School Experience 2012-1

7/27/2019 School Experience 2012-1

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School ExperienceTutorials & Observations

DALE Department of

Arts & Languages in Education

Compiled by Dr Doreen Spiteri


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SCHOOL EXPERIENCE TUTORIALS &OBSERVATION TASKS,DALE.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Discussion Task 1: The Communicative approach ...................................... 03Discussion Task 2: Contrasting approaches ............................................... 05Discussion Task 3: What should be included in a lesson plan? ..................... 07Discussion Task 4: Lesson aims ............................................................... 11Discussion Task 5: Lesson planning - aims ................................................ 12

Discussion Task 6: Evaluating lesson plans ............................................... 14

Discussion Task 7: Analyzing a Lesson Plan .............................................. 16Discussion Task 8: Planning a sequence of lessons .................................... 18Discussion Task 9: Using lesson plans ...................................................... 20Discussion Task 10:Teachers' language: Instructions ................................. 22Discussion Task 11:Questioning .............................................................. 24Discussion Task 12:Critical analysis of teacher questions ............................ 26Discussion Task 13:Schemes of work ....................................................... 28Discussion Task 14:Group work vs. Individual work ................................... 32

Observation task 1: Teaching and learning roles ........................................ 33

Observation Task 2: Teaching skills and strategies: Presenting........................ 36

Observation Task 3: Lesson planning ....................................................... 39

Observation Task 4: Classroom management ............................................ 42

Observation Task 5: The whiteboard as resource ....................................... 44

Observation Task 6: The learner as resource............................................. 46


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Discussion Task 1: The Communicative approach(Adapted from Gower, R., Phillips, D., and S. Walters, (1995) Teaching Practice Handbook Heineman)

Aim: The aim of this discussion task is to introduce you to the basic characteristics ofCommunication Language Teaching together with some of the related terminology.

Background

The Communicative approach - or Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is the name

that was given to a set of beliefs, which included not only a re-examination of what aspectsof language to teach, but also a shift in emphasis in how to teach.

The 'what to teach' aspect of the Communicative approach stressed the significance oflanguage functions rather than focussing solely on vocabulary. A guiding principle was totrain students to use these language forms appropriately in a variety of contexts and for avariety of purposes.

The 'how to teach aspect' of the Communicative approach is closely related to the idea that'language learning will take care of itself', and that plentiful exposure to language in useand plenty of opportunities to use it are vitally important for a student's development ofknowledge and skill. Activities in CLT typically involve students in real or realistic

communication, where the accuracy of the language they use is less important thansuccessful achievement of the communicative task they are performing. Thus, role-play andsimulation have become very popular in CLT, where students simulate a televisionprogramme or a scene at an airport - or they might put together the simulated front page

of a newspaper. Sometimes they have to solve a puzzle and can only do so by sharinginformation. Sometimes they have to write a poem or construct a story together.

What matters in these activities is that students should have a desire to communicatesomething. They should have a purpose for communicating (e.g. to make a point, to buy anairline ticket, or write a letter to a newspaper). They should be focused on the content ofwhat they are saying or writing rather than on a particular language form. They should use

a variety of language rather than just one language structure. The teacher will notintervene to stop the activity; and the materials he or she relies on will not dictate whatspecific language forms the students use either. In other words, such activities should

attempt to replicate real communication. The following activities are organized along a'communicative continuum' (see Figure 1).

Non-communicative activities Communicative activities

no communicative desire

no communicative purpose

form not content one language item only

teacher intervention

materials control

a communicative purpose

a desire to communicate

content not form variety of language

no teacher intervention

no materials control

FIGURE 1: The communicative continuum

Not all activities occur at either extreme of the continuum, however. Some may be further

towards the communicative end, whereas some may be more non-communicative. An

activity in which students have to go round the class asking questions with a communicative

purpose, but with some language restriction, may be nearer the right-hand end of the

continuum; whereas a game which forces the use of only one structure (with the teacher

intervening occasionally), will come near the non-communicative end.


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Information GapA key to the enhancement of communicative purpose and the desire to communicate is the

information gap. A traditional classroom exchange in which one student asks Wheres the

library? and another student answers Its on Green Street, opposite the bank when they can

both see it and both know the answer, is not much like real communication. If, however,

the first student has a map, which does not have the bank listed on it, while the other

student has a different map with post office written on the correct building - but which the

first student cannot see - then there is a gap between the knowledge, which the two

participants have. In order for the first student to locate the bank on their map, that

information gap needs to be closed.

Umbrella termThe Communicative approach or Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has now become

generalised 'umbrella' terms to describe learning sequences which aim to improve the

students' ability to communicate. This is in stark contrast to teaching that is aimed more at

learning bits of language just because they exist and without focusing on their use incommunication. However, while it has been widely accepted for some time that

communicative activities are a vital part of a teacher's repertoire, it is less clear whether it

is possible to pin down exactly what a communicative approach is. After all, most language

teaching aims to improve the students' communicative ability, whatever techniques the

teacher uses to promote this. And CLT has also included snatches of drilling and focused

language work despite the non-communicative nature of such activities.

ObjectionsCommunicative Language Teaching has come under attack from teachers for being

prejudiced in favour of native-speaker teachers by demanding a relatively uncontrolledrange of language use on the part of the student, and thus expecting the teacher to be able

to respond to any and every language problem, which may come up. In promoting a

methodology, which is based around group and pair work, with teacher intervention kept to

a minimum during, say, a role-play, CLT may also offend against educational traditions,

which it aimed to supplant. We will return to such issues in detail in Hl (below). CLT has

sometimes been seen as having eroded the explicit teaching of grammar with a consequent

loss among students in accuracy in the pursuit of fluency.

Finally

Despite these reservations, however, the communicative approach has left an indeliblemark on teaching and learning, resulting in the use of communicative activities in

classrooms all over the world.


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Discussion Task 2: Contrasting approaches(Adapted from Parrott, M., (1993) Tasks for Language Teachers Cambridge)

Aim: This Task helps you to increase your awareness and knowledge of approaches todeveloping learners' linguistic competence, and encourages you to consider the

principles underlying different approaches. The Task also encourages you toexperiment with alternative approaches.

Task: The following two examples describe different ways in which the attention oflearners may be focussed on new language and how they may be encouraged to useit.

Read these and discuss the questions that follow.

Approach A

The following three stages are in chronological order:

a) The teacher draws attention to the meaning and form of one sentence, which provides amodel of a particular structure. The students repeat the sentence while the teacher

checks that they are saying it correctly. Using cues of some kind (pictures, wordprompts, etc.), the teacher then elicits further examples of the structure from thestudents.

b) In pairs or groups:- the students do written exercises to practise the structure- they engage in narratives or dialogues prompted by written or visual prompts which

closely control the language they use, obliging them to use the structure.

c) The students engage in some written or spoken activity, which is designed to create theopportunity to use the structure taught, but in which the primary focus is not on the

structure itself. This might, for example, involve a role-play or a discussion, describingpictures or telling a story.

Approach B

The teacher sets up an activity where some students have access to information that has tobe communicated to those who do not have this information. For example, Student A has a

sequence of pictures which tell a story and Student B has the same pictures but in ajumbled order. Student B has to arrange his pictures in the correct order by listening to

Student A and asking him appropriate questions.

At some point during or after the activity the teacher 'feeds' the students language(vocabulary and/or structures) which facilitates the task. If this language is 'fed'retrospectively, the task is repeated with parallel materials.

1. Do you recognise any of these ways of teaching from your own school days? Do you haveany personal preferences with regard to approaches to focussing on new language?


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2. What assumptions about the nature of language and the nature of language learningunderlie each of these two examples? That is, how do the teachers who teach in thisway view language? And how do they think language learning takes place?

3. To what extent are the approaches these instances exemplify compatible/incompatible?

4. How might the following factors influence the teacher's choice of approach asdemonstrated in these two examples?

a) The environment in which learning is taking place (in a country where English is/is notspoken).

b) The objectives of the learners in learning English.c) The age of the learners.d) The experience and linguistic competence of the teacher.

5. Imagine you are going to plan a lesson and your aim is that the learners (elementary)

should develop the ability to talk about future arrangements using the presentcontinuous (We're crossing over to Gozo on Friday).

What might be the content of a lesson using an approach that resembles Approach A andone which resemblesApproach B?

Think about:

a) the materials

b) the activity of the teacher

c) the activity of the students


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Discussion Task 3: What should be included in a lesson plan?(Adapted from Gower et al (1995) Teaching Practice HandbookHeineman)

Aim: This task aims to familiarise you with the kind of information that should be included

in a lesson plan, based on a series of logical steps.

Information to be included in a lesson plan can be considered under the following headings:Aims; Procedure; Approach(es) and Activities; Materials, Aids and equipment; Informationabout the students; Anticipated problems.

1. Aims

Questions you need to ask (and answer) are not only What do I, the teacher, aim to do?

but also

What do Iexpect the students to do and/or to have achieved by the end of the lesson?What specific language will they understand and use? or What specific skills will they havedeveloped? - These are known as Learning Outcomes.

Example:To present and practise Why don't you ...? for giving advice.The students will understand that Why don't you + infinitive can be used to giveadvice to a friend. They will be able to use the structure with: go (home), take (anaspirin), etc. They will be able to give appropriate responses: OK, Iwill.

Often in a lesson you will have a main aim and perhaps a number of subsidiary aims. This isparticularly true, for example, in a lesson in which skills are integrated or when a listeningor reading text is used to introduce a language item. It is important that you (and thestudents) recognize the main aim of the lesson and of each stage.

2 Procedure

This is the part of the lesson plan that lays out the steps - the stages - in the lesson to

ensure that the aim(s) is achieved.

You should indicate on your plan what will be done at each stage and why (the stage aim),the approximate time, the materials you will use, and perhaps details of any complexinstructions you are going to give or questions you plan to ask.

In order to do this you have to consider how you will order the stages and theapproach(es), activities, and materials you will use at each stage. You will have to answerthese questions:

How much time do I have?Approximately how will I divide up the lesson into stages?

How much time will each stage take?

You also need to ask yourself:

What will be the aim of each stage?

How will the stages be linked?

Example: For the presentation and practice of Why don't you ...? a lesson of 3S minutesmight be made up of the following stages:


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Stage 1 (5 mins)Introduce the structures. Context: giving advice to someone who has a headache, and thereplies to the advice.

Stage 2 (5 mins)Check students' understanding and practise saying the model sentences.

Stage 3 (10 mins)Guided practice, using cue cards - in open then closed pairs.

Stage 4 (10 mins)Freer practice using a new context: giving advice about preparing for a test.

Stage 5 (5 mins)

Students make a record of the form and uses of the structure in their notebooks.

3 Approach(es) and Activities

For each stage you will have to think what approach you are going to use and whatactivities the students will do to achieve your aims.

Questions to ask yourself may include:

If my aim is to present or revise a language item am I going to do it through a text, a visual

or oral context (perhaps a dialogue or pictures) or through a problem-solving activity, etc?

For skills development what do my students need before they can listen, read, write or

speak? How will I follow up the skills work?How will I check that the students understand?What type of practice activities shall I set up: speaking, pair work, writing?Have I planned for a balance and a variety of activities and materials - recognizing thatdifferent activities make different demands on the students and arranging it so an easyactivity is followed by a more difficult one, a very active one with a quieter one, etc? Arethe activities ordered logically - from more controlled to freer?

For each stage what sort of feedback is appropriate?

The approaches and activities you decide upon should be indicated in the Procedure part of

your lesson plan. Sometimes it is worth making a note of your intended seatingarrangements as well. Throughout the plan, perhaps in the margin, you can include a noteof the groupings and the interaction at each stage: teacher/students, student/student,mingle, etc.

4 Materials, aids and equipment

The question you need to ask is:

At each stage which materials, aids and equipment do I need to achieve my aims?

You should make a note on your lesson plan of when you will use these materials and aidsand also include a plan of your whiteboard at each stage of the lesson.

5 Information about the students and the classroom circumstances

It is worth noting at the top of every plan the level of the class, the size of the class and itscomposition, especially if it is mixed ability. You will be required to give more detailedstudent profiles. You should also note how this lesson fits into the students' courseprogramme (the timetable fit) and what knowledge you assume the students will bring to the lesson.


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6 Anticipated problems

Although you need to learn to be flexible in class, to be able to think on your feet and adaptyour lesson plan according to circumstances, you are less likely to be thrown if you givesome thought to some of the things that can go wrong. It is a good idea to make a note

on your plan of any anticipated problems - in terms of language or classroom management

- that could occur during any of the activities and any strategies you have considered fordealing with these problems. It is particularly useful to include this on the plan you give toyour tutor. In this way you will be given credit for anticipating difficulties, whereas if you

mention such problems after the lesson it sounds as if you are making excuses!

You can anticipate what students will find difficult in a particular language item by

thoroughly researching the language you are planning to teach. Investigate, if possible, theways in which the Maltese language is different from English. For example, will yourstudents have difficulty with the th sound because it doesn't exist in their language? Youcan also anticipate difficulties by finding out as much as you can about what the studentshave done in previous classes - their individual strengths and weaknesses in skills work, forexample.

There are a number of ways in which the timing and organization of your lesson can beaffected. For example, it is a good idea to think about what you would do if:

the students take a longer or shorter time to do the activities than you had planned;

they find an activity easier or more difficult than you thought they would; some students finish before the others; there are some students who need extra support; there are uneven numbers for a pair work activity;

some or all of the students have already met the material you have based your lessonround: for example, they have already seen the video you were going to show.

Achieving a balanceIt is important to be critical of your lesson plans - especially in checking your aims againstyour planned procedures. You should constantly ask yourself What is my aim, and will doingthis in this way achieve my aim?

However, as in all things, you need to strike a realistic balance in the amount of preparation

you do. If you over prepare this usually means getting stuck in your plan and notresponding flexibly to the class; getting obsessed by your 'performance' - by your ownideas and techniques; or not being sensitive to the students, what they are doing and notdoing. If you under prepare, this usually results in long silences while you decide what to donext (demoralizing for you and the students!), unclear aims and underexploited activities.

Also, remember that although you influence what happens in the class it is often more acase of 'managing learning' than teaching; it is the pace the students work at that needs tobe measured, not the pace youwork at. You can exhaust yourself with a dazzling array ofnew ideas you are determined to try out and then realize the students are doing hardlyanything. In fact, with some well-planned and well set-up activities you might need to dovery little in the classroom.


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Sample lesson plan (Adapted from Harmer, J. (2002) The Practice of English Language Teaching) Fourth Edition

Date: Class/Form:Learning Outcomes

AIMS RESOURCES INTER-ACTION

PROCEDURE TIME ASSESSMENT ANTICIPATED

PROBLEMS &

SOLUTIONS


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Discussion Task 4: Lesson aims(Adapted from Parrott, M., (1993) Tasks for Language Teachers Cambridge)

Aim: This Task encourages you to explore the thinking which underlies and precedes thedetailed planning of lessons. It looks at different ways of defining aims, and questions the

extent to which it is feasible to specify in advance what learning will take place in a lesson.

Task

Section A General sensitisation

1 To what extent is it possible or desirable to anticipate or specify the outcome of a lesson in

terms of what students will learn or be able to do at the end of a lesson?In what kinds of lesson is it more or less difficult to specify this outcome?

2 Would you define the aims of the lessons you teach in terms of the activity the learners areengaged in, in terms of your assumptions about what the learners will learn in the lesson or in

some other way?In how much detail would you specify aims?

Section B Evaluating lesson aims

Look at the examples of aims as expressed by six teachers (a-f) on lesson plans and answer the

following questions:

a. To practise reading.b. To present and practise the present continuous for future arrangements.c. To enable students to make excuses.d. To help students to refuse invitations appropriately and confidently by referring to their

arrangements using the present continuous, e.g. I'm sorry, I'm seeing the doctor then.e. To help students to become more confident about their listening skills by demonstrating to

them that they can infer and pick out key information from a text, much of which theycannot understand.

f. Main aim:To enable students to describe their daily routines using some of the commonest verbs in

the simple present (first person).Subsidiary aims:To develop a better class atmosphere by encouraging students' interest in each other'slives.To develop students' listening skills (listening to the teacher talking naturally while usingpictures to convey meaning). To sensitise students to rhythm and weakening of syllablevalues, and to encourage them to attend to this in oral production.

1. Which of these aims 'do you consider to be most appropriately expressed?

2. Which teachers do YOU think define aims in an appropriate amount of detail?

3. Which teachers seem to think of the lesson from the students' point of view?

4. Which teachers are most likely to have modified the aims of their lessons in the process of

planning?


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Discussion Task 5: Lesson planning - aims(Adapted from Spratt, Pulverness and Williams (2005) The Teaching Knowledge Test Course,Cambridge ESOL)

Aim: This task helps you understand better what learning outcomes and aims are and how toexpress these clearly in your lesson plans.

Task:Section A: General sensitisation

1. Learning Outcomes describe what we want learners to learn or be able to do at the end of alesson. How is a Learning Outcome different from an aim? An aim can take many forms

and have different foci; a learning outcome is focussed on the learners and what they will takeaway with them from your lesson.

2. Aims may focus, for example, on a function or a grammatical structure, on thevocabulary of a particular topic or on developing a language skill. Aims, especially for

young learners, may not always focus on particular areas of language. The aim of a lessonmay also be listening to a story for pleasure or encouraging a positive attitude towardsEnglish.

3. To identify and select the most appropriate aims, we need to ask ourselves two questions:What do my learners already know?What do they need to know?

The answers to these questions will help us to make sure that the aims are the right onesfor a particular group of learners at a particular time.

4. Aims should not be confused with procedures. Procedures for example, listening to arecording and answering questions about it are what the teacher and learners will do at

each stage of the lesson.

5. Aims should not be too general. To teach the past simple or to develop learners reading

skills do not say enough about the purpose of the lesson. More specific aims might be tointroduce and practise the past simple for talking about personal experiences or to givelearners practice in predicting content, scanning for specific information and guessing

meaning from context.


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Task: Look at the table below. Can you work out the difference between main aims, subsidiaryaims and personal aims? Your tutor will help you.

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To improve my organization ofthe whiteboard; to give clearerexamples.

Grammar: to revise modalauxiliary verbs. Functionalexponents: Could/would

you...? Vocabulary: toconsolidate lexis for travel,accommodation. Phonology: tofocus on intonation. Speaking:to give controlled oral practice.

To practise making politerequests in the context ofmaking holiday arrangements.

Example exponent: Could yougive me some informationabout hotels?

Task: The procedures in the table below show a sequence of activities for a lesson with themain aim of developing intermediate students confidence and skill in informal conversation. The

subsidiary aims for the lesson (A-H) are in the wrong order. Put them in the right order so thatthey match the correct procedures.

Procedure Subsidiary aims

1. Students move around the classroom to find

students with matching halves of sentences.

A. To give students fluency practice

To practise using target language in a

meaningful context

2. They talk in pairs about what they find

difficult in listening to informal

conversation.

B. To develop peer correction skills

3. They hear an informal conversation and

identify speakers, place and situation.

C. To listen for detailed information

To focus students attention on targetlanguage

4. They listen again and fill in missing phrases

in the transcript.

D. To practise gist listening

To create a context

5. Repetition drill: students practise key

phrases. Pairs practise simple two-line

exchanges using key phrases.

E. To get students actively involved.

To put students into pairs.

6. Pairs write and practise their own

conversation from role cards, using key

phrases where possible. Several pairs

perform and record conversations.

F. To give students confidence in speaking

through controlled practice.

7. Class comment and suggest improvements

to grammar and vocabulary.

G. To review the whole lesson

To give the teacher feedback

8. Students discuss what they have learnt. H. To raise awareness of what the lesson

aims will be

To encourage personal involvement


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Discussion Task 6: Evaluating lesson plans(Adapted from Martha Lengelin, Mexico and Emily Thrush, USA. The Teacher Trainer Vol 16 No 3)

Aim: It can be difficult to understand the complexity of lesson planning and the function ofplans as a device that defines the roles of the teacher and students, builds on a cohesive

approach to language teaching and learning, and constructs a specific culture for theclassroom. This task is helpful in building the skills necessary for lesson planning as well asunderstanding the concepts and conventions behind what often seems to be just busywork.

Task: Jigsaw Lesson Plan

1. Look at the sample of a good lesson plan whose 3 stages (activities) have been jumbled up.The criteria for determining a "good" lesson plan are laid out in some detail in the checklist on

page 15, but essentially, a good lesson plan is one that has sufficient information for a reader toevaluate the appropriateness of the activities for a particular group of language students and foranother teacher to carry out effectively. It is a guide or a map that structures the class and

facilitates continuity from one lesson to the next.

2. Study carefully ONE of the stages of the lesson and become an "expert" on it and make sureyou understand the goals and objectives, logistics and other aspects of that stage of the lessonplan.

3. Then, taking turns, discuss your stage with the rest of the tutorial group. As a group decidewhat the sequence of those stages should be, and put them in order to reconstruct the lesson

plan.

4. Once the sample lesson plan has been reconstructed, develop a template for lesson planning,by identifying the elements in the sample plan, the purposes for each element, and the degree of

specificity needed (time limits for activities, for example, or indications of the skill area or degreeof difficulty of the activity.)

5. At this point, you can consider the variety of audiences for lesson plans, and consider what

elements are needed if the lesson plan is intended for a tutor, other student teachers, or only asa guideline for the person who writes it and is going to teach it.

Sample "Good" Lesson Plan

Students: 30 students, Form 1 Area Secondary.Skill level: Beginners class, although all Ss have been learning English in Primary school.Recent work: present simple tense (affirmative, negative, and questions), frequency adverbs

(sometimes, often, never, etc.) in the present simple, themes of family andoccupations.

Goal: Students will be able to talk about their everyday activities.Objectives: Students will be able to:

1.Form questions in the present simple about everyday activities and answer using an adverb offrequency such as always, usually, never, etc.2. Use adverbial phrases of times (once a week, twice a month, every day), practice the

questions How often. . . ? and answer with an adverbial phrase. 3. Ask the questions How often. .. ? and answer with an adverbial phrase or a frequency adverb.


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Activity No. ?

Time allotted: 15-18 minutes

Context: sports and doing exercises

Activity/class organization: Ss look at the picture of the man who is out of shape and finishing

a marathon on page 38 of their textbooks. T asks Ss what they think he is doing and to describe

the man. T asks Ss how often they do exercise. Ss look at the grammar box while listening to thecassette. T draws attention to the adverbs of frequency. T then asks a couple of questions about

how often Ss practice different sports and elicits adverbial phrases. Ss answer questions in

exercise one, page 38 using the adverbs of frequency. T circulates to help. Then Ss work in

groups of two to ask and answer the questions using an adverbial phrase.

Materials: book, cassette for Interchange 1, and tape player

Language:adverbial phrases (every day, once a week, twice a week, etc.)

Possible Problems: Ss may not know some of the phrases such as once or twice. T may need to

explain these phrases.

Activity No. ..?Time allotted:20 minutes

Context: Ss' personal lives

Activity/class organization: "How often do you..." Board Game. Ss will work in groups of three

or four depending on number of students. Ss take turns rolling the dice and moving a marker on

the board. The player to the right asks the question written on the space on the board. The first

player answers the question with an adverb of frequency or an adverbial phrase. If the group

agrees that the answer is well formed, the player leaves the marker on the new space.

Otherwise, the marker is returned to the previous space. If a S lands on a space marked "free

question", then other players may ask any question that they like. Play continues as time allows.

The T asks which group got the farthest and congratulates this team. T gives Ss feedback and

asks a few of the questions to some of the Ss to finish the activity. T gives homework for thefollowing day: Interchange 1 workbook for Unit 5 exercise 3, 4, and 7.

Materials: set of dice for each group, coins for markers, copies of board game

Language:present simple questions with how often, frequency adverbs and adverbial phrases

Possible problems: Ss may not understand how to play game and may need clarification on

procedure. Ss may need explanation of vocabulary from other Ss or T.

Activity No. ?

Time allotted: 10-12 minutes

Context: Ss' own lives

Purpose:Review and Fluency building.Activity/ class organization: Walk and Talk. Ss are each given one question about habitual

activities. Ss interview each other, exchanging papers with the questions after answering each

others' questions. They then find different Ss and ask the new question. Some of the questions

are:

How often do you play a sport?

How often do you go to the playing field?

How often do you do your homework?

For feedback, T asks questions to individual Ss.

Materials: pieces of papers with questions

Language:present simple questions and frequency adverbs

Possible problems: Ss may just be coming from another class and not arrive in time topractice. Because this is a review activity, Ss will not miss valuable new information.


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Discussion Task 7: Analyzing a Lesson Plan(Adapted from Martha Lengelin, Mexico and Emily Thrush, USA. The Teacher Trainer Vol. 16 No 3)

Aim:To sensitise you to those types of mistakes that beginning teachers tend to make: poorlydeveloped activities, omissions such as lack of identification of the students' skill level, lack

of sufficient detail for an outside reader to understand the activity, as well as activities thatdo not work toward the goals of the class and the syllabus, such as a lack of opportunity formeaningful communication. You will also be introduced to a useful checklist for lessonplans.

Task:Go through the sample bad lesson plan below and using the Checklist for Lesson Planscritique this lesson plan. Discuss the problems with the content of the sample lesson (forexample, the lesson in Appendix B allows for no meaningful communication among

students) as well as problems with format.

Sample "Bad" Lesson Plan for Critiquing

Class: This class is big.

Recent work: We have done the first unit in the book and also the workbook.

Stage 1: Grammar explanations of the three grammar points that will be covered in the secondunit of the book.Objective: To familiarize Ss with all the grammar that they will need to know in this unit. Totranslate all the unknown vocabulary that is found in the examples of the grammar points.

Materials: The examples from the book, Maltese /English dizzjunarju.Timing: Approximately 15-20 minutes.Procedure: T explains in Maltese all the grammar points of this unit in order that the Ss have aclear idea of what they will be doing before we do any practice exercises. T uses the dictionary tolook up any words the Ss do not understand and tells the Ss what the translation is in Malteseand English. Ss are asked if they understand what the T has explained.

Problems anticipated and solutions: Ss may not arrive on time and the T will have to explainany grammar points the late arrivals have missed.

Stage 2: Grammar Exercise

Objective: To reinforce all the grammar points that the T has just explained but in a writingactivity which is to fill in the blanks.Language focus: All of the grammar points in Unit Two.Timing: Approximately 15 minutes.

Procedure:T has Ss open their books and do three fill-in-the-blank exercises. The T reads the instructionsaloud and then the Ss work individually.

Stage 3: ListeningObjective: Ss will practice listening. Language focus: anyTime: 15 minutes

Procedure:Ss open their books to the page of the listening text and read along while the T reads the twopage listening text. After listening to the text, Ss answer the 15 comprehension questions andwrite all the words that they do not know on a piece of paper. They give the words and answers

to the T when they are through. Ss may start some other homework as soon as they have

finished this activity.


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Checklist for Lesson PlansThis Checklist can be used by trainees to evaluate their own lesson plans.

Yes/No

1. Mark the activities in your lesson plan according to which of the 4 skills each

activity is primarily intended to develop (Listening, Speaking, Reading orWriting). Is the range of activities appropriate to the class you are teaching?

2. Mark the activities as Whole class, Group, Pair, Individual or Teacher(explanations, reading aloud, etc.). Do the Ss work in a variety of

arrangements throughout the class? If not, is there a good reason for notusing a variety of groupings for this particular lesson?

3. Mark each activity as Fast-moving or Reflective. Does the plan containchanges of pace? If not, will Ss become bored with the slow pace or tooexcited to process the language?

4. Mark each activity for the intelligence that Ss will draw on or develop(musical, artistic, linguistic, spatial, mathematical, etc.) If one day's lessondraws primarily on one of the intelligences, what intelligences could beaddressed in subsequent lessons?

5. Look for transitions between activities. Will the Ss see an overall structure tothe day's lesson or does it seem like an unconnected collection of activities?

6. Do the activities include a range of level of difficulty?

7. Do the activities range in mood - including some light-hearted and somemore serious?

8. Mark the activities as Interactive or Passive. Are Ss going to be activelyinvolved through much of the class?

9. Does the plan include a warm-up: something to introduce the day's topic tothe Ss and get them involved in the class?

10.Does the plan take into consideration the age group of the Ss? (Olderstudents may need a lively activity to get them excited about the class, while

too much excitement can over- stimulate children and make it harder forthem to absorb new information.)

11.Does the lesson end with something that pulls the day's activities together or

provides a general conclusion?

12.Does the plan contain enough information for the intended reader (tutor,another teacher) to understand the activities and carry them out ifnecessary?

(Checklist adapted from Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching, Cambridge UP, 1997, and from Mary AnnChristison, "Advanced Workshop in Multiple Intelligence Theory", MEXTESOL Conference, Aguascalientes,November, 2000).


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Discussion Task 8: Planning a sequence of lessons

(Adapted from Harmer, J. (2002) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman)

Planning a sequence of lessons is based on the same principles as planning a single lesson. but

there are number of additional issues which we need to pay special attention to:

Before and during : however carefully we plan in practice unforeseen things are likely to

happen during the course of a lesson (as we shall see in Using lesson plans below) and so our

plans are continually modified in the light of these. Even more than a plan for an individual

lesson, a scheme of work for weeks or months of lessons is only a proposal of what we hope

to achieve in that time. We will need to revisit this scheme constantly to update it.

Short and long-term goals:however motivated a student may be at the beginning of the

year the level of that motivation may fall dramatically if the student is not engaged or if they

cannot see where they are going - or know when they have got there.

In order for students to stay motivated, they need goals and rewards. While a satisfactorylong-term goal may be 'to master the English language it can seem only a dim and distantpossibility at various stages of the learning cycle. In such circumstances students need short-term goals too, such as the completion of some piece of work (or some part of theprogramme) and rewards such as success on small staged lesson tests, or taking part inactivities designed to recycle knowledge and demonstrate acquisition.

When we plan a sequence of lessons, we need to build in goals for both students and

ourselves to aim at, whether they are end-of-week tests or major revision lessons. That way

we can hope to give our students a staged progression of successfully met challenges.

Thematic strands: one way to approach a sequence of lessons is to focus on different

content in each individual lesson. This will certainly provide variety. It might be better,

however, for themes to carry over for more than one lesson, or at least to reappear so that

students perceive some coherent topic strands as the course progresses. With such thematic

threads our students and we can refer backwards and forwards both in terms of language -

especially the vocabulary that certain topics generate - and also in terms of the topics we ask

them to invest time in considering.

Language planning:when we plan language input over a sequence of lessons we want to

propose a sensible progression of syllabus elements such as grammar, lexis, and functions.

We also want to build in sufficient opportunities for recycling or remembering language, and

for using language in productive skill work. If we are following a course book closely, many of

these decisions may already have been taken. But even in such circumstances we need to

keep a constant eye on how things are going and with the knowledge of ' before and after'

modify the programme we are working from when necessary.

Language does not exist in a vacuum, however. Our decisions about how to weave it throughthe lesson sequence will be heavily influenced by the need for a balance of activities.


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Activity balance:the balance of activities over a sequence of lessons is one of the features,

which will determine the overall level of student involvement in the course. If we get it right,

it will also provide the widest range of experience to meet the different learning styles of the

students in the class.

Over a period of weeks or months, we would expect students to have received a varied diet of

activities; they should not have to role-play every day, nor would we expect every lesson to

be devoted exclusively to language study. There is a danger, too, that they might become

bored if every Friday was the reading class, every Monday the presentation class, every

Wednesday was speaking and writing. In such a scenario, the level of predictability may have

gone beyond the sufficient to the exaggerated. What we are looking for, instead, is a blend of

the familiar and the new. While they need to know which books to bring when, we can inject

some innovations to break up excessive routine.

Planning a successful sequence of lessons means taking all these factors into considerationand weaving them together into a colourful but coherent tapestry.


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Discussion Task 9: Using lesson plans

(Adapted from Harmer, J. (2002) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman)

However carefully we plan, and whatever form our plan takes, we will still have to use that plan

in the classroom, and use our plans as records of learning for reference.

1. Action and reaction

Planning a lesson is not the same as scripting a lesson. Wherever our preparations fit on the

planning continuum, what we take into the lesson is a proposal for action, rather than a lesson

blueprint to be followed slavishly. And our proposal for action, transformed into action in the

classroom, is bound 10 'evoke some sort of student reaction' (Malamah-Thomas 1987: 5). We

then have to decide how to cope with that reaction and whether, in the light of it, we can

continue with our plan or whether we need to modify it as we go along.

There are a number of reasons why we may need to modify our proposal for action once a lesson

is taking place:

Magic moments: some of the most affecting moments in language lessons happen when a

conversation develops unexpectedly, or when a topic produces a level of interest in our

students, which we had not predicted. The occurrence of such magic moments helps to

provide and sustain a group's motivation. We have to recognise them when they come along

and then take a judgement about whether to allow them to develop, rather than denying

them life because they do not fit into our plan.

Sensible diversion: another reason for diversion from our original plan is when somethinghappens which we simply cannot ignore, whether this is a surprising student reaction to a

reading text, or the sudden announcement that someone is feeling very sick! In the case of

opportunistic teaching we take the opportunity to teach language that has suddenly come up.

Similarly, something might occur to us in terms of topic or in terms of a language connection,

which we suddenly want to develop on the spot.

Unforeseen problems: however well we plan, unforeseen problems often crop up. Some

students may find an activity that we thought interesting incredibly boring; an activity may

take more or less time than we anticipated. It is possible that something we thought would be

fairly simple for our students turns out to be very difficult (or vice versa). We may have

planned an activity based on the number of students we expected to turn up, only to find that

some of them are out on a school activity. Occasionally we find that students have already

come across material or topics we take into class, and our common sense tells us that it

would be unwise to carry on.

In any of the above scenarios, it would be almost impossible to carry on with our plan as if

nothing had happened:

if an activity finishes quickly we have to find something else to fill the time.

If students cannot do what we are asking of them, we will have to modify what we are

asking of them.

if some students (but not all) have already finished an activity we cannot just leave those

students to get bored.


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It is possible to anticipate potential problems in the class and to plan strategies to deal with

them. But, however well we do this, things will still happen that surprise us, and which,

therefore, cause us to move away from our plan, whether this is a temporary or permanent

state of affairs.

However well we plan, our plan is just a suggestion of what we might do in class. Everything

depends upon how our students respond and relate to it. In Jim Scriveners words, 'prepare

thoroughly. But in class, teach the learners - not the plan' (Scrivener 1994b:44).

2. Plans as records and research toolsWritten plans are not just proposals for future action; they are also records of what has taken

place. Thus, when we are in the middle of a sequence of lessons, we can look back at what we

have done in order to decide what to do next.

Since we may have to modify our lessons depending on student reactions, we need to keep a

record of how successful certain activities were to aid our memory. A record of lessons can also

help colleagues if and when they have to teach for us when we are absent.

Our original written plans will, therefore, have to be modified in the light of what actually

happened in the classes we taught. This may simply mean crossing out the original activity title

or course book page number, and replacing it with what we used in reality. However, if we record

how we and the students experienced the lesson, reflecting carefully on successful and less

successful activities, not only will this help us to make changes if and when we want to use the

same activities again, but it will also lead us to think about how we teach and consider changes inboth activities and approach. Lesson planning in this way allows us to act as our own observers

and aids us in our own development.


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Discussion Task 10: Teachers' language: Instructions(Adapted from Parrott, M., ((1993) Tasks for Language Teachers Cambridge)

Aim:This Task looks at different ways in which teachers may give instructions and encouragesyou to consider alternatives to these approaches. It also explores some of the problems,

which may arise in giving instructions.

Task: Section A A question of approach

1. Consider the following:

a) How carefully would you prepare the way you will give instructions in a particular lesson?b) In what ways would you give instructions?c) Example (With monolingual classes) The teacher may explain the procedure in English and

ask a student to translate this into the learners' first language.

d) What (if any) problems arise with regard to students understanding your instructions?

2 Comment on the following two points of view. Does either of them seem to be moreacceptable than the other? (If you feel that this depends on particular circumstances, qualify

your answer with specific reference to these circumstances.)

a)Teachers should aim to demonstrate to students as simply and as clearly as possible whatthey have to do. Non-verbal instructions are often more effective than verbal.

b)The giving of instructions in the classroom is one of the few genuinely communicative acts,which takes place. The teacher should thus exploit this opportunity by making her

instructions as natural as possible. If they are complicated and difficult for the students tounderstand, learners and the teacher are consequently obliged to 'negotiate meaning' toachieve an authentic communicative purpose.

Section BSome common problems

Look at the following situations and identify what might have gone wrong. What else could theteacher have done?

a) (Passage of any level) The teacher hands out a passage for the students to read. She thentells them to read it very quickly in order to extract the gist. The students begin to readpainstakingly.

b) i) (Lower-intermediate class) The teacher wants to teach the question How long + present

perfect continuous. She wants the students to repeat 'How long have you been studyingEnglish?' but, instead, the students answer her 'Six months'.

ii) (Lower-intermediate class) The teacher has drilled the question 'How long have you beenstudying English?' and now wants the students to ask each other across the class and toelicit the appropriate answers. However, the students simply keep repeating the question.

iii) (Elementary class) The class is learning and practising the simple present. The teacher hasdrilled the question 'What time do you get up?' and now wants the students to ask otherquestions beginning 'What time do you. . . ?' However, the students keep asking 'What time

do you get up?'


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3 Evaluate the following instructions, keeping in mind any conclusions you may have reached indiscussing the previous question:

a)

Teacher: 'A. Now, I'd like you to get into pairs, A and B. A, I want you to ask questions tofind out what is in B's picture. B, be careful not to let A see your picture. OK, here are the

pictures. That's right Maria, turn away from Joanne so she can't see it. Everyone, look atMaria and Joanne and see how they're sitting. That's right. Good.'

b)The teacher gets the attention of the whole class. Then she gives a picture to Maria andgestures to her not to reveal it to others. The teacher asks Maria three or four questions tofind out what is in the picture. She then gestures to Wang (who is on the opposite side of

the room) to continue the questions. She then uses gesture to divide the students intopairs and gives one student in each pair a picture. She says, 'OK? Now you.'

c)

(Elementary class) The teacher wants the students to do an exercise from their workbooksfor homework. She explains that she wants the students to write the answers on a piece of

paper to hand in. In the next lesson, she discovers that most of the students have writtentheir answers in the workbook. She cannot collect these in because they will need them fortheir next homework.

d)

(Advanced class) The teacher has asked each student to prepare a short presentation on atopic of their own interest to give to the rest of the class. She discovers that many of thestudents have written down the text of the presentation and feel unprepared to give itwithout reading out what they have written.


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Discussion Task 11: Questioning

(Adapted from Ur, P., (1999)A Course in Language TeachingCambridge)

Aim: The aim of this task is to familiarise you with ways of asking questions in class, togetherwith the reasons for asking them.

Questioning is a universally used activation technique in teaching, mainly within the Initiation-Response-Feedback pattern.

Note that teacher questions are not always realized by interrogatives. For example, the question:

'What can you see in this picture?'may be expressed by the statement:

'We'll describe what is going on in this pictureor by the command:

'Tell me what you can see in this picture.'So perhaps a question, in the context of teaching, may be best defined as a teacher utterancewhich has the objective of eliciting an oral response from the learner(s)'.

Task: Reasons for questioningThere are various reasons why a teacher might ask a question in the classroom. Read

through the list of possible reasons shown in Box 1, and add any more that you can thinkof.

BOX 1: REASONS FOR QUESTIONING

- To provide a model for language or thinking.

- To find out something from the learners (facts, ideas, opinions)

- To check or test understanding, knowledge or skill

- To get learners to be active in their learning.

- To direct attention to the topic being learned.

- To inform the class via the answers of the stronger learners rather than through the teachers

input

- To provide weaker learners with an opportunity to participate

- To stimulate thinking (logical, reflective or imaginative); to probe more deeply into issues;

- To get learners to review and practise previously learnt material

- To encourage self-expression

- To communicate to learners that the teacher is genuinely interested in what they think

-

-

-

(Note: Any specific question is likely to involve more than one of these alms; for example. Itmight review and practise while simultaneously encouraging self-expression)Cambridge University Press 1996


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Effective questioning

There have been numerous attempts to identify characteristics of effective questioning techniquesin the classroom. Questions have been classified according to various different criteria:

what kind of thinking do they try to elicit (plain recall, for example, analysis, or

evaluation);

whether they are 'genuine' or 'display' questions (does the teacher really want to know the

answer, or is he or she simply checking if the student does?);

whether they are closed- or open ended (do they have a single right answer" or many?);

and many others.

However, in the present context, we will concentrate on a few basic principles that would seem tocharacterize effective questions within the conventional IRF (Initiation Response Feedback)

structure, defining 'effective questions' in terms of the desired response. As language teachers,

our motive in questioning is usually to get our students to engage with the language material

actively through speech; so an effective questioning technique is one that elicits fairly prompt,

motivated, relevant and full responses. If, on the other hand, our questions result in long

silences, or are answered by only the strongest students or obviously bore the class, or

consistently elicit only very brief or unsuccessful answers, then there is probably something

wrong.

Some useful criteria for effective questioning for language teachers are suggested in Box 1.

BOX 1: CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE QUESTIONING1. Clarity: do the learners immediately grasp not only what the question means, but also what

kind of an answer is required?

2. Learning value: does the question stimulate thinking and responses that will contribute to

further learning of the target material? Or is it irrelevant, unhelpful or merely time-filling?

3. Interest: do learners find the question interesting, challenging, stimulating?4. Availability: can most of the members of the class try to answer it or only the more advanced,

confident, knowledgeable? (Note that the mere addition of a few seconds' wait-time before

accepting a response can make the question available to a significantly larger number of

learners)

5. Extension: does the question invite and encourage extended and/or varied answers? *

6. Teacher reaction: are the learners sure that their responses will be related to with respect, i.e.that they will not be put down or ridiculed if they say something inappropriate?

*Occasionally - for example, where the emphasis is on listening comprehension rather thanspeaking - brief single answers may be more appropriate; in such cases this criterion would notapply.

@ Cambridge University Press 1996


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Discussion Task 12: Critical analysis of teacher questions

(Adapted from Ur, P., (1999)A Course in Language TeachingCambridge)

Aim:The aim of this task is to critique some forms of questioning techniques.

Task:Look at the exchanges in Box 1, which are loosely based on events actually observed inclassrooms. Can you identify what the purpose of the teacher is in questioning, andcomment on the way he or she went about it, perhaps applying the criteria suggestedabove? See the Comments section on next page for more criticisms.

BOX 1: TEACHER QUESTIONING

Exchange 1

T : Now today we are going to discuss circuses. Have you ever been to a circus?

Ss: (Immediately) Yes, yes.

T: Yes. Where you see clowns, and horses and elephants and acrobats.

Exchange 2

T: Yesterday we learned various words that express feelings. Can you tell me...What does

'relief' mean?

(pause)

T: Well, when might you feel relief?

(pause)

Can you remember a time when you felt relief? Yes, Claire?

S 1: When my friend was late, I thought he wasn't coming and then he came.

T: Good...Denise?

S 2: I thought I will fail the exam, and then in the end I pass.

T: Good. Now: 'fear'?

Exchange 3

T: Right what was the story about? Can anyone tell me? Claire!

S: Man.

T: Yes, a man. What did this man do? Can you tell me anything about him!

S: He..married.

Exchange 4

T: Here's a picture, with lots of things going on. Tell me some of them. For example: the

policeman is talking to the driver, perhaps he's telling him where to go. What else?

S 1: The little girl is buying an ice cream.S 2: There's a woman, old woman, in the middle, she's crossing the road.

S 3: A man . sitting....on chair.

T: OK, a man is sitting on a chair, there in the corner...What else?

Cambridge University Press 1996


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Exchange 1

There is a problem of double messages here, since the declared objective is contradicted by the

questioning technique used. The teacher says explicitly that the intention is to 'discuss'; but the

introductory question, though clear, actually discourages discussion: it is a 'yes/no' question

inviting a single, brief answer, lacking 'extension', and not forwarding the declared teachingobjective. However, it is both interesting and 'available': the fact that the students answer

promptly and apparently enthusiastically indicates that they probably have something to say -

though they are given no opportunity to do so.

Either the teacher did nor really intend to 'discuss' at all and prefers to hold the stage herself, or

she is not aware of the inappropriate form of her questions; perhaps a combination of the two.

Exchange 2

The purpose of the exchange is, presumably, to review vocabulary learned the day before. The

obvious question: 'What does X mean?' though apparently clear, is unsuccessful in eliciting

answers, probably because it is too abstract and difficult; even a competent native speaker of the

language might have trouble answering. It is, thus, not very 'available', and certainly does not

elicit extended answers. This teacher, however, quickly realizes her mistake and rephrases, twice.

The question that demands a concrete example from experience is much better on all counts, and

predictably receives immediate and fairly full responses. But then, what is going to happen with

the next item?

Exchange 3

There is no indication of pauses after the questions, and the answers are basically correct in

content; the questions seem fairly clear, interesting and available to most of the class. But their

value in providing for learning is lowered because of the difficulty of the learners in expressing

their answers in the foreign language. The teacher might have been able to help by giving some

'scaffolding', or modelling answers', in her questions: 'Was it about a man, a woman, an animal

..? It was...Yes, Claire?'

Exchange 4

Here the teacher makes it very clear what kinds of responses she is requesting by providing

examples. She also implies that she expects a number of answers ('extension'). The combination

of these two strategies makes the question far more 'available': the sheer number of student

responses to the single cue looks like being relatively large, and the weak student (S3) ventures

a response based on the examples (of the teacher and of previous speakers) which he or she

would nor have done if only one response, without illustration, had been requested. The sheer

number of responses contributes significantly to the effectiveness of the desired practice of the

target language as a whole.


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Discussion Task 13: Schemes of work(Adapted from Parrott, M., (1993) Tasks for Language Teachers Cambridge)

Aim: This Task encourages you to reflect on planning schemes of work. It also invites youtocompare and evaluate two examples of schemes of work.

TASK: Section A

Personal experience

A 'scheme of work' is an outline of the lessons planned for a particular class over a period oftime.

1 How far ahead do you think you should plan?

2 In how much detail should you plan? Does this vary from class to class? What factors affectthe amount of detail you specify in your schemes of work?

3 How would you ensure that your classes got an appropriate balance of the following?- activities aimed at developing the different 'skills' (listening, reading, speaking,

writing)- fluency-orientated activities aimed at communication activities with a specific linguistic

focus

4 Would you show your schemes of work to your students?Why (not)?

5 How might the following affect the organisation and content of a scheme of work?

- the level of the class

- the age of the learners

TASK: Section B

Analysing and evaluating schemes of work

Look at the two schemes of work on page 29 and 30. They are both templates for planning asequence of lessons, typically for each term and organized by week.

Compare and contrast the headings for the two Schemes of Work.

Ask for clarification regarding terms you do not understand.

What are the strengths of these Schemes of Work?Is there anything missing in either?

Task: Section C

Look at the sample scheme of work on page 31. Analyze it for:

- the balance of skills- language work- fluency-related activities- variety- revision- homework


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SCHEME OF WORK FORM ... LANGUAGE

INTE

RACTION

LIS

TENING

SPEAKING

RE

ADING

WRITING

TOPIC/THEME, VOCAB AREA, LANG. FOCUS,

LANG. FUNCTIONS, STRUCTURES, SKILLS ACTIVITIES

WEEK1

LITERATURE

WEEK1


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- 30 -

SUBJECT: TEACHER:

FORM:

DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING OUTCOMES

LEARNING

OBJECTIVESMUST SHOULD COULD PROCEDURE RESOURCES ASSESSMENT

WEEK1

OCT5

9

WEEK2

OC

T121

6


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SCHEME OF WORK FORM 3 LANGUAGE

INTER-

ACTION

LISTENING

SPEAKINGTOPIC/THEME, VOCAB AREA, LANG. FOCUS,

LANG. FUNCTIONS, STRUCTURES, SKILLS ACTIVITIES

WEEK1

Making complaints.

Formal letter writing - complaint. Presentation

of model letter as reading comprehension; task

for sts to notice & label parts of letter (as brief

revision of lesson on formal letters in general).

Focus on tenses, discourse markers and esp.

vocab. used in formal English to complain; task:

jumbled up letter to be put in order; task: letter

with parts deleted for sts to fill in.

HW write a letter of complaint to supplier of

faulty cd player.

Listening: sts listen to dialogue between sales

assistant and client returning a faulty item + task

on noticing differences between making

complaints in speech and in writing.

Speaking activity, role play client and shop

assistant.

Whole class work sts answer Qs

on general principles of formal

letter writing

Individual st work sts underline

/label parts of letterPair work sorting out jumbled

letter

Whole class listening +

individual working out of

task

Pair work role play

T Ss

Ss

S - S

Ss

S - S

WEEK2

THIS IS A SAMPLE, YOU MAYUSE ANOTHER FORMAT BUTTHE CONTENTS SHOULD BE

LARGELY SIMILAR

31


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Discussion Task 14: Group work vs. Individual work(adapted from Parrott, M., (1993) Tasks for Language Teachers Cambridge)

Aim: This task helps you to become more aware of the rationale underlying the range ofchoices available to you with regard to grouping students for different activities.

Task

Section A Rationale

1. Make a list of arguments that a teacher might advance against the use of pair workand group work in the classroom.

2. Make a list of arguments students might advance against the use of pair work and

group work in the classroom.3. Make a list of arguments you might use in order to persuade teachers and students

who are resistant to the idea of working in pairs and groups and who put forward thepoints you have listed in answering Questions 1 and 2.

Example: An argument which might be put forward againstthe use of pair work andgroup work is that this may encourage students to speak in their own language.

Section B Patterns of interaction and activities

Look at the following list of some of the activities students might engage in, in the classroom.

Indicate by placing a tick in the column whether you think the most appropriate grouping forthe activity would b e pairs (P), groups of three to five (G) or individual work (I). Discussreasons for your decisions.

P G I

Doing course book grammar exercises

Doing course book vocabulary exercises

Reading comprehension passages

Answering comprehension questions

Preparing arguments for a discussion or writing task (composition)

Writing dialogues

Brainstorming a lexical field

Doing a revision test

Talking about topics of personal interest

Using a dictionary to research vocabulary relating to a specifictopic

Repeating words and phrases to improve pronunciation

Role-playing a situation to practise exponents of a particularfunction (e.g. inviting)


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Observation task 1: Teaching and learning roles(Adapted from Wajnryb, R. (1992). Classroom Observation Tasks. Cambridge)

BACKGROUND

Within the time frame of anyone lesson, there is a range of roles that a teacher may adopt,and a range of corresponding learner roles as well. An important aspect of effective teachingis the facility with which a teacher can move in and out of these various roles and enable

learners to do likewise. This flexibility itself depends on the teacher's understanding of thepurposes ofdifferent stages ofa lesson and a clear sense of what the various correspondingroles of teachers and learners are (Wright I987; Byrne I987).

In a classic example of a focussed instructional cycle (Gibbons 1989), such as thePresentation-Practice-Production style of lesson, this may he depicted as in Figure 1. The sizeof the teacher's face per stage corresponds to the relative central focus of the teacher.

It is important to note that the order of the three 'P's may vary: sometimes, for example, inorder to establish with clarity areas of need and motivation, the production stage may comebefore the presentation (see, for example, Woodward 1991: 195-7). Wherever in the lesson

the production phase might occur, the relative and interconnected roles of teacher andlearner would remain as facilitator/guide and producer/ communicator respectively.

Presentation Practice Production

Teacher. controls

monitors/corrects

facilitates/guides

Figure 1

Figure 1is derived from a teacher-training workshop given by Louise Austin at the Sydney EnglishLanguage Centrein 1989.

Another model, which allows the roles of teacher to emerge very well, is seen in Figure 2.

Here each segment shows a facet of teaching and as you move in a clockwise direction, you

see a decrease in overt teacher 'face' as reflected in the degree of shading.

Of course, as with Figure 1, the various roles do not have to occur in the order shown. The

actual sequence in which the various roles are adopted will depend on the lesson's plan, its

objectives and processes.


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Figure 2

AIM: This task is designed to heighten your awareness of the various teacher roles and their

corresponding learner roles.

TASK:

BEFORE THE LESSON

I. Arrange to observe a lesson, and if possible obtain a copy of the teacher's lesson plan.2. Study the plan and try to predict the kind of role the teacher will assume at each stage.

3. Consider the data collection plan below.

Lesson stage Teacher's role Learner's role Comments

Chart 1

Use Chart 1 to collect data from the lesson. As the lesson proceeds, note down informationabout the stage of the lesson, the teachers role, and the corresponding learners role. Thereis room in the far right column for any comments you wish to make.

1. informer

presenter

explainer

stimulator

4. manager

consultant

2. conductor

controller

checker

3. organiser

monitor


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AFTER THE LESSON

1. Compare your predictions based on the plan you looked at before the lesson with the datathat you collected from the lesson. If lesson plan was not available, skip this stage.

2. Based on the lesson you observed, what do you consider to be the major roles of teachers

and learners?

What overt behaviour would you associate with each role? Use Chart 2 to help you organiseyour thoughts.

Teacher's role Characteristic overt behaviour

Corresponding Learners role

CharacteristicOvert behaviour

3. Were there any instances during the lesson when any learners did not behave in the

expected learner role?

If you have already given lessons during this School Experience, have you experienced thisin your own teaching?

To what factors may this behaviour be attributed?

What skills in classroom management are needed during such 'breakdowns'?

4. Do different lesson types (as defined by both objectives and activities) make different

demands on the teacher and learners in regard to roles?

5. How do you think a teacher can gain greater facility in switching roles during a lesson?

REFLECTION

What have you learned from this observation and consideration of roles that might benefit

your own teaching?


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Observation Task 2: Teaching skills and strategies:Presenting

(Adapted from Wajnryb, R. (1992). Classroom Observation Tasks. Cambridge)

BACKGROUND

In recent years a lot of attention has been given to the varying roles that a language teacherhas. Increasing emphasis has been placed on the less obtrusive roles such as monitoring

language use and facilitating communication. In some versions of the communicative andtask-based approaches there is often no formal presentation phase.

Nevertheless, even with the welcome increased focus on student talking time over teachertalking time, the skill of presenting remains a key one in the repertoire of a language teacher,as learners still often look to the teacher to perform this role.

Aim:The objective of this task is to raise awareness of the key components of a successfulpresentation.

Task:

BEFORE THE LESSON

1. This task involves you watching the presentation phase of a lesson. It may be of value towatch this in a number of different lessons.

2. Make yourself familiar with the chart and diagram.

DURING THE LESSON

1. During the lesson, record what happens by completing Chart l (Use a new chart for eachlesson.) Record the chronological events in terms of what the teacher does and what thestudents do.

2. You may like to keep a record of teacher movement in or around the classroom. Aconvenient way of doing this is to make a diagram of the classroom (see Figures 1 and 2),and note the teacher's position with a cross, plus a note of the time.

What teacher does What learners do

Greet/ chat with Ss

Warm Ss up by reminding them of yesterdays

lesson

Greet/ respond to T

Recall yesterdays lesson


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Chart 1

DESK

X

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

DESK

. . X . .

. . . .. . . .. . . .

. . . .. . .

Chart 2

AFTER THE LESSON

Figure 2

1. Using the data you have collected and your awareness of the effectiveness of the various

parts of a presentation, prepare a list of the key components of a presentation. Discuss

your list, along with your data of the lesson, with the tutor.

2. Considering your list of the various key components of a presentation, say what you

believe to be the purpose of each.

3. A traditional part of the presentation of new language is the drill phase. What is meant by

'drill' here is the phase in which the students practise the language in a very controlled

way under the close guidance of the teacher. The focus is necessarily limited and accuracy-

oriented, yet not necessarily mechanical or meaningless.

Is it important that the students understand the language - both its form and meaning -

prior to the drill phase? What are the implications of drilling with or without attention to

student understanding? What is revealed, in each case, about the teacher's approach to

language learning?

4. One element of the presentation phase is the teacher's voice. A number of qualities are

relevant here:

- audibility;

- projection;

- speed;

- clarity;

- lack of distortion.

What do you understand by each of these terms?

5. Another element of the presentation phase is the physical position of the teacher in the

classroom. Consider now the notes you took regarding teacher position. What comments


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can you make about teacher position and movement?

6. Consider the presentation(s) you have observed in terms of the actual target language

presented. What context was used to embed the language? How 'natural' do you consider

the context to have been? Did the context 'naturally' generate the target language forms?

Did it foster a learning link between language and situation?

7. Now, consider the presentation mode used by the teacher to present new language. For

example, was the language presented aurally via a tape recorder or visually, in written

form?

8. Consider the relationship between presentation mode and language form: was the mode

appropriate to the language forms and the language register being presented?


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Observation Task 3: Lesson planning(Adapted from Wajnryb, R. (1992). Classroom Observation Tasks. Cambridge

Very often, lesson planning begins with a sheet of paper and an objective or set of objectives,and works its way through a number of procedures, steps and phases through to the end.

In this observation we will be approaching lesson design from a different departure point -from the perspective of the completed lesson. We will be working backwards from a taughtlesson to determine what decisions were made by the teacher in planning this lesson. The

planning of teaching is seen as a series of decisions made by a teacher about the variouselements of a lesson -learners, materials, tasks, etc.

A key point to be stressed is that while planning is a relatively static activity, teaching isinherently dynamic. It follows therefore that, in a sense, plans are made to be changed - that

is, they are drawn up in the knowledge that the teacher will almost inevitably alter the plan

as the lesson develops. These 'up-and-running' decisions are no less important than thosemade before the lesson began.

AIM:The task objective is to determine - through a set of a focussed and guided questions- what decisions the teacher made in planning the lesson. As we shall see, the planning

refers both to preparation before the lesson and decisions taken in the classroomduring the lesson. Changes to plans and reasons for them will be an important elementin the post-lesson consultation with the teacher.

PROCEDURE

BEFORE THE LESSON

It may help to have a copy of the lesson plan while observing the lesson in order to

distinguish between pre-planned and on-the-spot teacher decisions. After the lesson try anddiscuss the planning elements with the teacher. If this is not possible, discuss your

observations during the tutorial.

DURING THE LESSON

1. Below is a list of questions about various aspects of planning language teaching. Of coursethe nature of the lesson will determine the relevance of these: a lesson devoted to role-play will be different from a writing lesson or one devoted to an analysis of grammar.

Choose, therefore, the aspects that are relevant to the lesson you observe.

In observing this lesson, what inferences can you make concerning the teacher's decisionsabout:

1 establishing a certain classroom atmosphere?

2 motivating the students to the lesson?

3 realistically contextualising language?

4 involving the students and drawing out passive knowledge?

5 lexis: how much to teach? What? When? And how?

6 checking for comprehension and learning?

7 providing safe contexts for practice?

8 helping students to identify rules and organise new knowledge?


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9 shifting the focus and patterns of interaction?

10 setting up activities that promote communication?

11 establishing a framework in which students work without the teacher?

12 the aids to be used in various parts of the lesson?

13 integrating skills involved in the lesson?

14 how information is to be organised and shared?

15 ending the lesson and linking it to previous/future ones?

This chart will help with recording data:

Observation Inference Discussion questions

T. uses pictures and realia

to explain meaning of words

Evidence of planning

these words considered

potentially difficult

How were the difficult

words chosen?

2. As the lesson develops, there may be questions that you yourself would like to ask theteacher about the various decisions taken about the lesson. Make a note of these as they

emerge during the lesson.

At the end of the lesson, your notes will offer a reconstitution of the original plan plus the

changes made through the lesson itself.

AFTER THE LESSON

1.You now have quite a detailed idea of the sort of decisions you have inferred the teachermade about the lesson during the planning phase. Discuss your inferences with the teacher.This may promote a very interesting discussion.

2. Actual lessons tend to vary in some degree from the pre-conceived plan. For this reason,teachers often debate the value of expending time and concentration in the planning phase.Look at these hypothetical answers to the question: Is it worth planning a lesson?


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Teacher A Teacher B

Teacher C

Teacher D

Teacher E

a) With which of these answers do you feel comfortable?

b) What value(s) can be gained from lesson planning?

3. Many lesson plans used during training courses are idealised, in that they include far toomuch detail and require too much attention in the lesson. This can distract the teacher and

may also create an unnecessary dependency on the plan or may encourage a rigidapproach to teaching. However, this is essential until training and experience will replacethis amount of detail with a briefer lesson plan.

I always plan mylesson because itcompels me tothink through my

aims and objectivesand the various

I thinkthere's aplace forbroadplanning butnot every

I always have a plan asI think its importantfor the teacher as wellas the learners that

everyone involved inthe process knows

where the re headin

If I dont

have a plan,

I have no

basis forlesson

evaluation.

I never teachaccording to myplan so whats the

use of havingone?


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Observation Task 4: Classroom management(Adapted from Wajnryb, R. (1992). Classroom Observation Tasks. Cambridge)

Managing classroom communication: patterns of interaction

Aim This task is concerned generally with how communication takes place in a classroomsetting, and specifically with the patterns of interaction that provide the vehicle for

communication.

Task: In this task you will be collecting data about how communication is realised in the

classroom, for example, who talks and to whom, who questions, who responds.

PROCEDURE

BEFORE THE LESSON

1. Arrange to observe a lesson, preferably (but not essentially) one with a focus on oral-auralskills.

2. Make yourself familiar with Figure 1.

DURING THE LESSON

Use Figure 1 (based on Woodward 1991) to help you record information about the patterns ofinteraction that happen through the lesson.

1. Draw up a seating plan includin

Documents

School Experience 2012-1