What is the Direct Method of Teaching ESL/EFL? | Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching

Blog post for different approaches and methods in ESL/EFL teaching: https://eslspeaking.org/approaches-methods-language-teaching/ In the direct method, all teaching occurs in the target language, encouraging the learner to think in that language. The learner does not practice translation or use their native language in the classroom. Practitioners of this method believe that learners should experience a second language without any interference from their native tongue. Keep watching to learn more about the direct method for teaching languages! Want to find 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults? Check out my book: https://amzn.to/3E5ziyy https://www.facebook.com/eslspeaking/ https://www.pinterest.ca/eslspeaking/ https://www.instagram.com/jackie.bolen/ https://www.tiktok.com/@englishwithjackie?lang=en #esl #teachingEnglish #teachingenglishwithjackie #directmethod Timestamp 0:00 Intro 0:14 What is the direct method? 1:14 Learning language as a baby 1:50 Ultimate goal of the direct method 2:20 Conclusion Transcript for direct method of teaching English: Hi, this is Jackie from esleaking.org. Today I'm going to talk about what is the direct method of teaching ESL or EFL. The direct method focuses exclusively on listening and speaking and not on grammar. It's kind of the antithesis to the grammar-translation method that's quite old school. Grammar translation basically focuses on reading and then translating texts from another language into another language. You have a lot of vocabulary lists, and a lot of grammar and there's no focus on pronunciation or oral communication so basically you can read very complicated texts and even translate them but it's very difficult for most people to even speak a word of that other language that they've studied. The direct method was developed in response to this grammar-translation method and the focus is on actually being able to communicate. Classes are conducted in an immersion-style so the teacher is only speaking the target language. They're not using the student's original language. It kind of replicates how very young children are taught. When you're a baby, you don't know anything and your parents or whoever are talking to you in a language and babies first listen, then they gradually begin speaking. Parents don't teach their children explicit grammar rules. Children just kind of pick it up as they go along. Same with vocabulary acquisition, they don't necessarily study big vocabulary lists when they're a baby or very young child but they pick it up as time goes on. This method kind of tries to replicate that natural way so listening and then speaking and you kind of just intuitively learn more vocabulary and more grammar as time goes on. The ultimate goal of this method is for people to think and speak in a foreign language. The goal is for people to not translate inside their heads. So for example, if I say, I'm hungry and I think oh, what is that in korean, oh PAY-GO-Pa. The goal is to not translate, that is to skip that step and just if I'm in Korea, I just think first PAY-GO-PA, I'm hungry but I don't need to think in English first, I'm hungry and then translate it into my head. All right, so that's the very very brief overview of the direct method of teaching English. If you want some ideas or tips about how to incorporate this into your classes, be sure to pick up my book 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults and please hit like subscribe and share with your friends. Alright until next time. Tags: esl, teaching esl, english, learning english, english teacher, learning language, ESL kids, TEFL classroom, classroom tips, TEFL, efl, tefl, teaching English, teaching teenagers english, teaching kids english, ESL teaching jobs, TESOL, teaching method, teaching tips, Direct method teaching, CLT, TPR, Audio-Lingual, Audio Lingual, how to teach, how to teach English, direct method, low prep teaching, no prep teaching, easy language learning, language learning,