3. How To Prepare a "Successful" Lesson!

Effective teachers are well-prepared.

-having thought in advance of what we are going to do in our lessons

-walking towards our classroom we need to have some idea of what the learners are going to achieve in the lesson

- We should have some learning outcomes in our heard

- Learners take comfort from the perception that the teacher think about what will be appropriate for their particular class on that particular day

- The teacher should know a lot about the subject which is taught

- Read the WHOLE lesson you are going to teach and OUTLINE the linguistic components (lexis, grammar, structure,...)

- DECIDE the objectives of your lesson.

- REORDER the objectives according to their importance.

- PREPARE your guiding questions.

- LOOK for prompts, visuals, games, puzzles, crosswords,... to support your objectives.

- REORDER your activities / exercises in the ascending order (from the easiest to the most difficult).

- LOOK for alternative activities in case your learners might not comprehend the main activities. This is more practical with grammar (e.g. when teaching abstract rules).

- DO NOT be a slave to the textbook / workbook. The book designers usually look at learners from their "ivory tower" and they try to experiment different methodologies and approaches neglecting the truth that what may "succeed" in a country does not necessarily "succeed" in another. They are always theorizing though pretending to be very practical.It is YOU who is ALWAYS in the classroom, YOU who Teaches, YOU who Tests, and YOU who Evaluates!!! So, it is YOU who must DECIDE what you see as the most appropriate to your learners provided that you RESPECT the objectives outlined by the book / syllabus designers. You are FREE to CHOOSE the activities, REPLACE some with others, ADD yours just for the sake / benefit of your learners.

- INTRODUCE the item (vocab., grammar,...) through visuals, flash cards, prompts,... then, PUT it into PRACTICE through activities, tasks, exercises..., and finally TEST it through puzzles, crosswords,...

- LOOK BACK at your previous lessons, ASK yourself whether you fulfilled your goals and, if not, avoid the "mistakes" you made. This is a kind of self-evaluation in order to better learners' feedback. The output depends on the input. Keep in mind that it is not a disaster to make mistakes but it is a disaster to CONTINUE making mistakes without any effort to avoid them.

4. Requirements to a modern lesson:

to use new methods at which the teacher, only directing children, makes recommendations during a lesson.

-use different (main) types of lessons:

1) lessons of studying of a new training material;

2) lessons of improvement of knowledge, skills

3) generalization and systematization lessons;

4) the combined lessons;

5) lessons of control and correction of knowledge, skills.

- form the didactic purpose of the lesson (educational, upbringing, developing) exactly;

- define the optimal content of a lesson according to the requirement of the program and the lesson aims and level of preparation and readiness of pupils;

- forecast level of assimilation of knowledge by pupils, formation of skills both at a lesson, and at its separate stages;

- choose the most effective methods at each stage of a lesson;

- choose activities to provide to get to know; use combination of various forms of collective and individual work at a lesson and the maximum independence of pupils in the lesson;

- the lesson will be to solve problem and to develop the pupils : the teacher’s aim is the cooperation with pupils and to direct pupils on cooperation with the teacher and schoolmates;

- the teacher will organize problem and search situations, to lift up activity of pupils;

- use all didactic principles at a lesson;

- create the conditions for the successful learning of pupils.