Now I no longer make the mistake of assuming that students know the words (sometimes called the “metalanguage”) that I use to talk about the language. After all, ESL and EFL teachers should really use a minimum of metalanguage when teaching English. It’s just so much easier to take these shortcuts that sometimes I have to remind myself that my students are, after all, coming to me to learn to speak or communicate in English, not to learn to speak about English.
Experiences, resources, grammar tips, lessons plans, and more from an English as a Second Language Tutor. Also, notes on teaching one-on-one and being self-employed.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
“What’s a Syllable?”
When I teach my adult ESL students the rules for adding a syllable to past tense verbs that end with a /t/ or /d/, I often use the word “syllable,” of course. I have found that about 50% of the time “syllable” is a new word, and sometimes a new concept, for my adult students.
Now I no longer make the mistake of assuming that students know the words (sometimes called the “metalanguage”) that I use to talk about the language. After all, ESL and EFL teachers should really use a minimum of metalanguage when teaching English. It’s just so much easier to take these shortcuts that sometimes I have to remind myself that my students are, after all, coming to me to learn to speak or communicate in English, not to learn to speak about English.
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Now I no longer make the mistake of assuming that students know the words (sometimes called the “metalanguage”) that I use to talk about the language. After all, ESL and EFL teachers should really use a minimum of metalanguage when teaching English. It’s just so much easier to take these shortcuts that sometimes I have to remind myself that my students are, after all, coming to me to learn to speak or communicate in English, not to learn to speak about English.
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