Learn English – Effective way to teach English for non-native high school students

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I am from India. I have been assigned to teach English for an academic outreach program for high school students in rural areas, mostly children of illiterate farmers. We have a 40 minutes session per week with 4 months to go. They have had English as a subject for almost 3 years but from the gathered information, their vocabulary seems to be poor and so is their grammar. Our aim is to equip them with essential tools that would enable them to understand the material and also enable them to translate their ideas to English. My co-instructor has the opinion of stressing on their school curriculum. We have a rough plan:

  1. Teach useful and frequently used words.

  2. Teach mnemonic tools to memorize the vocabulary.

  3. Ask students to speak on a subject and correct grammar afterwards.

The 3rd point received a lot of criticism taking into account of their shyness but I personally feel it a good exercise. There is also a general opinion that mnemonic tools would render any help in writing essay on a random topic. What would be an effective way to teach English language to students who have a little exposure to the language? Considering the limited time, how can we teach them to express their ideas in English?

Update

I was only able to contribute for roughly 2 months since I had to move to another country. The group of students were a broad mix with varying levels of proficiency. Some were at an intermediate level whereas some were absolute beginners. I cannot say for sure that the sessions were a success but I could feel honest enthusiasm on all of their faces, increasing session by session. Funny thing, help came from all over the IIT; students volunteering, researchers giving small talks, even the dean of sciences asking his PA to assist us whenever needed :). I thank all of you for your contribution to our humble effort.

Best Answer

You need to do the following things:

  • Create a strong context for the language you are teaching. Make it meaningful and important for them before you teach it.
  • Make sure your students get controlled and also free practice of the target language.
  • Build your syllabus around functions, and - as you have already mentioned - skills for independent and future learning. You only have 16 40-minute lessons lessons - don't try and teach a comprehensive grammar syllabus - it's a waste of time in this time frame. Give them 16 functions/situations and the grammar/vocab needed to be able to carry them out/negotiate them.
  • Train yourself up with non-intrusive correction techniques - hand signals, gesture, echoing, mouth movements. Never bother to correct stuff if your students aren't going to repeat it.
  • Don't tell your students things, ask them questions.
  • Make your classroom a rehearsal room for real life.
  • Your 11 hours of teaching amount to a puny input. The greatest and most important thing you can do in this time frame is to give your students an enduring enthusiasm for the language and for learning and to make them positive about what they can do, and what they could achieve. It is proven by research that it's virtually impossible to stop a motivated and enthusiastic student from learning language. Make sure this is what they are when you leave. You'll have set them up for life.

[You will of course want to plan your syllabus before you start. However, when you actually meet your students, you'll need to do a fresh needs analysis based on their strengths, weaknesses and learning aims during your fist couple of lessons. You'll then need to adjust your syllabus accordingly].

Good luck!

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