Confident English in 10 Easy Steps – Part 1

Good Morning & Happy Monday!

Today's article deals with helping ESL learners build confidence when speaking.

I hope you & your students enjoy it!

Thank you for visiting & have a great week!

Confident English in 10 Easy Steps – Part 1

It is natural to feel shy when speaking another language. I learned three new languages besides English, so I know all about this! You can overcome shyness – I promise you that .  In fact, you can make your shyness work for you, as I did.  You can use your shyness to become a better speaker and to become stronger and more confident.


Here are 5 ways to help you become more confident when you speak English:

1.  Be proud of yourself for learning a new language!
It takes work and intelligence to learn a new language.  Be proud of yourself for being able to do this.  Many people are not doing what you are doing! 

When you learn anything new, you will make mistakes. Learning from your mistakes will make you a better speaker.  Mistakes are a part of life. People forget this, and are afraid to make mistakes. When you are afraid of mistakes, you stop trying.  When  you stop trying, you can't learn. So don't let your fear stop you!


2.  Take baby steps.
Learn something new each day – no matter how small. Practice new words that you learned, new sentences, and in new situations, even though you feel shy. 

When you practice little things, your English will improve and your shyness will disappear faster.


3.   Remember this: People  are pleased when you try to learn their language.
People like it when they see you trying to learn their language.  They don’t care when you make mistakes. This is a form of flattery.  

Trust me: when I see people making mistakes in English, I don’t care about it in the least.  I only think about trying to understand the other person.   

Also, remember that people are not thinking about you.  Most people are too busy thinking about themselves! So say what you want to say and move on.

If you still get nervous, you can start like this: 

         I hope I’m saying this correctly, but... or 
         I’m not sure how to say this, but...   

When you become more comfortable, you don’t have to do this anymore.


4.  Practice in front of a mirror.
Practice what you learned in front of a mirror, so that you can see yourself.  You will feel embarrassed at first, but feeling embarrassed when you are alone will help you stop feeling embarrassed when you are with people.

5.  Practice with complete strangers.
Speak with one person per day, every day.  Use the telephone,  if you must. 

Choose different places – for example the post office, shoe store, library, supermarket . Start by asking only one question, then increase to more.

Practice these tips today!  

Tips 6 – 10 will be posted next week!

ACTIVITIES

* What is something new you tried that you are good at now?
* What are some tips that you use to help you build confidence?
* Why do you think people feel shy when speaking another language?
* Some people think that English is a hard language to learn. Others say it is easy. How do you feel about English?
* What are some websites that you use to help you learn English? Why do you like them?

Thank you for visiting!

Faiza Raintree

How to Make Mondays Your Best Days

Just another Manic Monday! How many of us sing that to ourselves on Monday morning? I used to hum it to myself on Monday mornings when I was young.

I used to hate Mondays!

When I first started teaching, years ago, I dreaded Monday mornings, more than anything. Fresh out of school, and used to sleeping in, I found this new Monday morning work routine agonizing. On top of this, I had little second graders and was quite young myself (I graduated from college at 19). Honestly, if my classroom hadn't been directly across from a secretary's office, I would probably have put on a documentary and dozed at my desk! As it was, I had enough trouble keeping students busy on Mondays while I got myself together.

Things got better.

Over time, thankfully, I've learned to plan better, and have developed some strategies to make Mondays as good as any other day (at least for students!). 

Here are some things I do to help myself & my students thrive on Mondays.

1. Plan Mondays & Tuesdays on the Friday before.

This includes having all copies made and placed in a special folder on your desk. Ideally, we would have planned the whole week, but plans change as the week progresses anyway, so it's not always feasible or possible to do this. In any case, I've found that planning Mondays and Tuesdays gets me to Wednesdays even, much of the time, since I don't always accomplish everything I've set out to do.

 

2. Keep your Substitute Folder well-stocked.

I like to keep at least 5 copied activities in my Substitute Folder. This is great for emergencies, like when you have to be absent unexpectedly, or are out of commission mentally (this seems to happen most often on Mondays!). 

3. Learn about a few simple games and activities that you can use.

Choose activities that don't require making copies. Sometimes I'll use a page from a textbook as a guide, for example using a page of adjectives to have students guess synonyms & antonyms. Students can then write a describing paragraph using these words. Another game students enjoy is playing 20 questions in pairs, using class dictionaries. Or, try these activities from onestopenglish.com: Teaching English with Minimal Resources.

4. Have a Monday Morning Folder

Get a colored manila folder and, yes, label it Monday Mornings. Also, create a folder on your computer Desktop labeled Monday Morning. When you come across a simple, high-quality language activity that your students enjoy, save a copy of it in this folder.

To Really Make Your Monday Mornings Shine:

Visit my blog! I plan to have something for you here, on my blog, every Monday morning. Each Monday post will feature a quality ESL activity suitable for the first morning of the week. You can use this activity first thing in the morning, or for any day you feel like doing something a little different, but still easy. Hopefully, you'll like the activity enough to save it to your own Monday Morning folder.

All activities posted on Monday fulfill the following criteria:

1. They require no preparation except copying a single page.

2. They take at least 30 minutes to complete & can be extended to 50 minutes.

3. They build language. 

I hope you'll look for my post & worksheet first thing tomorrow, Monday morning! 

Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow!

Back to Bed!

Once, many years ago, I got ready to go to work after staying up late the night before. It was snowing badly and I really didn't want to go. My mother-in-law was visiting that week and I wished that I could spend the day with her instead. (I have this really wonderful mother-in-law. Don't know how I got her, but there it is.). Anyway, when I got to school, I was the only one there. It was a snow day and I hadn't heard. This story reminds me of that day.

LEVEL: Beginner 

PRE-READING 
1. Do you go to school, or do you have a job?

2. How do you get to your school or job?

READ THE STORY

Ted is a student. He does not have a car. Ted goes to school by bus. Ted waits for the bus at the bus stop.

Sometimes the bus comes late. Most days, there are a lot of people on the bus. When there are a lot of people on the bus, Ted must stand. Ted likes to sit so that he can read his book on the bus. Today, there are only a few people on the bus. 

Ted is surprised. Why are there so few people on the bus? Ted sits and reads his book. When Ted gets to school, there are no students! 

Ted sees his teacher Mr. Ames. 

Mr. Ames says, "Hello Ted, what are you doing at school today? There is no school for students!"

Ted forgot that there is no school today! Ted goes back to the bus stop and waits for the bus to go home.

Ted says to himself, "When I get home, I'm going back to bed!" (163 words)

A. ORGANIZE STORY IDEAS - Cause & Effect

Complete the graphic about Ted, below. List the effect of each cause. Use information from the story.

B. CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Read each question and answer it.

1. Does Ted have a bicycle?

2. Does Ted like to sleep?

3. Where does Ted's bus go?

4. How many people are on the bus?

5. Where does Ted wait for the bus?

6. Is Ted’s teacher surprised to see him?

7. What does Ted do, when he gets home?

 To download & use as a worksheet, click on the icon below.