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Through the TEFL course, what struck me most was the ESA learning methodology. I have decided to do my summative task on this subject. Teaching English as a foreign language is something that is very complex. It needs to be driven in a certain way for students to be implicated in order to learn without difficulties. James Harmour has developed a methodology called ESA. A methodology bases on three principles which have the purpose of enhancing communication skills. So what is ESA ? What are its principles and how is it taught? In order to develop this topic, we will divide our analysis into three. First we will look into depth about the method and its advantages. Secondly we will focus on the three steps composing this method, the engage, study and activate phase. And finally we will compare this method with others. ESA methodogy is a teaching method accredited by Jeremy Harmer based on the book “how to teach English “, a book he wrote in 1998. To write this book, he has taken all the advantages of all methods used to teach English in the past three hundred years, and he came up with this method called ESA. It is proving that this method enhances communication and it can be apply to every student, for all levels. ESA, is divided into three stages The engage stage is the first stage. The aim of this stage is to get the student talking and thinking in English. To start an engage stage, it can be done using a game. Various games are interactive. It means that the children have to communicate with the teacher or with the other students, everyone has to participate. It is possible to use also a video on a topic we choose. After watching the video children must talk about it. The purpose is exactly the same as with the games, the aim is to elicit some words from the children. The study phase is the starting point of teaching, it is a milestone. Usually, most of the time, it is board work. After teaching the lesson, the teacher has to check if the student understood perfectly. Later on, students will be given a series of activities. The Activate phase as the aim to use the language just learn in a communicate way. It is set as a scenario or situation where the student can use the language and put in in a realistic context. Here are other methods used to teach languages, let’s review some popular learning methods. The classical method is the most popular method throughout the world. Its main problem is that it does not involve speaking skill. The army method is series of drills. It favors learning vocabulary and correct pronunciation. But in return, it is very difficult to use the language learnt because of the non-realistic contexts. Total physical response is methodology that has been developed by James Asher. This aim is to use the whole brain. Left hemisphere function is for language learning whereas the right hemisphere is for movement. It has been explained that when we’re young we use the whole of our brain. And introducing movement into the process enhances the process. To come to a conclusion, we can say that ESA methodology is a complete method. With this type of teaching methodology, students are force to think and talk in English during the engage phase. The Study stage is the part where the teaching actually takes place. And to apply all the vocabulary or lesson learnt during class, the activate phase is the part where students use the language they have just learnt in a realistic context, just as in a role play.
