Aihua

See also: Dealing with young students; Locations of teaching; Teaching resources and training; Teaching responsibilities and Being a Teacher.

Program Specific Objectives and Teaching Guidelines

Overall School Objectives

Enable our students to be comfortable in an English speaking environment.
Develop our students’ English listening skills, and assure that they speak English confidently and with clear and natural accents.
Develop our students’ reading, writing and grammar skills, so that they can do well in any English examinations that they take.
Allow our students to feel comfortable with foreign people, and develop friendly relations with our foreign teachers.
Grant our students familiarity with western culture.
Create a courteous, friendly and mannerly school environment, and so instil these virtues in our students.
Create a warm, friendly and fun learning environment, so that students will be eager to attend their English classes, and eager to learn.
Foster self discipline and effective study skills in our students, which may be transferable to other subjects.

Do
Be in the school 15 minutes before classes begin.
Greet all parents, students and colleagues that you pass in the hallways warmly and in English.
Attend to the needs of all of your students.
Insist on discipline and good manners from students inside and outside of class.
Consider each class that you take as an individual challenge, and do everything you can to meet the specific needs of each of these classes, in order to achieve maximum learning results by the end of the term.
Prepare your lessons thoroughly and with logical timing and development.

Don’t
Put down your head and hurry in and out of the school ignoring students and parents as you pass them.
Ignore students who have fallen behind in class.
Allow students inside or outside of class to behave in an unmannerly and disruptive fashion.
Go into class with the mindset that if you can just survive for 40 minutes you will receive payment for teaching this class.

Supertots and Pockets

Objectives
Take advantage of the receptivity of very young students to language learning.  Use this window of opportunity to teach them to use English freely, and with a natural accent.
Allow our students to feel comfortable around foreign people, and help them to dispel their fear of the unknown.
Enable our students to learn in a warm, fun and interesting environment.
Introduce students to ways of learning language.
Begin to socialize students. Teach students manners and courtesy, and how to get along with others.

Do
Teach songs and nursery rhymes.
Review songs and nursery rhymes each class.  Produce a song and rhyme book of what the students have learned.
Play games.  Have fun.
Be patient.
When teaching Pockets, borrow material from Supertots, and familiarize yourself with the Supertots teacher’s book.

Don’t
Put too much pressure on the children.
Become frustrated.
Overuse flashcards or worksheets.

Phonics Fun and Magic Phonics

Objectives
Teach students how to physically produce the sounds used in English, and strengthen the muscles involved.
Teach students to sound out words, so that they are able to begin reading English.
Prepare students for other Aihua classes, where they will need reading skills to support the other English skills that they will learn.

Do
Focus on developing students recognition of the sounds associated with various letters.
Show students how sounds are combined when letters are joined.
Teach students to sound out and recognize words.

Don’t
Produce the sounds in isolation from the letters.
Spend too much working on sounds singly.  Begin to combine sounds and letters as soon as possible.
Use the phonetic alphabet.

Superkids 1-2 and Backpack 1-2

Objectives
Teach students the basics of the four skills of English (reading, writing, speaking and listening) with special emphasis on speaking and listening.
Teach English in a context that is useful to the students, so that they can associate what they learn with their daily lives.
Make the students feel comfortable around foreign people.
Instill courtesy and good manners in our students.
Create a fun and friendly environment in the classroom, so that students are happy to attend classes, and eager to learn.

Do
Teach the sentence as the smallest unit of language.
Ensure that all students have adequately achieved learning objectives.
Teach in reference to the Superkids story.  Refer to the Pocket Book.
Use posters.
Correct all errors of pronunciation or grammar.
Keep control of the class.

Don’t
Overuse flashcards, or focus too much on vocabulary.
Pass over a student until he has adequately answered a question.
Allow one word answers.
Lose control of the class.
Allow students to speak in Chinese in the class.

Superkids 3-4 and Backpack 3-4

Objectives
Teach students the basics of the four skills of English (reading, writing, speaking and listening) with special emphasis on speaking and listening.
Teach English in a context that is useful to the students, so that they can associate what they learn with their daily lives.
Make the students feel comfortable around foreign people.
Instill courtesy and good manners in our students.
Create a fun and friendly environment in the classroom, so that students are happy to attend classes, and eager to learn.
Prepare students for Junior School English entry examinations.

Do
Teach the sentence as the smallest unit of language.
Ensure that all students have adequately achieved learning objectives.
Teach in reference to the Superkids story.  Refer to the Pocket Book.
Use posters.
Correct all errors of pronunciation or grammar.
Keep control of the class.
Ask open questions of students (who, what, when where, why, how.)
Maximize student talking time: minimize teacher talking time.
Bear in mind that students are preparing for important English examination in their public schools, and assure that their grammar and reading and writing skills are strong.

Don’t
Overuse flashcards, or focus too much on vocabulary.
Pass over a student until he has adequately answered a question.
Allow one word answers.
Lose control of the class.
Allow students to speak in Chinese in the class.

Superkids 5-6 and Backpack 5-6

Objectives
Teach students the basics of the four skills of English (reading, writing, speaking and listening) with special emphasis on speaking and listening.
Teach English in a context that is useful to the students, so that they can associate what they learn with their daily lives.
Make the students feel comfortable around foreign people.
Instill courtesy and good manners in our students.
Create a fun and friendly environment in the classroom, so that students are happy to attend classes, and eager to learn.
Prepare students for Junior School English entry examinations.

Do
Teach the sentence as the smallest unit of language.
Ensure that all students have adequately achieved learning objectives.
Teach in reference to the Superkids story.  Refer to the Pocket Book.
Use posters.
Correct all errors of pronunciation or grammar.
Keep control of the class.
Ask open questions of students (who, what, when where, why, how.)
Maximize student talking time: minimize teacher talking time.
Bear in mind that students are preparing for important English examination in their public schools, and assure that their grammar and reading and writing skills are strong.

Don’t
Overuse flashcards, or focus too much on vocabulary.
Pass over a student until he has adequately answered a question.
Allow one word answers.
Lose control of the class.
Allow students to speak in Chinese in the class.

Get Ahead

Objectives
Consolidate what students have learned in Superkids.
Enable them to revisit the English taught in the Superkids, and this time use it fluently, naturally and instinctively.
Help students to achieve a level of fluency in English, and communicate naturally and comfortably with the foreign teacher.

Do
Teach from the book.
Encourage students to use the English being taught for purposes of real communication.
Use role plays and situational dialogues.

Don’t
Teach the way you would teach Superkids.
Overuse flashcards.

New Interchange

Objectives
Bring students to a level of fluency suitable for communicating freely with foreign people.
Assist students to reach a level of English suitable for studying abroad or working in an English speaking company.
Help students to develop an understanding of western culture and western ways.
Help students to speak freely in English about everyday issues.

Do
Facilitate discussion.
Encourage students to speak out and discuss topics.
Encourage students to express attitudes and opinions.

Don’t
Lecture, or spend too much time speaking.
Teach in the way that you would teach Superkids.