English Teaching Tips: Correcting Student Mistakes, Lesson Efficiency & Common Errors -TEFL - S07E11

How can English teachers make lessons more efficient? When should you correct a student’s mistakes? And what do you say when a learner responds, “But you understand me, though?”In this episode, Gav and Em explore practical TEFL and English teaching questions from the classroom. We discuss maximizing valuable teaching time, increasing student participation, lesson planning (and whether not planning could ever be more efficient!), and knowing when subtle language mistakes need to be challenged.We look at real examples of common English learner errors, including the important difference between “I’m not interested” and “I’m not interesting,” and discuss why small mistakes can completely change the meaning of a conversation.We also tackle direct translations and expressions that sound natural to learners but not necessarily to advanced English speakers, such as “My neck is stuck,” “I do Home Office,” and calling a mobile phone a “handy.” What should an English teacher do when they understand the learner perfectly, but someone outside the classroom might not?Finally, Gav and Em compare how they keep track of their teaching hours: Em’s decidedly analogue paper system versus Gav’s new digital Google Sheets approach.In this episode:• How to improve efficiency in English lessons• Maximizing student talking time and participation• How much lesson planning is really necessary?• When English teachers should correct student errors• “But you understand me!” — why correction still matters• Interested vs interesting• Common English mistakes caused by direct translation• Fossilized errors in English learning• How teachers can explain unnatural English expressions• Tracking teaching hours: paper vs digitalHow do you deal with repeated mistakes in your English lessons? And teachers — how do you keep track of your teaching hours? Let us know in the comments.How to English: Teach and Learn with Gav & Em — a podcast about teaching and learning English as a foreign language.#TEFL #EnglishTeaching #LearnEnglish #EnglishTeacher #TeachingEnglish #EnglishLearning #ESL #EFL #ESLteacher #CELTA #EnglishTeacher #TEFLPodcastTimestamps00:00 – Welcome back to How To English (TEFL teacher intro)01:59 – Teaching efficiency: quick wins for busy TEFL teachers05:24 – Em’s practical upgrades for TEFL & ESL classrooms10:24 – Similar words teachers should highlight (classroom examples)13:55 – Confusing English words: how to teach them clearly15:53 – “But you understand me though” — correcting typical learner errors22:06 – Gav’s translation dilemma (false friends in real lessons)24:24 – More false friends English learners struggle with26:33 – Teacher admin: how to track your teaching hours efficiently31:11 – Final thoughts & a surprising TEFL classroom moment