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”.)

Summary Unit 25

Selection and use of Aids

Aids:
Resources and equipment available to use in the classroom, as well as the resources we can bring into the classroom:

• Cassette recorders
• CD players
• Video recorders
• Overhead projectors
• Beamer
• Visual aids
• Realia
• Flashcards
• Puppets

Summary Unit 24

Selection and use of supplementary materials and activities

What are supplementary materials and activities?

• Books and other materials or activities we can use in addition to the course book to complement and enrich our class.
• They include skills development materials, grammar, vocabulary and phonology practice materials, collections of communicative activities and teacher´s resource materials.
• They may also come from authentic sources (newspapers, magazines, videos, etc.)

Why use supplementary materials and activities?

• To replace unsuitable material in the course book.
• To fill in the course book.
• To provide suitable materials for learners´particular needs and interests.
• To give learners extra language or skills practice.
• To add variety to our teaching.

Important:

• Before deciding to use these materials, you should check how appropriate the level is for your learners.
• Think about the language they will need to understand or to produce.
• If you are using supplementary materials with different procedures, you need to give special attention to the instructions.
• You can adapt many supplementary materials for use with classes at different levels.

Making materials.

• Choose a language point for which you want to make your own learner tasks, preferably having in mind a course or class you know.
• Make a sample worksheet or work card.
• Exchange your resulting materials and discuss.

Dictionaries

Here are some useful websites for dictionaries:

• www.thefreedictionary.com
• www.onelook.com
• www.merriam-webster.com
• www.langtolang.com
• www.freedict.com
• www.ectaco.com
• dictionary.reference.com
• dictionary.cambridge.org

Useful websites for teachers

Here are some useful websites, please add more.

• www.manythings.org
• a4esl.org
• www.englishclub.com
• www.bbc.co.uk
• web2.uvcs.uvic.ca
• www.onestopenglish.com
• www.teachingenglish.org.uk

Summary

Unit 22 Consulting reference resources to help in lesson preparation

 

What are reference resources?

• They are all the information about language and about teaching that we can refer to for help in lesson preparation.
  
• Reference material (dictionaries, grammar books, methodology books and articles, teacher's books, websites)
  
• People
  

Reasons for using reference resources:

1. Checking the form and use of grammatical structures (Grammar books)
   
2. Checking the spelling, pronunciation and use of Lexical items (Dictionaries)
   
3. Developing your own understanding of Language (Language Awareness Books)
   
4. Anticipating learners' difficulties (Common errors)
   
5. Looking for new approaches to teaching lessons and new classroom activities.
   
6. Finding out how to use the material in your course book (Teacher's books or Resources book)
   
7. Getting advice about particular lessons or teaching materials (Colleague's Approach)
   

Reference resources:

• Posters
  
• Flashcards
  
• CD ROMS
  
• Computer programs
  
• Games
  
• Songs and Chants
  
• Tongue Twisters
  
  
   
  Unit 23 Selection and use of course book materials
  

Course book materials are all the material in a course book package that we use in the classroom to present and practice language, and to develop learners' language skills:

• Student's book
  
• Teacher's book
  
• Audio
  
• Video
  
• Workbook
  
• CD-ROM
  

Which course book to use?

• Is the material visually attractive?
  
• Is it well organized?
  
• Is it culturally appropriate?
  
• Is it suitable for learner's age, needs and interests?
  
• Will the topics be motivating?
  
• Is it at the right level?
  
• Does it provide a clear enough context or explanations for learners to understand new language?
  
• Does it give learners enough opportunities to use the language?
  

When the course book is not appropriate:

• Replace the course book
  
• Adapt the course book
  

Important concepts:

• The course book will normally provide the main content for a lesson, while material that needs to be more personalized for learners will probably come from the teacher (or from the learners themselves)
  

Course book provide:

• Situation/context
  
• Pictures
  
• Dialogues and texts
  
• Tasks and exercises
  

Teachers can provide additional:

• Warmers
  
• Instructions
  
• Role-plays
  
• Homework tasks
  

Project: a lesson plan

• You have to write a lesson plan. 
• The topic is optional. 
• The deadline is October 9th.
• You have to prepare 8 copies of your lesson plan so your classmates and I will give you a feedback.
• If you have questions along the way, just let me know and I'll help you.
• Keep in mind the theory reviewed in class.

Summary Unit 21 Choosing assessment activities

When planning assessment, we need to think about our reason for assessing learners. Then we can decide when and how often to assess them, and choose what methods of assessment we are going to use.

Formal assessment:

• Objective tests
• Oral interviews
• Letters
• Essays

We need to include a number of different tasks, so that we get a good picture of our learners' strengths and weaknesses.
We have to test the main things we have taught.
We need to choose assessment tasks very carefully for young learners, making sure that the tasks are familiar and not too difficult or abstract.

Informal assessment:

• It is important to keep records of informal assessment, so we have the information we need to report or give feedback on our learners´ progress
• We need to plan informal assessment in the same way we plan our teaching

In the case of productive skills, whether the assessment is formal or informal, we need to judge learners´ performance against clear descriptions of different levels of skill.

Summary Unit 20

Unit 20: Planning an individual lesson or a sequence of lessons

Planning an individual lesson:
We have to ask ourselves a number of questions:

• Will the topic be interesting and motivating?
• Are the activities and teaching materials at the right level?
• Have I planned enough for the time available?
• Do I need extra material?
• Have I thought exactly how to start and end the lesson?
• Does each step of the lesson help to achieve the aim?

Planning a sequence of lessons:
We need to prepare a scheme of work to help us:

• Think of the best way to cover the school syllabus or the units of a course book in the time available.
• Think what we want to achieve
• What material we might need
• Include enough variety across our lessons.

Variety:
It is very important both in a sequence of lessons and in a single lesson to avoid doing the same kind of things in the same order over and over.
       Things we can vary:
        Pace:

• Quick and fast moving or slow and reflective interaction patterns:
• individual
• pairs
• groups
• whole class

        Level of difficulty:

• Non-demanding
• Requiring effort and concentration

       Content

• Changing from one language to point another
• Changing from one subject to another

       Mood

• Light or serious
• Happy or sad
• Tense or relaxed

       Exciting or calming activities:

• Stirring (lively and active)
• Settling (quietening down)

Lesson Plan templates Hw2

• Google "Lesson plan"
• Choose a template
• Post it here

Reading Hw1

   For useful ideas about selecting and describing aims, have a look at:

      http:/www.teachingenglish.org.uk/transform/books/action-plan-teachers.pdf

1. Read the first part: Planning which includes Pre-planning and Planning a lesson.
2. Post your comments.

TKT Module 2 Summary Units 18 & 19

Unit 18: Planning and preparing a lesson or a sequence of lessons

Aim

What we want learners to learn or be able to do at the end of a lesson, a sequence of lessons or a whole course:

·         A function

·         A grammatical structure

·         Vocabulary

·         Developing a language skill

Aims

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

·         What do my learners already know?

·         What do they need to know?

Main aim

It describes the most important thing we want to achieve in a lesson or sequence of lessons:

·         Understand and practice new language

·         Reinforce or consolidate language they already know…

Subsidiary aim

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

Personal aim

They show what we would like to improve or focus on in our own teaching:

·         Improve the way we handle aids and materials

·         Try different correction techniques

·         Write more clearly on the board

·         Get learners to work with different partners…

·          

The importance of aims:

·         They are the first step in designing a lesson

·         We can design or select the most appropriate activities

·         Put them in the best order

·         Choose the most suitable teaching aids and materials

·         At a glance of the lesson we can check if we have achieved them

·         They help us to select appropriate aims for future lessons.

Procedures:

They state what teachers and learners will do at each stage of the lesson:

Example:  Listening to a recording and answering questions

Important concepts:

Aims should not be to general:

“To teach the simple past”

More specific aims are like:

“Introduce and practice the past simple for talking about personal experiences”

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

Unit 19: Identifying the different components of a lesson plan

·         A set of notes that helps us to think through what we are going to teach and how are going to teach it.

·        It also guides us during and after the lesson

Important concepts:

·         During the lesson we should teach the learners, not the lesson plan!  We must be prepared if necessary to change our plan while we are teaching!!!

Feedback sheet

Please, make notes under the grid's header and make comments and suggestions about today's session.

1) What I knew about the session's topics before	2) What I learn in today's session	3) What was not clear in the session
4) Comments:
5) Suggestions:

Evaluation of module 2

Here we are, this is the way you are going to be evaluated:

1. Portfolio             70%
2. Test                    30%

Attendance and punctuality minimum required are 80%

There are 15 sessions so you have to attend 12 sessions.

Glossary Lesson planning

Analyze language
to think about language, e.g. what the form of the structure is and why it is being used in this way in this situation.

Anticipate language problems
When a teacher is planning a lesson, they think about what their students might find difficult about the language in the lesson so that they can help them more effectively at certain points in the lesson.

Arouse, generate interest
To make students interested in a task.

Glossary Lesson planning

Achieve aims, objectives
when a teacher succeeds in teaching what he/she has planned to teach.

Aim
what the teacher tries to achieve in the lesson or course.

T

 The main aim is the most important aim, e.g. the teacher's main aim in a lesson could be to teach the present perfect in the situation of travel.

A subsidiary aim is the secondary focus of the lesson, less important than the main aim. It could be the language or skills students must be able to use well in order to achieve the main aim of the lesson or a skill or language area which is practiced while focusing on the main aim.

A personal aim is what the teacher would like to improve on his/her teaching, e.g. to reduce the time I spend at the whiteboard.


To have access to the TKT Glossary, go to:
www.cambridgeesol.org./TKT
Module 2:  pages 28 to 34