English Language Teaching Tips By Amin Sabzikar Houshmand Email: amin.sabzikar.houshmand@gmail.com

1. English
Language
Teaching
Tips
Tutor: Amin S. Houshmand
a.sabzikar@iaurmia.ac.ir

2. How to manage teaching &
learning?
• How should teachers use their physical presence in
class?
• How should teachers use their voices in class?
• What is the best seating arrangement for a class?
• What different student groupings can teacher use?
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

3. How should teachers use their
physical presence in class?
• Proximity
• Appropriacy
• Movement
• Contact
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

4. Proximity
Teachers should consider how close they
want to be to the students they are working
with.
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

5. Appropriacy
Deciding how closely you should work with
students is a matter of appropriacy.
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

6. Movement
Most successful teachers move around the
classroom. They can retain their students’
interest or work more closely with smaller
groups.
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

7. Contact
• Being able to move around the class
• Making eye contact with students
• Listening to what they have said and responding
appropriately
It is almost impossible to help students to learn a
language in a classroom setting without making contact
with them.
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

8. How should teachers use their
voices in class?
• Audibility
• Variety
• Conservation
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

9. Audibility
Teachers need to be audible. They must be
sure that the students at the back of the class
can hear them just as well as those at the front.
Audibility IS NOT shouting!
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

10. Variety
It is important for teachers to vary the quality of their
voices – and the volume they speak at – depending
on the type of activity.
e.g. the kind of voice you use to give instructions or introduce a new activity
will be different from the voice which is most appropriate for the
conversation.
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

11. Conservation
It is important that teachers vary their voices
throughout a day;
Avoiding shouting wherever possible;
So, teachers can conserve their vocal energy.
Conserving the voice is one thing teachers will want to take into account
when planning a day’s or a week’s work.
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

12. What is the best seating
arrangement for a class?
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

13. What different student groupings
can teacher use?
1. Whole class
2. Groupwork and pairwork
3. Solowork (individually)
Taken from Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English, Pearson, Longman

14. To be continued …
Tutor: Amin S. Houshmand
a.sabzikar@iaurmia.ac.ir
Mobile: +98 (0) 914 388 5094