Learning about Engage, Study, Activate for the first time

One of the topics on the TEFL Lemon course that particularly stood out for me was Unit 4, comparing and contrasting the Present, Practice, Produce strategy against the Engage, Study, Activate strategy. I’m still working through this course, but as my original TEFL course didn’t mention anything about ESA, I thought I would try it for a few weeks. I found that through engaging the students with realia or a short story about the lesson’s topic, more of the students were listening and interacting during the lesson. My previous method of simply jumping into the content of the lesson left many students bored and easily distracted, but through building the students interest, they were far more engaged and likely to stay on task. 

You don’t need to jump straight in with the ESA approach

I have also found myself using the information covered in the unit on lesson planning into account when preparing my own classes, particularly the Engage, Study, Activate approach. I have traditionally used the PPP approach where I jump straight into the lesson by presenting the vocabulary and structures, then play games or have students perform different activities during the practice portion of the lesson. After two weeks of adapting to the ESA approach, I’ve found that my students are more interested in the lesson and content by piquing their interest with a variety of realia and stories to introduce the topic.

I’ve found the units on tenses quite useful, as studying them has provided a reference for me to use when needed, and left me feeling more confident about teaching in the classroom. 

Classroom management can be a struggle for TEFL teachers

Classroom management has always been at least 70% of my struggle during my four years teaching ESL. My previous TEFL was lacking in this area so it was both interesting and useful to read this unit. Although I have already set classroom rules with students, I haven’t implemented any kinds of routines before. Simple things such as having students turn on the computer and explaining that we should have our desks cleared apart from our textbooks and pencils when class start has helped save time. Rewarding different students with being able to help the teacher write the rewards chart on the blackboard every lesson also promotes motivation as well as rapport to a lesser extent. I have also changed my pathetic excuse of a comprehension check, ‘Do you understand’ to asking Instruction Checking Questions (ICQs) to ensure that students know what the task/ activity entails.    

Supplementary materials creates interest in learning language

Using supplementary materials is something I haven’t really utilised before, although on reflection, I can see that there are a number of benefits to using them. When I think about my experiences of learning a second language in secondary school, the stand out lessons were always the lessons which involved our French teacher bringing in various snacks, realia, music or clothes for the class to use. This didn't only create interest in the lessons but also gave us an insight into different facets of French culture. 

by Daniel Shaw