Unit 18 Identifying and selecting aims

Power Point Presentation Unit 18

Unit 18: Identifying and selecting aims

How do we identify and select aims?

Aims are what we want learners to learn or be able to do at the end of the lesson, a sequence of lessons or a whole course.

To identify and select the most appropriate aims, we need to ask ourselves two questions:

What do my learners already know?

What do they need to know?

Key concepts

Main aim

Describes the most important thing we want to achieve in a lesson or sequence of lessons.

For example:

we may want learners to understand and practice using new language

to reinforce or consolidate the use of language they already know by giving them further practice.

On a lesson plan the main aim should also include an example of the target language we are planning to teach.

Subsidiary aims

·        Show the language or skills learners must be able to use well in order to achieve the main aim of the lesson.

In a lesson plan:

·        Stating both main and subsidiary aims is a good way of making sure that our lessons plan focuses on what we want our learners to learn, or to be able to do.

·        It enables us to see how the lesson should be developed, from one stage (or part) to the next, building up our learners’ knowledge or skills in the best possible order.

Personal aims

Show what we would like to improve or focus on in our own teaching.

Examples:

·         To try different correction techniques

·         To remember to check instructions

·         To write more clearly on the board

·         To get learners to work with different partners

·         To get quieter learners to answer questions

·         To make more use of the phonemic chart

Steps in planning a lesson:

1.   Identifying and selecting aims

2.   Design or select the most appropriate activities

3.   Put activities in the best order

4.   Choose the most suitable teaching aids and materials

After the lesson:

ü  Reflect on whether we have achieved our aims

Key concepts and the language teaching classroom

The syllabus (i.e. the course program) and /or the course book will give us a general direction for planning our teaching. To decide on specific aims for a particular lesson, however, we should think about or learners’ needs and the stage they have reached in their learning.

We can identify and select appropriate aims in a similar way.

We should not confuse aims and procedures. Aims describe what the learners will earn or what they will be able to do with the language, while procedures are what the teacher and learners will do at each stage of the lesson.

Key concepts

·         Aims should not be too general.

·         We should not plan to do too much in a lesson. It will depend on the length of the lesson and the learners’ level.

·         Learners also need to know what the lesson is going to be about.

·         Learners of all ages find helpful to know why they are doing things. (For example, “Today we’re going to read a story and learn how to describe people in English”.)