Macmillan Books for Teachers

To reduce that likelihood, involve the whole class as much as possible in the correction process (see Student-student correction on p 167); also spend less time correcting what is only a problem for one student and more time on problems common to the whole group.

There is such a thing as over-correction. That is, the more you try to correct something, the worse the student gets. So often it's worth spending a short time correcting some items only and not trying to get everything perfect in one go, and coming back to others on another day. Correction of major errors is perhaps best considered as something that should be done as quickly as possible, but it is likely to be a long-term process over a series of lessons.

When do you correct?

In general it depends on the aim of the activity. If the focus is on accuracy, the teacher's control

and the correction will be tight; if the focus is more on fluency, the teacher's direct control and the correction will be less. It is a good idea to think about how much correction you want to do and what form it will take and include a note in your lesson plan. In addition, you can tell students the purpose of the activity: whether the emphasis is on accuracy or fluency, to what extent you are going to correct them, how you are going to provide feedback, whether you are going to give marks or grades for written work, etc.

So, looking at different types of activities, the following guidelines are suggested:

Presentation .of new language and controlled practice

For example, repetition practice (drilling). Insist on accurate production from your students. You must judge what you consider to be an acceptable standard of pronunciation. Aim for a high standard at this stage as the standard will inevitably drop during less controlled and freer production.

Structured speaking practice in pairs or groups

Monitor by moving round the class and listening to the students. Either correct errors as you hear them, remembering to include the other students in the group, or make a note of errors, then give feedback on the errors with the class after the activity.

Guided or freer speaking activities

For example, a roleplay or an exchange of personal views on a topic. Don't interrupt the activity and don't expect complete accuracy. Monitor and give feedback after the activity. During feedback do not comment only on grammatical accuracy; discuss whether the students managed to achieve their communicative aim. Did they express what they wanted to say and did they understand each other? (See the monitor sheet in Task 3 on pi 72.)

Feedback given after an activity can be done in a number of ways:

* Make a note of errors and focus on common ones, or ones of general interest, after the activity. You don't need to say which student made which error.

* Record the activity (either on audio or video cassette) and

a go through the cassette with the group (though this can be very time-consuming and boring if done too meticulously and too often);

b select parts of the cassette to examine (in this way common errors can be dealt with or particularly good instances of language use highlighted);

с transcribe all or part of a cassette and indicate the errors made. The students - usually in groups - play the cassette and, referring to the transcript, discuss the errors. This is very time-consuming for you, but it is usually appreciated by the students. If you choose to focus on particular errors - tense or word stress, for example - you can focus the students' attention and cut down on your workload.

* Give individual students notes of errors they have made with instructions on how to correct them.

* Provide the class with remedial sessions based on errors common to the majority. Make it clear that the lesson was planned as a direct result of the activity done earlier. This is particularly useful for monolingual groups.

Correcting written work

Controlled written exercises

For example, copying, dictations, or exercises where there is only one right answer. The correct answers must be given and the students made aware of any errors they have made. Whenever possible, ask the students to compare their answers before you elicit the answers; you can ask them to write their answers on the board or on an OHT to be checked by the class.

Guided and freer writing

To some extent the way you approach giving feedback on written work depends on the purpose of the writing. For example, if the students are preparing for a written exam they will probably appreciate detailed correction. However, as correcting every error in a piece of 'free' writing can be very time-consuming for the teacher and discouraging for the students, you may want to focus the feedback you give. In general, aim to encourage improvement rather than dwell on mistakes by awarding marks out often, etc.

* You should try to react to the writing as communication as an interested reader: for example, This was very interesting. I didn 't know you ~d worked in Africa.

* You will probably want to comment on how well the writing communicates, how well the meaning has been got across: This was clearly expressed and well-argued.

* You can focus on particular aspects such as spelling, punctuation, use of tenses, use of linkers, etc. Self- or peer-correction is often appropriate here. (See p 170.)

* You can comment separately on different things within the same piece of written work. For example, for a formal letter you could make the following remarks: Layout - excellent, no mistakes; Style - good, but don't forget that contractions are not used in a formal letter; Grammar - good, just a couple of tense problems; Use of vocabulary - very good, only one collocation mistake.

As giving feedback on freer written work is part of 'process writing', see also Chapter 5 Section 5: Productive skills: writing.

As with correction of oral work, it is worth thinking about who corrects:

Self-correction

You can aid self-correction by underlining errors and putting symbols in the appropriate place in the margin and/or giving appropriate page references in grammar books. For an example of a marking scheme, seep 121.

The students correct as many errors as they can and submit the work for remarking. Before submitting the work they can show it to another student for comments. (See below.)

Student-student correction

You can give the students the opportunity to read and comment on each other's work either before you see it or after you have indicated the errors.

Teacher correction

You must judge when students can't correct their work by themselves and give them the correct version - with an explanation if necessary. You can also note errors that are common to the group and prepare a remedial lesson for them.

When is correction not appropriate?

Although students usually like being corrected, there are times when it can be impractical or inappropriate to correct. This is especially true of spoken language:

* when you are trying to build a student's confidence and encouragement is more productive than correction;

* when you are communicating with a student as a friend rather than as teacher to student-when chatting before or after the class, for example. It is better to respond to / went in Wembley last night to see Italy play England with Oh, was it a good match? rather than Not in Wembley...;

* when you are eliciting from the students - perhaps to establish the context before introducing a new language structure or to set the scene and arouse interest before reading or listening to a text. Getting too bogged down in correction at this stage is time-consuming and detracts from the main aims of the lesson. It is better to respond positively to suggestions as communication, and ignore mistakes of form. Alternatively, this is an occasion when 'echoing' -but with the correct form can be useful. For example, if the teacher is eliciting experiences of unusual holidays from students before reading an article:

Student: I have been to Iceland last year.

Teacher: You went to Iceland last year? That's unusual. Did you like it?

* when your main aim is to focus on the comprehension of a text. If students show that they understand but at the same time make, say, grammar mistakes, you may not want to interrupt the flow of the lesson to stop and correct individuals.

Try to remember that students are trying to focus on many things at once; so, when a student is struggling with the form and meaning of a particular structure but makes a vocabulary or pronunciation error:

Student: So can I say If I had known about the test, I would have made my

homework?

Teacher: Yes - except we say / would have done my homework.

3. Evaluation and testing

If you give ongoing feedback, and especially if you make the feedback procedure overt, you are going a long way in providing the students with the information they need to evaluate their own level and progress.

Sometimes, however, it is useful to arrange for more formal means of feedback to take place, and it may be compulsory in the institution you are working in.

Tests

It is often appropriate to give tests at different stages in a course: in TP your students may be given a placement test to assist the formation of groups of students at the same level, or a diagnostic test which is designed to tell you and the students what they do and don't know at the beginning of a course. Teachers often give a weekly progress test on the work covered. This can be in the form of a formal written test or a more informal group activity, even a game - as long as it gives information to both you and the students as to how they arc doing. You, perhaps with other trainees, can devise a progress test based on the work done over a series of lessons. If the students are following a course leading to an external examination they are usually eager to do practice tests to get some idea of how close they are to the required standard.

Tutorials

These can take place with the whole group or with individual students. It is unlikely that you will have time to conduct individual tutorials with students on TP but it might be useful to spend some time, perhaps the last ten minutes at the end of the week, reviewing the work done, discussing the aims of the lessons, how well the students performed the tasks, whether there are any problems, etc.

Evaluation by the students

It can be very useful to ask the students to evaluate the lessons (not the personalities of the teachers) by means of a questionnaire or guided discussion. For example, they can be asked whether they feel that they are getting enough grammar, if the balance of skills work is right, if they think the work is too easy, too difficult or just right. The results of the survey can then be discussed and future lessons considered in the light of students' comments. This process promotes genuine interaction, develops a much greater awareness among students of what is happening in the classroom and helps you understand better how they react to what you do. If the students¹ English is too poor for this kind of discussion, in monolingual classes it is worth having it in the students' mother tongue.

(See also Chapter 5 Section 6: Learner development and study skills.)

Task 1

Aim

To establish the difference between mistakes and errors.

Procedure

1 Ask a couple of students to record three or four minutes of them talking to each other or to write a short composition. (Give them a topic.)

2 Note down which inaccuracies of form you think are slips and which are errors.

3 Go back to the students and see which inaccuracies they can correct for themselves.

4 Compare what they can and can't do with your original list and discuss some of the individual language problems with the students.

Task 2

Aim

To practise breaking up an utterance so as to aid correction.

Procedure A

1 Give the following utterances to a partner: / see him yesterday.

He likes tennis table.

She's gone to the work.

I must see dentist.

I see you tomorrow.

Your partner is the student who makes these mistakes.

2 Correct them by slowing your partner down when he or she says each utterance, showing that each finger on your hand represents a word. By gesture alone, indicate what the correct form should be in the problem area.

Procedure В

1 Distribute the above utterances to the whole group.

2 Try to correct each one by making a row of 'students' represent the utterances (for example: SI = /, S2 = see, S3 = him, §4 = yesterday), making the appropriate gestures and moving the students.

Comment

Both exercises are great fun and although the above errors are structural, a similar exercise can be devised for pronunciation problems.

Task3

Aim

To develop awareness of your students' errors.

Procedure

1 Record your students during a speaking activity on audio or video cassette.

2 Play the tape, pausing when necessary, and try to make a list of their errors under such headings as the following:

Comment

Try this activity again but in 'real time' when you are observing another teacher or trainee teaching the group.

Task 4

Aim

To practise using a marking scheme to help students correct their own written work.

Procedure

1 Collect a piece of written work from a student and make a copy of it.

2 Each partner marks the student's work using the codes on pl21.

3 Compare corrected versions and discuss any problems.

Comment

1 You may find there are some aspects of the piece of writing which can't be marked using the symbols. What would you do about them?

2 See also Chapter 5 Section 5: Productive skills: writing.

Task 5

Aim

To help with the anticipation of error when teaching new structures.

Procedure

1 As a group, draw up a list of three structural areas (for example: regular past tense, comparative adjectives, used to + -ing, etc).

2 In pairs, list as many potential problems as you can in the following grid:

3 Compare your list with another pair.

4 Think of other structures where similar problems might occur.

Comment

You will have to consider the first language of the students in your class - what one student may find difficult another, with a different LI, may not. If possible, do this activity with a particular group of students in mind - your TP group perhaps.

Task 6

Aim

To show how common errors can be used as the basis for future work with a class.

Procedure

1 Ask a class of students to do a piece of written work, remembering to give them suitable guidance.

2 Collect it in and divide the work among your colleagues.

3 Each member of the group should make a list of what they consider the most serious errors in their piece of written work.

4 The lists should then be compared and the common errors listed.

5 Prepare a remedial lesson on one or more of the areas of error.

Comment

This exercise can also be done using a piece of recorded oral work, but it takes longer to do.

Further reading

Bartram,M. and Walton, R. 1991 Correction (LTP)

Heaton,J-1988 Writing English Language Tests (Longman)

Madsen H. 1993 Techniques in Testing (OUF)

Swan, M. and Smith, B. (eds.) 1987 Learner English (CUP)

Underbill, N 1987 Testing Spoken Language (CUP)

Chapter 8. Planning lessons

Although this chapter comes towards the end of the book, it is a good idea to refer to it throughout TP. Many earlier chapters, particularly Chapter 5: Developing skills and strategies, and Chapter 6: Presenting and practising language, give examples of how to plan and stage specific types of lessons: the presentation and practice of a language item,- conducting a listening lesson; organizing a discussion, etc.

Right from the start it is important that you think about and plan each of your lessons. In the early stages of TP you will probably get a lot of help and guidance from your supervisor; but as you progress and become more independent you will have to make more decisions about what and how you teach. You also need to learn how to design a scheme of work for a particular group of students, in which a series of lessons are linked to form a complete programme. In this chapter we look at writing lesson plans, how you can get ready for lessons and steps you can take after the lesson to help you to improve future lessons. We also look at how to analyse students' needs and plan a scheme of work.

1. Lesson plans

The writing of lesson plans has a number of important functions:

1 An aid to planning

Writing down what you expect the students to be able to do by the end of the lesson, and what you intend to do to make that possible, helps you to think logically through the stages in relation to the time you have available.

2 A working document

Having something to refer to in the lesson helps keep you on target, although it should never prevent you from responding to the needs of the moment, if necessary.

3 A record

Suitably amended after the lesson, a lesson plan acts as a record of what the class has done and might form the basis for a future lesson plan with a similar class.

In addition, in the TP situation the lesson plan can form the basis of discussion of the lesson with your supervisor. He or she may wish to look at the plan during the planning stage and/or before the lesson and will usually refer to it during feedback on the lesson.

What should be included in a lesson plan?

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; Information about 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 I expect 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 have developed?

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 give advice to a friend. They will be able to use the structure with: go (home), take (an aspirin), etc. They will be able to give appropriate responses: OK, I will.

Often in a lesson you will have a main aim and perhaps a number of subsidiary aims. This is particularly true, for example, in a lesson in which skills are integrated (see Planning a skills lesson on p87) or when a listening or reading text is used to introduce a language item. It is important that you (and the students) recognize the main aim of the lesson and of each stage.

2 Procedure

This is the part of the lesson plan which 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 complex instructions 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 the approach(es), activities, and materials you will use at each stage. You will have to answer these 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 35 minutes might be made up of the following stages:

Stage 1 (5 mins)

Introduce the structures. Context: giving advice to someone who has a headache, and the replies to the advice.

Stage 2 (5 mins)

Check students' understanding and practise saying the model sentences.

Stage 3 (lOmins)

Guided practice, using cue cards -- in open then closed pairs.

Stage4(10mins)

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.

Approach(es) and activities

For each stage you will have to think what approach you are going to use and what activities 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 1 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 check that the students understand?

What type of practice activities shall I set up: speaking, pairwork, writing?

Have I planned for a balance and a variety of activities and materials - recognizing that different activities make different demands on the students and arranging it so an easy activity is followed by a more difficult one, a very active one with a quieter one, etc?

Are the 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 seating arrangements as well. Throughout the plan, perhaps in the margin, you can include a note of 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 aitns? You should make a note on your lesson plan of when you will use these materials and aids and also include a plan of your blackboard or whiteboard at each stage of the lesson. (See Chapter 3 Section 1: The board.)

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 coursebook they are using, the size of the class and its composition, especially if it is multinational. You may be required to give more detailed student profiles. You should also note how this lesson fits into the students' course programme (the timetable fit) and what knowledge you assume the students will bring to the lesson.

6 Anticipated problems

Although you need to learn to be flexible in class, to be able to think on your feet and adapt your lesson plan according to circumstances, you are less likely to be thrown if you give some 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 for dealing with these problems. It is particularly useful to include this on the plan you give to your supervisor. 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. (See Researching the language on pi 82.) Investigate, if possible, the ways in which their language is different from English. For example, will your students have difficulty with the sound /э/ because it doesn't exist in their language? This is obviously easier to do with a monolingual group. You can also anticipate difficulties by finding out as much as you can about what the students have done in previous classes - their individual strengths and weaknesses in skills work, for example.

There are a number of ways in which the timing and organization of your lesson can be affected. 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 pairwork activity;

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

Achieving a balance

It is important to be critical of your lesson plans - especially in checking your aims against your planned procedures. You should constantly ask yourself What is my aim, and will doing this 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 overprepare this usually means getting stuck in your plan and not responding flexibly to the class; getting obsessed by your 'performance' - by your own ideas and techniques; or not being sensitive to the students, what they are doing and not doing. If you underprepare, this usually results in long silences while you decide what to do next (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 a case of 'managing learning¹ than teaching; it is the pace the students work at that needs to be measured, not the pace you work at. You can exhaust yourself with a dazzling array of new ideas you are determined to try out and then realize the students are doing hardly anything. In fact, with some well planned and well set-up activities you might need to do very little in the classroom.

Personal aims

For any particular lesson, in addition to the learning aims for your students, you may also wish to set yourself a 'personal aim', perhaps in consultation with your supervisor. This 'personal aim' focuses on an aspect of your teaching which you want to pay particular attention to in this lesson. For example: To talk less myself and involve the students more, or To make my instructions dearer, etc. If you are being observed by other trainees you could ask them to give you feedback on how well you achieved your aim.

How should a lesson plan be written down/laid out?

You may have to use a set or prescribed lesson plan form for assessment purposes. However, the way you put your lesson plan down on paper for use in the class is up to you, since you are the one who is going to interpret it both during the lesson and later on when you refer back. The format you choose will'also depend on the type of lesson you are giving.

Try to keep lesson plans simple. Cut out prose descriptions, number sections clearly and underline or use coloured or highlighter pens to draw attention to important elements. There is no need to script the lesson - that can't be done and shouldn't be attempted. However, there may be times when you want to write down precisely what you are going to say: a model sentence, or a set of complicated instructions, or some questions to check that the students have understood a language point, for example.

Obviously a lesson plan should be legible and there are two kinds of legibility required. The first is for just before the lesson begins, when you'll probably want quickly to run over the aims and the stages of the lesson again. Normal-size writing is appropriate for this. However, there will be other things that you will need to check 'in the heat of the lesson' to remind you of the stages of the lesson. If you don't want to appear to be reading from a script you will probably want to just glance down at your lesson plan on the desk. This means that you'll need to be able to read these items from about a metre or more away. They need to be bigger, possibly with sections written with different coloured felt-tipped pens or marked with highlighter pens.

Instead of using a sheet of paper as your working document you may prefer to set out the main points of the lesson on cards which can be held in the hand - each card being put to the back of the 'pack' as the stage is completed.

You may want to write out a lesson in more detail if you want to keep it for use again. This can be done after feedback when you can incorporate any suggested changes. (See Section 4: Follow-up on pl83.)

Your TP supervisor will probably tell you how he or she wants you to write your lesson plans. If you are basing your lesson on a coursebook, the lesson plans/notes in the Teacher's Book will be invaluable: make good use of them while writing your plan.

On pp 180-1 is one way you might set out a plan for a lesson in which a visual/oral context is used to present and practise a language structure.

Sample lesson plan



How can lesson plans be stored?

Some teachers prefer to keep their lessons in a book, with one book for each class they teach. In this way the plans are always kept in sequence and form an easy-to-refer-to neat record of the classes. If you do this you may like to leave alternate pages blank when you are writing your plans so that after the lesson you can write in comments on the success or otherwise of each part of the lesson. This could form the basis of a very useful teaching diary (seep7).

Another common way of storing lessons is within plastic pockets, kept in a ring binder. With this system aids such as cards and pictures can be kept together with the plan.

Instead of filing lessons together by class you can arrange them under such headings as: grammar points, topics, skills areas, coursebook, etc. Alternatively, you can file lesson plans and accompanying aids in cardboard folders and use different coloured folders for different sections. They can be stored in a filing cabinet, a plastic or even a cardboard box. If you adopt this system it is also useful to number each folder and keep a small card index with headings arranged in alphabetical order. In this way you can find plans easily and quickly. You will be surprised how quickly your materials accumulate and it's very frustrating not to be able to find something when you need it.

2. Researching the language

Before you teach any language point you should research it thoroughly. If it is a grammar or functional point look at a number of grammar reference books until you are satisfied that you understand in detail both the form and the meaning. (See also Chapter 6 Section 1: Structures: grammar and junctions.) If it is a lexical item you can look up the word or expression in one or two good dictionaries. Pay attention to how the item collocates (or goes) with other items of language. (See also Chapter 6 Section 2: Vocabulary.)

Now try to view the language from the students' point of view and try to predict what they will find difficult. Think about the form - is there some irregular aspect? What about the spelling and the pronunciation? Think about the meaning - are there a number of meanings that can be confused? Can the item be confused with another item of language either in English or in the students' first language(s)?

Look at the way one or two coursebooks or skills books deal with the language. They often focus on areas of difficulty. Are there any problem areas highlighted in the teachers' books? On the other hand, there may be aspects of the language not dealt with in the coursebook which students may ask about. Try to anticipate any questions your students may have and decide how you are going to deal with these questions.

3. Getting organized

Before you start your lesson there are a number of practical things you can do to make sure that everything runs smoothly:

* Check that you have your lesson plan.

* Run through your lesson plan and make sure you have all the necessary aids and equipment listed in the plan.

* Check any equipment you are going to use: for example, that the cassette recorder or video works; that the OHP is the right distance from the screen or wall, etc.

* Lay out any visual aids and handouts (pictures, worksheets, cue cards, etc) in the order you'll need them; cue up any audio or video tape you arc going to use.

* Make sure the seating is arranged the way you want it.

* Check that the board is clean.

* If there is anything you can put on the board (the date, notices, a plan of work, etc) do so in advance if possible, so you don't waste time at the beginning of the lesson.

* At the same time, be ready to chat to the students as they come into the class!

4. Follow-up

After teaching the lesson you have planned and getting feedback on it you can consider doing all or some of the following:

* Note any changes you made when teaching the lesson from what you had put in your lesson plan.

* Make a note of the students' reactions to the lesson as a whole and to the various parts: did they find some parts more useful than others, easier or more difficult than you expected? Occasionally it may be appropriate to ask them for their opinions and feelings.

* Note how you felt about the lesson and its stages: did you feel comfortable or were there times when you felt a bit unsure of what to do next?

* Make a note of any oral and/or written feedback you receive from your supervisor and any useful comments and suggestions you may receive from fellow trainees.

After evaluating the feedback from these different sources you can add pertinent points to your lesson plan or you may even like to write it out again incorporating suggested changes. In this way you should have an improved lesson plan if ever you want to use it as a basis for a lesson with a future class.

You may want to include what you have learned from planning and teaching the lesson in a TP diary and you can base your 'personal aim' for your next lesson on the lesson and the feedback received.

5. Planning a series of lessons

Linking lessons

In a TP situation you may have to plan your lessons based, to a large extent, on the information and direction you receive from your TP supervisor. Because of this there is a danger, particularly at the start of TP, of viewing each lesson as a separate unit - not linked to the other lessons that make up the students' course.

However, it is important to consider the overall learning diet that the students receive. Try to think about the balance of skills and activities, not just within a single lesson but over a series of lessons which take place on the same day or over a number of days or weeks. If you are sharing a class with others you should also make sure that your lesson fits in with what has gone before and what is to follow. This is especially important if you are sharing an integrated lesson and what you do

Task 2

Aim

To discuss solutions to problem situations that might arise in class.

Procedure

1 In groups, discuss what contingency plans you could make for the following situations:

* Some students refuse to work in pairs.

* The students ask Why are we doing this? This is silly during a game.

* 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 pairwork activity;

- the students have already met the material you have based your lesson round: for example, they have already seen the video you were going to show.

2 Compare your solutions with those of another group.

Comment

This can be a more realistic activity if you have a particular lesson and group of students in mind. You can do this activity if you are planning a series of lessons together.

Task3

Aim

To help ensure that your lesson plans work towards your stated aim.

Procedure

1 Retrieve a lesson plan from your file.

2 Make a copy of it. On the copy obliterate or cut off the statement of aims.

3 Exchange lesson plan copies with someone else in your group.

4 From what is in the lesson plan, try to write down a clear statement of both the learning outcomes and the teaching aims of the lesson.

5 Compare what you have both written with the originals.

Task 4

Aim

To highlight the different forms lesson plans can take.

Procedure

1 Discuss a particular teaching point with someone else in your group. Agree on aims and activities for a particular group of students.

2 Both of you write a plan for the lesson you discussed.

3 Compare and discuss the different layouts you have used

Task 5

Aim

To help evaluate how far discussing one's work with colleagues can help one's own learning.

Procedure

1 Ask each member of your group to submit a lesson plan.

2 Redistribute them among the group.

3 Mark each other's work according to agreed criteria (for example: practicability, variety, logical staging, etc) on a scale of 1-5.

4 Mark your own on the same scale.

5 Discuss the marks and whether the criteria were appropriate.

Comment

This exercise may be worth doing several times on various pieces of written work. This will help reduce self-consciousness and embarrassment as well as the possibility of succumbing to group pressure.

Further reading

Nunan, D. 1988 The Learner-Centred Curriculum (CUP)

Nunan, D. 1988 Syllabus Design (OUP)

Yalden, J. 1987 Principles of Course Design for Language Teaching (CUP)

Chapter 9. For the new trainer

This chapter is different from the others in the book in that it will be primarily of interest to the trainer rather than the trainee. We examine the role of the TP supervisor and give suggestions for how TP classes and feedback sessions can be organized and conducted. We hope that trainers new to the role of TP supervisor will find the practical suggestions useful and 'old hands' may like to compare what they already do with the procedures described in the chapter.

1. Organizing TP

Ways of providing teaching practice

The way TP is organized depends on the particular course or training scheme of which it forms apart. The table on pi 89 demonstrates some of the ways in which trainees can obtain teaching practice.



As TP can be organized In different ways, so the terms used to refer to TP can vary from centre to centre. Here are some commonly used terms with an explanation of how they are usually employed:

Apprenticeship

A teacher at the centre who is responsible for teaching a group of students has one or two trainees as 'apprentices'. They usually observe the teacher teaching the students and then teach part or all of some of the lessons. They can be guided by and observed by the group's teacher or by another person acting as TP tutor or supervisor.

Peer teaching

When peer teaching, one trainee takes the role of the teacher and the part of the students is taken by his or her fellow trainees.

Microteaching

This term usually refers to a time when the trainees are not teaching what is normally regarded as a whole lesson, either in terms of time or content, but where the focus is on one particular teaching technique or aspect of a lesson - for example, illustrating word stress, setting up a pairwork activity, etc.

Each of the different ways of providing practice has its advantages and disadvantages. More than one way or combination of ways can be usefully employed on the same training scheme. It might be thought from the table that there is some progression from peer teaching to the teaching of whole lessons with 'real' students. However, peer teaching for the improvement of technique is usually useful at any stage in a course and the teaching of whole lessons can be useful from the earliest stages.

The aims of teaching practice

It is worth discussing the overall aims of TP with trainees. You could ask them to read Chapter 1 of this book, particularly Section 1: The role of TP on a teacher training course, either before or at the beginning of the course and set some time aside for questions and discussion. They should be clear about what it is they should be trying to do, how they will be assessed, the role and responsibilities of the centre, the TP tutor and any external examining body.

You should try to present some kind of progression to trainees, even if your course is non-linear in approach. The progression might be represented in the form of milestones they can tick off along the way, perhaps under such headings as techniques and types of lesson. For example, under techniques the list to tick off might include: using an OHP, adapting a unit from a coursebook, planning a lesson around a piece of authentic material. Under types of lesson might be included: presenting a new item of language, integrating reading and writing skills, focusing on pronunciation, etc. The headings in Chapters 2--8 should provide both you and the trainees with items that might usefully be included on a checklist.

Who teaches with whom?

This means forming effective groups of trainees for TP or, in some cases, making sure that the trainees are 'apprenticed' to the most appropriate teacher and class.

The formation of TP groups

It is difficult to decide on the composition of a group without meeting the people concerned. Sometimes, however, groups have to be formed quite quickly at the beginning of the course. The following factors can be borne in mind:

Sex

A balance of the sexes is worth going for if it is at all possible-if only for the sake of variety for the students. This of course assumes an overall balance on the course which is not always the case. If you have one or more groups of students which for cultural reasons cannot be taught by men or women, this would, of course, influence the grouping.

Age

Are all the trainees roughly the same age or is there a significantly older or younger person? You may have to decide whether to put the younger ones together and the older ones together - or mix them up.

Experience

Even though in this book we are more concerned with training courses where the participants have little or no experience, there are often those who have had some classroom experience, perhaps even of teaching a language other than English. They can provide useful models to non-experienced colleagues especially where aspects of classroom management and the use of resources and technology are concerned. Other trainees might have an excellent background in language learning; non-native speakers of English generally have a better formal knowledge of grammar than native speakers. Perhaps one of the trainees has studied linguistics at university and another might have a background in EFL publishing and be familiar with a wide range of materials. Usually this experience can be used to advantage and trainers generally aim to get people with a mix of backgrounds together so they can learn from one another. Occasionally a person's background can cause problems. For example, a successful teacher of another subject may try to transfer inappropriate techniques to the EFL classroom and be resistant to changing the habits of a lifetime. As long as this situation is handled firmly yet tactfully it should not cause a problem to the other trainees in the group.

Convenience

If the group is to be asked to work closely together is it physically possible for them to do so? Do they live close to one another? Do they have telephones? Is travel likely to be involved and if so can they share a car? Simple considerations like these may easily be overlooked and yet can be very important.

A well thought-out application form or a questionnaire at the beginning of the course can provide the details you need to help you group. In addition, if the trainee is interviewed, make sure there is a way for any helpful information to be noted and made available at the time of grouping. Also, there are ways of finding out how people react to one another before the groups are finalized. An informal party early on in the course will often reveal how people group themselves naturally and whether there is anyone who is likely to be out on a limb. A classroom 'icebreaking' activity can show how they react to each other in a more formal atmosphere.

It must be noted that occasionally effective groups just don't happen, despite all the care taken by those organizing TP.

Apprenticeship

The same kind of factors affect the pairing of trainees with full-time teachers, although it is sometimes better for the trainees to meet the apprentice teachers before decisions are made. The advantage here may be that those teachers are your colleagues and this makes it much easier for you to arrange a meeting to discuss any problems.

2. Preparing trainees for TP

How can you encourage co-operation among trainees?

In many situations trainees are expected to work together in the preparation of classes and in the sharing of views after the classes. In such cases, the success of TP depends to a great extent on how well the group works together. An institution in this situation therefore needs to:

* select and group trainees with a view to mutual compatibility (see The formation of TP groups on p 191);

* explain to them the degree of co-operation necessary. Refer them to Chapter 1 Section 2: Working with others;

* make it clear that the trainees are directly responsible for their students' learning;

* make sure that supervisors do not take away responsibility by being too noticeable in class;

* provide facilities for preparation and feedback.

If TP is failing because of poor co-operation it is worth setting up a group cooperation exercise or 'having it out' with the group before trying to shuffle people around. There may be times when the trainer has to intervene. The problem may be resolved by making everyone aware of it - talking it through in a tutorial. Recording feedback sometimes and discussing what makes good feedback, focusing on the way the group talk about each other, can also be useful.

Teaching guidelines

The way teaching guidelines or teaching points are produced and utilized depends on such factors as the centre where training is taking place, the length of the course, the way TP is timed in relation to input, whether the students are volunteers or regular students in the institution. Your eventual aim is to get the trainees to the stage, by the end of the course, where they can plan a series of lessons based on a given syllabus - usually in the form of a coursebook- which meet the needs of their students.

There are a number of points that can be considered:

1 Should guidelines be linked with the training timetable or based on the students' needs?

If guidelines are based on the training timetable, TP can be linked to input and it can be arranged so that no trainees have to use a technique they haven't been given information about, practised and perhaps tried out on their peers. Similarly trainees would not be asked to teach language points that they hadn't considered in some depth beforehand. This arrangement is particularly suited to courses which have a block of input followed by a block of TP and has a number of advantages: trainees know exactly what they are focusing on at any one stage in the course, they are all concentrating on the same areas so can observe and help each other from an informed point of view and, most importantly of all, the thorough preparation gives the trainees confidence in the classroom.

Unfortunately, there are a number of disadvantages which make this arrangement difficult to operate in practice. Sometimes TP takes place from the beginning of the course, before the trainees have had a chance to benefit from many input sessions. If the teaching techniques are broken down into small units it may be several lessons before the trainees are beyond the stage where they can greet the students, make good eye contact, learn and use the students' names and do a simple icebreaking activity. They would need to be a very tolerant group of students to put up with that type of lesson - perhaps from four or five trainees over several days. Later on the class may have to cope with one language presentation after another or a whole series of reading texts - depending on the area of focus at that stage in the course.

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