“IMPORTANT STEPS ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOURSELF AS A TEACHER”

1. KNOW YOUR WEAKNESSES. KNOW THE SOURCE OF THE FIRE.

The best way on how to put off a blazing fire is to determine where its source is and to use all resources available to stop
it. It's the same way in solving a problem, or, moreover, in improving one's self. It is not enough for another person,
who may be your supervisor or your boss, to tell you about your flaws. It is important that you yourself are aware of
them and have the will power to change.

These are the areas wherein some, if not most, teachers usually need to improve on:
• Grammar
• Pronunciation
• Confidence and passion for teaching

Once you have found out what your weaknesses are, it would be easier for you to find specific ways on how to improve.

2. SEARCH FOR METHODS ON HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE.

For teachers who need to improve on grammar:

There are many ways on how to improve one's grammar. Grammar may be a broad and complicated subject matter for
some people; but, like any subject or course (such as Mathematics, Science, etc), it can be studied and learned. The
question is, how?

Here are some effective ways in studying and learning grammar:

• Keep in mind: “A subject is only as difficult as you believe it to be.”
• Study. Studying will increase your knowledge about grammar; and thus, help you improve significantly.
• Be patient. Observe how your students learn and try to learn from them.
• Practice. Practice. Practice some more. There are several tests that are freely available in the internet.
Some of these are:
◦ http://www.examenglish.com/TOEIC/TOEIC_reading.htm
◦ http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEIC/pdf/TOEIC_LR_sample_tests.pdf
◦ http://www.teflteachthai.com/cgi-bin/quiz.pl
◦ http://www.english-test.net/esl/learn/english/grammar/ai673/esl-test.php
◦ http://www.english-test.net/esl/learn/english/grammar/ai006/esl-test.php

For teachers who need to improve on pronunciation:

• Admit that you need help. Ask a speech teacher to help you. Some might find this quite embarrassing; but
what is more embarrassing is when you had to speak in front of a large crowd and you're unsure about how to
pronounce a simple word. There is no shame in admitting one's weaknesses and flaws.
• Determine, with the help of the speech teacher, which sounds you find difficult to pronounce. It's
helpful to know the basics in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).
• Focus on improving your difficulties. Once you have known the target sounds of your pronunciation-
improvement activities, you focus on them.

• Pronunciation-improvement Activities:

1. Practice everyday for at least 30 minutes.

• There is no way around it: the only way your pronunciation will improve is if you practice,
practice, practice! Your pronunciation will not magically improve just because you’re speaking
English. The sounds of English may be very different from the sounds in your language. It may
be difficult and even uncomfortable for your mouth to make some of the sounds in English.
• You need to practice with a purpose. Practice the sounds of English until they feel as natural and
comfortable as the sounds of your language. It won’t happen overnight, but gradually your
pronunciation will improve.
2. Decide what accent you'd want to have (American, British or neutral).

• There are many different kinds of English accents. The two most common are British and
American. There are many different accents even within British or American pronunciation, but
most learning materials will help you learn either a standard British accent or a standard
American accent.

• American pronunciation and British pronunciation are completely different. The consonant
sounds are the same (except for the letter ‘t’ and an ‘r’ after a vowel), but the vowel sounds are
very different. The British accent has more vowel sounds, and some vowel letters are pronounced
differently.

3. Have a background on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a collection of symbols that represent the different
sounds of a language. When you know the all the sounds of English and the symbols that
represent those sounds, you will be able to pronounce any word in English.
• American Pronunciation:
▪ http://www.learnersdictionary.com/help/faq_pron_ipa.htm
▪ http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
▪ http://www.rachelsenglish.com/sounds
• British Pronunciation:
▪ http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/
▪ http://www.stuff.co.uk/calcul_nd.htm

4. Find a way to check and know the correct pronunciation of the words you encounter.

• The longer you say a word incorrectly, the harder it becomes to learn to say it correctly. You’ve
developed a bad habit, and it takes a long time to break a bad habit! This is why it is so important
to learn the IPA and use dictionaries specifically for English learners.
For example, let’s say you see a new word when you’re reading a book: permeate. How do you
pronounce this word? Simple. Check the dictionary. Online dictionaries provide you not only
with the IPA of the word, but also an audio file on how it is said. Some of these online
dictionaries are:
▪ http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/
▪ http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/

5. Watch English movies and speech videos and listen to dialogues.

• American Accent:
▪ http://www.youtube.com/TeacherMelanie
▪ http://www.youtube.com/JenniferESL#g/c/81BCA0A2CB139CB7
▪ http://www.youtube.com/AccurateEnglish
▪ http://www.youtube.com/RachelsEnglish
▪ http://www.youtube.com/user/SeattleLearning
▪ http://www.youtube.com/evaeaston

• British Accent:
▪ http://www.youtube.com/thephonevoice
▪ http://www.youtube.com/user/VirtuAule01/

6. Mimic what you hear.

 • To ‘imitate’ means to copy someone/something, to do something the same way, or to do the
same things as someone else. Do you really like the way someone speaks English? Try to copy the
way they speak.
• This is a great activity to try: Close your eyes while you’re listening to something in English
(podcasts, songs, TV shows, movies, etc.). Listen carefully to what the speaker is saying and try
to make the same sounds. Choose a word or sentence, and listen to it many times.
• Here are some resources that are useful for this:
▪ http://www.englishteachermelanie.com/listening/
▪ http://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html
▪ http://www.youtube.com/dailydictation

7. Listen to the English sounds carefully over and over again.

• Before you listen to an English podcast, song, etc. read the words first. Highlight, circle, or
underline the sound you want to work on. For example, if you have trouble with the /I/ sound,
highlight all the words that you think have the /I/ sound. Read the passage out loud to yourself,
focusing on the words with /I/. Listen to the podcast (or song, etc.). Can you hear the /I/ sound?
Practice the sound by trying to imitate what the speaker is saying.

8. Record your own voice.

• It’s important to hear what you sound like speaking English so you know what you need to improve!
You can compare what you sound like to what you want to sound like. For example, you record
yourself reading a sentence from one of my podcasts. Then, listen to me say the same sentence and
compare your pronunciation.
• If you don’t have any recording software on your computer (like Windows Sound Recorder or
GarageBand on Macs), you can use a web-based audio recorder:
▪ http://vocaroo.com/
▪ audioboo.fm/
▪ soundcloud.com/

• You may also be able to find a cheap digital voice recorder at your local electronics store.

9. Use pronunciation books or online resources.

• Here are the two books that I use to understand and teach American pronunciation. Check your
local library for these books. If you attend a private language school, ask if it has these books. If you
live in a large city, look for these books at an English bookstore. Buy these books online.

▪ Mastering the American Accent– Lisa Mojsin

This is quite possibly the greatest book on American pronunciation for both
teachers and advanced learners! It does not go through each and every sound
(like the book below does). It focuses on the things that will help a non-native
speaker speak with a standard American accent (like the kind you hear on CNN!):
difficult consonant sounds, linking, syllable and word stress, intonation, and the
difference between casual and formal speech. At the back of the book there is a
‘native language guide’ that explains what different nationalities (Chinese,
Spanish, Russian, etc.) need to focus on. The book also includes 4 CDs so that the
learner can listen to someone speaking almost every exercise.

▪ English Pronunciation Made Simple – Paulette Dale and Lillian Poms

This book explains each individual sound in standard American English, as well
as all the other elements of spoken English: rhythm, stress, intonation, consonant
 clusters, plurals, contractions, past tense verbs, etc. This is a great book for
teachers to use as a classroom textbook as there are a lot of exercises teachers will
find useful in the classroom. It is better for teachers than for students, as the 2
included CDs don’t say all the words and exercises. This book also helps to learn
the IPA as it uses the IPA symbols to help explain American English
pronunciation.

10. Let a speech teacher (professionally trained) evaluate you.

• When your pronunciation is evaluated by a teacher, he/she can tell you exactly what you are doing
right and what you are doing wrong. He/She can tell you exactly what sounds you need to work on
to sound more like a native speaker.

For teachers who need to be more confident and passionate about teaching:

(a) PREPARE. The best way to improve one's confidence in teaching is to prepare and to know the lesson
well enough to be able to teach it to others.
(b) DON'T DOUBT YOURSELF. If you have studied and prepared for your class, there is no reason for
you to doubt yourself.
(c) APPEAR CONFIDENT.
1. Don't slouch.
2. Stand up as tall as you can.
3. Put your shoulder blades down and back as far as possible.
4. Pick your chin up and look straight ahead.
5. Do exercises that would improve your posture.Don't slouch.
6. Stand up as tall as you can.
7. Put your shoulder blades down and back as far as possible.
8. Pick your chin up and look straight ahead.
9. Do exercises that would improve your posture.
(d) DON'T TALK TOO FAST. Instead, enunciate the words that you say in order for your student to
understand you better.
(e) SMILE. Smiling helps the body calm down and would really help you look confident, depending on how
well you do it. Smile as if you're smiling to a friend and not as if you're having an I.D. pictorial.

Among all of these, passion is the most difficult to attain because it must come from within ourselves. It surely
isn't easy to like something that stresses you; however, if you take yourself out of the picture and focus on your students,
helping them and touching their lives, then, you would feel a deeper connection with teaching and a higher sense of
achievement that is so much more than what you're earning.

3. DO.
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither
working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” Ecclesiastes 9:10

4. EVALUATE YOURSELF.
Make a checklist of the things that every teacher needs to accomplish for every class and assess yourself with all
honesty by the end of your class on how you handled your student. You can also make use of self-evaluation
sheets for teachers that can be found on the internet:

• http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/transform/teachers/teacher-development-tools/create-development-
portfolio/self-evaluation
---- -----------------------
pull pool

pulled pooled

wood wooed

would wooed

should shoed

could cooed

full fool

soot suit

hood who'd

look Luke
-- -----------------------

ship sheep

fit feet

bit beat

sit seat

knit neat

rich reach

pit Pete

gin Jean

chip cheap

six seeks

list least

hill he'll

filled field

mill meal

ill eel

is ease

itch each

pitch peach

liver leaver