Non evidence based teaching tips

 Here are a random collection of things which I think are really important but which are not really evidence based.

5. Deal with behavioural issues as soon as possible

If you’re like me, then having a student on their phone or basically doing something distracting will put you off your stride. I think most of the time, with adult learners there’s no malice, they are just thinking about their own problems.

If something is bothering you in class then deal with it as soon as possible. If a student is bothering you, then it’s likely they are bothering other students in the class. They suffer and you suffer. I usually ask to see anyone who is doing something they shouldn’t after the class. I don’t think this has to be a difficult conversation, just “don’t do X”. Setting clear rules on day 1 is a big help.

4. use coloured paper with wide margins and light ink when making cards

It might seem a bit “TEFL” for an EAP teacher but it really saves time. If you are producing cut-ups then pre-make a document which has side margins wide enough that you don’t have cut them at all. Make the spaces between the sentences as large as possible because there is nothing worse than chopping a few words off one set. Finally, print each set on different coloured paper to make them easy to sort.

3. Everything usually takes longer than you think

I have a compulsive fear of running out of materials before the end of the lesson and I know that I am not alone. I did have a tendency to over plan for a long time and end up not getting through the material. I’m better at this now, and there are some easy ways to control the time in the lesson. These usually relate to how you give the answers (just write them all up and let the students check themselves or nominate people and have others confirm the answers). You can also, – shock horror – do activities twice if you find you have too much time. It might seem lazy, but the students will probably benefit from the practice.

(I only actually ran out of material twice in 20 years, which isn’t bad.)

2. Learn student names

I’m not great with names but I make sure that I always do this in the first class. It’s really cringy by the third lesson to be pointing and saying “you” and I think it makes the classes less effective. If I can’t learn them because there are too many students, or because I will only see the group a few times then I give them a name plate of some kind.

1. Do the damn worksheet

This is a cardinal rule for me and yet the one that I observe the least, much to my detriment. Do the damn worksheet yourself. It’s only once you are in class that you realise that Q3 isn’t actually possible in passive, or that you can’t explain something about the grammar point you are supposed to be focusing on, or you don’t actually know why “pain” is countable in “what a pain”, or how to explain the word “innovative”, or why “try” takes infinitives and gerunds while”trying” only takes infinitives, and on and on for 20 years. It is only when you try to do the worksheet that you realise the planned activity is not physically possible or that it would take 2 hours to complete. Do the damn worksheet!

What are your basic teaching tips?