TEFL Techniques: Read the Signs! When learning a new language there are four key skills to master: reading, writing, listening and speaking. As you develop the skills, so you develop your competence in the language, and your confidence to use it. As a teacher of English as a foreign (EFL) or second (ESL) language, I have a confession to make – I’m pretty hopeless when it comes to learning another language! This is in part a deep-seated laziness; in part the fact that I speak English like a native (I am one!); and in part a lack of practice. So to learn a second language (and English is one of the best one’s that you can learn, especially for Business use), you need to: a. Want to learn!; b. Master the four skills; and c. Practice.

The first point is the desire, which the EFL teacher has to assume – without that desire in the student, we might as well both stop wasting our time and money! Secondly, the four skills – it’s the teacher’s job to deliver interesting and relevant sessions that teach all aspects of the language. Third – practice: but how? Try reading, watching un-dubbed Video and DVD, or best of all, find a native speaker and speak to them! Back to basics though: vocabulary and pronunciation. In my own experience, the reading and understanding are the easier parts of the learning process. The speaking requires vocabulary and grammar – and practice. So use the first two to develop the second pair!

Read the signs. By this I mean read out loud with your teacher or with a native speaker everything you see. Including road signs, which are excellent for practicing pronunciation: I do it all the time when travelling abroad, which probably really irritates my travelling companions, but it sure helps me get my lips, tongue and pallet around the foreign sounds. I learn new words along the way. Wandering around a place like the Eden Project in Cornwall, or a museum in Salisbury or London can have the same result – read the signs (as both student and teacher), read them aloud, and both learn new words and how to say them.

Andrew is a qualified TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher, with 15 years experience of the global Automotive Industry as a Sales manager with an International component and systems supplier. For more information about learning English with Andrew at his home in the UK, visit the Lets Talk 2 website. http://lets-talk2.com/_wsn/page2.html