2017-11-30
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Students are often shy and easily embarrassed when learning a new language. Many students do not ask for help or repetition for fear of ridicule. Teachers must check for comprehension various times throughout a lesson. Comprehension checks should never simply ask if the students have understood, rather they must solicit the targeted information from the students.
Leave time to review at the end
Many teachers forget how important it is to leave time at the end of a lesson for a quick review of the new material and an opportunity for any questions. It often seems that students have understood the concepts but a well planned review session at the end of a lesson may show otherwise. Using the feedback and questions from the review, teachers can plan a better follow up lesson.
The basic lesson plan may include:
1. Warm-up-5 minutes
2. Homework check(review)-10 minutes
3. Introduction of the new material-5-10 minutes
4. Practice of the new material-5-20 minutes
5. Assigning homework-2-3 minutes
6. Wrap-up-3-5 minutes
In a warm-up the teacher gets children ready for the lesson. Warm-ups are quick, easy and enjoyable. After the warm-up the teacher checks the homework. Next comes the introduction of the new material. It could be vocabulary, dialogs, listening material, grammar. When the new material is introduced, it should be first introduced orally with the books closed. Children need to hear as much comprehensible English in class, as possible, because they hear almost none outside the classroom. Cards, realia, animals, role-play are excellent ways to introduce the new material.
After the new material is introduced, children open the books and see the material in another context and listen to the classroom tape. All the children should be involved all the time.
Students may repeat, point to vocabulary items or pictures, repeat, check boxes, circle an item. After the practice is finished, it is a good time to introduce songs or chants. While working logically with language, the children were using the left side of their brains. Right brain activity is a good change. After a song or a chant the teacher gives homework. Children must know before they leave the classroom exactly how to do the homework. The wrap-up is an enjoyable activity that finishes the lesson. It might include consolidation of the new material or revision of the material learnt earlier.
The ideal primary foreign language classroom looks like:
- Children play with language
- Children are grouped
- A wide variety of instructional techniques
- Children cooperate to learn rather than compete with one another
- Topics are appropriate and of interest to children
- A great deal of input is made meaningful through abundant context
- Children are active processors of language, not passive
- Teacher trust and guidance
- Learning is holistic, not separate from the meaning it conveys
- Frequent teacher interaction
- Children’s learning styles are honored
Practical task and activities
Look through a sample lesson plan on the theme “Family relationships” and analyze it paying attention to the following:
- objectives of the lesson
- materials
- how review is done
- how presentation is done
- tasks and activities for practice
- think of your ideas for wrap-up
A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN
THEME: Family relationships
OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to ask and answer questions on family members, using the correct forms of possessive adjectives and pronouns
MATERIALS: Charts on the board, cards.
PROCEDURE
I. PRONUNCIATION DRILL
Students practice pronunciation of the sounds [ð], [θ] in the words:
father, mother, brother, they, them, their, this, that, three
II. REVIEW
Teacher writes the verb “to have” on board in present simple affirmative and interrogative and drills students
I have a mother. Do I have a mother?
He has a brother. Does he have a brother?
III. PRESENTATION
a) teacher tells a story of own family and draws a family tree with cartoon faces, names and relationships on the board
b) teacher asks questions of one student and draws a similar family tree on the board. Sample questions may include
What is your father’s/mother’s name?
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Is your brother married?
What is his wife’s name?
Does he have children?
What are their names?
c) teacher checks comprehension of class by asking YES/NO questions about the family tree. For example:
Is Ermek’s mother called Gulnar?
Does Ermek have two sisters?
Does his sister have children?
d) teacher checks comprehension by asking individual students to go to the board and:
Point to Ermek’s sister.
Draw a pair of sunglasses on Ermek’s face.
Draw a big smile on the face of Ermek’s father.
Change the hairstyle of Ermek’s sister
IV. PRACTICE
a) teacher asks students each to draw their own family tree. Then each student describes the family tree to a neighbor.
b) teacher asks each student to describe the family tree of the first neighbor to a second neighbor
c) teacher distributes cards and asks students to circulate asking each other the questions given below. As students find a classmate who can give an affirmative answer to a question, they ask that classmate to sign beside the question. The object of the exercise is to see who can get all the questions signed off first
Do you have two sisters?
Does your mother have two brothers?
Is you sister’s name Mariya?
Do you have one brother?
Do your parents have four children?
Do you have a baby sister?
Is your brother’s name Ermek?
V. HOME ASSIGNMENT
