Task for submission to your tutor

TASK 1

And now the big one.

You have had a great deal of input on how to organise lessons, what needs to be taken into consideration, how language works, what students are like and so on. Your task is to prepare a lesson plan to teach a group of ESOL students a structure of your choice.

You should:

Indicate the language focus, aims, learning outcomes and language level of the lesson.

Clearly indicate rough timing of the lesson. It should be 60 minutes or more.

Show clearly different stages of the lesson and indicate the role of the teacher at each of these stages.

Include any worksheets, reading texts or other materials that you plan to use, so that these may be assessed.

Include different types of grouping and activities in your lesson.

Say what the last lesson might have been and what a follow up lesson might be.

Show that you have a clear idea of how the language point you are teaching is used.

PART 2 SELF-DEVELOPMENT – CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD)

This part is all about the support that is available for you. As an EFL teacher in the 21^st century you are part of a global community and you should never feel lonely!

The INTESOL course is finished but your life as a teacher is not finished. Some of you on this course are already teaching in classrooms, some of you are about to start and others of you may be doing private lessons. Whatever you are doing you must never stop looking for ways to improve your teaching and learning throughout your professional life. You do not know all there is to know about teaching, nor do the INTESOL team. Be a lifelong learner! Be committed to continuing professional development (CPD)!

YOU

The most important person for ensuring that you develop as a teacher is you yourself. Always reflect on your lessons and be prepared for change and experimentation.

Some teachers keep a teaching diary where they note things down on a regular basis. They may keep a record of how they feel about their lessons, any good ideas they had, any lessons that didn’t go well and other details. Teachers who keep diaries report that they are an excellent way of focussing your mind on what goes on in your classes and they can be organised as you wish.

COLLEAGUES

They are always around, but it is surprising how often teachers in the same staffroom do not talk to each other very much!

It is very easy for a non-sharing atmosphere to develop among colleagues who are pressed for time and feeling insecure about their teaching. Staff rooms become competitive and teachers keep all their best ideas to themselves. If this atmosphere develops or has already developed in the place where you go to work, then try to change it little by little. Make a notice board where teachers can pin up their new ideas. Suggest adding a five minute ‘new idea of the week’ section to staff meetings. Individually ask colleagues for assistance. Perhaps you have just thought of a new teaching activity which looks good. It may look perfect to you, but your colleague could help you develop the idea. Explaining an idea to a colleague is very useful practice for explaining to learners - if your colleague cannot follow the activity then probably the learners won’t either! Similarly, if you have been having a problem with a few of the learners, don’t be afraid to say so to a colleague. You may find that he/she had the same problem with the same learners last year. You can brainstorm a solution together! When you have a good relationship with colleagues, ask if you can sit in on their lessons. This is a good way to make yourself aware of the varied techniques that teachers use and you will definitely pick up some new tips.

Experienced colleagues, often with positions such as Senior Teacher or Head of English can be very helpful and reassuring and are often more available when you want to ask for help as their teaching load is less. However, if your Senior Teacher always looks busy and harassed then make a formal appointment to see them! Ask them to observe your lessons informally and to give you their advice, don’t wait for formal assessments!

BEING OBSERVED

Two words to set the hearts of teachers quivering. But lesson observation is a very important part of development if it is handled well.

1. Show your proposed lesson plan for your observation to other colleagues and listen to their suggestions.

2. Do not be overly ambitious and try to reinvent the wheel. As INTESOL trainers we have seen teachers going crazy with endless flashcards that end up on the floor, activities that are incomprehensible, video clips that are too complicated and so on and the ensuing lesson is a muddle.

3. Don’t suddenly spring new techniques on your students just because your ‘boss’ is coming in. They will not understand what you are doing and you will make them nervous too.

4. Include a clear language teaching point in your observation so that the observer understands that you can teach language.

5. Most of all listen to what the observer tells you. Observers are not hostile people who want to fire you; they are there to make sure that you are coping in your classroom and that the students are getting a good experience.

Not all goes smoothly in teaching. Sometimes you can feel that the students are restless or uneasy. It may be time to get them involved in feeding back or evaluating what they are doing and how they see you as a teacher.

SELF-CHECK 4:2 7

You want to find out what your learners think of :

1. You as a teacher

2. The teaching styles and activities you use

3. The course or

4. Any lessons in particular

How many ways can you think of for doing this?

COMMENT 4:2 7

The simple two word answer here is ‘ask them’. But it is how you ask them that is interesting. Read on.

You care about whether you are doing well or badly. It is very important for our professional development that we do not sit back and presume that we are doing everything right, or alternatively, plod on, depressed and thinking everything we do is wrong! Ask the learners.

LEARNERS’ FEEDBACK TO YOU

Take an activity that you might wish to change in some way. Give out a questionnaire (example shown below), after the activity/lesson and ask the learners to tick the appropriate boxes. Tell them that you do not want their names on the paper and while they are filling in the questionnaire, stay at your desk to ensure their privacy. You can also tell them why you are using these questionnaires: to develop your techniques, to help them learn better etc. Find time in the next lesson to talk to them about the results.

‘Most of you enjoyed the roleplay, but you didn’t think the competitive ‘find the information’ was very useful.’

Please fill in the questionnaire about today’s lesson/ an activity: Number the following stages: 1= very interesting/ useful 5= not interesting/not useful The brainstorming before reading the text: Guess the title The skimming activity: 3 minutes to change your title The scanning activity: Who can find the information first? The careful reading: Who was where at the time of the murder? The roleplay: Act out one of the possible versions of the murder (groups) Any suggestions/comments?

Using the results of the questionnaire, you can locate points in the lesson which were effective and those that were not very effective from the learners’ point of view.

However you get the information and whatever it is, use it and share it.

You can also organise discussions with students about their learning. It can work well if you leave the room for 5 minutes to allow them to discuss points they want to raise and write them on the white board. You can then return and discuss them. But you must be able to accept what they say and not get angry if they give their honest opinion of your ability with flashcards or your punctuality! Feedback is usually very valuable indeed as it clears the airs of any little points that are worrying the students and usually they have nice things to say about you as well.