Tefl Lessons

  Hello. This presentation is going to cover this section on lesson planning and what we're going to do is to have a look as to why we go about planning a lesson, what do we actually put in it? We'll create an empty lesson plan pro-forma and then having done that what we'll do is to fill in that lesson plan for a particular teaching point. So, our starting position is going to be: "Why do we plan lessons at all?" There are a number of reasons why we need to plan a lesson. The first and foremost perhaps is that it's going to create a logical sequence for our lessons. If we didn't have a lesson plan, it is quite possible that we could go all over the place and it would become confusing for the students. By having this plan, what we've created is a structure that we can work from. So,...  [Read more]

  So, the document itself needs to contain some general information about the class, for example the name of the teacher, the date and time of the lesson, what level of class is being taught and in what room, how many students are we expecting, this is important, when we've got things like photocopying and materials to do, what is the context of the lesson, in other words, what is the lesson actually about, what vocabulary or grammar point is this lesson covering and sometimes it's also useful to write out what the focus of the lesson is. So, in effect, the context of the lesson is telling us the grammar point, for example, that might be the present continuous tense, whereas the focus is telling us how we're going to go about teaching it. Another example to illustrate this: Let's...  [Read more]

To make your TESOL lessons more engaging, you can incorporate a variety of interactive activities and teaching strategies that cater to different learning styles and keep your students actively involved throughout the lesson. Here are some key tips to enhance engagement in your TESOL classes: First and foremost, consider the interests and backgrounds of your students when planning your lessons. Incorporating topics and materials that are relevant and engaging for them will increase their motivation to participate and learn. Utilize a mix of teaching methods, such as visual aids, hands-on activities, group work, and technology, to cater to different learning preferences. This variety will help maintain your students' interest and focus. Incorporate real-life scenarios and practical tasks...  [Read more]

To make your TESOL lessons more dynamic, it's important to incorporate a variety of teaching strategies and techniques that engage students and cater to different learning styles. Here are some tips to help you create dynamic and interactive TESOL lessons: Firstly, consider incorporating technology into your lessons. Utilize multimedia resources such as videos, interactive whiteboards, and online learning platforms to make the lessons more engaging and interactive for students. Technology can also help cater to visual and auditory learners, making the lessons more dynamic. Additionally, incorporate real-life scenarios and authentic materials into your lessons. This could include using newspaper articles, podcasts, or videos that are relevant to the students' interests and everyday lives....  [Read more]

To make your TESOL lessons more student-centered, there are several strategies you can implement to create a more engaging and interactive learning environment for your students. First and foremost, it is essential to consider the individual needs and learning styles of each student in your classroom. By taking the time to get to know your students and their preferences, you can tailor your lessons to better suit their needs and interests. This can involve incorporating a variety of activities, such as group work, pair work, role plays, and games, to cater to different learning styles and keep students engaged. Another key aspect of student-centered teaching is providing opportunities for students to take an active role in their own learning. This can be achieved by encouraging students to...  [Read more]

  Then, we have a set of objectives and aims. Here, the learner objectives relate to what we're hoping the students are going to be able to do by the end of your lesson and quite often, that can be a useful way of writing out what the objectives are. So, we would start the sentence "By the end of the lesson, students should be able to?" and then a list of two, three or four items that we're expecting the students to be able to do by completing this lesson. The learner objectives are different to the teacher aims the teacher aims are what you are expecting from that lesson itself. Now, when you first start teaching, quite a normal aim might be to complete the lesson successfully, to get through the whole thing without having any problems. As time goes on and you become more...  [Read more]

  Okay, so we're going to use this pro-forma as our lesson plan and we're going to fill one out as though we were planning for an actual lesson. So, we start off with some basic information about the class. So, the name of the teacher, date and time and the class level. In this particular case, our class is going to be an elementary class and the room will be room 3. Having looked through the registers we see that the expected number of students for this particular class is going to be 10. This will help us in creating our worksheet copies. The context of the lesson for this class is going to be present continuous tense and it may well be the first time that this particular level of class has been introduced to this tense. So, our focus is going to be fairly general and it's going...  [Read more]

In the field of TEFL, making lessons culturally relevant is crucial for effective language learning. There are several strategies you can implement to ensure that your TESOL lessons are culturally relevant and engaging for your students. First and foremost, it is essential to research and understand the cultural backgrounds of your students. This includes their customs, traditions, beliefs, and values. By gaining insight into your students' cultural backgrounds, you can tailor your lessons to incorporate topics and themes that are familiar and meaningful to them. One way to make TESOL lessons more culturally relevant is to incorporate authentic materials from the target culture. This can include using newspapers, magazines, videos, music, and literature from the countries where the...  [Read more]

  So, now we're going to fill the actual procedure of the lesson plan out itself. We mentioned at the start, the first thing we do, is to get some general information about the class that we'll be teaching and then, in order for someone to be able to cover our lesson, we need to present enough information in our lesson plan that they can actually carry it out. What I'm going to do is for each stage of the lesson, I'll indicate what I'm going to do in the lesson and then, we'll cut away from that to have a look to see how that will actually be achieved. So, our lesson is going to be based on a 45-minute lesson and the first phase is going to be the engage phase and it's going to be a straight arrow ESA lesson. I'm going to take approximately five minutes on my engage phase and in...  [Read more]

To make your TESOL lessons more interactive, there are several strategies you can implement. Interactive lessons engage students more effectively, promote active learning, and enhance language acquisition. Here are some tips to make your TESOL lessons more interactive: 1. Incorporate multimedia: Use videos, audio clips, and interactive online resources to cater to different learning styles and make the lessons more engaging. Multimedia can help students visualize concepts, improve listening skills, and enhance comprehension. 2. Group activities: Divide students into small groups to work on tasks and projects together. Group activities promote collaboration, communication, and teamwork skills. They also create a supportive learning environment where students can interact and learn from each...  [Read more]

  This particular methodology is known as a straight arrow ESA lesson. If every single lesson that we undertook with our students was a straight arrow ESA lesson then it is quite possible that the students would be able to predict what is going to come up next and whilst this is good for the lower level students, then it could potentially become a little bit boring for our higher level students. So what Harmer did in his ideas about ESA, was to generate two other types of ESA lesson that we can use to try and generate a little bit more interest. So, the other two types of ESA lesson that we can follow: The first is known as a boomerang lesson and the second is known as a patchwork lesson and what we're going to do is to have a look at those other types of ESA lesson in a little bit...  [Read more]

To make your TESOL lessons more interactive for young learners, there are several strategies you can implement. Interactive lessons are crucial for engaging young learners and creating a fun and effective learning environment. Here are some tips to help you make your TESOL lessons more interactive: Incorporating visual aids such as flashcards, pictures, videos, and props can help young learners better understand and remember new vocabulary and concepts. Visual aids can make the lessons more engaging and interactive, as they appeal to different learning styles and capture the students' attention. Integrating games and activities into your lessons is a great way to make learning fun and interactive for young learners. Games like bingo, memory matching, charades, and scavenger hunts can help...  [Read more]

  So, having elicited this particular structure, what I'm now able to do is to move on to the actual study activities. Typically, they will be in the form of worksheets to check that the students actually understand this information. So, I might prepare three activities. They may not do them all but, for example, I could prepare these three study activities. So, the first one is going to be a fairly straightforward matching activity, where perhaps they match the subject to its correct verb "to be" in that part of the sentence. The second one is going to be a gap fill. For example, I might use this verb here and ask them to complete a sentence using that verb, so that I can check that any spelling changes that take place are correct and the final one is going to be an unscramble,...  [Read more]

  The first part of my study phase is going to be the board work and I'm going to use the information that I generated in the elicitation part of my engage phase to move on to the actual board work. What I'm going to do is to show the structure of this particular tense. So, the phase study I'm expecting to take about ten minutes on this particular part and, again, the interaction will mainly be the students talking to me. So, how am I going to achieve that with this information? Well, we could ask the students to have a look at the sentences themselves and to tell us what they can see. If we look at each of the first words in here, then at this level, I should hopefully be able to elicit from my students what each of these words have in common and they may well give an answer that...  [Read more]

To make TESOL lessons more engaging for special needs students, it is essential to adopt a student-centered approach that caters to their individual learning styles and abilities. Here are some strategies to consider: 1. **Differentiation**: Differentiate your instruction by providing varied activities and materials that cater to different learning styles. For example, visual aids for visual learners, hands-on activities for kinesthetic learners, and auditory exercises for auditory learners. 2. **Sensory Considerations**: Be mindful of sensory sensitivities that some special needs students may have. Create a comfortable learning environment by minimizing distractions, using soft lighting, and providing sensory tools like fidget toys or noise-canceling headphones. 3. **Visual Supports**:...  [Read more]

  Lesson planning is an important part of being a teacher. While experienced teachers may appear to not require a plan it is only because they have probably taught a lesson so many times that the majority of their plan is in their head. They will still have a good idea of how they want and expect the lesson to proceed. Inexperienced teachers will need the structure a good lesson plan provides. A good plan acts as a guide to your planning. It helps a teacher consider the direction of the lesson and possible pitfalls and diversions. It also helps a teacher keep on track during the lesson but should not be so restrictive that it prevents flexibility in class. A lesson plan also serves as a record of what you have taught before enabling you to easily see what to review at later dates...  [Read more]

In today's digital age, technology plays a crucial role in the field of education, including Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Integrating technology into TESOL lessons can enhance student engagement, provide interactive learning experiences, and cater to diverse learning styles. Here are some effective ways TESOL teachers can incorporate technology into their lessons: 1. **Interactive Whiteboards and Smartboards:** Utilizing interactive whiteboards or smartboards can make lessons more dynamic and engaging. TESOL teachers can display multimedia content, interactive games, and language exercises to reinforce learning objectives. Students can actively participate in activities on the board, fostering collaboration and communication skills. 2. **Online Learning...  [Read more]

To prepare effective lesson plans, TESOL teachers follow a structured approach that ensures the delivery of engaging and comprehensive lessons. Here is a step-by-step guide on how TESOL teachers prepare lesson plans: 1. **Understand the Learning Objectives:** The first step in preparing a lesson plan is to clearly understand the learning objectives. This involves identifying what students should be able to achieve by the end of the lesson, whether it is improving their speaking skills, learning new vocabulary, or understanding grammar concepts. 2. **Assessment of Students' Needs:** TESOL teachers need to assess the language proficiency level of their students to tailor the lesson plan accordingly. This could involve conducting placement tests, observing students in class, or reviewing...  [Read more]

  For the lesson that even takes place, there are a number of things that you need to have considered. Obviously, you need a very clear idea of what it is you're expecting the students to have to do and they need to know why. It's very important before you ask them to do an activity that they have an understanding of the purpose of that activity. You should, secondly, have had a thought about what they already know. Linked to that is, will it be necessary to do any form of pre-teaching before I can expect them to do this activity and finally, we need to make sure that we have prepared all our materials and our instructions for this particular activity. So, we'll consider a straight arrow ESA lesson, the focus of which is to be speaking skills. So, we'll start with our engage and in...  [Read more]

When creating TESOL lesson plans, it is essential to include a variety of components to ensure a well-rounded and effective learning experience for your students. A well-structured lesson plan not only helps you stay organized but also ensures that you cover all the necessary components of language learning. Here are some key elements to consider when developing your TESOL lesson plans: 1. **Learning Objectives**: Clearly outline the specific goals and objectives of the lesson. What do you want your students to learn or achieve by the end of the lesson? Make sure your objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). 2. **Language Focus**: Identify the language skills or grammar structures that you will be focusing on in the lesson. This could include...  [Read more]