50 Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together
However, when you begin teaching it can be quite difficult to know what stu-
dents are likely to comprehend at each level and few EFL teachers follow the
same students from beginner to advanced level.
So to give you a guide, the next sections offer a basic run down of what you
may expect to teach students at the different levels. I include a list of gram-
mar and vocabulary students should cover during the course, along with
examples.
Unlike many other courses people enrol on, EFL courses can be for adults
or children and include students with an incredibly wide range of interests
and goals. However, their basic needs in learning are similar. For example,
all students want to learn how to speak about the past, present and future in
English.
Beginner
Beginner-level students aren’t necessarily children. Many people discover a
need or desire to study English later in life. Students at beginner level can’t
speak or write accurately in the present simple and present continuous
tenses. Those who know some words in English but aren’t ready to join ele-
mentary level are called False Beginners. When there’s no distinct beginner’s
class, beginner level is absorbed within the first 15–20 hours of an elemen-
tary course. This is a difficult level to teach as you have so few words to work
with when explaining things but it’s also very rewarding because every new
word marks significant progress for the class.
Grammar to cover includes:
✓ The subject pronouns: I, you, he, she and so on.
✓ Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
✓ Question words: what, who, where and how.
✓ Possessive adjectives: my, your, his and hers.
✓ Singular and plural nouns.
✓ Expletives (not the naughty ones): there is, there are.
✓ The verb to be in positive, negative and question form: I am, I am not, am I?
Vocabulary to cover includes:
✓ The alphabet.
✓ Numbers 1 to 100.
✓ Jobs: doctor, teacher, taxi driver.
