I have
been teaching my native language for many, many years and there
is one complaint that I continually hear from my students. The
teacher doesn't correct our homework textbook exercises.
Please, do
not be guilty of this! I realize that there is never enough
time to do everything in a lesson that last generally 50
minutes, but here I may have a solution for you.
Give less
homework! Let's say this. Give a homework assignment that you
yourself make up for the students to review the grammar points
in the lesson. This type of homework is much more valuable for
the students. It can also be a better way to evaluate their
progress. If you taught them the Conditional tense, then give
them some sentences to write at home to show you that they
understand how to use this tense. I know that it's extra work
for the teacher, but in the long run it's only right that the
teacher does her preparation, especially if she is asking the
students to do their part.
If you as
a teacher, feel that the textbook exercises are valid, then by
all means use them. Just remember that it's advisable not to
give them too many to do, especially if you don't have time to
correct them.
More than
once I found my students (those I give private lessons to) have
many uncorrected errors in the exercises they did in their
textbook. Perhaps you've noticed too, that the textbook
generally gives very little space to write the answers and so
the student is forced to squeeze in the answer, and later on he
can't even understand what he wrote!
This may
seem more like a sermon, but please, don't correct anything out
loud without writing it on the blackboard as well. The English
language is not phonetic and so there are many spelling rules,
silent letters etc.
Take the word... thought Here the "gh" is silent.
sail Here it's
pronounced exactly like the word "sale", but obviously the
meanings are different.
I won't
go into all the other spelling "complications" here.
The best
way of teaching English is to simplify everything that can be
simplified.
Stimulate
the students to "want to learn". Give them time to absorb what
you're teaching and then let them try it out as soon as
possible. In this way, the teacher can gain great satisfaction
as she sees her students progressing.
A Nice Thought
"I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think
about besides homework."