by Revel Arroway

Created on: September 05, 2009   Last Updated: June 25, 2011

An adult learner of ESL will be in the classroom for a variety of reasons. In order to make the learning experience the most fulfilling and productive for all of the members of the class, clear objectives should be outlined from the outset, common denominators should be found among the learners and a variety of classroom activities should be implemented.

Objectives

Adult learners will enter the ESL classroom with certain expectations and goals. Most adults will be coming from a busy life, work, family, social life making up the majority of the daytime activity. The ESL class will become a part of that activity.

In some cases, the adults may be taking a training course paid for by the company to improve their proficiency in business English. Some adults sign up to small group situations for personal reasons that range from wanting to meet other people with similar interests (English, for example) to wanting to communicate in an English speaking country when on vacation. In general, adults are in the class because they want to be. This primary motivation is a launching pad for the outlining of objectives.

The teacher will have certain academic objectives that will need to be met. These will include vocabulary, structure, pronunciation and the like. However, it is the objective of the adult learner that has brought the learner into the classroom and this must be voiced and noted for future evaluation.

A simple "Why are you taking this ESL course?" question will prime the pump. More detailed questions will provide the teacher with useful information to better plan the classes and choose materials. Noting the objectives, perhaps posting them on the wall, will keep the course on-track and will help in the moment of evaluating during and, at the end, of the course whether those objectives were respected.

Common denominators

Adult classes are usually heterogeneous. Some learners may have studied English in the past but not gotten far in their proficiency. Other learners might have had no contact with English at all. Placement tests are often given to attempt to gear the group towards a particular, similar level, but realities such as needing to fill the class quotas can often place learners of varying proficiency together.

The teacher should listen to the learners during the sharing of objectives and try to identify those that most have in common. This could include pronunciation of complete sentences, embarrassment in speaking English or the incapacity to improvise

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