How To Teach Monolingual And Multilingual Classes As An ESL Teacher?

TEFL teachers come across various batches of students while teaching English to them as their second language. Teaching monolingual groups or classes required different methodologies than teaching multilingual classes. While pursuing 120 hours of TEFL course in Kolkata English teachers got an insight into numerous teaching methodologies of global standards.

Let’s see what is the basic difference between a monolingual and a multilingual class.

A monolingual class is having students where students speak the native language that is common or L1. While teaching abroad, ESL teachers generally come across a monolingual batch. If you’re teaching a batch of Spanish students in Spain and all of them are having Spanish as their native language, it is a monolingual class.

A multilingual batch, on the other hand, is a culturally and linguistically diverse batch and these are mostly found in a native-English speaking country. These students speak more than one language and they’re learning English as the only common language. Being linguistically diverse, their mother tongues are also different.

Some common facts about monolingual and multilingual batches:

 

Based on these facts, EFL teachers have to go for the lesson planning to teach the English language to students. An ESL/EFL teaching includes exclusive ESL teaching methodologies that are relied on these traits. Having said that, EFL/ESL teaching nowadays can be conducted from being at home (online) as well. Teaching onsite and online also creates quite a bit of difference.

Let’s dig into certain specific points that ESL teachers must keep in mind while teaching these types of classes online or onsite.

If you’re teaching English online, make sure that most students will have the element of culture shock and on top of that sheer nervousness of being in a country where English is the native language. But there are ways to make the scene comfortable and convenient for them.

• The lesson planning should be personalized as per the intelligence or capacity level of the students so that they do not feel left out. They must be able to express themselves.
   
• While conducting classroom activities it will be your responsibility to pair up students according to their potential. A certain online ice-breaking session must be conducted before switching to assignments.
   
• You must encourage peer learning. This helps students learn from each other and motivates them to continue to learn outside of the classroom.
   
• Students must be given a chance to speak and express their viewpoints. For that, you can provide multiple topics to students and ask them to choose one they feel they’re comfortable with.
   
• Try to keep one-to-one tutoring or doubt-clearing sessions at the weekends. You will understand how your students are progressing and students will be able to get rid of hindrances if any, they’re facing while learning English.

When you get a chance to teach abroad in a multilingual or a monolingual class, remember that students are coming back from different socio-cultural backgrounds. Like you’re not fully aware of their cultures, the same goes with them. In the case of a multilingual batch, students among themselves are not fully aware of each other’s culture. In a monolingual batch, it is true for both parties.

 

• To begin with, ask your students how they want to learn English as it is going to be absolutely a new language to them. Try to know how they solve their problems and how seriously they are eager to learn English. By doing so you’ll understand how you should frame the lesson for them.
   
• They should be taught 4 stages of learning a language reading, writing, listening, and speaking minutely as they’ve to communicate.
   
• Once you start teaching ESL physically, try to set light rules so that there is mutual respect between you and your students and also among themselves.

So we hope that we have made it quite clear how to be an efficient ESL teacher in both multilingual and monolingual classrooms be it online or onsite. If you want to be an internationally accredited TEFL certified EFL/ESL teacher, call our toll-free number at 1800-212-6400 or reach out to us at +916292137532.

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