Hi there. I am a very new teacher - I've only been teaching for 5 months - and am having huge problems with long-term lesson planning. Where I'm working at the moment there is no syllabus, no definition of levels (so students never change classes), and no supervision for the teachers. Very liberating in some ways, but for a new teacher: terrifying! Can anyone give me advice on how to plan for the long-term? How can I create a sense of continuity in my planning, and not make every lesson a detached, unrelated unit? I feel very lost, so advice will be appreciated.
Any advice or ideas for Nina? How would you ascertain the level of your class and then develop a long term strategy for their learning? How can you create a sense of continuity in planning? Any tips, suggestions or comments? Contact us.
This question is from Nina, UK
Comments
rebecca1
This happened to me as well when I first started teaching and it is very daunting but, as you say, it also frees you up a lot. What I did (and do now with private students) was to choose a textbook, which roughly corresponded with the level of my students, and the I used the contents page as a kind of syllabus. That way I had a framework for my lessons and I used exercises from the book and supplementary materials as well. Another suggestion is to do an activity with the students where they discuss what they want to learn and you can add their ideas to your own self-made syllabus. I hope this helps and good luck with your teaching in general.
Sara Wu, China
Hi, Nina,
I once had the same problem as you, but it seems that it is no longer a problem now. I think a good textbook is very useful, as you know a scientifically-designed textbook will take care of the problem of continuity. So just go to a bookstore and seek carefully or go to a renowned college and see what they use at school. Besides this, I made my own plan. I asked my students to read English newspapers part of which I assign as homework. Then in class, I asked them to report or to write a short book report on what they read. In this way, you can decide for them what to read, what is suitable for them, and help them to recall and to organize their ideas into speech. They can also build up their vocabulary and keep in touch with world affairs. Hope these may give you some help.
Alain, France
Think of the goal you want to attain. And then work step by step. Grammar, exercises, reading, pronunciation, anything you feel comfortable with. There are lots of good books to help you for that. Good Luck !
Gill Wilson, England
In response to Nina's question, I would suggest the following as a starting point:
1. Set yourself some objectives for the course over a given period (say, for each term, or for the end of this 3 month period). That is, what would you like the students to be able to say/use at the end of the period?
2. Think about each of your students - where are they starting from, i.e. what can they say/use now. Also, think about, or better still ask them what THEY would like to achieve at the end of the period you have chosen.
3. You should now have a starting point and a set of objectives. You can now sketch out what you need to do to get from one to the other.
4. Remember to vary your lessons, so they are not all following the same format.
5. Look at the huge collection of published textbooks for ideas and inspiration, as well as the many online resources now available.
Hope this helps to get you started!
Marie Brand, New Zealand
These are suggestions for Nina:
I've been in that place in two jobs. In the first I endured, and eventually walked away after about 10 months. In the second, after 3 weeks, I realized I was into the same problem but my response was different. I drew up my own 12 week theme programme. Within the themes I included some specific intentions with respect to the four skills so that there was a notion of one of the skills being 'started' within an IELTS framework every three weeks. (This is a school that advertises that they prepare people for IELTS.) I took that proposal to the Principal so that I had authority within this laissez-faire environment - and so no-one could say I didn't tell them! The principal seemed quite impressed.
I committed myself to a weekly test regime. This is very straightforward. I test anything that I've spent time teaching or correcting during the week - and am very explicit with regard to vocabulary.
It's worked quite well, even though I haven't been able to 'deliver' all the time. For me, the important thing is that I have a framework and a structure so that I have a focus as I look for things we can do. Some students have been with me more than the 12 weeks - so they are getting some repeat work. If they hate this enough, they fuss and organise to go to another class. And I congratulate and encourage them.
I didn't do EXACTLY the same second time round. I'm just about to start the third cycle and feel calmer than I have for a while. Good luck!William Bond
This teacher's problem with long-term lesson planning emphasises what I have always thought about EFL teaching courses, that they are "bitty" - ten minutes teaching the past perfect, ten minutes playing a vocabulary game, ten minutes doing something else, and so on and so on. OK, that's all very well, but I feel that long-term lesson planning is almost ignored. Hence we now have this new teacher who seems to have no idea of how to progress. What do other teachers think? Sorry, new teacher, but I don't have the time at the moment to give you a lesson in long-term planning, but perhaps someone else has. Meanwhile, good luck.
Fawad Joya
Hi there,
Hope this message find you all well and in a good state of health, then as I am a new joint teacher in this group I want to know that what can cuase us to become a success teacher for our future? I'll greately appreciate any comments in this regard in advance.
Fawad Joya
Herat Afghanistan
englishhh
In my opinion many things like:the interest to learn more about methodology; finding new ways to teach different skills. Also, the attitude and compromise with each student's learning process is really important. By now I can mention these things.
Liliana Rodriguez Vega
"I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it... The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on."
S
amazinanian
Long term lesson planning
No matter what student’s English knowledge is, I suggest you give them a placement test so that you know how to choose your teaching materials. By considering the placement test results you may have to put them in different classes. The class will be boring if we do not pay attention to student’s English knowledge levels. I have the same problem with grown-up students who know only a broken English but they do not know English alphabets well and I have to begin teaching them this first. There is much free recourse for this purpose on the Internet E.g. (Only as a sample).
http://englishenglish.com/englishtest.htm
http://www.peakenglish.com/placement_test/placementTest.jsp
www.peakenglish.com
www.onestopenglish.com
www.english-test.net
And many other useful sites which are fortunately on the Internet and can be found easily by a search. For conversational classes, we may do this by a simple conversation between the teacher and the students. Here the aim of learning English for the students is also important in choosing the teaching materials. We all know that the materials for making a bank clerk ready to speak or write in English vary from teaching someone who wants English for business or mainly travelling.
To conclude the matter I suggest the following:
1) A placement test together with an interview (in English) will decide the level of each student.
2) The aim of learning English will help us to choose the best materials related to the matter.
3) Acquiring some Basic English knowledge is mandatory for all students regardless of their aims for learning English.
4) To plan a long term in teaching English we have to begin from teaching A B Cs, nouns, adjectives, verbs……, readings, conversations and writings related to student’s knowledge. All English graded grammars/ reading books written by famous writers will definitely help to plan a better long term program.
5) Using audio programs and tapes, Computer CDs will also help a lot .For beginners I suggest the first volumes of the books:, Welcome to English ,Headways, On we go, let’s go ,parade, Streamline, Interchange, Learn to speak , Get ready ,English this way …and all new books written lately by Macmillan , Longman , Oxford, Cambridge and other publishers which are all available on their sites .The last suggestion, give variety to your class . We had better not to stick only to a text book, choosing a page, suitable to student’s level, from English daily papers as a topic of discussion will be of great beneficial.
Best wishes
Ali asghar Mazinanian