Questions for discussion and practical tasks

1. What are the main principles of teaching speaking?

2. How are the dialogs used for teaching speaking?

3. Give examples of some speaking activities

4. What are the main principles of teaching writing?

5. Give examples of some writing activities

6. Practice several speaking or writing activities in the classroom.

7. Say how speaking and writing are taught in secondary schools (use any standards textbook).

8. How will you present the following dialog to the students to develop their dialog skills?

Is that your hobby?

Paul-What are you doing?

Clare-I am taking these stamps off this letter from china.

Paul-Do you collect stamps?

Clare-I don’t collect stamps, but my son is very interested in stamps.

Paul-I don’t collect stamps, but I collect coins. Does your son collect coins?

Clare- No, he doesn’t. But I have some foreign coins in my purse. Do you want them?

Clare- No, thank you. I don’t collect foreign coins. I only collect old British coins.

Clare- Oh, I see.

Lesson 6

Planning a lesson for young learners.

Plan

1. Tips for writing lesson plans

2. Writing lesson objectives using Bloom’s taxonomy

3. Items included in a lesson plan

1. Tips for writing lesson plans

Writing lesson plans is one of a teacher’s most important responsibilities. Having a good lesson plan makes the teacher’s job easier and allows students to learn as much as possible while enjoying the material. These are the tips for writing lesson plans:

1. Have a clear objective and write it down

When writing ESL lesson plans it is really important to have a clear objective. This should not be something vague like “students will learn the present simple tense” but rather something very specific, such as “students will be able to talk about their likes and dislikes using the present simple tense and new vocabulary words”. Having a good lesson plan written down allows the teacher to refer to it and make notes and adjustments throughout the class.

2. Plan a warm-up

The warm-up can be as simple as posing a question for conversation, talking about a visual such as a picture, or a quick review of the last class’s material. The warm-up should not take more than 10% of the total lesson time.

3. Make lessons fun, visual and interactive

Students learn more when they are interested and motivated and a main idea behind good lesson plans should be creating lessons that students find fun. Adding visual and interactive elements to your lesson plans is a great way to raise the fun factor, as well as increase the likelihood that your students will remember the content.

4. Always have an educational focus

Sometimes teachers get so caught up in making fun lessons that they forget about their objectives and the need for educational lesson plans. Every lesson a teacher gives should include an educational focus.

5. Try to incorporate the 4 skills

All good lesson plans should touch upon each of the four skills, as well as others such as pronunciation and grammar. Each individual lesson will likely focus on only one or two of these points, but a well rounded lesson will somehow incorporate all 4 of the English skills.

6. Be realistic about time constraints

When writing lesson plans it is easy to plan a lesson that includes reading, writing, listening, and speaking, but teachers need to be aware of their time constraints and the abilities of their students. Teachers should have very realistic expectations about what their students can achieve in the given time.

7. Consider multiple lesson plans

Having different versions of the same lesson plan can be a great way to be prepared for anything. A good idea is to have your ideal lesson plan, a shorter version in case of confusion or an unforeseen time restraint, and a longer version on the chance that you underestimated your students or had more time than expected.

8. Plan extension activities

Every lesson plan should include extension activities for both early finishers and students who would like to practice more at home. Never allow a student to finish and just sit there– they will become bored and often disruptive. Some students also look to continue learning at home with additional activities, exercises, or reading and television recommendations. You should always have a few things included in your lesson plan to recommend for further study.

9. Check often for comprehension

Students are often shy and easily embarrassed when learning a new language. Many students do not ask for help or repetition for fear of ridicule. Teachers must check for comprehension various times throughout a lesson. Comprehension checks should never simply ask if the students have understood, rather they must solicit the targeted information from the students.

10. Leave time to review at the end

Many teachers forget how important it is to leave time at the end of a lesson for a quick review of the new material and an opportunity for any questions. It often seems that students have understood the concepts but a well planned review session at the end of a lesson may show otherwise. Using the feedback and questions from the review, teachers can plan a better follow up lesson.