سيرين,  

Actually, the problem of pronunciation, as I said before, should be taken into account by the teachers themselves. Teachers should improve their pronunciation in order to teach their students the right pronunciation of the words and to make them understand what they hear well. In this case they can speak fluently without constraints. But unfortunately, some teachers mispronounce some words, even the simple words and, consequently, students learn from them the wrong accent  
Also, there are some teachers from other fields who take the responsibility of teaching English at schools.    
Reading  before listening also is another factor for mispronunciation because students may pronounce some words as they are written without recognizing that there are some exceptions or that these sounds are pronounced this way.  
Actually I have a lot of ideas about the problem of pronunciation and how to try to deal with it .. but I will explain more later  

They say like that because they learn the new language in a way that they dislike   Teachers used to teach in the traditional way and as we know at this time students hate everything traditional .. If teachers try to think to teach in a way that they think their students like, everything will change  
Teaching through games is a very effective method for our students .. Nowadays we have thousands of games for each level and age in some websites which facilitate for the teachers the burden of thinking   The only thing teachers can do is to surf the net and find an interesting and useful game for his students and he will see the benefits  

Thank you darling for your participation  

 
pure rose,  

You are the most welcome darling  

You are right .. and teachers have to listen to these cassettes because they are the main source for them before entering the class .. but as you mentioned not all of teachers deal with this thing seriously   They think that they have good pronunciation and listening to these cassettes is just a wasting of time  
 
  that's what should be done .. However, if teachers can't do this, because as we know it will be cost, they can do the listening exercises at school with the students   They should focus on the listening skill because it is like the other skills. Most teachers ignore the exercises which have the cassette sign next to it, and when a student asks about it they shut him up!  The only exercises that are given to students are either the writing ones or the grammar focus ones.  
Thank you for your participation        

 
حسامي,  

you are right .. but we have to try to discuss as many problems as we can   and I'm happy with these great participations from great members    
Actually I like the way you mentioned your ideas   .. You mentioned a very sensitive point which was about age.  
If we want to consider “age” as a factor, it is hard not to mention Krashen’s clear distinction between the younger learners and the older ones: “adults and older children in general initially acquire the second language faster than young children (older-is-better for rate of acquisition) but child second language acquirers will usually be superior in terms of ultimate attainment (younger-is-better in the long run).”


Many researchers argue about this point and there is still a conflict about that. Most people argue that younger students are more apt to learn languages and maybe that is due to the “plasticity of a young brain”   They are enthusiastic for learning and their “curiosity” to discover the world around them also helps a lot. Some teachers find it difficult to teach young children because they need individual attention from their teacher. Thus good teachers should encourage learners to get information from a variety of sources, and work with them individually and in groups and have flexibility in moving from one exercise to another.  


In my opinion, Adolescents or teenagers is the most difficult period when it comes to teaching   because as you mentioned above they have a  turbulent mood which some teachers don't know how to deal with   ....... Most of them, if not all, seek “individual identity”, and they try hard to get their peers’ attention by their doings whether positive or negative      they may be disruptive in class which may happen when they are trying to get their “self-esteem and peer approval”  
Thus, it is teacher’s responsibility to involve them in the learning process, and to get use of their energy and enthusiasm when doing something they like, “teenagers if they are engaged have a great capacity to learn, a great potential for creativity, and a passionate commitment to things which interest them.” So teachers can involve students in classroom materials and in the same time pay attention that s/he is still preserving their self- esteem and individuality of identity  


I like your point here   dealing with adults is different from dealing with children or teenagers .. they often have a clear understanding of why they are learning this new language and there is also a kind of indirect competition among them to be superiors


Well .. this sentence attracts my attention   of course this is your opinion and I respect it    but I want to ask you a question       If you are teaching adults and their background is not good .. I mean they are not educated enough because, for example, they didn't have qualified teachers, good environment, ... etc. Can you deal with such students easily? Do you prefer, in this case specifically, to teach young children instead of them?  

I'm waiting for your comment and I'm really happy with your great participation    

 


Allow me to make it crystal clear I don't intend to discredit universal facts on language acquisition and even learning acknowledged by scholars.  I'm just trying as a teacher to keep a sense of balance between job requirements and personal preferences.

Teaching kids or teens requires a considerable degree of classroom management which usually badly affects time management and eventually the actual time devoted to teaching-learning.  From a social perspective, adults are basically known for self-discipline which is supportive to the learning-teaching process.  Usually but not always classroom management is mastered at the expense of time management. It follows that less classroom management means more time available in the hands of the teacher.  Actually, I prefer any class which requires less classroom management.  

The level of students matters for me; it is accurately determined with a placement test and of course the higher the level is the easier for me.  Adult students of poor level may be difficult to teach but easy to deal with.  In contrast, if teens or kids are of poor level, it adds fuel to the fire: more teaching and more classroom management.  This is the point.  Finally, there are some techniques which could be used to teach adult students of poor level in particular and students in general which we could cover if you like.

Salam...

 
حسامي,  
I'd like to say that your comments and replies are really valuable  

Yes, of course and I appreciate that   .. Teaching a new language is not easy as some people claim, we have to do our best in order to be content of ourselves and try each difficult step .. we have to practice and learn from our own mistakes   ..
I like your comment about classroom management  :wink

 

OK guys .. where are your comments??   Who has other problems to mention and discuss?    ...

OK. I want your opinion about this point    
Some teachers are used to speak Arabic for almost all the time and speak English for about just 20% because their main interest is to let the students understand what they are teaching them   What do you think ??  

 
أندلسية,  
I liked your comments    Thanx


Actually that's what's happening in our schools   Teachers think that if they explain the lessons or the grammatical rules in the mother tongue, students will understand what teachers are saying and thus it will make less effort when it comes to speak in Arabic. However, this is a big  problem  and a negative way that teachers think of  
Why don't we consider that our students are good ? .. Why do we let them get used of this way of teaching English? ..   We should consider that students follow the way that their teacher follows; especially the young students. When teachers speak in the target language, they will get used of this way and will be, unconsciously, obliged to understand what's going on.  

A very good question  
First of all I'd like to mention a point that should be always in our minds     we MUSTN'T say that it's the fault of the previous teachers    It's now our duty to let them forget their teachers' terrible previous way of teaching and let them get used of our new modern good  way  
 
I'm not saying that teachers should neglect Arabic language and shouldn't use it in teaching   No .. We can begin by using Arabic, for example, in the first session. In the next one we can minimize talking in Arabic and we can mix between the two languages .. Keeping in mind that you should share the students with such ways .. I mean you have to encourage them to speak in English even if they make mistakes   After you make sure that they can understand your way of teaching and can understand the language you are talking in, you have to minimize it until you keep saying just in the target language  

Last but not least   what about the low level students??  
Do you think, as a teacher, that all the students in the same class are of the same level? Of course not .. they are of different levels and for that we can't depend on the way that suit the low level students   we have to go step by step .. we have to support them to be creative and encourage them to be very good  .. We have to think of ways that make them love the language and make them participate more .. What about the group work?   I think this is a good way to let all the students get the benefits from each other and let them express their opinions and thoughts  
Students can’t learn how to speak unless they hear the English language from their teacher first and from authentic materials used in the class second. So, when the teacher speaks English in the class, the students will listen to the language and they will be able to communicate with the teacher and the other students in the target language.
 
حلواني,  
Thanx for your participation   please read my comment above