About Matthew Hiebert Expertise education, study strategies, pedagogy, sustainable education, hidden curriculum,
classroom
management, science, math, learning materials
Experience Extensive experience teaching at the elementary/jr. secondary level, including experience at prestigious international schools; recent work has been as pedagogy specialist and education project coordinator for teacher training projects in east and southeast Asia, and in Latin America
I the under named Salimeh Hazimeh, a Lebanese English Language teacher, teaches the language as a foreign language for all Secondary classes sections, and participating as a trainee in the World Link-Arab countries program sessions.
Dear Sir,
I hereby write to you my questions asking your kind answer in guiding me with the required information about:
1- How can a teacher improve his/her 12th grade students' English language level that is if not equivalent to elementary classes' level is below it?
2- What supplementary helping aids (activities or techniques) can a teacher use in class although he is not allowed to use any other assigned book for the material he is teaching, as well as, he is responsible to accomplish the curriculum on time?
Thanking you in advance, hoping my questions to meet your kind attention.
Salimeh Hazimeh
ANSWER: Dear Salimeh Hazimeh,
Thank you for your question. Since it is a big question, I will do the best I can, and if you can ask me some topics which are more specific, perhaps I can then reply with more practical suggestions.
1) To help some students who have very low English level:
I like to begin each class with some quick review of basic vocabulary or question and answer. You can ask questions orally and have students reply the response. You can also organize some quick games using flashcards, and have students work in groups on those. If you have the weaker students seated together, you can give them a special set of flashcards, and provide some extra help for them while the groups are working. One thing to keep in mind is that 12th grade students, even if they have very low English level, still have the brains of other students' their age... that means that they can learn more quickly than an elementary student, they usually have more concentration, and have more mental maturity, study strategies etc. So you can also provide some extra materials for them to work on either inside class or outside of class. I hope this helps. If you can describe your class situation, for example how many students in the class, how many are very weak etc., maybe I can give you more strategies.
2) I recommend a variety of supplemental materials. If we are forced to use one textbook series, that's okay. We can supplement with so many different things. I love creating activities based on the textbook.. you can develop games based on the readings. Things like scrambled sentences, puzzles, review dialogues for students to practice etc, which recycle the vocabulary and patterns learned in the text. You can have students create flashcards or game cards using the vocabulary or grammar patterns, and then play a variety of games. I also like to bring in literature from the real world, you can clip sections from the newspaper or high-interest magazines which the students will be interested in, and use a small portion of class time to go through them with students. Remember that students learn best by linking and networking material, and by working with the material actively, not just trying to memorize it, so if you can add in some supplemental material, it will really reinforce the learning in the textbook because they use their knowledge in a slightly different context. Once again, if you can specify more about the class situation, I could probably be more helpful.
If you want, you can send me your email address, and I can send you some ESL material I've developed, including a list of game activities with some instructions. That might give you some new ideas as well.
Anyways, thanks very much, and hope this is somewhat helpful. I'd be happy to answer any more follow up questions, and will do my best to reply quickly. I'm going to be out of town, so it may take a few days to reply.
Kind regards, and all the best with your teaching.
Matthew
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Dear Mr.Matthew Hiebert
I am really thankful for your valuable answer and care you have shown to my questions.I here by present to you my appriciation to the ideas you have enlightened me with. And i would be much more grateful if you supply me with some of the "ESL material" along with a list of some game activities can be used in class, you have already developed, because frankly i tell you we have a lack in the work shops in our schools as well as i really like to make the effort to be creative for such things.
my e-mail is //// and i kindly ask you if possible to send me your E-mail.
Thanking you in advance.
Salimeh Hazimeh
ESL teacher for Secondary classes.
Answer Hi there,
Sorry for my slow response to this follow-up question. I have been out of the country, and did not have good internet access until now.
I'd be happy to send you some materials, I have one document, which is a compendium of instructional strategies, which I would be happy to share with you. I think it will give you lots of simple suggestions.
I did not receive your email address in your message. If you'd like to send me a note, I can reply with an attachment of the file. My address is mbhiebert(at)yahoo.ca
