To teach English?

[Erwinski]

I‘ve been living in Germany for the past 15 years. Small village, quite remote and I‘m the only native English speaker.

Over the years many people (mainly older generation) have asked if I would teach them English. We get lots of tourists here so it would be a good skill to have. However I always declined, because I was busy with small children and my job.

Now my kids are bigger and I am only working part time. The local women’s committee have asked if I would run an English course for beginners- 10 lessons once a week, in a group of ten beginners.

I would really like to do it. But I have no idea where to start! Would it be best to do a topic each week, for example introductions and talking about yourself, basic vocab, shopping, asking for directions etc? It will be informal, no tests etc. Just basic English conversion.

If anyone has any tips or resources, I would be very grateful!

It sounds like a great idea! Twitter might be another good place to try to find resources.

The Excellence Gateway has some free to access resources

esol.excellencegateway.org.uk

The British Council also has resources aimed at adult English learners which might be a helpful starting point.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources/teaching-adults?_ga=2.188696936.1324095548.1690444398-402498719.1690444398

Find a textbook to use and base your lessons on the order in the book. Of course, don’t just use the book but it will give you the structure you need.

Twinkl has some entry level EAL resources

Could you undertake a short course in teaching English as a foreign language and then take up the offer? I imagine there are plenty online. Or do a full TEFL course and turn it into a career with some longevity - it sounds as though there islots of local demand.

There's a lot more to the best processes of teaching a language effectively than being a native speaker (albeit being a native speaker is excellent for those learning who want meaningful practice in conversation).

I agree that a TEFL course would be enormously helpful. There are grammatical aspects of your own language you don’t even think about, because you’ve absorbed them from birth, but non-native speakers have to learn them.

It is quite a different thing from (say) a native English speaker teaching French or German to a class of English speakers.

At the very least, a book of grammar for speakers of other languages would help. When I was teaching EFL it was by Thompson and Martinet, and was my ‘Bible’ for whatever point I had to teach.
A grammar book aimed at native speakers will not be nearly so helpful.
Nowadays there will be plenty of resources online, too.

I agree with @GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER and @dontgobaconmyheart - there's a lot to think about when teaching the language that you may not consider as a native speaker. Thompson and Martinet is also my go-to resource for reference, but you might benefit from getting copies of English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy. They are written for students, but are an excellent starting point for working out what to focus on in lessons. I think there are online TESOL courses you can do now, which would cover the basics of teaching. Also have a look at cambridgeenglish.org, which has free resources for teachers. Good luck - I started out dabbling in teaching to support my love of travelling, and I'm still in the industry over 30 years later!

Thank you so much for all the great links and ideas!

I am really looking forward to it. However I am really happy in my career and not looking to take this further. It is something I would have loved to do full time. Maybe in another lifetime!

This really will be just teaching some older ladies how to have a basic grasp of English. Not quite the same but DC are trilingual (DH is French) so language learning had always been a hot topic in our household. Find it so interesting!

@Erwinski with those language-learning skills in your family, sounds like you'll have a lot of fun!