The Land of Gerunds and The Little People

TEFLBLOG
A challenging journey into “The Land of Gerunds and The Little People”

So, here I am, day two and getting to grips with Kosovans, Slovakians, Turks and Colombians (amongst a myriad of other nationalities), gerunds and grammar. I am dipping my toes in the pool of knowledge that is TEFL – Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

The course is intensive, the homework essential and, along the way, an interesting re-discovery of ‘presentation skills’ which have lain dormant for some time. (It is always possible to feel nervous and apprehensive!)

The other trainee-teachers
My fellow trainee-teachers are a nice and friendly bunch from diverse backgrounds and cultures, but with a common purpose : - to be a successful and competent teach of the English language to non-native speakers.

The students
Every afternoon, we are set loose on an incredibly mixed class of some 12 eager learners. They are initially ‘processed’ into competency levels and then, because they are there for free, they come eagerly to the college to learn English. They are in London for a tremendous variety of reasons. For some, it’s a passport to a more prosperous future in their own countries (Y from China, T from Vietnam who, at a mere 17 years old is still just a baby. He wants to be a doctor – I do so admire his ambition, and A, an elderly and hearing-impaired Iranian with a heart problem, who struggles down the hill for his daily dose of English.

For some, they have the added bonus of having to transfer from a Asian or Arabic script not based on Latin characters with written English yet another hurdle to jump.

They chorus pronunciation when asked to do so, attempting to create sounds they have never formed in their L1 (own language).

Our tutors
AB & SM are incredibly competent and skilled young women who clearly enjoy the challenge of ‘whipping us into shape’. Their approaches are calculated and seemingly meticulously planned to achieve co-operative and capable junior teachers worthy of being unleashed on unsuspecting foreigners at some point in the future.

They teach us how to use a temperamental photocopier, the regulations of copyright; they counsel us in how to cope and deal with irritating or dominant students (and how to make the weaker students achieve at their own levels). They have to educate us in the value and benefit of good time-keeping, planning and scheduling, record-keeping etc. All the while, a miasma of verb and tense forms, conditional clauses, acronyms rings in our ears. We must pass muster using the so-called modern tools of technology including unco-operative tape cassette machines, in-demand and requently-jamming copiers, OHPs and, of course, not forgetting old faithful, The Whiteboard which, strictly-speaking doesn’t qualify as ‘technology’. Nonetheless, it is a useful tool for publicly displaying our mistakes and inadequacies in phonemes, forms and meaning.

You demonstrate and practice both on and with us, making us think about what we want to achieve in a lesson. The quality of feedback is exceptional and always delivered in a manner that is positive, encouraging and helpful. On top of that, we are shown - and participate in - a dazzling array of tools, proven methods of helping learners through games, tips and knowledge. I have to say, if |i were running a language school, I would be proud to have them on my staff.

The experienced teachers
Have you ever thought about how you could explain something as complex as flatpack instructions or even simple greetings to someone who doesn’t speak English? Our first outing to see an experienced teacher in action was with D. a smart and lively individual charged with giving us an introductory lesson in Thai. No English spoken. We were subjected to some 40 minutes of communicating only in in that language (we didn’t even know what language we were speaking until the end of the session). The aim and objective of the lesson must have been to demonstrate a) what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a class in a langauge we knew not one one word of, and b) build our knowledge of the structure of the language (eg masculine/feminine). Along the way, we learnt some useful emergency Thai vocab. By the end of the lesson (not that I’ve retained it a week later) we could communicate our way through a basic greeting and introduction, and ask and offer a beer or coffee.

Other teachers of note, too numerous to mention - but you know who you are (!) demonstrated the art of accommodating latecomers (an apparently perennial problem), drilling and eliciting, homework checking, and – of course – how to be a successful EFL teacher. Some were positively inspirational – not least of all for their ability to “wing it” in the classroom and still retain the genuine respect of their learners.

We come out of ‘experienced teacher observations’ motivated, enthused, in awe, and we wondered how we would ever be able to reach such levels of confidence and skill. You are teaching us the art of storytelling – you want us to captivate our students’ interest and enable them to put into practise (verb) (or is it practice?) the communicative skills they will need. They demonstrated to us how to make the classroom shine with energy.

Nearly there!
Have you ever thought about how many exceptions to rules there are in the English language? It is a language that plays that game with cunning and mystery combined. It starts simply enough with the ‘to be’ infinitive state verb and just gets a whole lot more complex thereafter! I just wish I knew who to blame for my poor knowledge in identifying the so-called rules of grammar. It is certainly a challenge trying to communicate such things as ‘first conditionals’, gerunds and too many things to mention on the form front.

By this time next week, I shall be enjoying a pint (or more likely, a G&T) in The Woodman – the hostelry of choice for our students and some teachers. It’s then that the last week’s ‘role play’ as teacher will hit a moment of reality. It will be interesting to see what happens next…

Oh, I forgot to mention. The ‘Little People’ reference is copyrighted to Peter Wychen-Jones from “Is that What you Mean”. The picture shows someone at a supermarket till and, next to them, five or six miniature people. The caption reads something like: “When I went to the supermarket, it was so early there were little people about”, apparently a not-uncommon foreign learner error.