Tag: students.

How to help your child learn English at home.

Why you should teach your child English at home.

Helping your child learn English at home.

With schools closed due to the Corona virus, parents all over the world are wondering how they can help their children learn English at home. Sure, teachers are teaching online, but as parents, we can do a lot more.

When instructors and parents collaborate, children have a better chance of succeeding in school. Every interaction you have with your child during the day can be used to help them develop their English skills.

Here are some ideas to help home study.

Have fun.

We have a lot of duties as busy parents. It’s all about finding the appropriate balance when it comes to teaching or leading the learning process at home.

Teachers in schools must plan timetables and lessons for the entire class. You have more freedom to focus on your child’s preferred interests and activities when you learn at home. You can consider what will be most beneficial to your child.

Learners of all ages achieve more when they enjoy and find their work engaging and meaningful. Don’t be frightened to have a good time!

Try new things.

There are a lot of online resources to help, so do not be scared to try different things. You have English learning apps, websites, English rhymes, and songs to name a few. To find out how your child likes to learn and what things do they enjoy.

Children’s picture books

For young children learning English, this method can open them to a whole new realm of learning. It can be difficult to select the correct books, but it is critical to recognize the advantages of having this one-on-one relationship with your child.

Picture books give parents and children a compelling incentive to change from their native language to English. The predefined text of a picture book is a very valuable prop for parents who perform poorly in English.

Flashcards.

Flashcards can be a very useful tool. Especially for the beginner or younger learner. Teaching individual worlds is an important part of the learning process and flashcards provide pictures along with the words and pictures.

Rather than a boring home lesson you can make it fun by turning learning into a game. For example, You can buy 2 sets of the same flashcards and play a memory-based game.

Place the flashcards face down and your child has to remember where the 2 that are the same were placed. Laugh and learn will also instill a desire from your child to learn.

==> Using flashcards to teach English <==

Rhymes and songs

Repeating rhymes and songs is a fun method of learning new vocabulary in English. You can create a collection of songs that your child can listen to over and over to become comfortable with keywords.

==> Rhymes and songs to learn English <==

Apps that help your child learn English

Improve your child’s English skills with these entertaining and educational applications! These games, podcasts, videos, and quizzes are designed for kids of all ages and will help them learn English at home or on the go. You can learn more about them by clicking here.

==> Apps for children to learn English <==

Comics, TV, and video games.

Who doesn’t love cartoons, comics, and playing online games.? Okay, not everyone. But a lot of children do. And if you can get your child to read comics, watch cartoons and play games in English, they will learn faster.

Find what they enjoy doing and try to get them to do it in English. The cartoon network in English is a great tool for home learning.

Word searches and other games

Word searches can be a great tool as long as they are not overused. They can be used as a reward for a lesson well done.

However, as a stand-alone tool, it is questionable. It certainly helps with word recognition if used in the right way. Find a word search that relates to the topic you are teaching and the words you have taught.

There are online word search makers that you can use to specifically target the words taught in your childs lesson.

Things to think about.

What does your child like to do in his or her spare time? Drawing? going outside to play? comics? Do they enjoy reading stories? Dancing? indoor games or puzzles?

Make an effort to engage in some of their favorite activities in English.

Is your child more active at different times of the day? Do they like the mornings or the afternoons? What do they do after learning? Do they want something to eat? Choose the perfect moment to tackle the most difficult tasks!

What is your child’s preferred method of absorbing information? Is it possible to teach off-the-cuff during these times? Make a list of what works best for them.

Do you want your child to be able to make their own decisions about their education? Or do they prefer to make decisions with you? Always remember to ask them for their opinions and to encourage them as they build their own study skills.

Can I help if I don’t speak English?

Yes! Encouragement and praise are the finest ways to provide the best support for your child. This boosts your child’s self-esteem and belief in their own abilities.

Encourage children when they take charge of their own education and congratulate them on their efforts

You could even give your youngster the task of teaching English to a member of your family. Did you know that one of the most effective methods to learn is to teach someone else? You could even ask that they teach you.

Conclusion.

Whatever you do, make it fun. Your child will love you all the more for you taking the time out of your day to spend with them.

To develop the love of learning in your child will mean they will want to learn and they will increase any learning skill quicker.

Remember the first skill in learning any language is the listening skill, so the more they listen to English, the faster they will learn.

And be patient, learning anything takes time. And learning a language is one of the most difficult things to do. But small steps now will lead to big leaps in the future.

Who am I?

I am an EFL ( English as a Foreign Language ) teacher who owns a school in Vietnam. I have been here for 15 years and experienced most teaching situations.

From teaching in state schools with 50 plus students to a class to one on one private lessons. I have taught in English centers both good and bad, and the bad decided me to open my own school.

You can check out my school in Vietnam below by hitting on the YouTube button.

My school in Vietnam

 

Any or all links on this site may be affiliate links, and if you purchase something through those links I will make a small commission on them.

There will be no extra cost to you and at times due to my affiliation, you could actually save money.

You can read our full affiliate disclosure here.

What are Vietnamese Students really like?

This is a post about how Vietnamese students view themselves and the overall problems facing students and teachers alike.



How do Vietnamese students see themselves?

When I ask my students what they think about the schools and teachers in Vietnam the main response is “Boring”. And the result is the students see themselves as lacking and describe themselves as lazy. But let us look behind the scenes a bit more.

The number of students in the school and classroom is huge. It is not uncommon for a class to have 50 students and if you get a class with only 30 students you should consider yourself lucky. This is not conducive to good teaching. There is not much individual teaching done in the classroom.

Very basic classroom tools.

Teachers tend to stand in front of the blackboard and write down the lesson of the day and then get the students to copy. While the students are copying the lesson into their notebooks the teacher will often just sit behind his or her desk and play with their phone.

There is also a distinct lack of technology in the classroom. Whatever technology is in the classroom is often paid for by the parents. Televisions, microphones, and DVD players are more common. But don’t expect a classroom full of computers.

And there are reasons for all of the above too. It is not an easy fix. Let us start with the problems the teachers face.

Teachers Problems

The native teachers of Vietnam have to deal with a lot of problems. And some of these only come to light after you have been teaching here for a while.

After teaching here for about 5 years, I got to talk to one of the teachers. She was worried because she was having another baby. Baby number 3. It seems the Ministry of Education frowns on more than 2 babies per family, so she was worried this would adversely affect her career. That blew me away as I thought this sort of thing only happened in China.

Another problem we can all relate to is that they are grossly underpaid. Their monthly income barely pays for rent and the cost of living. Only a few years ago they were getting the equivalent of $300 to $500 per month. Living in a big city makes it very difficult to make ends meet.

Extra activities

As a result of this, a lot of teachers take on extra teaching activities at home. Sometimes informing the parents that if their children don’t attend the extra classes they will get bad grades. This would seriously affect the students’ post-school ambitions.

Scheduling and timetables are a huge drain on the teachers of Vietnam. With classes starting at 7.00 to 7.30 am and going through to 4 or 5 pm, this is a seriously long day. As well as the long day the teachers are pushed into taking as many classes as possible while still having their own “home class” to look after.

As mentioned before class sizes are huge, with classes of 50 plus students not uncommon. In fact, they are more the norm rather than the exception. Pity the poor introvert teacher who has 55 talkative outgoing students in their class.

Lesson planning helps overcome this and you can find out more ==> HERE <==

Vietnamese English teachers.

When I first started teaching in the public schools I thought all the Vietnamese English teachers would come up to me and want to talk. No, it didn’t happen, and I started to think it must be me. But it wasn’t, they were scared that if they talked to me they would be found out that their English language skills were lacking.

Some of the faults of the Vietnamese English teachers are probably easy to understand. They focus more on Grammar than pronunciation. The outcome being the students know the grammatical aspects of the English language better than most native English speakers. However, they either can’t speak or are very limited in their speaking skills.

Native English speakers

And it is for this reason that native English speakers from the USA, England, Australia, and many other countries are employed to teach in the schools. Often this is also funded by the students’ parents.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some seriously good Vietnamese English teachers out there. But they are in the minority and are more progressive in their teaching approach. And even though I haven’t been told, I would think the “establishment” would consider their teaching methods too liberal.

Teaching English is both profitable and fun if you are a good teacher. But first, you have to learn before you earn. Udemy is a great resource for studying anywhere in the world. To check out their classes click the link below.

Now is a great time to get your English teaching license as the borders in Vietnam are just starting to open. You can find out more about International flights ==> HERE <==

The Vietnamese students | What are they like.

When it comes to learning English, Vietnamese students face many problems. It’s difficult in schools where class sizes are huge and English teachers are scarce in both quantity and quality.

One of the key issues is proper pronunciation. Students find it difficult to converse in English as a result of current teaching methods. English education should focus on helping students to speak and communicate effectively in the real world, not just on grammar.

Time-traveling.

When I started my journey as an EFL ( English as a foreign language) teacher, I envisioned spending 1 or 2 years in a lot of countries around the world. Time for “time-traveling”

I came to Vietnam first on holiday about 16 years ago after my first marriage fell apart, and I was desperately looking for something. But didn’t know what I was looking for.

I traveled from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city and met some amazing people, both locals and fellow tourists. I stopped off at a lot of places and had a great time.

After returning to my home country I knew I had been bitten by the travel bug. So I sorted my affairs, lol. And did a course on Teaching English and hightailed it back to Vietnam.

Fast forward to today.

I am still in Vietnam and one of the biggest reasons is the students. I find them fun and inquisitive, they are eager to learn and if you approach your class in the right way they will show you respect. it is not uncommon for students to bow to you outside the classroom. however, with the older students, I try to get them to just say “Hi” and introduce their parents.

Even though they describe themselves as lazy, they are some of the hardest working and enjoyable students I have ever had the pleasure to teach.

Students the world over.

Like students everywhere, they will test you and push your buttons. but once you have established the ground rules and talk to them at the same level and not down to them, you gain their respect and attention. 

I now have my own school in Vietnam. Lately because of Covid we have been teaching online. Yes, I still teach as I love it, it keeps me young. Teaching online produces its’ own problems. You can find out more ==> HERE <==

Once again the students have buckled down and worked exceptionally well. The online classes I do focus on pronunciation, talking, and vocabulary. Homework, yes I give homework, is written work. Below is one example of an assignment about work experience from one of my students. Jenny. An English nickname is chosen by her.

Jennys’ blog on work experience.

Written by one of my students.

“The work experience I had as a vet was one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences of my life. The first day was exciting but overwhelming. I had never seen so many animals at once and there were many different types of them.

I learned how to identify and diagnose the animal’s symptoms and what might be wrong with them. I had to make some tough decisions on whether we should euthanize the animal or not, especially when they were in pain and we couldn’t help them anymore. It made me feel really emotional because you could tell that they trusted me to help them have a better life.”

JENNY

I have not changed anything in this and am very proud to share it, with her blessing. She just asked, if you like it please share and leave a comment. She would be chuffed for a foreigner to reach out and say she is doing well. Jenny is only 14 years old, so pretty impressive.

Conclusion

Normally at the end of every post, I talk about myself, but as this post covers this, it could be better to show you my house in Vietnam. If you click on the YouTube button below it will take you to my YT account and you can check out my house with me.

Any or all links on this site may be affiliate links, and if you purchase something through those links I will make a small commission on them.

There will be no extra cost to you and at times due to my affiliation, you could actually save money.

You can read our full affiliate disclosure here.

Educational Flashcards | ESL

Flashcards are an excellent resource to use in the ESL or EFL classroom with younger students.

Learning Styles and Flashcards

Flashcards are a very important tool in the classroom. They are a great visual aid that helps with visual style learners.

There are several different styles of learning. Visual, auditory, physical, verbal, logical, social and solitary. .

Learning styles focus on how a student is best able to learn or their preferred method of attaining knowledge. This is usually influenced by their unique brain and experiences, and has a direct impact on the way they get information and learn.

For teachers it’s extremely important to understand learning styles and how they impact the students in your classroom. Each student will have their own preferred learning style, and teachers can help create activities that cater to different learning styles to help more students learn effectively..

The visual style is very effective especially with younger students. And flashcards are an effective tool for visual learners.

What are Flashcards?

Flashcards are normally A4 or A5 size pieces of cardboard that have pictures of the subject you are teaching. For example if you are teaching body parts your flashcards will have pictures of the nose, ears, arms etc. If you are teaching numbers they may have numbers from one to ten on them. There are a wide range of flashcards. Quite often they are used to teach a beginner level student..

Using Flashcards in an ESL classroom.

How we use flashcards is very important. If you just stand up in front of your class and show the card and say the name on the flashcard the students will be bored.

The first thing to think about is the age group of the students. With flashcards I generally target the younger student. Mainly because they adapt to a visual style of learning (with the use of flashcards)  better than older students. From four to eleven year old.

The older students will think you are being condescending if you use flashcards and treating them like children. However if I find an older student is having trouble understanding a word , I have used them. But very sparingly. And more in a one on one teaching environment.

So, how do the younger students like to learn. They like to have FUN. So the best way to use flashcards with younger students is to pre-teach the vocabulary, then use the flashcards in a game.

Flashcard games.

Many different games can be played with flashcards. You can make up your own or use the internet to discover how many there are. Here are some that work well.

Concentration: You need 2 sets of flashcards for this game.  Place both sets face down on the floor.  Students take turns in turning over 2 cards (saying the cards aloud).  If the cards match then the student keeps the cards.  If the cards are different the cards are turned back over again in their original places.  The student or team with the most pairs at the end of the game is the winner.

Charades: Have a student come to the front of the class and show a flashcard or whisper a word to that student.  The student then acts out that word to the rest of the class and the first student to guess what it is can be the next player.  This works very well with action verbs. Split the class up into teams – the first student to guess wins a point for his/her team..

Pictionary: Good for reviewing vocabulary. Choose a student and show them a flashcard picture or whisper a word into their ear.  The student then draws the picture on the board and the first student in the class to guess what the picture is gets to draw the next picture.  This can also be played in teams with a point system. Better in teams.

Trashball: Students take a shot at the trash can/box/etc. First show a flashcard to Student 1.  If he or she answers correctly then they can have a shot at the basket.  If the student gets the trash in the basket then they win 1 point. The person  who gets the most points is the winner.  This can also be played in teams. A good game at the end of class for cleaning up..

Fish: Before this game you need to have the students in pairs draw and cut out a picture of a fish for each pair.  While they are doing that put 2 parallel lines of tape on the floor a few meters apart.  Have students play in pairs – each student behind a different line, facing each other with the fish in the middle.  The teacher shows Student 1 a flashcard and asks what it is.  If the student answers it correctly they can blow once to move the fish forward.  Next, the teacher asks Student 2 who can blow the fish back towards Student 2.  The student who blows the fish over their opponents line is the winner.

Memory : Split your class into two teams. Boys verse girls always works well. Put your flashcards face down on the floor. Then say the name of one flashcard and choose a student to find that flashcard. They only have one turn each. No multiple pickups. Then choose another student, and another etc. It is surprisingly simple yet the students love it.

Over-under:  Line up your student in two teams. Give the two students at the front each a flash card. When you say go, the first in line says the word and passes the flashcard over their head, the next student says the word and passes the card under between their legs, the student kid over, then under, etc. The last student in the line races to the front to hand the flashcard to the teacher and says the word. The first team to finish gets a point.

Backs to the Board Game: This one is good for higher level kids.  Make two teams and stand one student from each team in front of the board, facing away from it.  Place a flashcard picture on the board (e.g. “hamburger”) and the students have to explain that word to their team member (e.g. It’s made of bread and has meat and lettuce and tomatoe in it, you can buy it at Lotteria , [ a Vietnamese  McDonalds ], it’s got cheese and tomatoe sauce on it).  The first student to guess the word wins a point for their team.

Back to back Game: This game is really good fun.  You need some  tape. Pair up students tape a card onto each student’s back.  Both students face each other with hands behind backs waiting for the teacher to shout “Go!”.  At this point they must try to discover his/her partner’s hidden flashcard without letting their partner see theirs.  When the student finally sees his/her partner’s card s/he has to shout it out to become the winner.  .

Chase the Flashcard: Put your flashcards in corners, then call out the name of one flashcard. The last student to the corner gets eliminated. Do this until you have one person left. Good for smaller class sizes as you do not want the eliminated students waiting too long.

Products.

Here are some Flashcards for toddlers and preschoolers that won’t break the bank and are professionally made. Buy from Amazon for less than $10.00 per set.

Conclusion.

There are many more games for flashcards that you can find online. Also talk to other teachers and ask what games they use. We are a helpful group of people

It is a good idea to have some reward for the student or team. It doesn’t have to be big. A sugar free lolly or an eraser or pencil works fine. I save the points until the end of the class and buy an iced lolly for each student on the team. Vietnam is hot.

Flashcards are a great tool but use them wisely. If you use them all the time the students will become bored and you have wasted a good resource. I use them for 20 minutes in a classroom at the most, and not everyday. There are lots of other resources for visual learners as well. And do not forget the other styles of learning.

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact me. I always reply.

Steve

Any or all links on this site may be affiliate links, and if you purchase something through those links I will make a small commission on them.

There will be no extra cost to you and at times due to my affiliation, you could actually save money.

You can read our full affiliate disclosure here.

 

Tech Tools for the classroom

Teach Easy.

To make your life easier in the classroom (Public schools) it is advisable to have some tools available to help.

Why? 

Classroom sizes in Vietnam are pretty big. You can walk into a class of 50 students every day. If you are not prepared you will be exhausted by days end. You need help to project your voice.

What do I need?

First off a wireless headset with a blue tooth connection to a speaker will save your voice after a day in the classroom.

I currently use an “Aporo”  wireless headset and Sony 30 watt speaker (XB32). As well as this I run all my audio recordings through Google drive on my cell phone.

Any good wireless headset and speaker will work. I recommend you try before you teach.

My cell phone is also connected via blue tooth to the Sony speaker. I have pre-saved all my audio recordings to my cell phone and pre-program the tracks I need for the lessons ahead.

I also use a mini projector for any visual presentations and display it on a wall in the classroom. Or I use a whiteboard or a rollout screen. I also have the audio output of the projector connected to the Sony speaker.

If you want to make your classroom experience more exciting and easier for you, invest in your future.

Here are a couple of items that may help.

I hope this helps. Also, have a look at my other posts, they might even help you.

 How to teach English in Vietnam. – Teaching ESL in Vietnam 2021 (vietnamesl.com) 

Any comments are gratefully accepted and always answered.

Any or all affiliate links on this website may be affiliate links, and if you purchase something on these links I may make a small commission on them.

There will be no extra cost to you and at times due to my affiliation, you could actually save money.

You can read our full affiliate disclosure here.