Barnes Method English TM
How to suddenly enjoy English, learn lots and find yourself speaking English perfectly
For Advanced Students
An advanced student doesn’t have to learn more English. They can already communicate. So its important to teach them useful things which add
something to their lives. I recommend:
Learn the things for your job. Ask students about their jobs and offer to let them bring work books to your class.
Learn things about money. A student has asked me many times to help him with his bank account (he used to work in a bank aswell). The student is paying complete attention to whatever you teach them and will remember more if the subject is important to them. I have found money to be an amazing motivator for me learning a 2nd language. I will read a foreign magazine for hours because of the money hidden inside the language (i’m going to find more of it). If you want to
double the students motivation then use:
Friends and Relationships. If you can teach a person the skills to talk to the opposite sex they will find themselves happy to practise and may keep their teacher longer. Social skills are a great
motivator.
Do what you love. What do you love doing? If the person loves History (some people do) then grab a 50p history book from a charity shop and make them read it. In terms of pronunciation you can have a student read their favourite subject and correct/explain as you go along. This type of class is maximum benefit for student and teacher.
Most students are happy to learn by themselves and just want a teacher to correct them. Give them what they want.
Read a newspaper. Specifically, read your favourite section. Girls go to the Star signs whilst Guys go to the Sports. In London they give Free newspapers in the street and there are local free papers elsewhere in the country.
Study for an exam. These include the Cambridge First Certificate (FCE), Cambridge Advanced Certificate (CAE), IELTS, English GCSE.
Having an exam to study for gives you a definite target. Cambridge covers 5 parts of English and so will offer you a variety of skills which you can use before, during and after the exam. IELTS has no pass grade and the English GCSE is taken by English people at 16 so its a good comparison to native English.
Learn idioms and phrasal verbs. These give you an extra something and link the other parts of English together. An idiom often explains certain situations very effectively. Phrasal verbs are a part of native English. We (English people) don’t ever learn these and so we my find them hard to explain. They are worth studying and a quick tip
is that: Phrasal verbs are usually 2 words which mean the same as 1 word e.g. carry on = continue
Newsletters. Every website has a newsletter nowadays. Type in your name/nickname and email address and you will receive free
information on your favourite subject. They usually arrive every 7 days which gives you plenty of time to read the best ones.
Learn from many methods and sources. Every method and techniques has several benefits. Some are better for memory, others for
pronunciation and native English is the best thing about a few methods. You will get the most learning from the most sources. And the patterns you make will be more accurate. If 3 different
methods all say the same way to learn Verbs then you know learning this way is a good idea. I meet students who studied with only 1 method before me and they were sure about the things they knew. To be sure you need to hear 3 different people say it correctly for example, then it will be obvious this is correct.
Music. I remembered every word from every song I listened to when I was young (and still now I think). I even remember words from Portuguese artists and I don’t speak Portuguese fully yet. Get the music from your target language. And make patterns. I heard students say they only want to learn British English and English culture is quite Americanised anyway. If you learn American and
English together you will hear the similarities between the 2. Then you will realise if a word is used in both countries its essential to remember.
Techniques to Use with Every Stage
Patterns. A pattern is when we do things 3 times. 3 times is a pattern.
1st time: it could be a coincidence;
2nd time: lucky;
3 times: it’s a pattern. Something is happening here. Its repeatable and predictable and probably
worth remembering.
Teach students in 3s. They understand patterns. It’s a thing humans understand. With pronunciation I suddenly write 3 words with the same letters an ask them to pronounce.
Sometimes they realise that I wrote them because they sound the same and say them correctly for
the 1st time.
You can say things in a pattern.
Sequence: How do we remember days, months, numbers and similar things. Through sequence
and due to this being popular in every language we can make use of it. A student didn’t pronounce Thursday correctly and mixed it up with Tuesday (as many people did). So I say the days either side of Thursday: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday then Thursday, Friday, Saturday then Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday.
Then I ask the student to say all the days to me in sequence and they do so perfectly.
This technique makes use of patterns (do things 3 times), grouping (days) and of course sequence.
I use this for numbers aswell and because the student already has numbers/days stored in their
mind this way. They recognise it immediately. It is familiar, which is according to Virginia Satir the
greatest need within humans.
Personal Flash Cards: Students often have plenty of time to, learn new things. A spare hour or 2
during the day and sitting on the train/bus staring into space. I began reading because I had a 1.5 hour journey to college everyday. Reading seems very exciting when there was nothing else to
do. Teachers can create flash cards from the improvements the student must make. Students are
very willing to use the cards. They create the opportunity to practise the things you teach thus a
person progresses to the next level.
Reward Good Behaviour: A teacher smiling, giving applause, looking excited or anything you can
think of can show a person they are doing well. When you was a baby, people were so happy and excited when you said one word. This amount of joy can inspire anyone, even adults. I recently
started giving students chocolate if they do well, you can do this if you like making people happy.
Maybe you can direct exceptional students to extra free resources e.g. http://barnesinstitute.2freedom.com
I remember Maths at primary school. I was really enjoying the books, I did all the exercises and
then I asked for another book or more exercises. Primary Teacher didn’t give me anything. So 20
minutes of unfun and I loved maths. But then when they started teaching silly stuff at secondary
school I stopped.
I could be doing a maths degree right now (boring) if a teacher had given me extra maths books.
Help your students learn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK, OK
If they asked to learn something in the class and you don’t know about it yet, google it later and
send them the information you find. They will appreciate it and you will make more money in the
future. If you are learning English then reward yourself.
5 cans of beer or a big bar of chocolate after studying all day is good for you and You deserve it.
MP3 Recorder: This can be for teachers who record their classes to give to students or for people
learning English who can record new words/phrases they learn during the day. This is a useful tool whenever you decide to use it. I bought a portable MP3 player for £17 and discovered it has a
recording function. The quality is surprisingly good also in fact its the best recorder I have had and that includes large stereo systems.