Planning Awesome Lessons
Ashley Levin November 15, 2013
AgendaYour role in teaching English communicationBasics in creating an effective lessonHow to input effective picturesHow to expand a topic into multiple lessonsSample lesson plansGeneral tips for challenging classesQ&A
My School Izu Sogo Koko-Half Kogyou (vocational training), half
Sogo (general/academic course)Teach 250 students total, class average is 20
students Multi-media is not standard at my school. Projectors
and TVs are unavailableNo textbook or existing curriculum in my class, so
what should I teach?Answer: Not grammar, writing, reading, but English
Communication!
What does “Teaching English Communication” mean?
Your class is a break from normal textbook-based classes with the JTEs
The level of English in your classes should in general be lower than their other classes
Your class is a chance to apply what they knowWhat’s the target?
For my school, it’s for the students to come away thinking English is fun and practical
Basic Lesson Model
10 minutes- warm-up or review game
15 minutes- learning vocabulary10 minutes- listening activity15 minutes- competition/group activity
__+________________________________________50 minutes
Warm-up Activities Examples
Get students out of their chairs or have them move their desks
Use the black board (ex. whiteboard relay race, spelling competition)
CrossfireReview Karuta
Basic Lesson Model
10 minutes- warm-up or review game15 minutes- learning vocabulary
10 minutes- listening activity15 minutes- competition/group activity
Introducing VocabularyUsually I have students match: Pictures with English wordsSentences (in English) with English wordsEnglish words with Japanese words
From EFL Press Books
Car Parts Vocabulary Example
Basic Lesson Model
10 minutes- warm-up or review game15 minutes- learning vocabulary10 minutes- listening activity
15 minutes- competition/group activity
Listening Activity Examples
Students will listen to a dialogue/monologue and: Fill-in-the-BlankCircle items from a listIdentify pictures
From EFLPressbooks
Listening Activity Example
From EFL Pressbooks
Basic Lesson Model
10 minutes- warm-up or review game15 minutes- learning vocabulary10 minutes- listening activity15 minutes- competition/group activity
Competition/Group Activity Examples
Competition and games is the key to motivating low-level students!
Read and RunWriting on Mini-WhiteboardsBoard GamesKaruta
Read and Run: Competition Activity
Example
Board game: Example Group Activity
From EFL Press Books
How to expand on a lesson topic
Try to avoid one topic per lesson Focus on topics that can be extended to several
lessonsExample:
The first lesson on a topic may focus on learning and listening to vocabulary
The second lesson focuses on sentence structure and writing/applying the vocabulary
Cooking Week 1Example lesson plan
Warm-up (5 minutes)Vocabulary (20 minutes)
Kitchen Vocabulary--students match pictures with wordsCooking Verbs--students match pictures with sentences
Listening (15 minutes)ALT reads a recipe dialogue with the JTE, students fill-in the blank
Competition (10 minutes) ALT reads recipes-students guess the dish they make?
Introducing Kitchen Vocabulary
Introducing Cooking Verbs
Cooking Listening Activity
Cooking Week 1: Competition Activity
ExampleALT reads, “Drop the spaghetti into the boiling salted water and cook for 6 to 9 minutes. While the pasta cooks, combine the eggs, cheese, cream and olive oil in a bowl and stir until completely mixed.Drain pasta, toss with the egg and cream mixture, then add the cooked bacon and chopped parsley. Serve right away, with additional grated cheese.”Who can guess the dish this recipe makes?
Cooking Week 2:Example lesson plan
Warm-up (5 minutes)Review Vocabulary (15 minutes)
Crossword-can be done in teams or individually Word search for students who finish early
Reading Recipes (15 minutes) Students read sample recipes, fill-in missing vocabulary Students read sample recipes then put them in order
Writing Recipes (10 minutes) Students write their own recipes
Cooking Crossword: Example Review Activity
Putting recipes in order: Example Activity
Worksheet modified from ISLcollective.com
Example StudentRecipe
Cooking Review Week Example Activity: Karuta
Review all vocabulary with Cooking Karuta picture cards
Also can be used to play Bingo
Tips
Tips: Dealing with mixed level classes
Always bring something extra! Especially for advanced classes
Crosswords and word searches--can be made easily from online generators
Extra activities give you peace of mindActivities you don’t get to can be used for
review the next lesson.
Tips: When a lesson doesn’t go as planned
Don’t get discouraged over failed lessons. Can be due to a number of factors: It takes time to learn students’ level Students performance in class can be due to other
factorsDon’t drive yourself insane trying to fix a lesson which
failedThings to improve for next time:
Clearer explanation Giving more student and teacher demonstrations Check understanding before starting the activity
ConclusionDevelop your lesson format which can be applied
to any topic Focus on topics that can be extended to several
lessonsFocus on building on skills and previously learned
vocabularyGive lots of opportunities to reviewRemember the target is for students to walk away
thinking English is fun
Recommended Resources
ISLcollective.com, all worksheets can be modified
EFL Press books--great for pictures, activities and adopting whole lesson plans. Can order free samples easily online
Snagit-application for taking screen shots which makes editing pictures much faster
Q & A
Shuzenji, Izu-shi
Appendix
Determine what kind of test you’ll have
Listening- Pre-recorded CD or live. Examples include: dialogues with JTE, fill in the
blanks/dictation, circling pictures.Speaking- Students have an interview with the
ALTNeed to start early--usually a full semester projectStudents need a lot of practice time
Performance Test: Students write a 1-minute speech to recite in front of the ALT Usually in addition to a listening/writing-based test
Health/body parts vocabulary example
Modified from ESLPress Books.