6 tips for teaching elementary English learners

I sometimes think that elementary is the most challenging level to teach because the learners have very little language to work with. But I had a new elementary class today who refreshed my teaching tactics and reminded me that this level can be very rewarding as well. These tips are to remind myself just as much as anyone else :)

1. Grade your language

Bad: "How do you think he might be feeling?"

Better: "How does he feel?"

Bad: "What would you buy if you won the lottery?"

Better: "Imagine: you win the lottery. What do you buy?"

When explaining instructions, be careful not to use language which the learners haven't learnt yet. This means avoiding modals (might, can, should...), the conditional, and all tenses other than the present tense.

2. Practise your board writing

Bad: Unnecessary capital letters, joined-up writing, and writing which slopes down or up the board as it goes along.

Better: Clear text of an adequate size arranged logically on the board. This is especially important for learners whose first language uses a different alphabet - at an elementary level they are just getting to grips with reading English.

3. Be clear when grouping students

Bad: You give all the students a number from 1-3 and ask them to move so that ones sit together, twos sit together, etc. It turns out that some of them weren't listening and just follow their friends so you end up with groups of wildly varying sizes.

Better: Give all the students a number from 1-3 (or however many groups you want) and then say "Who's number one? Who's number two?" while raising your hand. When you can see that the learners have understood which group they are in, then ask them to move.

4. Don't hand out worksheets until the last possible moment

Bad: You give the worksheet to the students before explaining it. Some of them decide to get started straight away and get the wrong idea. Others are so busy reading it that they don't listen to your instructions and you end up explaining five times to individual students.

Better: Hold up the worksheet in front of your chest, explain the task, and check understanding before giving out the worksheets. You can also take this approach when the students have a workbook: just explain the task before giving the page number. This is important for low levels because getting the learners to understand the task can be the hardest part.

5. Use L1 to your advantage

Bad: A student in your class is having trouble understanding an instruction and you can't put it any more simply in English.

What you can do: Unless your class is of completely mixed nationalities, you can allow a stronger student to explain in L1. While it's generally best to have only English in the classroom, this solution is sometimes necessary, especially with lower levels.

6. Gesture, mime, demonstrate... just move your body!

Bad: a sea of blank faces.

Better: At low levels, anything you can do to convey meaning non-linguistically will help your learners understand. If you want them to close their books, mime closing a book. If you want them to put their hands up, put your hand up!