If you have 15 minutes to spare, you might want to look at this video/podcast on how to keep your learners interested. It's based on a talk given by Penny Ur who wrote 'A course in English Language Teaching'
Click here
I hope that you feel a bit more confident about being in the classroom and are willing to experiment in your approach. Think about the following:
a) Give the learners meaningful practice - beyond the gap fill! How you can encourage the learners to collaborate with each other? For example, if you want the learners to ask each other questions, do they have to have the same questions? Can you divide up tasks so that learners ask each other different questions, perhaps to complete a questionnaire or a table?
b) Personalise the language (Jo Gakonga mentions this). Individuals like to relate language to their own lives so ensure the learners have opportunities to talk about their own lives.
c) Vary your approach. Avoid lots of PowerPoint slides with lots of text on them. You will need to provide the learners with input but there should be a balance between teacher talking time and student talking time.
d) Think about warmers that 'sparkle' - that get the learners interested.
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