I’m so excited to share my top 5 tips for foreign language teachers with you! These tips are especially important if you’re just starting to teach, but they can be just as useful if you’ve been teaching for years. I’ve been teaching languages for 5+ years now and I still need a reminder. There’s always room for improvement.
1. Don’t talk too much – listen instead.
This has to be one of the best tips for language teachers but OK, I gotta admit…this has been a challenge for me because I LOVE to talk, believe me. Even the simple ”How are you?” question doesn’t work as I always have a lot more to say than just a ”Good, and you?”. How can you just be good? I mean, good for you, but… define good! Just good or more leaning towards not so good?
Anyhow, you just have to remember that it’s not about you. It’s about your student. Always keep in mind the 70/30 ratio of student to teacher talk time.
However, I understand it’s hard to make someone who’s not talkative talk in a foreign language when talking is hard enough for them on its own. You have to make them realize THEY need the practice. There’s always something to ask, and especially if it has to do with something they’re interested in.
I used to take a note of what my students’ hobbies were so I could ask them whenever I was stuck or they didn’t feel like talking.
Another thing you can do is ask open-ended questions, that way a student won’t just answer with a yes or no, and you won’t be banging your head against a wall trying to come up with the next question. Compare these two:
-Did you have a good weekend? – Yes.
-How was your weekend? – It was good … (hopefully they’ll say a bit more, if not, you can always ask ”What did you do?”).
2. Create a positive atmosphere.
Let’s be honest – students are terrified and completely out of their comfort zone when learning a foreign language. They need to feel good in order to be able to learn. If not, it’ll only push them further away from reaching their goals.
Praise them, make them laugh, motivate them!
I know it’s hard to be happy and positive all the time when teaching. Everyone can have a bad day, both you as a teacher, and your student as a…student. 😁 Just try to take a little break and try not think about other issues in class, and I PROMISE, more often than not – you’ll cheer up, as well as the student. Call me weird, but I literally get goosebumps when a student gets something right or I feel like they’re enjoying my lesson.
3. Correct your students when they’re wrong.
You shouldn’t quite go for ”You made a mistake” like it’s a big deal, but don’t smile and nod either. Your students need to learn, and they’ll only do that if you point out their mistakes (IMO). You can either correct them right away (if it’s something short or not pronounced well) or wait until they finish their story or sentence.
I did have some students who didn’t want to be corrected because they just wanted to ”practice”. Ummm, if by practicing you mean making the same mistake over and over again, then that’s fair. But then it’s muuuuuch harder to eradicate it because you’ve made a habit of saying something in a certain way.
I just think we should see mistakes differently. Once we start seeing them as an opportunity to learn, they won’t be such a big deal anymore. 😉
Also – don’t just correct them like you’re some sort of language teaching machine. Your students want your feedback as a human, too. Don’t forget to react to their stories and laugh if they’re telling a joke.
4. Teach culture
A language is a HUGE part of a country’s culture, so it’s really not a good idea to skip it. You cannot have a language without a culture, and vice versa.
There’s somebody out there in the real world buying milk and using the same vocabulary you’re teaching in today’s lesson. Expose your students to authentic material, compare the student’s culture to that of the target language, bring some food to class, celebrate holidays…
Check out more amazing techniques on how you can teach culture in the foreign language classroom here.
5. Use context
Yeah, le passé simple is very boring on its own, I’m not gonna lie to you – 10/10 would NOT recommend. 😁 HOWEVER, if you bring a Guillaume Musso’s book and read a passage to your students, they’ll be much more intrigued about its usage. Musso loves le passé simple, as do most of the French writers. Funnily enough, nobody really uses it in everyday speech. So, if your students see that le passé simple’s been used in a book, and that they saw it in class, they’ll be able to connect the dots.
And no – context isn’t a school exam. As teachers, we often tell students they absolutely NEED to know something, but we don’t always explain why. Which is a shame. I’m not a math teacher, but I always hated math problems like ” You have 600 watermelons and your friend gives you 75 more…” wait, first of all, what kind of watermelon business is this, and who’s this generous friend of mine? *sings watermelon sugar high*
What I’m trying to say is, by showing your students a real-life example, they’ll remember it much better. If it’s not relevant to them, it’ll just go in one ear and out the other.
I’ve also written an article about 4 Super Easy Exercises to Help You Memorize Vocabulary in Context that you may find useful.😉
Those were my top 5 tips for language teachers, hope you enjoyed them and that they’ve inspired you to teach better!
