Teaching Practice: Effective Progression in Lessons
Facilitator: Sarah Coutts
Objectives: This workshop aims to:
1. provide an overview of how to create a clear and effective plan of lessons
for a semester, and
2. provide an opportunity for trainees to create their own semester plans that
illustrate clear and effective progression over the course of a semester.
If the students are at a beginner level, is it really necessary to create a semester
plan? Where do I start with my semester plan? What should I consider? How do I
know if I’m doing tasks in a logical order? Who should teach a particular activity
when working with a co-teacher?
These are all important questions to ask when thinking about lessons for a
semester. And yes, we really should be planning for a semester in advance.
Relying on textbooks and digital resources means that the focus is not on the
students, but we are teaching students – not a textbook.
Co-Teaching
Many elementary school teachers work with mother tongue English speakers in
the classroom. This can, and does, lead to several complications in lesson
planning and potential conflicts. It’s often easier, for the teachers, to follow a
textbook as this helps to eliminate a lot of confusion and extra planning, but this
is not always the best approach for the students.
What are Korean Teachers & Native Teachers good at?
KT NT
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
Each teacher has individual strengths that can, and should, be exploited in the
classroom to ensure that students really benefit from the lessons. Similarly,
teachers should avoid falling into pre-determined roles for every lesson. Instead,
use these strengths and skills to your advantage and put them into your lesson
plans.
Co-Teaching Models
One teach, one observe One teach, one assist Parallel teaching
Station teaching Alternative teaching Team teaching
In this approach to co-teaching, one person would keep primary responsibility
for teaching while the other professional circulated through the room
providing unobtrusive assistance to students as needed.
( )
In this co-teaching approach, teachers divide content and students. Each
teacher then teaches the content to one group and subsequently repeats the
instruction for the other group. If appropriate, a third station could give
students an opportunity to work independently.
( )
On occasion, student learning would be greatly facilitated if they just had
more supervision by the teacher or more opportunity to respond. In this
approach, the teachers are both covering the same information, but they
divide the class into two groups and teach simultaneously.
( )
One of the advantages in co-teaching is that more detailed observation of
students engaged in the learning process can occur. With this approach, for
example, co-teachers can decide in advance what types of specific
observational information to gather during instruction and can agree on a
system for gathering the data. Afterward, the teachers should analyze the
information together.
( )
In this approach, both teachers are delivering the same instruction at the
same time. Some teachers refer to this as having one brain in two bodies.
Others call it tag team teaching. Most co-teachers consider this approach the
most complex but satisfying way to co-teach, but the approach that is most
dependent on teachers' styles.
( )
In most class groups, occasions arise in which several students need
specialized attention. In this approach, one teacher takes responsibility for the
large group while the other works with a smaller group.
( )
Semester Plans
Obviously, a semester plan is a guideline of the work that you will be covering in
your lessons over the course of the semester. However, it’s important to stress
that while a plan is necessary, it’s also only a guideline. A semester plan is your
goal for the semester, but this should never override your students’ needs.
Sometimes you’ll adjust your semester plan mid-semester – and sometimes more
than once. You will often find yourself adding, removing, or extending lessons
depending on what practice your students need and other interruptions that
occur within the school’s schedule. This flexibility is important.
Even if classes are not formally assessed (i.e. There is no exam or graded test.), it’s
still necessary to set milestones (achievement standards) of your own. This is
central to providing structure in your semester plan. Think of a math lesson:
Before you can do addition, you first need to know how to count. The same
concept applies to English.
A semester plan helps to keep you focused on the learning objectives for the
semester. It also helps to indicate obvious gaps or illogical lessons despite the
order that a textbook indicates. Remember: The order of lessons in a textbook
isn’t the only way to teach the content and/or skills; it’s also not always the most
logical order of lessons. This is particularly true in elementary school textbooks
where many books have the same content, but in different orders.
Consider the common structure of Grade 3 Textbooks that are used in English
classrooms in Korea. They often tend to look something like this:
Title: English 3 (yellow with red elephantPublisher: Daekyo
Title: English 3 (yellow with a girl and a carrot)Publisher: 천재교과서
Title: English 3 (Yellow with a girl, cat and dog)Publisher: YBM
1 – Hi, I’m Jinsu
2 – What’s This?
Story Time 1
3 – Catch the Ball
4 – It’s Big
Story Time 2
5 – How Many Apples?
6 – I’m Happy
Story Time 3
REVIEW 1
7 – I Like Chicken
8 – What Color is it?
Story Time 4
9 – What Time is it?
10 – I Have a Pencil
Story Time 5
11 – Can You Dance?
12 – How’s the Weather?
Story Time 6
REVIEW 2
1 – Hi, I’m Sumi!
2 – What’s This?
3 – Sit Down, Please
4 – I Like Apples
Review 1 – Lessons 1-4
5 – Happy Birthday!
6 – It’s Big
7 – Can You Dance?
Review 2 – Lessons 5-7
8 – How’s the Weather?
9 – It’s Green
10 – Don’t Run
Review 3 – Lessons 8-10
11 – How Many Pigs?
12 – I Have a Crayon
13 – Let’s Go
Review 4 – Lessons 11-13
Special – Cinderella
Multi-Lesson Review
1 – Hello, I’m Miso
2 – It’s a Pencil
3 – Please, Please,
Please!
4 – I Like Milk
5 – Can You Swim?
6 – How Many Zebras?
7 – Ta-Da! I Have
Scissors
8 – Let’s Play Soccer
9 – What Color is it?
10 – Who is She?
11 – I am Ten Years Old
12 – It’s Snowing
Multiple Chapter Review
TASK
What do these books have in common?
Look at where the review sections have been placed. What are the possible achievement goals in each review section?
Where to Start?
Planning for an entire semester can seem overwhelming – particularly if you’re
used to working from a textbook. However, a semester plan is far less detailed
than a regular lesson plan.
Step 1: Count Your Lessons
Using the school calendar, write in any school events (Sports Day, school festival,
Teachers’ Day, etc.), the start and end dates of the semester, and any red days.
Would you change the order of the lessons? Give a reason for your answer.
Not
es
Scho
ol H
olid
ay (4
/5)
Child
ren’
s Day
(5/5
)
Budd
ha’s
B-d
ay (2
5/5)
Mon
day
T/ta
ble
(11/
6)
Asse
ssm
ents
Skill
sLe
sson
Con
tent
Date
20/4
– 2
4/4
27/4
– 1
/5
4/5
– 8/
5
11/5
– 1
5/5
18/5
– 2
2/5
25/5
– 2
9/5
1/6
– 5/
6
8/6
– 12
/6
15/6
– 1
9/6
22/6
– 2
6/6
Wee
k
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Step 2: Mind the Gap
Identify any large gaps between lessons. For example, if you see a three week
period during which students will only have one lesson (or possibly none), this is
not a suitable time to test them or introduce new work. Use these lessons as a
general review of work covered, fillers for games or general English activities.
Depending on the proficiency level of your students as well as the time of the
year, you could test them on easier concepts than those which you have been
focusing on in class.
Look at the lessons on the previous page: Monday classes will miss two lessons
and only one of these will be made up in the time frame indicated. This is
something that will affect your “assessment” time as well as whether or not you
should introduce a new concept.
Step 3: Set Aside Your ‘Test’ Time
Now that you have a general time-frame, fill in your achievement goals for your
students. The number of achievements should be in proportion to the level of
your students, their age, and the number of lessons they will have in the
semester. You shouldn’t have more than 2-3 major achievements (approximately
every 6 weeks).
Not
es
Scho
ol H
olid
ay (4
/5)
Child
ren’
s Day
(5/5
)
Budd
ha’s
B-d
ay (2
5/5)
Mon
day
T/ta
ble
(11/
6)
Asse
ssm
ents
Dolc
h Si
ght W
ords
List
1
Skill
sLe
sson
Con
tent
Date
20/4
– 2
4/4
27/4
– 1
/5
4/5
– 8/
5
11/5
– 1
5/5
18/5
– 2
2/5
25/5
– 2
9/5
1/6
– 5/
6
8/6
– 12
/6
15/6
– 1
9/6
22/6
– 2
6/6
Wee
k
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Step 4: Work Backwards
For each achievement goal that you have set, determine what skills and
knowledge the students will need in order to achieve those outcomes. For
example, if the goal is to be able to write a simple sentence, students need to
know about basic punctuation, subjects (nouns and pronouns), and verbs. Before
being able to write a longer sentence, they need to know certain phrases, which
means that they need to know a certain amount of vocabulary, which means that
they need to be able to identify sounds, blends, diphthongs, etc. In addition,
students need to be exposed to numerous model sentences that are reinforced
orally, aurally, and visually (speaking, listening, and reading). Before they can
write a sentence, they need to be able to write words, which means that they
need to be able to write the individual letters, which requires tracing practice.
Themes: It is always a good idea to use themes for your work. However, where
possible, these themes should also be linked to one another to create some type
of logical flow. For example, you could use the circus as a theme in week 1
followed by the zoo in week 2, a safari in week 3, under the sea in week 4, etc.
These themes have something in common that makes it easier to build on
vocabulary and reinforce the vocabulary from week to week. If you did the circus
in week 1, movies in week 2, video games in week 3, etc., you would make things
a lot more difficult for both you and your students. Where possible, try to find a
common link between your weekly themes so that you can constantly reinforce
the vocabulary and grammar you teach from one week to the next.
Lesson Plans
Being thoroughly prepared for every lesson is a basic requirement in teaching.
Students instinctively know when a teacher is not well-prepared and will often
take advantage of this lack of preparation. The first 5 minutes of a lesson will
determine the quality and flow of the rest of the class. This is why it’s so
important to have a clear lesson plan. Having a clear semester plan will make
lesson planning so much easier.
In language, it’s essential to remember that the four core skills (speaking, reading,
writing and listening) are interdependent and should, therefore, not be taught in
isolation. An ideal lesson should include practice of all (or at least two) of these
skills although one skill might be a focal point in a particular lesson.
Lesson plans are far more detailed than semester plans. This is where you need to
indicate your allocated time for each activity as well as how you’ll lead into and
connect the activities. It’s not a good idea to write a script though because it’s
important to be able to improvise in a lesson when necessary. If you have a co-
teacher, however, it’s a good idea to indicate what each teacher will do in each
part of the lesson.
The basic format for a lesson plan involves three stages: Presentation (Teacher),
Practice (Teacher and students) and Production (Students). An example lesson is
provided for you on the following pages.
Example Lesson Plan
DATE **/**/** GRADE 3 PERIOD 1/5
LESSON 8. Let’s draw
two arms
LEVEL Mixed-
level
PLACE Classroom
GOALS Goal: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify
body parts, talk about body parts and recall vocabularies related
to the body. Students will also be able to use the plural form
(regular) of a noun by adding ‘s’ or ‘-es’ to the end of a word.
Skills focus: Students will acquire and demonstrate speaking
and listening skills by participating in whole-class, group and
pair-work activities. Students will listen to the teacher and
respond by drawing a picture. Students will speak to each other
in pairs and listen to their partners’ instructions.
MATERIALS White board, markers, body part flash cards, paper, pens,
monster picture cards.
PROCEDURE ACTIVITIES TIME MATERIALS
Presentation
T<->S
(Whole
class)
Lead in
The teacher (T) greets the class. T looks
very sad and scared. T tells the students
(Ss) that he had a terrible dream! He had a
nightmare about two monsters. T draws so
Ss can see how scary one of the monsters
was: One head, one body, four eyes, three
ears, two mouths, one nose, one arm, and
six legs! T draws and describes the monster
2min
2min
board,
marker
while emphasizing the plural form ‘s’ [Skills
focus: _______________]
Elicitation
T points to a body part and asks what body
part it is and how many. T says that there
was another monster in the dream. T asks
Ss to guess the body parts on his face: How
many eyes? How many ears? How many
noses? Etc. Body part flashcards will be
placed on the board. [Skills focus: _______]
Presentation
T presents body parts using flashcards. On
a piece of paper, Ss will listen and draw
body parts as the T presents. T will review
vocabulary with students using TPR. Ss
compare their pictures. [Skills focus:
_______________ and _______________]
1min body part
flash cards
Practice
T<->S
(Whole
class)
Guided/Controlled Practice
T passes out a piece of paper. Ss take out a
pen. Ss put the paper with a book on their
heads. Ss must listen and draw a monster.
T says body parts to draw using key
expression “Let’s draw ____ ____.” T walks
4min paper, pen
S<->S
(Group
work)
around and assesses learner’s
comprehension. Ss take the paper off their
heads and look at their drawings. Ss check
with a partner to see if the monster’s body
parts are the same.
[Skills focus: _______________]
Production
S<->S
(Pair work)
T<->S
(Whole
class)
Free Practice
T divides students in pairs. T gives each pair
a picture of a monster. One S describes the
monster to their partner and he or she has
to draw it. After a minute Ss will check to
see if the drawing matches the picture.
Pairs will switch. This time, Ss have no card.
Ss have to describe their own monster to
their partner and have him or her draw it.
Don’t forget to use “Let’s draw ___.”
[Skills focus: ________ and ___________]
Review
T and Ss review with chant. T will show and
lead chant using motions. [Skills focus:
________]
4min
2min
monster
picture
cards
The
Students at Different Levels
Another potential problem with relying entirely on a textbook is that students are
not always at the same level of learning in every subject. In English, some
students have lived overseas and are nearly fluent while others have attended
hagwon lessons for several years – or even English kindergartens – and still others
have had no prior exposure to the language. Therefore, relying on a textbook that
assumes a lot of prior knowledge on the students’ part from Grade 3 (their official
start of English instruction) immediately places some students at a disadvantage.
Since English education is only meant to begin in the third grade of elementary
school, it’s not fair to disadvantage students who are not fortunate enough to
have had such exposure to English. Therefore, instead of starting at a higher level,
consider starting at a beginner level of language and implementing a Fast
Finishers programme.
A Fast Finishers programme involves a fair amount of work in the initial stages as
it will take time to collect and organize activities. You will also need to designate
part of the classroom to these resources. The space needed can be as little as a
shelf or as much as a corner with bean bags and/or a table and chairs.
The idea with Fast Finishers is that the students have access to a variety of
supplementary material to keep them engaged and stimulated when the official
curriculum is not challenging enough for them. The tasks available can generally
be additional practice in a particular skill or even more difficult versions of the
work done in the lesson. You can also include reading, comprehension passages,
worksheets, writing tasks and mini-projects. However, the selection of material
should be changed every two weeks so that students are constantly being
challenged with new tasks.
It’s also possible to grade students according to their English levels. For example,
students who need to practice the alphabet or writing letters and basic sounds
could be assigned “Red” as their colour. At the back of the room, there could be a
variety of supplementary worksheets in a red box for these students to practice
the afore-mentioned skills. By assigning colours to different levels (like many
martial arts do with belts), students have something to work towards without
feeling embarrassed about their level. In addition, there is minimal monitoring
required from the teacher.
Conclusion
Creating a semester plan may seem quick and simple, but it’s actually far more
complex that it appears. There are numerous things to consider before you even
start working out the weekly topics/themes. Thus, it becomes clear that creating a
cohesive semester plan that is well-structured and benefits the target students is
more complex than it appears to be. The most important thing to remember
when creating a semester plan is that your students need to be able to use what
they learn each week in subsequent lessons to build on their language knowledge.
Finally, remember that a semester plan is just that: A plan. Plans change and we
need to be flexible enough to allow for changes.
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