English teacher who teaches fun and engaging lessons to all age groups.

Good day,
I have taught English for the past ten years . And nothing has ever prepared me for what it is really like in the classroom. I taught students online through 51 talk and tutor ABC. This was an exciting opportunity but sometimes the students did not know even a single word of English. I tried implementing what I had learnt from my TEFL; realia , TPR, white boards, gestures, repetitions , songs etc. However, sometimes it was also a learning process for me when I met students who spoke very good English and had free talk lessons with me. We spoke about their cities, countries they had visited, their business ventures etc .
When I taught English in South Africa, it was more of tutoring than teaching. This was through KUMON Fourways in Broadacres. I sat with about six students at a given time, of different ages and levels and helped them with their home work. This taught me to multi task and how to best divide my time between my students.
Then i went to Japan, that is where i got most of my classroom experience. It was not only teaching but managing the classroom, classroom reports, assessments, daily reports, excursions, meal time monitoring, bathroom breaks everything. I feel I wore many coats at this institution because I was working with kindergarten students, the most delicate and difficult .Imagine teaching a three year old how to hold a pencil, use their reading finger, talking to such a young student in English only, helping them learn lines for Christmas concert or work on their routine for sports day.

When it comes to teaching methods, I prefer my students to be engaged. So I always had fun filled and engaging lessons. I tried to tailor make my lessons to fit the level of my students, challenge those doing well whilst encouraging those struggling. For those struggling, I would break their tasks into bite size pieces , so that they can get something the end of the day without feeling overwhelmed. I also tried to challenge other students by introducing more materials also bit by bit . I would pair students up of different abilities so that they can help each other, the stronger student would help the weaker student .

I also liked repeating fundamental basics such as numbers and phonics till a point it became second nature for my students. This was a daily activity . This was especially for the younger students. For my older students aged 5 to 6, we did a quiz game where I would ask them trivia daily and they would all take turns to answer , all under five minutes. They really loved it! And even my struggling students loved it and they knew the answers and understood .

I like to make use of songs and dances. I also like to break down materials into small chunks. For example instead of asking a student to read the whole page, I can put the words on a white board and play games with them so that when they go back to the book, they can recognize the words they had been reading .I also like my students to talk more and more so I patiently stir them towards the right path. It its online, i also have lots of reward systems to keep my students motivated .
Currently I am a masters student and i am teaching once a week at a nearby middle school. I have conversational classes with five classes. i try to make the lessons fun. Recently, we did a short Lion King drama, they had to do the gesturers when Simba was presented to the animals . They really loved it. Sometimes I find weather forecast presentation videos and mute the video and ask some volunteers to present. I feel this boosts their confidence.

I think the most important thing to do is to listen to your students . And then try to make it fun , educational and engaging. My goal is to make sure that my students learn something new daily. Thank you.