EJE 2: PLANIFICACIÓN

Hola a todos nuevamente y bienvenidos al Eje 2 llamado “Planificación”. En este eje el material audiovisual y de lectura está completamente en inglés. LET’S START!!!

WHAT IS A LESSON PLAN?

A good lesson plan is an important tool that focuses both the instructor and the learners on the purpose of the lesson and, if carefully constructed and followed, enables learners to efficiently meet their goals. A lesson is a unified set of activities that focuses on one teaching objective at a time. A teaching objective states what the learners will be able to do at the end of the lesson. Teachers use the information learned through the needs assessment to develop the objectives. 

WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A LESSON PLAN?

A lesson plan identifies the enabling objectives necessary to meet the lesson objective, the materials and equipment needed, and the activities appropriate to accomplish the objective.

• Enabling objectives are the basic skills (language skills such as vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation) and the life skills (including cultural information) that are necessary to accomplish the objective.

• Materials and equipment should be identified and secured well before class time to ensure that activities can be carried out as planned. These may include realia (reallife materials like bus schedules and children’s report cards), visual aids, teachermade handouts, textbooks, flip chart and markers, overhead projector, tape recorder, etc.

• Activities generally move from more controlled (e.g., repetition) to a less structured or free format (e.g., interviewing each other). They should be varied in type (e.g.,whole group, paired, individual) and modality (e.g., speaking, listening, writing).

WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF A LESSON?

Good lesson design begins with a review of previously learned material. New material is then introduced, followed by opportunities for learners to practice and be evaluated on what they are learning. In general, a lesson is composed of the following stages:

• Warm-up/Review—encourages learners to use what they have been taught in previous lessons.

• Introduction to a new lesson—focuses the learners’ attention on the objective of the new lesson and relates the objective to their lives.

• Presentation—introduces new information, checks learner comprehension of the new material, and models the tasks that the learners will do in the practice stage.

• Practice—provides opportunities to practice and apply the new language or information.

• Evaluation—enables the instructor and learners to assess how well they have grasped the lesson.

WHAT ARE SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERANTIONS IN PLANNING LESSONS?

A good lesson plan involves consideration of more than just what is going to be taught (the objective) and how it will be taught (materials, equipment, and activities). The following elements also need to be thought about and planned for:

• Sequencing—Do the activities move logically so learners are progressively building on what they already know? Do the activities flow well? Are transitions between activities smooth?

• Pacing—Are activities the right length and varied so that learners remain engaged and enthused?

• Gauging difficulty—Do the learners have enough skill and knowledge to do the planned activities? Are the instructions clear?

• Accounting for individual differences—Do the activities allow for learners of varying proficiency levels to receive extra attention they might need, whether below or above the norm? Are all students actively involved?

• Monitoring learner versus teacher talk—What is the balance between learner talk and teacher talk? Does the lesson allow a time for learners to interact, producing and initiating language?

• Timing—Was the amount of time allotted for each part of the lesson sufficient? If the planned lesson finishes early, is there a backup activity ready? If the lesson wasn’t completed as planned, how can the next class be adjusted to finish the material?

Most of these aspects of lesson planning are learned by experience, so it is important for the instructor to evaluate how the lesson went at the end of each class period. Ask the following questions:

• What went well? Why?

• What did not go as planned? Why? If I had it to do over again, what would I change?

• What have I learned about my students that I can account for in future lesson planning?

A lesson plan acts as a road map for a class session. It identifies the destination (objective of the lesson) and marks out the route (activities for each stage of the lesson). It is an aid for both new and seasoned teachers. New teachers should write down the details of each activity—perhaps even script them. Experience will guide how detailed a lesson plan needs to be. Sharing the plan with learners (e.g., writing the objective and a brief description of activities on the board) keeps both the teacher and the learner focused on where they are going, how they are going to get there, and when they arrive.

ESA

The THREE fundamental building blocks of a SUCCESSFUL lesson are ESA: Engage – Study - Activate. 

If we use these three elements in the correct way and in the correct moment, they can lead us into a SUCCESSFUL LESSON.

We can apply these three elements to any kind of class. For example, when you are teaching children, adolescents or adults. It’s important to know who our students are, how our students learn, what our students like doing and what their interests are.

When teaching YOUNG LEARNERS we need to know that they like to LEARN and they learn whenever they DO things like: playing a game, singing a song, making a collage, drawing and many other activities. YOUNG LEARNERS need to DO things all the time. They are in their SENSORIMOTOR STAGE according to Piaget. They need to be involved in doing something and that’s the way we unconsciously engage them in their learning process. 

When teaching YOUNG LEARNERS we need to consider the following aspects:

• They have a great imagination. Have you noticed that YOUNG LEARNERS are very creative? For example, when we ask them to draw a monster or when we are dealing with parts of the body; have you seen the results? They create unbelievable creatures with characteristics that we would have never imagined like: number of eyes, a plant as a nose, wings and many other things.

• They can’t concentrate on the same thing for a long time. It is said that the concentration span of YOUNG LEARNERS goes from 8 to 12 minutes. That means that they need many breaks within a class and we have to be BREAK providers. And by BREAK we mean to switch activities as many times as possible during the same lesson.

• They will talk and participate if they are engaged. If your activity is not interesting for them, they won’t be part of it.

• Even if you do your best to teach kids, they might not learn. So we have to bear in mind that if you want them to learn, we need to consider certain factors so as to guarantee the process. If they are not HAPPY, If they are HUNGRY or THIRSTY, If what you are teaching makes no sense to them, If you are RUDE with them, If someone MOCKS at them. If anything happens to any o more students in our class, it will be for sure that they will not be ready to LEARN.

• They use LANGUAGE without analyzing. At this stage of their cognitive development, kids are not aware of the learning process.

• They can’t sometimes tell the difference between fact and fiction. 

• They are comfortable with the idea that there are rules and routines for things. As an example, we can mention the AGENDA. That is the perfect organizer of a day of work.

• They are competitive. They like to win. And they like to receive something so here it's very important to show them that they are doing well.

• They are MULTI-TASK. This means that they might be doing something while listening to you and this doesn’t mean that they are not paying attention.

• They are DIGITAL NATIVES, which means that they MUST be in contact with technology, for example, computers, cellphones, videogames, TV, etc.

Do you remember the first building block / element of a successful lesson? It is ENGAGE, but what is to ENGAGE your students?

To ENGAGE is to get the students interested in and enjoy what they are doing. 

Now click in the following link to watch the video. 

 

Whatever you use to ENGAGE your kids is FIRST the ROUTINE. And how do we go about the routine?

- Write an AGENDA of the day’s lesson on the corner of the board.

- Start the lesson with the hello song.

- Write TODAY is Friday October, 26th on the board.

- Ask the students about the WEATHER and their FEELINGS.

This is a set of suggestions that can help you deal with it successfully.

Set of activities to ENGAGE Kids:

-  Agenda. 

-  Routine:  Hello Song / The Weather / Feelings / Calendar.

-   A Comic Strip / Story Section.

Set of activities to RECALL previous knowledge:

-  Brainstorming.

- Say the names.

-  Match the names with the pictures.

-  Listen and number.

-  Listen and match.

-  Make a list.

- Listen and point.

-  True / False.

The second phase of a successful lesson starts with the letter is S which stands for STUDY. Study is to PRESENT and to PRACTISE what you have already introduced. So the S phase consists of TWO moments: PRESENTATION & PRACTICE.

Now click in this link to watch about the STUDY STAGE. 

 

- Let’s focus on PRESENTATION first.

S REPERTOIRE for the PRESENTATION STAGE:

Set of activities to PRESENT new Language:

• Making the students listen to a song, a story, a dialogue, etc.
• Reading a story, a Comic Strip, a dialogue, a diary, a poem, etc.
• Watching a video.
• Pre Teaching Vocabulary.

 What is to PRACTICE?

-  It’s the moment within a lesson in which we give the students the opportunity to use the language we presented in the first part of this stage, at first under our control and then in a freer way. Thus, PRACTICE is DOING all sorts of EXERCISES, PROCESSING INFORMATION, ASKING and ANSWERING QUESTIONS, COMMITING MISTAKES, RECEIVING FEEDBACK, COMPARING AND CONTRASTING WITH PARTNERS and also THE TEACHER.

When we practice, we can develop different skills or abilities such as: LISTENING, READING, WRITING and SPEAKING. We have to consider another variable. There are some skills which are more recommendable for the first moment of the lesson and others for the end when we expect students to use the new language by their own in a communicative way. We suggest the following frame as an organizer of ideas.

S REPERTOIRE for the PRACTICE STAGE:

Listening Activities

• Listen and recognize the word.
• Listen and do (sts listen and perform the instructions given by the teachr or other sts – TPR)
• Listen and draw.
• Listen and colour.
• Listen and write True or False.
• Listen and find the mistake.
• Listen and fill-in a gap.

Speaking Activities

• Choral drills (repeating words and sentences)
• Question and answer practice (class surveys)
• Reading aloud.
• Tongue twisters.
• Act out dialogues.
• Sing songs and chants.
• Find differences and similarities in a picture.

 Reading Activities

• Point at words.
• Match words to word shapes.
• Match words to pictures.
• Unscramble words to form sentences.
• Unscramble sentences to form dialogues.
• Unscramble texts.
• Read a story and put pictures in the correct order.
• Read a story and draw pictures.

Writing Activities

• Write in the air or on a classmate’s back.
• Classify and copy words in the correct column.
• Label pictures.
• Complete sentences.
• Match questions and answers.
• Write a sentence/text from memory.
• Write words from pictures.
• Running dictation.

Last but not least, we have the final letter A that states for ACTIVATE. 

To ACTIVATE is to give the students the chance to use any and all the language they know.

How do students do this? By speaking freely, by writing a letter, about personal information, a description, that is to say anything that is meaningful for them.

At this stage the possible teacher’s roles are: FACILITATOR – ORGANIZER – GUIDE – MONITOR.

A  FACILITATOR  because you as a teacher have to give them the possibility to show themselves and others what they know.

An ORGANIZER because everything you want to do with them needs to be prepared in advance and sometimes on the spot.

A  GUIDE because as a leader you show your students what they have to do and how to do it so that later they can do it by their own.

Remember that the role of the MONITOR is essential. This is the moment in which you PATROL the classroom, looking what they are doing, assessing their participation, checking time to see if they are good time manager (that is to say that they know how to use their time effectively), etc.

Let`s watch the following video about the ACTIVATE PHASE. 

 

S REPERTOIRE for the ACTIVE STAGE:

Listening Activities.

• Listen to various summaries of a story and choose the correct one.
• Listen to a story and order pictures.
• Listen to a story and find the mistakes in it.
• Listen to a picture description and draw what is being described.
• Listen to a picture description and identify the picture being described.
• Listen to a text and take down notes.
• Listen to description/orders and complete a graph/map/web, etc.
• Listen to a song and describe imagery.

Reading Actitivites

• Read a text and put it in the correct order.
• Read a text and complete a graph/ chart/ map, etc.
• Read a text and find differences or similarities with a picture.
• Read a text and solve a situation.
• Read a text and roleplay a situation leading from it.
• Read a text and give your opinion about it.

Speaking Activities

• Describe pictures/posters/ photographs
• Roleplay
• Interview classmates/puppets/special friends, etc
• Tell a story to classmate/friends/puppets, etc.
• Create a song/irddle/poem.
• Retell a story.
• Retell a story from character’s point of view.

Writing Activities

• Write a description from a photograph / picture / poster.
• Write words for speech bubbles in a comic strip.
• Watch a cartoon sequence without sound and write the dialogue.
• Write a poem/song following a model.
• Write an entry for a journal.
• Finish sentences/stories.