre-birth while still in the mother's womb, and for second language learners no age is too early to begin learning a new language.

As older learners of a new language we face a more difficult challenge, but the process through which we learn remains the same.

Unfortunately, the majority of those of us who would like to learn a second language, immersion in the traditional sense is not an option. Does that however mean that we are stuck with copying grammar and memorizing phrases and vocabulary? No! In today's information age it is easier than ever to immerse yourself in a new language. This is especially true for English.

Beyond the memorization that is required at the beginning stages of learning any new language, I think the best way to teach English is to immerse any student you may have in the English language as much as is possible for you.

So much language learning happens outside of the classroom. Encourage your students to read books in English, talk to a tourist in English, or watch movies in English. Even if a movie is poorly understood the first time around a great way to independently improve your grammar and pronunciation is to watch the same movie many times until you have all but memorized the dialogue. Reading books in English also accomplishes this task quite well. In fact, reading books is also a great way for first language students to improve their own grammar and vocabulary.

In conclusion, this is a very general answer to a very general question, but its a topic worth looking further into for the specifics of your situation.

English like any language starts with a phonetic system base, and works out with listening, writing and speaking.

Think of phonics as the bottom piece of an upside down pyramid.

This pyramid though small in the early stages has to be strong and complete to build a foundation (this for non native students). Building from phonics the student learns reading, and writing all the time using question/answer formats to speak* (most important after phonics)

The higher level your students accomplish, the broader the spectrum of what they can use it for, and the harder it is to teach on a broad scale, you have to specify.

This is done with adult and hopefully the child students on a smaller scale through specified interests, or business interests in adults or in the form of hobbies.

Interest has to be there to learn a foriegn language.

This is indeed a broad topic***