Our Unit 871 Instructor, Caleb, remarks on the strategies for success that led to Class Alpha’s remarkable improvement this year.
Class Alpha wrapped up with an impressive result this year in Lana’s English Training Program. In previous cohorts, Alpha starts at about Book 10. Yet, this one started at only Book 6. A few of the students could barely speak and barely understand spoken English. Despite this, the class finished with 8 out of 11 students finishing with a score of 70% or more, and our highest scoring student obtained an 86%. In this article, I’ll be sharing some strategies for success that led to these achievements.
On our final day of class, I did something that I hadn’t done since I was 15. I had each student put his name on a blank piece of paper, then everyone sat in a circle and passed the paper to the left. We had 3 minutes to write one positive comment on that person’s paper before we passed the papers again. Eventually, all 12 papers had 11 positive personal statements on them. Later that day, I would see the men, opening up these papers and reading them again and again during breaktimes. I felt we had a great deal of positivity and enthusiasm in this particular Class Alpha and I later reflected on some of the reasons why that was the case:
Lead by example
I asked a lot from the class, to always be prompt, participate in class, do the homework, and speak English in class. This isn’t always easy for people to do, and although I do enforce it for all students, I also enforce it for myself. I can’t ask someone to be on-time for class unless I’m always early. I can only ask students to participate in class if I am interacting with them myself.
Confront problems, not people
Whenever there is any issue like, comprehension, motivation, or discipline, I try to focus on what the problem is and what possible solutions can be. This makes it less personal and therefore people will be more interested in making changes and not feel the need to defend oneself.
Catch them doing it right
Although much of teaching involves pointing out errors and giving a correction, this can leave a person feeling defeated. So, I also make a point to notice a student making self-corrections and avoiding common errors. It’s helpful to remind a person when he/she gets it right and how it will help being understood in another language.
Get used to reminding
Often after correcting a grammar mistake, I had to later correct it again and again and again. For example, verb tenses are a continual challenge for Vietnamese speakers to consistently use. I can explain, illustrate, use in controlled practice, implement in free practice. Yet, this is something that will still be a challenge and it takes intentional patience to remind and remind without giving up. Eventually, students begin to self-correct, but it takes time.
Persist with people who persist
Some of the students who improved the most were the ones who were initially the weakest. It’s easy to want to teach people who can learn quickly and easily. But I told them in the beginning, “You don’t have to be the best, you just have to keep trying. Don’t give up on yourself, and I won’t give up on you either.” Even the weakest student was able to show improvement, and never got demoralized.
Connect present practice with future goals
Much of language learning involves very tedious detail work, drilling and memorizing. Many times, on small pronunciation difficulties or grammar problems, I would take the time to show how this correction made them more comprehensible and would help avoid future difficulties. It might seem like a side-track or diversion. But I found that it allowed students to be more assertive in their improvement and self-correction. If students don’t know why a change is needed, it’s very hard to make the change at all.
After graduation, I called Alpha back to our classroom and gave final thanks and greetings. I gave some posters out to some of the students: most improved, best effort, most helpful in class, etc. I also let them know that I thought they had the best cohesion, enthusiasm, and teamwork of any of my classes thus far. This was no flattery, but the honest truth on my part.