Teachers’ Problems in Teaching English as a 2nd

Foreign Language Learner Video of a 2nd Language Learner<br>

English as a Second Language(ESL) Teaching process and how hard it actually is to teach !!!!!! You can get an idea from the video you have just watched.
Not Just Classroom Teaching
It soon became clear that, besides concerning myself with the issues of my actual teaching I needed to understand and make decisions about many other issues that surrounded and permeated ESL classroom instruction.”
-Helene Becker ….What are those issues
Teachers have to keep in mind all those factors that retards students learning. e.g.<br>

Important Issues a) Background knowledge
b) Culture
c) Linguistic challenges
d) Emotional Challenges
e) English, is the Tool, students need to succeed in all walks of life.<br>

Problems In past we didn’t have good listening aids.
Listening lab & headsets
Textbooks & our Students’ level
English , only in English classes?<br>

Teacher centered classes vs learner centered
Out dated teaching methodology
Lack of innovation
Heavy teaching load
Large classes
Insufficient credit hours
Carelessness<br>

Linguistic Problems Arabic alphabet and script:
right to left

cursive



1<br>

Adjectives/ prepositions Wrong use of Adjectives due to mother tongue influence as in Arabic Adjectives come after noun they modify. Examples
He is a boy tall.( Incorrect)
He is a tall boy. ( correct)
Sea red ( Incorrect)
Red Sea ( Correct)
Staff English (incorrect)
English Staff (Correct)<br>

Syntactic errors In English, items in a series are separated by commas, and the coordinate conjunction 'and' is used just before the last word.
On the other hand, in Arabic, each item in a series is preceded by the conjunction 'wa' which is equivalent to 'and Example
For, them not to hate me they need to respect me and realize how much I love them and how hard I work for them. (repetition of “wa”)<br>

Capitalization No concept of capital letters in Arabic. afterwards i want to get a university level education in the united states
last but not least, if i was giving an animal a shot i have to make sure that i am giving it in the right place.<br>

Pronunciation and spelling Saudi students replace /p/ sound with /b/
e.g. bebsi instead of pepsi
Blay/ play
2. They pronounce letter (e) even when it is silent.
Come, people, cycle etc. knowledge,<br>

Verbs No ‘be’ verb in Arabic
(e.g. My teacher very smart)
Instead of
My teacher is very smart.
I am go there ( Wrong use of “be”)
Problem of regular & irregular verbs.
Come, Comed, Comed<br>

Discussion What differences are you aware of between the Arabic and English language (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, rhetoric, literacy, script, etc.)?
Do they create problems for the target language learners?
How might these differences affect English language learning of Arabic speakers?
What are other factors a teacher must focus on besides teaching the language?<br>

Suggestions<br>

Suggestions Library & English newspaper
Original books
Access of internet in library ( to serf edu.sites.)
Study trips
Informal meetings of students & teachers.
Separate exam facility
Permission to give listening exam before writing portion.<br>

Conclusion In a nutshell, I must say we can be better teachers and impart better knowledge to our ESL learners if we can overcome all above mentioned problems.<br>