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This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:
Lesson Planning
Though there is a debate in whether to plan a lesson to be taught or not, I prefer planning it beforehand for some reasons. The reasons may vary from class to class but have a common goal which includes: one can visualize what the students would achieve at the end of the lesson; it is definitely a working document which helps the teacher to reach to a target and finally is definitely a record mentioning what different materials have used to cover the lesson and using those materials, what the class has achieved. A lesson plan is for the teacher and not for the students. A teacher should maintain a lesson plan so that he or she can achieve something after the end of the lesson. A teacher’s achievement is the students’ success of learning the language properly. A lesson plan should be kept simple, unscripted but structured. The plan should include anticipated time involved in fulfilling the target. A structured balanced in lesson as well as in timings should be maintained between Engage, Study and Activate stages but should be open to new adaptations. Certain things should be included while making a lesson plan. Learner’s objective is very important as a teacher should be aware of what the students learn at the end of the class along with the teacher’s personal aim indicating the outcome of the students as a teacher he or she wishes to see. The context is also important as it fits between the past and future lesson planning. Physical teaching aids like worksheets, pictures, DVDs, cassette players play a major role in making a lesson plan successful. A teacher has to anticipate problems while going through the lesson in the class and should be ready with the remedies which are mentioned in the lesson plan. It is the teacher’s duty to improve his or her skills and so plans a lesson so that he or she can make the lesson as easy and enjoyable as possible. An intelligent way of doing that is to keep a record of what was right and what went wrong during the lesson and how it can be improved in future. For doing that a “self evaluation” form can be maintained by the teacher, where he or she writes the detail study of a particular class on a particular day. A self evaluation form helps a teacher to plan a sequence of lessons planning where certain special issues regarding teaching and learning can come out. But a teacher has to keep in mind that a lesson plan is not a rule book for teaching. Creative thoughts and decisions during the class can be incorporated while teaching is always a wise approach to increase interest and knowledge in the students and hence a lesson plan should always be flexible, catering to different conditions. Building goals of achievements is a must in lesson planning and for that revision lessons and weekly tests are necessary. A perfect lesson plan or a sequence of lesson planning must include a proper balance between receptive skills like reading and listening and productive skills like speaking and writing. When an architect makes a house he or she makes a blueprint of the house in paper. A lesson plan is no different from that, only here the architect is the teacher, the house is the knowledge of the students and the blueprint is the lesson plan.
Though there is a debate in whether to plan a lesson to be taught or not, I prefer planning it beforehand for some reasons. The reasons may vary from class to class but have a common goal which includes: one can visualize what the students would achieve at the end of the lesson; it is definitely a working document which helps the teacher to reach to a target and finally is definitely a record mentioning what different materials have used to cover the lesson and using those materials, what the class has achieved. A lesson plan is for the teacher and not for the students. A teacher should maintain a lesson plan so that he or she can achieve something after the end of the lesson. A teacher’s achievement is the students’ success of learning the language properly. A lesson plan should be kept simple, unscripted but structured. The plan should include anticipated time involved in fulfilling the target. A structured balanced in lesson as well as in timings should be maintained between Engage, Study and Activate stages but should be open to new adaptations. Certain things should be included while making a lesson plan. Learner’s objective is very important as a teacher should be aware of what the students learn at the end of the class along with the teacher’s personal aim indicating the outcome of the students as a teacher he or she wishes to see. The context is also important as it fits between the past and future lesson planning. Physical teaching aids like worksheets, pictures, DVDs, cassette players play a major role in making a lesson plan successful. A teacher has to anticipate problems while going through the lesson in the class and should be ready with the remedies which are mentioned in the lesson plan. It is the teacher’s duty to improve his or her skills and so plans a lesson so that he or she can make the lesson as easy and enjoyable as possible. An intelligent way of doing that is to keep a record of what was right and what went wrong during the lesson and how it can be improved in future. For doing that a “self evaluation” form can be maintained by the teacher, where he or she writes the detail study of a particular class on a particular day. A self evaluation form helps a teacher to plan a sequence of lessons planning where certain special issues regarding teaching and learning can come out. But a teacher has to keep in mind that a lesson plan is not a rule book for teaching. Creative thoughts and decisions during the class can be incorporated while teaching is always a wise approach to increase interest and knowledge in the students and hence a lesson plan should always be flexible, catering to different conditions. Building goals of achievements is a must in lesson planning and for that revision lessons and weekly tests are necessary. A perfect lesson plan or a sequence of lesson planning must include a proper balance between receptive skills like reading and listening and productive skills like speaking and writing. When an architect makes a house he or she makes a blueprint of the house in paper. A lesson plan is no different from that, only here the architect is the teacher, the house is the knowledge of the students and the blueprint is the lesson plan.
