Teaching Beginners is a much different animal than teaching any other level. Since the students have such a low level of language, you have to really change up the entire approach and lesson structure. Some general tips are to...
1. Hardly ever speak and only use the target language of the lesson when you do.
2. Drill, drill and then drill some more. (And then drill even more).
3. Plan out exactly what you want your students to be using and stick with that.
4. All mistakes need to be corrected.
5. Even at the lowest levels, still work on contractions and natural language.
6. Use your body and picture to teach words. Avoid any kind of verbal explanation when possible.
7. Build up your language points slowly and don't jump all over the place.
8 Assume that they know nothing and teach/introduce all language one point at a time.
Introduction to the 5 points (stages)
From observing and teaching hundreds, if not thousands of lessons, I've devised a pretty effective method for making beginner levels work. Like with all lessons, it's crucial to plan your activation/lesson goals and then work back from there. I call these steps The 5 Points. Let's take a look.
Point 1: Drill and Learn Vocab
Introduce your lexis one by one and drill them. Have the students say the word multiple times and correct for pronunciation and speed. Give the students a basic study to help them practice the words more after you've introduced everything. I usually start off the first study with a gap fill to get them practicing writing the word. After the first study, go back to the board and drill the words again, but this time with the board erased. For example you might hold a picture of your word up and students have to say what it is. Do this multiple times until they have it down completely.
Point 2: Practice Word (s) in their Context
Once the students have the individual words down, work on your grammatical structure/context. For example, you might teach a lesson on what people are wearing/clothes. Try to elicit the response 'I am wearing a shirt' and write that on the board. Have students practice this response. Drill it until they have the language point down and then they can substitute with other articles of clothing. Have them really practice these responses and don't move forward until the exercise becomes easy for them.
*If you know the grammar is completely new for them, you'll have to review those structures as well.
*You can always add a written study if you wish here.
Point 3: Work on Questions
Elicit out 'What are you wearing?' Have students practice the question. Drill this until you are confident that they can say it on their own without the use of notes and without language difficulties. Then practice the question and answer (previously drilled) in groups. Have them go back and forth with multiple students until the language sounds natural. Jump in and error correct as needed. If they have it down, you can always work on speed, volume, contractions and other things.
*Go through your whole dialogue this way. Practice the response, drill it multiple times and then practice the question, and then drill them both together.
Point 4: Dialogue Formation
At this point your students have practiced asking and answering a series of questions (I usually do about 3-6 questions total with beginners). Now it's time to begin to put it all together. Have them practice the entire dialogue (without really using notes or the board) as a full class first with your assistance. When you feel they've got it, put them into groups/pairs and have them go through it multiple times. You can switch the groups/pairs up to make it new, but get in these reps. Beginners need a lot of practice. If you feel it's getting to repetitive, work on speed/contractions/volume/fluidity.
The questions here might look something like
What are you wearing?
What is she wearing?
What is he wearing?
What are they wearing?
Etc.
Point 5: Realistic Dialogue (Activation)
This part is very similar to Point 4, but it adds natural sounding language. Look at your dialogue and add basic language points like greetings/goodbyes/commenting on something/adding new details...whatever you want. The idea is to make the final dialogue sound as much like natural/authentic language as possible. In this stage, students can add some previous learned language to the dialogue to build it a bit. You will also probably have to add some language and help them. Practice it a bit as a full class and then put them into groups.
At the end of point 5, your students should be sounding almost like regular people having a conversation. Sure, it's going to be basic, but the goal is to make it sound REAL.
You can use this setup with any material you're teaching with beginners and the method works great.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Chris Westergaard
The Language House TEFL
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