Many languages of the world are regular in the way that they are structured. This makes English grammar very difficult for thousands of students whose first language follows a consistent grammatical pattern. Although there is nothing anyone can do about the irregular structure and the exceptions in English, it might help to build  self-confidence and success if we stress the similarities, give plenty of praise and provide interesting activities.

One approach that is the most helpful, is to use a program that provides an opportunity for the students to use the content in a variety of different ways. They need to practice it orally in the whole class setting, in the small group setting, with a partner and individually in writing.

While they are working orally with the whole class, perhaps asking each other questions, one of the most helpful things the teacher can do is to:

“Catch them doing it right”!

When an insecure student answers correctly, recognize his or her correct answer by saying:

“Good”
“Great!”
“You’ve got it!”
“Cool!”
“Awesome!”
“Way to go!”
“You’re getting there!”
“You’ve got it right!”
“Now you’re talking!”
“That’s first rate English!”

At first they won’t understand all these words of praise but they’ll soon learn them. This approach will give even the most insecure student a boost in the way they feel about learning English and greatly increase their self-confidence. Unfortunately, if these phrases are used too often they will lose their effectiveness. For best results control your use of them and use them randomly.

Throughout every lesson the most important factor is to maintain a positive feeling about learning English. If the students feel that they are successful then it’s likely that they will progress very well.
Here are some types of activities that will help to achieve that goal.

These activities have the students working:

• in the large group where the teacher can provide positive feedback
• in groups of three or four that allow the students to ask each other questions and compare their answers with the ones provided in small print.
• in pairs where they can answer using their own situation
• in competitive teams where they ask each other the questions. The answering team gets a point for each correct answer.
• question and answer activities (with the answers provided) that can be done outside of class time with a friend.
• competitive games such as Word Bingo.

Choose the suggestions that match your style of teaching. Many teaching approaches are needed to accommodate the needs of the variety of students worldwide.