Shaping the Way We Teach English, 2: Paths to Success in ELT

This course is aimed at English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, both those who are intending to pursue this field as a career and those already working in the field who would like to revise and refresh their methods and approaches. The materials and approaches presented should complement college courses such as Introduction to TEFL/TESOL Methods.

This five-week course explores important aspects of teaching English as a second or foreign language. The goal of this course is to help you become a better teacher. By the end of this course, you should be able to explain how the various materials and approaches presented will lead to better language learning; you will be able to choose appropriate materials and apply varied classroom activities to improve your students’ study of English. You will also be able to better evaluate both your own and other teachers’ practices.

This is the second of the two-part Shaping the Way We Teach English series. The first part is the Landscape of English Language Teaching. You can begin with either course.

Topics for Paths to Success in English Language Teaching include:

• Week 1: Integrating skills and using tasks to motivate learners; project overview, introductions

• Week 2: Alternative assessment that shows what learners can do with language; lesson plan phase 1 is due

• Week 3: Incorporating individual learning differences in instruction; peer and self-evaluations are due

• Week 4: Ideas for effective classroom management; final lesson plan is due

• Week 5: Improving practice with reflective teaching; final peer and self-evaluations are due