Teaching English 10. Lesson planning and classroom management

Teaching English

10. Lesson planning and classroom

management

Nancy Grimm – Michael Meyer – Laurenz Volkmann

0. Table of contents

1. Lesson frameworks

2. Using the textbook and other material

3. Planning a lesson

3.1 Advance reflection

3.2 Structuring a lesson

3.3 Models for lesson planning

3.4 Generic structure of a lesson plan

3.5 Assessing and evaluating lessons

4. The lesson in progress

4.1 Teacher talk and student talk

4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction

5. Recommended reading

6. Acknowledgements

2Chapter 10: Lesson planning and classroom management

Discuss:

Look at the cartoon. Does a good lesson need exact pre-planning? What do teachers need to consider when planning a lesson? What would be a generic structure of a good lesson?




Think about the metaphors for

a lesson and discuss which of

them seem closest to your

vision of an ideal lesson.

based on Ur 1996: 213

1. Lesson frameworks – functions of a lesson


Elements of…

an exchange

an interaction

a goal-oriented

effort

an enjoyable

experience

a ritualized construct

a series of free choices

cf. Ur 1996: 214


6

Life is what happens while you are making plans.

– John Lennon


Good lessons

impromptu modifications

improvisation

pre-given structure

pre-planning

1. Lesson frameworks – external factors


1. Lesson frameworks – dilemmas


As an avid fan of Shakespeare, can a teacher still use a

complete play, maybe even a complex one like Hamlet with advanced

classes?

?

Given the fact that textbooks apparently seem to spoon-feed

students all the input they need, do teachers still need to consult the

curriculum or use teaching material other

than the textbook?

?

Given the dominant standardization and

output-orientation, how do teachers deal with physically or mentally

handicapped students in inclusive classes who will

not achieve the same level of proficiency?

?

How do teachers foster life-long and

autonomous learning, as propagated by all the

political documents on FL teaching, if they are

pressed to ‘teach to the test’?

?

1. Lesson frameworks – sound balance


cf. Thaler 2012: 24


10

• mechanical, inauthentic, vague, simple, complicated

• autonomy

Methods

• monoto-nous, difficult, simple

• context

Language & content

• different learning styles / learner types

Appeal to learners

• too much emphasis on an isolated skill?

Balance of skills

• Processa-bility Hierarchy

• staging

• input

Progression & grading

• appropriate

• up-to-date

Cultural content

• quality

• functional / decorative

• too much or too little

Visuals


Islam & Mares 2003: 88-89, adapted

2. Using the textbook

and other material


Media package (Lehrwerk) Authenticity?

Additional

material?

Selection?

Reality shock?Adaptation?

Consult the homepages of textbook publishers (e. g., www.klett.de, www.cornelsen.de, www.diesterweg.de). Look for supplementary material to the EFL textbooks offered by theses publishers. Consider the following questions:- Is the material provided appealing and comprehensive? - How much is free of charge?- How is it related to the textbook? - How motivating and useful do you consider the material?



Discuss the statement below and rephrase it so that it reflects your own attitudes:

“Good teachers plan their classes minutely so that everything they do is prearranged. Once they are in the classroom, they follow their plan without deviation, always watching out for irrelevances which the students may bring up and which would disrupt the plan.” (Harmer 2000: 138)


3.1 Advance reflection


Needs and goals before

methods

based on Richards & Rodgers 1986: 159

3.2 Structuring a lesson – “no plan is written on tablets of stone”


Take notes with the overall structure to

class!

What can go wrong?

Time management!

Write down key questions and instructions!

A good lesson has a certain

composition!

A good lesson should be clearly structured with

smooth transitions.

Variation!A sense of

achievement!

Lessons should neither be

predictable nor always the same!

cf. Harmer 2000: 125, Ur 1996: 216-17

3.2 Structuring a lesson – principles

17

Keep the students and their needs in

mind!

different methods

different social forms

indivi-dual

learners

scaffol-ding

material & media

output-&

compe-tences

pre

during

post


3.3 Models for lesson planning

18

Problems

Pre – while (during) – post

Presentation –Practice –

Production (PPP)

Engage – Study –Activate (ESA)




Look at the lesson plan:- Where would you find the phases of the PPP and ESA models? - Consider a typical EFL lesson for beginners, introducing new vocabulary, or for advanced learners, tackling a cultural

issue. How would you modify the plan below?

lesson plan based on Farrell 2002: 33, the German terminology follows Benecke 2007: 36-37



Consider the following scenario and discuss how teachers should respond to it:

“[T]he teacher has planned that the students should prepare a dialogue and then act it out, after which there is a reading test and some exercises for them to get through. The teacher has allowed twenty minutes for dialogue preparation and acting out. But when the students start working on the activity, it is obvious they need more time. The teacher then discovers that they would like to spend at least half the lesson on just the acting-out phase which they find helpful and enjoyable. At that moment, he or she has to decide whether to abandon the original plan and go along with the students’ wishes or whether it is better to press ahead regardless.” (Harmer 2000: 5)

3.5 Assessing and evaluating lessons


Were the learners attentive and active?

Did the teacher respond to students

individually?

What did the students actually

learn?

Was there a phase of consolidating knowledge?

Was English used communicatively

throughout?

What tasks were most successful? Least successful?

Why?

Did the lesson follow a certain trajectory?

Was it finished on time?

What changes (if any) will have to be made in the future in one’s teaching and why?

Put the criteria in an order of priority. Put the most important first, the least important last.

4.1 Teacher talk and

student talk

While people use the structural resources of English to express ideas, they are also using language to pursue relationships.

What is said draws meaning from a vast amount that is left unsaid.

Talk is used to bind people together.

People refer implicitly to what previous speakers have said and anticipate what they might say next.

Especially small talk aims to establish an interactional framework for encounters between people.

Conversations are frequently highly repetitive, marked by turn-taking and rituals.

Intonation and body language significantly convey and inflect meaning.

Exchanges in class need to be more authentic and truer to real-life communicative

situations.


cf. Maybin 2002: 5-12

Compare each characteristic of verbal interaction in everyday conversation with how language is used in the classroom.

Why is language in the classroom different? Could it use the characteristics of verbal interaction as a benchmark?


cf. Maybin 2002: 5-12

While people use the structural resources of English to express ideas, they are also using language to pursue relationships.

What is said draws meaning from a vast amount that is left unsaid.

Talk is used to bind people together.

People refer implicitly to what previous speakers have said and anticipate what they might say next.

Especially small talk aims to establish an interactional framework for encounters between people.

Conversations are frequently highly repetitive, marked by turn-taking and rituals.

Intonation and body language significantly convey and inflect meaning.

4.1 Teacher talk and

student talk

Inauthentic classroom communication


cf. Rowe 1986, Hüllen 1987, Lindner 2011

Classroom interaction

4.2 Optimizing

classroom

interaction

A place of learning & action


cf. Legutke 2007, 2009

• authentic texts & situations

• more task-oriented with clear goals

• active student participation

• variety of learning resources

• more student-centered evaluation & feedback

• teaching is cooperative and participatory

4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – optimizing teaching skills

physical presence in class

seating arrangement & student groupings

knowing the problems of ‘teacherese’ and TTT

dealing with uncooperative students


4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – physical presence in class

27

proficient

understandable

dress, gestures, expressions, mime

proximity & closeness

appropriacy

movement & voice


When regarding the teacher’s physical presence in class, one would also need to consider how this affects different learner groups – with regard to age, gender, ethnicity, cultural background, group set-up, etc. How, for example, would a teacher’s physical presence and interaction with studentsdiffer when (1) she or he is teaching grammar in grade 6 to (2) her or him teaching Shakespeare in grade 12?


4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – seating arrangement & student groupings

29

counter-productive

seating arrangements

alternative seating arrangements

different student

groupings & social

forms


4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – problems of teacherese and teacher talk

30

comprehensible

input

boring,

inauthentic

IRE


4.2 Optimizing

classroom

interaction

Problems of teacherese and teacher talk


cf. Lindner 2011: 40, based on Rowe 1986

“What is the capital

of Great Britain?” “London.”

“Very good.”

� If student A fails to respond immediately, another student is asked

until the right answer is elicited.

� If student A fails to give the correct answer, another student is

asked, with the teacher signaling verbally or non-verbally that

student A answered incorrectly.

� Often there is a chain of such ‘teacher questions.’

4.2 Optimizing

classroom

interaction – TTT

Inauthentic classroom communication


cf. Lindner 2011: 40, based on Rowe 1986

“What is the capital

of Great Britain?” “London.”

“Very good.”

Consider the following statistics (Lindner 2011: 49):� A teacher asks a question every 37 seconds.

� A class of students asks the teacher 2.2 questions a lesson.

� A student asks a question every 3 days.

� A teacher asks more than 800 questions in the course of three days.

Suggest ways to improve communication in EFL classes.

4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – good teacher questions


Prepare short, unambiguous, and simply structured questions.

Raise demanding, meaningful, and open questions with a clear topic.

Use learner-centered questions which include everyone

Employ questions to gain students’ co-operation and to emphasize important learning goals or organizational aspects.

Use alternatives to questions such as impulses and non-verbal communication.

Allow enough time to prepare the answers and do not repeat students’ answers (Lehrerecho).

based on Lindner 2011

4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – clear and unambiguous instructions!


Convey only important information and clear instructions.

Consider what students need to know to tackle and complete an activity successfully.

Clearly communicate the steps of an activity.

Provide a time frame.

Check whether students understood the instructions.

Harmer 2000: 4

4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – dealing with uncooperative students

35

distractive,

disruptive

refusing to

take part

rude & undisciplined

behavior


4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – dealing with uncooperative students


Teachers convey the impression that they are on top of the teaching scenario and group dynamics.

Teachers are able to ‘multitask.’

The session proceeds fluently and smoothly and at an appropriate pace.

The whole class stays involved.

4.2 Optimizing classroom interaction – 10 rules for classroom performance


1

Avoid translating where you can demonstrate.

2

Avoid explaining where you can act.

3

Avoid making a speech when you can ask questions.

4

Avoid speaking too much when you can make your students speak.

5

Avoid using your textbook solely.

6

Avoid jumping around and appearing unstructured.

7

Avoid going too fast or too slow.

8

Avoid speaking too slowly or too quickly.

9

Avoid gearing your lessons toward just a few students.

10

Try not to be impatient; ‘take it easy.’

cf. Richards & Rodgers 1986: 10

Recommended reading

Benecke, Ingrid (2007). Zur Grobstruktur von Englischunterricht: Eine Planungshilfe. In: Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht 4.6, 35-38.

Farrell, Thomas S. C. (2002). Lesson Planning. In: Jack C. Richards & Willy A. Renandya, eds. Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of CurrentPractice. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press, 30-39.

Finkbeiner, Claudia (2007). Lehrplan – Lehrwerk – Stoffverteilungsplan –Unterricht. In: Johannes-P. Timm, ed. Englisch lernen und lehren: Didaktik des Englischunterrichts. Berlin: Cornelsen, 36-44.

Harmer, Jeremy (2000). How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching. Harlow: Longman.

Lindner, Michael (2011). Gute Frage! Lehrerfragen als pädagogische Schlüsselkompetenz. Marburg: Tectum.

Meyer, Hilbert (2006). Criteria of Good Instruction: Empirical Findings andDidactic Advice. Trans. Dave Kloss. http://www.member.uni-oldenburg.de/hilbert.meyer/download/Criteria_of_Good_Instruction.pdf.


Acknowledgments

Benecke, Ingrid (2007). Zur Grobstruktur von Englischunterricht: Eine Planungshilfe. In: Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht 4.6, 35-38.

Farrell, Thomas S. C. (2002). Lesson Planning. In: Jack C. Richards & Willy A. Renandya, eds. Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press, 30-39.

Harmer, Jeremy (2000). How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching. Harlow: Longman.

Hüllen, Werner (1987). Englisch als Fremdsprache: Beiträge zur Theorie des Englischunterrichts an deutschen Schulen. Tuebingen: Francke.

Islam, Carlos & Chris Mares (2003). Adapting Classroom Materials. In: Brian Tomlinson, ed. Developing Materials for Language Teaching. London: Continuum, 86-100.

Legutke, Michael (2007). Handlungsraum Klassenzimmer and beyond. In: Johannes-P. Timm, ed. Englisch lernen und lehren: Didaktik des Englischunterrichts. Berlin: Cornelsen, 93-109.


Acknowledgments

Legutke, Michael (2009). Lernerwelt Klassenzimmer: Szenarien für einen handlungsorientierten Fremdsprachenunterricht. In: Gerhard Bach & Johannes-P. Timm, eds. Englischunterricht. Tuebingen, Basle: Francke, 91-120.

Lindner, Michael (2011). Gute Frage! Lehrerfragen als pädagogische Schlüsselkompetenz. Marburg: Tectum.

Maybin, Janet (2002). Everyday Talk. In: Janet Maybin & Neil Mercer, eds. Using English: From Conversation to Canon. London et al.: Routledge, 5-27.

Richards, Jack C. & Theodore S. Rodgers (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press.

Rowe, Marry Budd (1986). Wait Time: Slowing Down May Be a Way of Speeding Up. Journal of Teacher Education 37.1, 43-50

Thaler, Engelbert (2012). Englisch unterrichten: Grundlagen – Kompetenzen –Methoden. Berlin: Cornelsen.

Ur, Penny (1996). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press.


Acknowledgments

The cartoons at the beginning of each ppt were designed by Frollein Motte, 2014. If not otherwise indicated, the copyright of the figures lies with the authors. The complete titles of the sources can be found in the references to the units unless given below. All of the websites were checked on 10 September 2014.

� Slide 4: Metaphors for a lesson, based on Ur 1996: 213

� Slide 8: https://pixabay.com/en/drama-comedy-and-tragedy-theater-312318, https://pixabay.com/en/cardboard-box-open-sheets-box-297587, http://bildungsblog72.blogspot.de/2013/02/sitzen-bleiben.html, https://pixabay.com/en/road-sign-right-of-way-test-361513

� Slide 15: The reflection process, based on Richards & Rodgers 1986: 159

� Slides 22 & 24: https://pixabay.com/en/personal-people-talk-discussion-9441

� Slides 24, 31, 32: https://pixabay.com/en/teacher-class-classroom-students-44735

� Slide 25: https://pixabay.com/en/network-cobweb-fig-figures-63770

� Slides 26, 27, 29, 30, 35: https://pixabay.com/en/direction-information-stairs-climb-44069, https://pixabay.com/en/man-male-silhouette-body-fig-100667, https://pixabay.com/en/layout-classroom-seating-chairs-36508, https://pixabay.com/en/megaphone-loudspeaker-speech-talk-155780, https://pixabay.com/es/ni%C3%B1a-enojado-cara-malestar-infeliz-308980


Acknowledgments

� Slide 27: http://www.opentapestry.com/tapestries/bus403-negotiations-and-conflict-management, https://pixabay.com/pl/d%C5%82o%C5%84-r%C4%99ka-gest-trzyma%C4%87-biznes-427521, https://jodiscurriculumcorner.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/tree-200795_640.jpg, https://pixabay.com/en/photos/tie%20suit, https://pixabay.com/fr/personnes-foule-individus-groupe-304353

� Slide 29: https://pixabay.com/en/teaching-classroom-teacher-311356, https://pixabay.com/pt/ferradura-brown-ouro-cavalo-sapato-309891, https://pixabay.com/en/jigsaw-puzzle-puzzle-pieces-pink-494510

� Slide 30: https://pixabay.com/en/customer-family-magnifying-glass-563967, https://pixabay.com/sv/uttr%C3%A5kad-likgiltig-sjukt-tristess-478651, https://pixabay.com/en/chain-links-connection-metal-steel-309566

� Slides 31 & 32: The IRE pattern, adapted from Lindner 2011: 40

� Slide 35: https://pixabay.com/en/emoticon-quite-quiet-shoo-25532, https://pixabay.com/en/smiley-smiling-smile-face-tongue-42842, https://pixabay.com/en/angry-face-emoticon-animations-33059


Teaching English 10. Lesson planning and classroom management

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