Student Level: Beginner
👨🏫Anyone who has tried to learn a foreign language will be familiar with the experience of quickly learning the kind of short, frequent expressions and phrases spoken daily. Used enough, we don’t even need to think about how to say them. They are prefabricated ‘chunks’ of language that can be used to perform specific communicative functions. That is why phrasebooks are so popular with holidaymakers. My dad, for example, can expertly order a bottle of red wine in five different European languages🤣!
Learning useful expressions should not be overlooked in the classroom. They provide a shortcut to language learning, demonstrating to students that all the new words and grammar they are learning can be used to say something worthwhile.
The following is a list of classroom expressions I encourage my students to learn and use both with me and each other:
| Nice to meet you. Nice to see you! Can you repeat that, please? May I borrow a …….please? How do you spell…….? What does (new word) mean? How can I say (first language word) in English? Can you help me? May I use the restroom? I don’t understand. Please be quiet. See you tomorrow! Have a nice day! Have a lovely weekend! See you later (alligator!) |
How to Teach Classroom Expressions
👨🏫You could hand out a printed list of target expressions and instruct the students to practice and memorize them. In some cases, for older students, this may be enough.
However, I prefer to introduce one expression on the board at a time and explain its meaning at the beginning of class. This makes it easier for the students to focus on each expression and begin to digest the new ‘chunk’ of language.
Once an expression has been taught, I try to remember to incorporate it into my classroom speech so that students can notice me using it and imitate it.
I also display the new expression on the wall. This helps students to become familiar with it and refer to it when needed. For example:
Once the students have been taught several expressions, it is essential to review them and keep the cycle of usage going so that they eventually use the expressions almost as if they were a single word. Here are a few review exercises:
Exercise 1. Concept checking questions
👨🏫The teacher asks the class a series of prompt questions. For example:
What do I say/ask when I want to know how to write a word correctly?
…..when I didn’t hear something?
….when the student next to me is being too noisy?
Exercise 2. Act it out
👨🏫The teacher writes down an expression on a piece of paper and gives it to a student or a pair of students. The aim is for the student to act out (or mime) the context for using the expression, and the other students must try to guess.
For example:
The two students are studying next to each other. One acts like they have made a mistake and looks inside their empty pencil case. They nudge the student next to them. The target expression is:
‘May I borrow an eraser?’
Exercise 3. Mouth the expressions
👨🏫The teacher begins by silently mouthing out one of the expressions. The students then have to try to lip-read what the speaker is saying. The student who correctly guesses the expression can then take their turn, silently saying another expression to the class, and so on (at this point, take a seat!).
Exercise 4. Word quizzes
👨🏫There’s nothing wrong with a few good old-fashioned word quizzes to recycle learned language!
One simple quiz is to scramble up the letters of the expression and write it on the board. The students then have to race to unscramble it. For example:
oeeetsNiyuco = Nice to see you
Another fun activity is to draw the expression on the board using picture codes, similar to a form of hieroglyphics. The students always have fun trying to work them out. Here’s a couple for you:
Answer: See you tomorrow
Answer: Nice to meet you 😎😎😎
.
I have a comprehensive list of these puzzles in my book, The Emergency English Teacher, which is filled with engaging games and activities designed to enhance your students’ English skills. It’s perfect for when you need to fill in that bit of time at the end of a lesson.
Teacher Notes
Whenever I notice one of my students correctly using a taught expression, I always try to praise them (even if it’s just a fist bump!) to reinforce their efforts.
Students will still sometimes forget to use the correct expression. For example, something I hear is,
“Teacher (…..) spelling?”
It is easy to answer them, but this only reinforces a bad habit. If they have learned the correct thing to say, it is time for them to start saying it. At this time, I look at the expressions on the wall or point to the student’s notebook. They soon work it out.
The trick with teaching expressions is to keep at it. It’s the same with anything you teach in the ESL classroom. Not to teach something and then move on, but to continually review and encourage its use. The students will be happy using expressions because they are using English confidently without error, and you will feel satisfied because you can see the students effectively using something you have taught them.
This honestly isn’t a posed photo🤣🤣
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Ok, that’s it. Let’s move on to a lesson plan for teaching nouns.