MY Classroom Tips for Supporting Reluctant EAL Learners

 

Thank you for logging on to MY Classroom – the new addition to the Dumond Education website, designed to support teaching colleagues in Malaysia and the wider region.

 

Having lived in Malaysia for some time, I am aware of some of the barriers to teaching English, many of them outlined in this article. 2 of these – pupil reluctance and disinterest and lack of teacher proficiency and/or confidence – are challenges familiar to teachers from Ireland. We have experienced similar problems as we endeavour to teach our native language, Gaeilge.

 

 

To address pupil reluctance, there are several positive steps you can take.

 

• Be enthusiastic about the content you are teaching. Even if you don’t particularly feel it, feign excitement for the topic at hand.

 

• Identify and share the aim of the learning and how it will benefit pupils. It is difficult to maintain motivation if we cannot see a purpose for what we are being asked to do.

 

 

• In this regard, it is particularly helpful if real-world scenarios can be identified and role-play used as a methodology. Identify situations when pupils may be called upon to speak English, and focus on building the vocabulary and conversational skills necessary for those scenarios, e.g., ordering food in a restaurant, being asked to give directions, understanding announcements at the airport etc. As an adjunct to this, use English incidentally throughout the day for organisational matters within the classroom.

 

• Slowing down your rate of speech and using gestures supports comprehension. Alongside this, ensure you give plenty wait-time such that pupils have ample opportunity to follow through on an instruction or formulate an answer to questions asked.  

 

 

• Create an atmosphere of acceptance and mutual respect such that pupils are not afraid to try to use the language, even if they are not fluent and do not know all the words required to express themselves clearly.

 

• Celebrate mistakes as steps in the learning process. Share examples of errors you have made, and remind pupils if they do not make any errors, then they already know the content, and the work is not at the correct level for them. In this way, they begin to embrace challenge.

 

• Use a structured phonics programme to embed the sounds of English as this will support pupils when it comes to decoding (reading) texts. Review sounds regularly, re-teaching any unknown/confusing ones. It can be very difficult adjusting to pronunciation that differs from that of your native tongue. Daily encoding (spelling) tasks will further embed knowledge of sounds. These should be quick, low-stakes tests that repeatedly review known sounds. These enable pupils to see for themselves the progress they are making and to identify areas for review. Although these can be done on mini-whiteboards, recording them in books allows you to conduct miscue analysis and note recurring errors.

 

 

 

 

• Highlight the complexities of English grammar and spelling rules such that pupils are aware it takes time to grasp them, and praise pupils for each step they make towards mastery.

 

• Teaching through games and using songs are 2 excellent ways to promote participation. Pupils can hardly complain when lessons are fun!

 

• Introduce pupils to as many books as possible. Cater to individual pupil tastes by selecting books from a variety of genres. Use picture books such that pupils have to generate the story and explain what is happening. Read high-quality fiction so that they are exposed to a breadth of vocabulary and ideas. Pre-teach tricky words. In this way, you can avoid stopping and starting the story and pupils can experience the flow of the language. Consider using audio books for this purpose. Non-fiction texts, particularly those featuring clear diagrams / graphic organisers, can be easier for pupils to comprehend, and this may provide a motivational boost for pupils.

 

 

In the next post, I will discuss ways to address lack of confidence / proficiency difficulties.

 

Image Source: Pixabay