Successful Strategies for Teaching English in Middle School

周美蓮

Every person， despite whatever the science says， has a different approach when it comes to learning a new language. Learning is a very complicated process that requires information to be processed in a scale that can lead to a permanent change in our behaviors. The learning process itself is not so observable that we are not sure when it starts and when it finishes. The most important thing we dont really know is that how much information we should present to the learners so that the learning process can take place effectively. The way we behave and perform， which can be observed and tested， can give us the answer whether the information presented before was learnt or no. What is really struggling for educators in almost every field， especially for English learning， is that sometimes teenagers （and adults） might do great on a written test， but might also fail using the same knowledge in a real life situation. Whereas， they can use this knowledge very efficiently in a real life environment， but when it comes to a written test， they perform a really low score.

Middle school is the crucial time for students to prepare their English comprehension for high school and later on college， which makes the teaching methods teachers adopt during this period extremely important. Teachers in middle schools have long been regarded as the most important tutor for English learners. It is also pointed that teachers should guide students to improve in every field of English learning， including developing good habits， adopting effective methods and nurture self-learning ability. What the English teacher really need to do， is to teach students how to learn English with or without the guidance of a teacher.

The role of the environment

Environment can play a critical role in developing language abilities. Try to think about how did you became native in your own language. You didnt study any particular grammar when you were 6-7 years old， did you？ Probably you didnt deal with a big amount of books， either. Most of us didnt even know how to write properly， right？ So how we became so good at our own language？ How we possess all these skills to communicate with no barriers， to express our emotions and to protect our beliefs and opinions？

This process started as early as when we were just newborns， getting cuddles from our loved ones in every different emotions and expressions. Gradually， we started to understand these patterns and connections that exist among them， which gives us the ability to communicate with people and environment around us.endprint

If a language needs to be learnt， the childrens environment should be designed in a way that they would use， listen， and learn from it. At these ages teenagers are very good at behaving and “acting like” someone that they see as an example. You will understand this when you think about how come that a 3-year-old boy has been singing “Hello， how are you” song for the whole day. Teachers， the ones with whom students spend at least 8 hours a day in the school， are clearly the one students choose to learn from； therefore， it is teachers natural responsibilities to create an environment in which students can fully listen， speak and think in English.

How to create an authentic environment for students？ First of all， to eliminate the fear of English-speaking students in class， teachers should adopt the approach of “making mistakes does not matter”. Encouragement and positive attitude should also be given to enhance students confidence of speaking up. Whats more， creating more opportunities for students to speak English more often should be taken into consideration too. Additionally， activities like creating the English corner， holding English recital contest， giving introduction in English and singing beautiful English songs should also be conducted to provide students with the opportunity of actually using English.

Think as teenagers

Middle school revolves around the troublesome ages between 11-14， which means an even more troublesome time for teachers to maintain classroom management while dealing with adolescent behavior and attitude. Many middle school students need guidance not only in English learning， which means that they need a confident， flexible and enthusiastic teacher who is willing to put in the extra hours and work to yield the most success. Laying a foundation for middle school students is a difficult position， but those teachers with patience， a good sense of humor and a passion for teaching will ultimately build intelligent and strong students ready to take on the world.

Remember that children， especially teenagers in middle schools， are always tend to object to the orders of teachers and parents； therefore imperative sentences， such as “Dont do this”， “Sit Tight”， “Dont move” and so on， have been knowing to have an adverse impact on teenagers effective learning. Proposed statements， like “Lets not do this， shall we？” or “Could you finish this page tonight？” should be made if a positive learning experience is expected to take place.endprint

Self-awareness starts to grow at this age， so teachers should also pay closely attention to the emotional stages of adolescent students besides taking care of their score in the exam. Everyone， teenagers are not excluded， would have much more to talk about if the topic is about the person himself/herself. Teachers can therefore ask questions with focus on individuals in the free talk section， including “How do you spend your day？”， “Whats your hobby？”， “What do you want to do in the future？”， so that students would be encouraged to speak more than usual.

Being recognized is also an important part of learning process for students， especially the students from rural area. For some certain type of students， opening up to talk about something is even hard enough for them， so just imagine being denied or criticized by a respected ones. Try as much as you can to encourage and praise students for their confidence building. Teaching which appeals to learners needs can facilitate learning. The students will gradually become into English as long as they can gain positive feedback during the process. Meanwhile， a teacher should also praise the students who is not so good but is making progresses. Remember to let them know that you have seen their endeavors and encourage them to reach greater progress.

Make it interesting

Studies have shown that teenagers at this age might easily lose interests on a given task， unless the task is easy to comprehend and fun to learn. To make it interesting for them， we might consider giving easier commands， which is easier for them to understand what to do， what to say， how to say it and when to use it. Our goal would be realized when a student can start to understand the difference from “happy” and “sad”. If they can change their physical state from one to another， or if they can see someone being “happy” or “sad” they can tell “he/she is happy” or “he/she is sad”.

Games， including drawing in boards or role playing， are also a good choice to make them follow you. Always remember to keep the task as short and as simple as you can， including questions contain information about what， where， when， what， who， which and how. This is also a pretty good way to improve students oral English and creativity， asking them to act like someone that people are quite familiar with in the daily life， e.g. police， doctors， teachers and so on. A competition between two groups is also desirable， in which students can be more competitive so that they would perform or speak even better.endprint

If the lessons topic are directions， then you might consider adding some physical activities and challenges to make it more interesting with focus on students effective variables such as sharing， caring， team-work and group decision making. You can design the challenges with focus on the basic directions “l(fā)eft， right， forwards and backwards” and then building up to a harder challenge as the students complete all the tasks. The rule here is pretty simple：make sure that the challenge （task） that you introduce to them in the beginning is easy to complete， so everyone can succeed， guaranteeing their participation in the next task.

If we have to teach recognize a unit that has to do with animals， instead of showing them an animal picture， saying its name and repeating till theyre stuck into their head， we can try and imagine how it sounds， how it walks （moves）， so we can create an “Animal Walks Challenge”. In this way， we can cover both their needs for moving， having fun and leaning something new in the same time. Likewise， if the lesson is about teaching some basic verbs， then we should get the students into some actions by pointing out what kind of actions they are doing. In this way， they will understand what does “climb”， “throw” and “catch” mean.

I believe that these students should be able to actively participate in what theyre being taught to and respond to the bases of what they have heard， rather than making them talk in an environment that they are not interested in.

Useful English comes first

Nowadays， English teaching tends to focus more and more on communicative competence. To develop students communicative ability， we need to make sure that what we choose to teach is really useful in the real life.

It becomes tricky when teachers talk about what to teach first and how much information is enough for a student to accumulate. Apart from “ready to go” books， I believe that useful stuff should come first. For example， teachers should have a clear idea of what kind of knowledge is important and what isnt. We have seen students that do extremely good in the tests， but they have a very poor performance using this knowledge in a real situation. There is not a clear relationship between the ability to do something and the ability to teach something. A good athlete may not be a good teacher. One of the reasons is that teachers must be able to translate the content to be taught for the learner. They must know the content in a different way， and they must be able to design learning experiences for the learner that lead the learner to higher levels of ability with that content.endprint

It seems a bit challenging for teachers to Integrate oral and written English language instruction into content-area teaching， and if you do think so， try to adopt some following methods. First， strategically use instructional tools—such as short videos， visuals， and graphic organizers—to anchor instruction and help students make sense of content. Also it is of importance to explicitly teach the content-specific academic vocabulary， as well as the general academic vocabulary that supports it， during content-area instruction. Daily opportunities for students to talk about content in pairs or small groups are also a crucial component of English studying. Last but not the least， bear in mind that teachers should provide enough writing opportunities to extend students learning and understanding of the content materials.

If we want to be successful in a basketball match， we first have to master the shooting ability so we can score and win. However， we have to practice that shot a million times until we can give the same successful performance over and over again. When it comes to language patterns， nothing changes. The learner should have enough time and opportunities to listen， pronounce and practice.

The awkward age that ranges from around 11 until 15 is a challenge for even the best of teachers， but by patiently planning lessons and spending time with your students in the school， you will ultimately be amazed by what differences you are capable of making. To make a better future for the students， perhaps that is the only unchanging direction of every teacher in the world.endprint