Tai lieu boi duong Lets learn EnglishBook 1

Goals determine purpose, aim, and rationale for what you and your students will engage in during class time. Use this section to express the intermediate lesson goals that draw upon prev[r]

Overview book Training workshop On teaching “Let’s Learn English” – Book 1

Written by: Phan Ha

Do Thi Ngoc Hien Dao Ngoc Loc

Nguyen Quoc Tuan Wong Mei Lin

JULY - 2006

Date: 3-7 July 2006 in Hanoi

12-17 July 2006 in Ho Chi Minh City

Objectives:

To train teachers on new methodology (communicative approach with good grammar foundation) and the use of teaching aids

To train teachers to teach effectively using Let’s Learn English – Book (student’s book, teacher guide and workbook)

Materials:

Overview Book Student’s book Teacher’s guide Workbook

PART

Teaching Young Learners

1 Basic Principles behind Learning 1.1 Active Involvement

a) Learning at school requires students to pay attention,

to observe, to memorise, to understand, to set goals,

to assume responsibility for their own learning

b) Teachers must help students to become active and goal-oriented

by encouraging them:

to explore,

to understand new things, to master them

Avoid passive listening for long periods of time Provide hands-on activities

Encourage participation in class discussion and group work 1.2 Social participation

Children learn the activities, habits, vocabulary and ideas from others they grow up with

Teacher can assign students to working groups and guide the groups Teacher can model and coach students how to co-operate with each

other 1.3 Meaningful Activities

Many school activities are not meaningful since students not understand why they are doing them

1.4 Relating new information to prior knowledge Teachers can

discuss the content of the lesson before finding out what students already know,

find out students’ prior knowledge to identify misconceptions, ask questions to help students relate what they are reading and

what they already know Being Strategic

Strategies help students understand and solve problems Strategies can improve learning and make it faster Teachers can give students a task and ask key questions Engaging in self-regulation and being reflective

‘Self-regulation’ refers to students’ ability: to monitor their own learning,

to understand when they are making errors, and to know how to correct them

Restructuring prior knowledge

Students have prior beliefs and incomplete understanding that can conflict with what is being taught at school

Teachers need to build on the existing ideas of students and slowly lead them to more mature understanding

Aiming towards understanding rather than memorization

a) To understand what they are being taught, students must be given the opportunity:

to think about what they are doing,

to talk about it with other students and with teachers, to clarify it, and

to understand how it applies in many situations

Teachers can promote understanding of the material that has been taught by:

Asking students to explain a concept in their own words, Showing students how to provide examples to show how

something works,

1.9 Helping students learn to use what they have learned

Teachers can help students to apply what they have learned at school by

Insisting on them learning the subject matter,

Helping them see how they have applied what they have learned, Helping students learn how to seek and use feedback about their

progress 1.10 Taking time to practise

Teachers can help students spend more time on learning tasks by Giving students learning tasks that are consistent with what they

already know,

Giving students time to understand the new information,

Helping students engage in active thinking and monitoring their own learning

1.11 Developmental & individual differences

Teachers can create the best environments for developing children while recognising their individual differences

Assess children’s knowledge, strategies and modes of learning adequately

Introduce children to a wide range of materials, activities and learning tasks

Identify students’ areas of strength in different kinds of activities 1.12 Creating motivated learners

Teachers must use encouraging words that reflect learners’ performance:

Recognise what students have done,

Attribute students achievement to their own ability e.g you have good ideas,

Help students believe in themselves,

Provide feedback to children about the strategies they use and instructions as to how to improve them,

Help learners set realistic goals

2.1 What constraints you face in teaching?

a) Large classes (over 40 students and sometimes as many as a 100),

b) limited resources (only a course book that may be culturally inappropriate or too difficult),

cramped classrooms and mixed ability students

lack of resources in schools to carry out creative methods 2.2 Classroom Constraints:

There is very little room for children to get up or for the teacher to move around the class and students must work on their own The class is dominated by the teacher (who works very hard) Students are very passive and probably restless too

Teachers are concerned that students will be noisy or silly when desks are moved

2.3 Dealing with Classroom constraints a) By using pair-work

Students can easily work together, sharing ideas and peer teaching

This is very useful when your students are mixed ability as stronger ones can help those with problems

They can help explain what they think the correct answers are and share ideas about the language

They will have more chance of success and the teacher can spend time monitoring and helping students rather than trying to help all those with problems or keeping them quiet

By using group work

3 Activities to overcome classroom constraints using pair work

3.1 Dialogue reading:

a) Many course books introduce language items with dialogues that children either read or listen to on a tape

Get students to read the dialogues together, taking a part each 3.2 Writing: is a difficult skill

Get children to work together to produce a piece of writing they have the chance to try out structures and vocabulary they tend to draft (rewrite and improve) much more than

when they write on their own

It is also more fun working with another student and easier to sustain energy and interest in the task

For example, your students have been learning vocabulary to describe people

Choose a character appropriate for the age of your students First ask the students to shut their eyes and imagine this

character

Then they tell each other what this character looked like in their mind’s eye

3.3 Pair dictations:

Students of all ages all like doing picture dictations, which are very easy and get lots of language practice

First the teacher describes a picture and students must draw what they hear

Get students to draw their own pictures without showing them to their partners

Then take turns describing their picture to their partner who must draw the picture

4 Activities to overcome classroom constraints using group work

4.1 Brainstorming:

a) Before reading or writing about a particular topic e.g my friends, get the students in their groups to think up all the words and/or ideas they know and

Write them onto one piece of paper 4.2 Discussion:

a) This is also good before students read or write about a topic b) It can also be used to recycle language they have learned

Students have an opportunity to exchange ideas and practise their English in a relatively unstructured but meaningful way 4.3 Role play:

a) Children of all ages like role plays

b) They can be used words that have learnt and to practise real life communications in English

c) Children all love to get up and move around It gives them a chance to use up spare energy, and to get actively involved in their learning

4.4 A – Z: can be used with large classes without getting up Choose a lexical set like sports

The student at the front of each line must run to the board and write a sport beginning with A, hand the chalk to the student behind her and then go to the back of the line

The next student goes to the board and writes a sport beginning with B, hands the chalk to the next student and goes to the back of the line and this continues until students reach Z

Other students in a team can help the person writing if they cannot think of a sport

If nobody can think of one they go on to the next letter in the alphabet

5 Other Ideas

5.1 Label the room:

Use the classroom and everything in it as a learning resource

On strips of paper write: door, window, teacher’s desk, board rubber etc

Hand out the strips of paper to different students and ask them to fix the paper on the objects

5.2 Create your own poster:

Students can create useful and decorative English posters for their own classroom

All you need are some large sheets of paper – the back of wallpaper or wrapping paper can be used

Younger classes can create alphabet posters:

Give a letter of the alphabet to all the children (you can just tell them what letter they have) It’s not a problem if there are more than 26 children, you can double up on letters Each child must think of words that begin with the letter they

have and on a piece of paper write their letter big and draw the things beginning with that letter

PART 2

Curriculum AND seT of let’s learn English – book 1

1 Curriculum

1 Background

English is taught at primary level from grade to grade as an optional subject New National Curriculum and sets of textbooks (Let’s learn English – Book – Student book, Let’s learn English – Book – Workbook Let’s learn English – Book – Teacher Guide) will officially be started from the school year 2006-2007

The setting of time for teaching: periods (of 35-40 minutes) per week x 35 weeks per year = 70 periods/year

1 Aims

Develop the student’s four fundamental and simple communication skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, among them listening and speaking are focused

Provide for students a number of basic and simple knowledge of English as a means of developing communication skills, including phonics, vocabulary and grammar

Help students to deal with the people, countries and cultures of nations in which English is used as a native or second language

1 Content

The optional curriculum of English is developed following communicative approach: listening, speaking, reading and writing

Themes are basic factors to write the teaching content The four themes are: You and Me, My School, My Family and The World Around Us

Under themes are topics which may be considered as units

Through the 12 units, students will be able to practice communicative competences or tasks within approximately 120 words

1.4 Content of grade three curriculum

Themes/Topics Competences* Language focus** 1 You and Me

First meetings Names of friends

Introduce oneself and others Ask and spell someone’s names Greet/ say goodbye

Present Simple: be, have

This is/That is/Let's, Wh-question: what, how

Yes/No question: Is it ? Is there ? Are there ? Imperatives Modal: may Personal/impersonal pronouns Possessive adj/pron Nouns, numbers (1-10)

Adjectives: big, small.

Conjunction: and Articles: a, an, the Prepositions of place: in, on,

2 My school

Friends and teachers School objects Classroom activities

Identify school objects Describe school objects

Express classroom commands and permissions

3 My family

Family members Age of family members My house

Talk about family members Count

Ask for and tell the age Name and describe rooms Talk about location of house things

4 The world around us

Weather Pets Toys

Talk about weather

Name and identify pets and toys Talk about possession

1 Teaching and Learning Conditions

Ensuring the setting of time (70 periods, each period lasts between 35-40 minutes) for grade

Having enough teachers meeting the requirements of enthusiasm, job loyalty, good qualification and be trained and educated regularly the new curriculum and teaching methodology

Making sure that there are enough textbooks, workbooks for students, guiding books, reference materials for teachers and audio-visual teaching/learning aids for teachers and students

Testing and evaluating must follow closely the targets and contents of the curriculum and the standard level of knowledge of the subject

2 Let’s Learn English - Book – Student’s Book

2 Principles

Follow closely to the curriculum (objectives, themes, topics, competences and language focus)

The four communicative skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) should be practiced combiningly Language factors (phonics, grammar, vocabulary) are tools to build up those four skills

The content of language should ensure the reality, accuracy, contextualization Types of lesson, tasks, activities should have a harmonious combination

between texts, pictures, sounds, between communicative skills and language components, between presentation, practice and application

Learners should be considered as center of the teaching-learning process Be suitable to student’s age, demand, experience and knowledge

2 Content

Book map: introducing the whole picture of the SB (including themes, units, tasks, language focus)

The SB consists of themes, each theme has units, each unit has two sections (section A and section B) and lasts periods

After each theme, there is a self-check that help students check themselves what they have learned within the theme

Vocabulary is by the end of SB Unit structure

Section A

Look, listen and repeat Look and say

Let’s talk

Listen and check Say it right Listen and write Read aloud Section B

Listen and repeat Let’s talk

Listen and number Read and match Let’s write Let’s play Summary

Each units has 9-10 exercises covering the following: Circle the odd one out

Complete and read Let’s match

Read and match Complete and read

Reorder the letters to make words Reorder the words to make sentences Reorder the sentences to make a dialogue Complete the dialogue

Complete the sentences Writing

4 Let’s Learn English – Book – Teacher’s Guide

4.1 Teaching points

Competencies Language focus

Phonics Grammar Vocabulary Time allocation Teaching aids Teaching guide

G-I-P-O is used in guiding the teaching They are: Goal – Input – Procedure – Output

Goal: the goal of the task that student should be able to achieve

Input: the activities/task (in the textbook) and/or exercise (in the workbook) that students should use to practice

Procedure: the steps that teacher may follow to help students achieve the goal Output (Key answer): The outcome the students should achieve

There are other components that are related to G-I-P-O They are: Notes: to explain the uses of phonics, vocabulary or grammar Tapescript

PART 3

How Children Learn

How Children Learn 1 Learning Styles & Teaching

Students learn better and more quickly if the teaching methods used match their learning styles

As learning improves, so too does self-esteem

Students who have become bored with learning may become interested once again

The student-teacher relationship can improve because the student is more successful and is more interested in learning

2 What is your learning style?

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “dog”?

Do you see a picture of an animal, hear a bark, or visualise the animal?

3 Learning Styles

3.1 Auditory learners

love to play with words and their sounds; well with talking things through; listen to what others have to say; enjoy storytelling and listening games Logical learners

are problem-solvers and rational, numbers-oriented learners

Try turning English alphabet into a numerical code e.g 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, 4=D, 5=E

What does 4-1-4 stand for?

Visual learners

love to sit up in the front of the class,

need to “see” what the teacher is talking about, make meaning through pictures,

Dictate words or phrases

Get students to draw pictures to illustrate the meaning Kinesthetic learners

are explorers,

like to get up, move around and touch things,

enjoy activities such as charades, or pantomiming games Musical learners

love to explore sounds and how they go together in songs and chants,

motivated by songs and chants 3.6 Interpersonal learners

love to get up and interact with others,

love to cooperative activities that give opportunities to work and learn from fellow students such as pair work, interviews, group projects, survey

Intrapersonal learners

are self-motivated and prefer to work on their own,

are shy but have a good sense of self and are quite secure, enjoy personalization activities:

drawing, writing and talking about one’s own family, house or school

Left-brain dominated are intellectual,

process information in a linear way, tend to be objective (unbiased, fair), prefer established, certain information,

rely on language in thinking and remembering Helping the Left-brain dominated by:

Giving verbal instructions and explanations

Right-brain dominated are intuitive,

process information in a holistic way,

tend to be subjective (give personal opinions) prefer elusive, uncertain information,

rely on drawing and manipulating to help them to think and learn Helping Right-brain dominated

Write instructions as well as giving them verbally Show students what you would like them to Give students clear guidelines

Set some open-ended tasks for which there is no “right” answer Use real objects that students can manipulate while learning Sometimes allow students to respond by drawing

4 Planning for preferred learning styles

4.1 Stage 1: Activities that help students connect with the lesson Example

Students discuss what they know about the topic of the lesson as a whole class or in small group;

Students predict what a reading passage/story will be about from the title

4.2 Stage 2: Activities that give students new information Example

Students listen to a presentation of the new information; Students read a text;

Students watch a video which presents the new information

4.3 Stage 3: Activities that give students a chance to practise the new information Example

Students discuss questions based on the new information; Students use the new information to create a poster;

4.4 Stage 4: Activities that give students a chance to extend their ideas Example:

•Students try the new language which they have learnt outside the classroom;

•Students try the reading strategy which they were taught in other subjects

5 Learner-centered Teaching

5.1 Starting class

Get students interested in what they are going to learn:

show students photos, real objects, music or fun activity related to the new material;

present a simple question that they will be able to answer by the end of class with what they have learned;

tell students what they are going to learn and what kinds of activities they will during class

5.2 Organising classroom equipment and materials:

•Make sure you have all the materials you need;

•Make sure that everything actually works and everyone can see/hear it;

•Get the visual aids ready in the order that you plan to use them; •Sort out worksheets for quick and easy distribution

5.3 Using presentation techniques:

•Speak clearly and use facial expressions and body language to make your meaning clear;

5.4 Grouping students for activities

Vary the methods you use to organize students into pairs or groups: - by seating arrangement,

- by randomly distributing number cards, - by birth months

Consider the activity to see if is effective to groups of different ability levels;

Make sure that each student in the group has a role to play; Monitor groups to ensure participation

5.5 Checking for understanding

•Watch your students Are they doing what you’re expecting or they look confused?

•After you have given instructions, ask one or two students to demonstrate the activity

•When you ask questions:

- pose the question first so that everyone pays attention and prepares to answer,

- name an individual student to answer 5.6 Closing class

•Always wrap up the lesson Do not simply stop in the middle of an activity

•Take a few minutes to review what students have learnt Ask them to tell you what they’ve learnt

PART 4

Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills

1 Listening

1.1 Listening is the language skill which learners usually find the most difficult This often is because they feel under unnecessary pressure to understand every word

1.2 To achieve the aims related to this skill, the teacher plays an important role: a) It is important to help pupils prepare for the listening task

well before they hear the text itself First of all, the teacher must ensure that:

the pupils understand the language they need to complete the task;

they are fully aware of exactly what is expected of them;

they are reassured that they not need to understand every word they hear

b) The next important step is to encourage pupils to anticipate what they are going to hear:

Present the listening activity within the context of the topic of a teaching unit

This will help pupils to predict what the answers might be The teacher can help them further:

by asking questions; and

using the pictures to encourage pupils to guess the answers even before they hear the text

c) During the listening the pupils should be able to

concentrate on understanding the message so make sure they

are not trying to read, draw, and write at the same time Always give a second chance to listen to the text to provide a

d) Finally, when pupils have completed the activity, invite answers from the whole class

Try not to put individual pupils under undue pressure Confirm whether an answer is correct or not by playing the

cassette again and allow pupils to listen again

List all the answers on the board and play the text again so that the class can listen and choose the correct one Even if the pupils all appear to have completed the task

successfully, always encourage them to listen to the text once more and check their answers for themselves

2 Speaking

Two main types of speaking activities are used:

Songs, chants, and poems

encourage pupils to mimic the model they hear on the cassette;

help pupils to master the sounds, rhythms, and intonation of the English language

b) Games and pair work activities

encourage pupils to begin to manipulate the language by presenting them with a certain amount of choice, within a fairly controlled situation

In order for any speaking activity to be successful, children need to know the reason for speaking, whether this is to play a game or to find out real information about friends in the class

Once the activity begins:

Make sure that the children are speaking as much English as possible without interfering to correct the mistakes that they will probably make;

Try to treat errors casually by praising what they say and simply repeating it correctly without pointing out the errors;

3 Ways to help your pupils learn to listen

3.1 Teach rules for listening

Children who haven’t learned to listen naturally need help in understanding what listening actually involves

Many are unable to concentrate on what a speaker is saying because they’re too easily distracted by other things that are going on around them

They simply aren’t aware that listening means cutting oneself off from those distractions

Make a poster listing the main rules and teach them explicitly as part of English

A good listener

looks at the speaker tries to keep still

concentrates on what the speaker is saying thinks about what the speaker is saying asks questions if they don’t understand values what the speaker has to say

tries to remember what the speaker has said

Focus on one rule at a time Discuss what it means and why it’s important

Put it into practice immediately by giving a paired task (for example: “Take turns to ask your partner what she or he did last weekend”) and asking some children to report back to the class

3.2 Model how to be a good listener 3.3 Play listening games

3.4 Read to children

 Avoid reading just from picture books Children need

opportunities to “make the picture in their heads”, while listening to a poem or verbal narrative

3.5 Use music and song

 Music trains the brain to patterns and the ear to qualities of sound

 Songs are particularly useful, because the melody helps children memorise words

 Action songs help develop memory and are especially memorable

Train auditory memory

All learning relies on auditory memory, so the more we practise this particular mental muscle, the better the results

Encourage children to learn the words of songs, rhymes and poems Organise a recitation competition

3.7 Use tapes and CDs

Using tapes and CDs brings other voices into the classroom,

Try sometimes telling the class beforehand that you are not going to rewind the tape

In a “rewind culture”, many children don’t bother attending carefully the first time

3.8 Use dictation

Dictation helps in teaching and assessing phonics, spelling and handwriting

It allows children to focus purely on hearing the words and transforming them into symbols on the page

Dictations should be short, occasional and delivered with an established routine:

The teacher reads the whole piece

The teacher re-reads in short clear chunks

Get pupils to write, then read the whole piece again at the end for checking

3.9 Make lessons worth listening to

With so much exposure to the same voice, pupils sometimes switch off

Using audio resources encourage children’s contributions to lessons and using the voices of other adults who may be around

Look also for ways of substituting other modes of communication wherever possible:

train pupils to respond by sitting quietly and signalling back to you

4 Developing and expanding children’s listening and speaking skills

4.1 Engage children in conversation throughout the day When reading aloud to the children, encourage them:

to predict what will happen in the story, to comment on the story, and

to make connections between the story and their personal experiences

Play games that will focus children’s attention on the importance of listening carefully, e.g.:

Put your heads down and close your eyes Listen very carefully

Can you hear the lawn mower outside? Can you hear water dripping in the sink? What else you hear?

Gently reinforce the rules of good listening and speaking throughout the day

PART 5

Teaching Reading and Writing Skills 1 Reading

In order to make reading an interesting challenge, it is important that pupils not labour over every word

Choose materials that will interest or humour so that children will want to read, to be entertained or to find out something they not already know

Spend time preparing for the task by using:

the illustrations (a usual feature in reading activities for children), pupils’ own knowledge about the subject matter, and

key vocabulary to help the pupils to predict the general content of the text

Discuss the subject and ask questions to elicit language and to stimulate the pupils’ interest in the text before they begin reading

Make sure that the pupils understand the vocabulary they need to complete the task before they begin to read

While the children are reading the text, move around the class providing

support if pupils need it

Encourage pupils to work out the meaning of vocabulary as they come across it, using the context and the supporting illustrations

2 Writing

Students should progress from writing isolated words and phrases, to short paragraphs about themselves or about very familiar topics

Provide them with a model on which they can then base their own efforts Base the writing activities on an example and guide the pupils, using

At this stage, the pupils’ work will contain mistakes:

The teacher should try to be sensitive in his/her correction and not necessarily insist on every error being highlighted

A piece of written work covered in red pen is demoralizing and generally counter-productive

Encourage pupils to correct their own mistakes as they work Encourage pupils to decorate their written work and where feasible

display their efforts in the class

3 Relating Reading and Writing

As children gain listening and speaking skills, they are learning about reading and writing

Children listen to favourite stories and retell them on their own, play with alphabet blocks, watch adults read and write, etc

Children discover language as they play, explore and interact with others

Make a pattern with objects

By putting things in a certain order, children gain an understanding of sequence

This will help them discover that the letters in words must go in a certain order

3.2 Listen to a story

Children enjoy read-aloud sessions

Listening and talking help children to build their vocabularies They have fun while learning basic literacy concepts

3.3 Play a matching game

Seeing that some things are exactly the same leads children to the understanding that the letters in words must be written in the same order every time to carry meaning

3.4 Move to music while following directions

Children gain an understanding of concepts such as up/down, front/back, and left/right, and add these words to their vocabularies

3.5 Recite rhyming poems

Children become aware of phonemes – the smallest units of sounds that make up words

This awareness leads to reading and writing success 3.6 Make signs for a pretend grocery store

 Children practise using print to provide information e.g the price of different foods

3.7 Retell a favourite story to another person

Children gain confidence in their ability to learn to read

They practise telling the story in the order that it was read to them

4 The sequence in learning to read

4.1 Become familiar with written words in the environment and in written materials

Label equipment in the classroom Have a well-stocked library

Write with the children and keep these books on the shelves 4.2 Develop a love for books through being read to and seeing others read

Encourage parents to read to their children each day and to let the children see them reading other material (books for pleasure, cookbooks, etc.)

Read to the children each day in school

4.3 Become familiar with the rhythm of the language This will help them read with some animation in their voice instead of just a monotone It also helps them develop rhyming skills

Use nursery rhymes in the classroom

Share music with strong rhythms and songs with rhyming lines Play a variety of music during free choice time

4.4 Develop comprehension skills:

Discuss a story before you read it (prediction) and then after you read it

Ask questions about a short paragraph to the child to see if they understood

Ask riddles

Do word problems with a small group and have them act out the problem

Encourage finding many ways to accomplish a task Use puzzles at many levels of difficulty

4.6 Reasoning skills must also be developed

Use mazes, puzzles, block building and simple board or card games Ask open-ended questions

Use recall activities like sequencing the events in a day

Explain what you are doing and why things happen the way they 4.7 Become ready to read

Talk to and listen to each child often Introduce new words and play word games

Explain what you are doing and why things happen the way they (broaden their knowledge through language)

4.8 Begin to recognize letters

Label all materials in the room

Talk about the letters in the child’s name Look for the letter in words in a book Look for the letter around the room

Do pattern poems with words using that letter 4.9 Hear a sound and connect it with the appropriate letter

Look for the letter in the words of a story and say those words together

Encourage them to make the sound of the letter

Post a paper with the letter written at the top and that day record all of the spoken words in which you hear the sound

4.10 Realize letters form words

Point out individual words and repeating words Find repeating phrases in predictable books Match word cards

4.11 Realize sounds combine to make words

Use pattern poems (the same word repeats in every line) and sound out the letters in the repeating word

Use books with only one word to a picture and sound out the word Use word cards so the child can use the picture to make the sounds

of the letters

4.12 Realize a word says the same thing each time you see it Re-read favorite stories

Re-read posted dictation

Re-read the child’s dictated stories

Look for the same word in another sentence and read that sentence aloud – the child will pick out the matching words

4.13 Realize words go together to form sentences

Read to each child individually, letting them see you track the sentences and pausing between sentences

PART 6

Teaching the Language 1 Teaching the sound system of English

1.1 Make meaningful links

 Begin by teaching children to recognise, understand and produce

the spoken word through games, songs and stories

 Allow them to hear plenty of English from you, so try to

maximise your English and minimise Mother Tongue in the classroom (you can also use videos, tapes, songs, etc.) so they become accustomed to the sounds of English

 Encourage them to speak English by repeating after you, joining

in chants and songs and responding to simple questions

 Young children will quickly learn English words if you introduce

them with a picture that clearly shows the meaning or you can point to the object in the classroom e.g chair, door, window 1.2 A Sample Lesson

(a)Warmer – an action game

Getting children to move around in the lesson helps them to use up the energy

Call out action words like swim, jump and hop while doing the actions and get the children to copy the actions moving around the classroom as they are listening to the words

Children pick up new words quickly, but they also forget quickly, so it’s a good idea to keep revising and recycling vocabulary

When they are able to remember the words, they will feel a sense of success and be motivated to learn more

Introduce letters phonically

A phonic approach is far more useful initially than learning the names of the letters

(c) Introducing the letters

Prepare 26 flash cards, each one with a letter of the alphabet in lower case

Show the letters one at a time (not all at once, introduce around each time) and say the sound the letter makes For the letter ‘c’ use the ‘k’ sound as this will be more useful

initially

Let the children hear the sound and encourage them to repeat it

(d) Internalising the letters

Especially if the children’s own language has a different alphabet it is important that they become familiar with the shapes of letters and can begin manipulating them

Activities help to give children a strong imprint of the shape of letters in their mind’s eye

(e) Tracing letters

Ask students to shut their eyes and with your finger trace a letter on their hand or back

They must tell you what this is They can play the game in pairs

There may be giggles from the ticklish in the class, but the activity requires them to ‘see’ the letter in their mind’s eye and it’s great fun, too

(f) Recognition games

Pin up the letters that you have introduced to the class so far on the walls around the classroom at a height the children can reach

Nominate one student and say ‘Run and point to /s/’.

The child must look around and find the correct letter and run up to it and touch it or point to it

(g) Introducing words

Show pictures and words together and sound out the phonics e.g /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat

Move you finger under each letter as you sound it Remember not all languages are written in the same direction

(h) Word building

Word tiles – get the children to make 26 letter tiles by simply cutting out small squares and writing each letter on them Each child has their letters spread out in front of them Call out a word they have learnt e.g cat and the first one to

find the right tiles and put them in order must put their hand up

This encourages quick eye movement over the letters, recognition and letter combining

For fun, you could challenge the children working in pairs or threes (to encourage co-operation and peer teaching) to make as many words as possible in a specified time

(i) Word searches

These are good for children to recognise words within a jumble of other words

It makes them concentrate and ‘see’ words on the page Children have to circle or colour the ten key words in the

grid

You can either give them the ten words at the bottom to help them look

(j) Crosswords

Children look at the picture, remember the English word and then write the word – spelling correctly – to fit it into the crossword

2 Teaching Vocabulary

Vocabulary games

bring real world context into the classroom;

Fun Ways to Learn

(a) Whisper down the lane

 Divide students into equal teams

 Get each team to face the front of the room

 Go to the student at the front of each line and whisper a word or sentence

 When the teacher say “Go” the student at the front of each row turns round and whisper the word/sentence to the next person in line

 That person passes the word on to the next and so on  The last person runs to the front to repeat the word to the

teacher

 The first team to finish wins!

(b) Air drawing

Draw an object in the air with your index finger

Ask students to watch carefully and try to guess what it is e.g ‘Is it a (ball)?’

The first student to guess correctly then takes a turn at the front to draw an object for the other students to guess

Read my lips

Choose several words or sentences and review them with your students

Mouth one of the words or sentences without sound Ask the students: ‘What am I saying?’

Students try to guess the word/sentence

Get students to take turns to stand at the front and mouth words or sentences for the rest to guess 2.2 Using songs, rhymes, and chants

Songs contain words and expressions often used and repeated Singing helps to acquire a sense of rhythm

An Example

Miss Lucy Had a Baby

(a) The words:

Miss Lucy had a baby, His name was Tiny Tim, She put him in the bathtub To see if he could swim He drank up all the water, He ate up all the soap, He tried to eat the bathtub,

But it wouldn’t go down his throat Miss Lucy called the doctor,

Miss Lucy called the nurse, Miss Lucy called the lady With the alligator purse

(b) Listen to the song and fill in the blanks (One may leave out, say, all the verbs.)

Miss Lucy a baby, His name Tiny Tim, She him in the bathtub To if he could … He up all the water, He up all the soap, He to eat the bathtub,

But it down his throat Miss Lucy the doctor,

(c) Listen to the song and put the lines in the correct order His name was Tiny Tim,

He ate up all the soap, With the alligator purse He drank up all the water, Miss Lucy called the doctor, Miss Lucy had a baby, He tried to eat the bathtub, She put him in the bath tub Miss Lucy called the nurse, To see if he could swim

But it wouldn’t go down his throat Miss Lucy called the lady,

3 Teaching Grammar

3.1 Children must study grammar in order to write correctly and to help them make full use of all the parts of speech in composition

3.2 They need to study grammar in order to read with appreciation

3.3 The study of grammar helps children to be aware of words and to read with understanding

3.5 An Example on teaching the Noun (a) Presentation:

A group game with a whole class It must be played in a very lively manner, half as a joke

The teacher asks various children to bring her things in turn, e.g., “Mai, bring me a book Nam, bring me an eraser.” After doing this a few times, she suddenly asks for

something, leaving out the noun "Bring me _." The children usually start guessing and bringing all sorts of

things but the teacher refuses each, “No, I did not want a flower.”, etc

At last, she tells them what she wanted, “Bring me a bead.” (b) Purpose:

PART 7

LESSON PLANS GUIDELINES

Writing Lesson Plans is a preliminary and essential stage that helps increase the success-rate of anything you are teaching A well-planned lesson or unit is much less likely to flop! While districts, school boards, administrators and principals may have differing opinions of the importance of Lesson Plans, the vast majority of teachers are required to use them to varying degrees Here are some helpful resources to guide you through the process

To begin a lesson plan, ask yourself three basic questions:

Where are your students going? How are they going to get there?

How will you know when they've arrived?

Then begin to think about each of the following categories which form the organization of the plan While planning, use the questions below to guide you during each stage

1 Goals

Goals determine purpose, aim, and rationale for what you and your students will engage in during class time Use this section to express the intermediate lesson goals that draw upon previous plans and activities and set the stage by preparing students for future activities and further knowledge acquisition The goals are typically written as broad educational or unit goals adhering to State or National curriculum standards

What are the broader objectives, aims, or goals of the unit plan /urriculum? What are your goals for this unit?

2 Objectives

This section focuses on what your students will to acquire further knowledge and skills The objectives for the daily lesson plan are drawn from the broader aims of the unit plan but are achieved over a well defined time period

What will students be able to during this lesson?

Under what conditions will students' performance be accomplished?

What is the degree or criterion on the basis of which satisfactory attainment of the objectives will be judged?

How will students demonstrate that they have learned and understood the objectives of the lesson?

3 Prerequisites

Prerequisites can be useful when considering the readiness state of your students Prerequisites allow you, and other teachers replicating your lesson plan, to factor in necessary prep activities to make sure that students can meet the lesson objectives

What must students already be able to before this lesson?

What concepts have to be mastered in advance to accomplish the lesson objectives?

4 Materials

This section has two functions: it helps other teachers quickly determine a) how much preparation time, resources, and management will be involved in carrying out this plan and b) what materials, books, equipment, and resources they will need to have ready A complete list of materials, including full citations of textbooks or story books used, worksheets, and any other special considerations are most useful

What materials will be needed?

What textbooks or story books are needed? (please include full bibliographic citations)

5 Lesson Description

This section provides an opportunity for the author of the lesson to share some thoughts, experience, and advice with other teachers It also provides a general overview of the lesson in terms of topic focus, activities, and purpose

What is unique about this lesson? How did your students like it?

What level of learning is covered by this lesson plan? (Think of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.)

6 Lesson Procedure

This section provides a detailed, step-by-step description of how to replicate the lesson and achieve lesson plan objectives This is usually intended for the teacher and provides suggestions on how to proceed with implementation of the lesson plan It also focuses on what the teacher should have students during the lesson This section is basically divided into several components: an introduction, a main activity, and closure There are several elaborations on this

6 Introduction

How will you introduce the ideas and objectives of this lesson?

How will you get students' attention and motivate them in order to hold their attention?

How can you tie lesson objectives with student interests and past classroom activities?

What will be expected of students? Main activity

What is the focus of the lesson?

How would you describe the flow of the lesson to another teacher who will replicate it?

What does the teacher to facilitate learning and manage the various activities?

What are some good and bad examples to illustrate what you are presenting to students?

7 General rule of thumb

Your plan should be detailed and complete enough so that another teacher knowledgeable in your subject matter could deliver the lesson without needing to contact you for further clarifications

7 Rule of thumb #

Take into consideration what students are learning (a new skill, a rule or formula, a concept/fact/idea, an attitude, or a value)

Choose one of the following techniques to plan the lesson content based on what your objectives are:

Demonstration ==> list in detail and sequence of the steps to be performed Explanation ==> outline the information to be explained

Discussion ==> list of key questions to guide the discussion Closure/conclusion

What will you use to draw the ideas together for students at the end?

How will you provide feedback to students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce their learning?

Follow up lessons/activities

What activities might you suggest for enrichment and remediation? What lessons might follow as a result of this lesson?

Assessment/evaluation

This section focuses on ensuring that your students have arrived at their intended destination You will need to gather some evidence that they did This usually is done by gathering students' work and assessing this work using some kind of grading rubric that is based on lesson objectives You could also replicate some of the activities practiced as part of the lesson, without providing the same level of guidance as during the lesson You could always quiz students on various concepts and problems as well

How will you evaluate the objectives that were identified?

7 Rule of thumb #

PART 8

CLASSROOM TESTS FOR PRIMARY ENGLISH TEACHERS 1 Specifications for test design

1.1 Types of test

Oral Tests

focus on speaking (pairs of students involved in conversations; individuals talking about the topics they’ve learned)

used during each lesson

15-minute Tests

focus on one of the three skills (listening, reading, writing) used after one or two units

40-minute Tests

assess three skills (listening, reading, writing) and language knowledge (grammar, phonics and vocabulary)

used after one or two themes, and at the end of each term or school year 1.2 General principles

Reflect objectives and content of the course book

Include various types of test items (multiple choice, gap-filling, answering questions, completing dialogues, numbering, matching, reordering words to make up sentences etc.)

Practicality

- Easy to mark - Easy to prepare

- Relevant to students’ level 60% pass Construct Validity

- Familiar format to students - Familiar question types Content Validity

- Match the course/ syllabus (curriculum) Reliability

2 Guidelines for test design

For the whole test:

Test what you teach (language knowledge and communicative skills) within themes, topics and task types

Do not copy the test texts straight from the book, not even the examples They should be “parallel”

Copy the instructions from the book Do not use instructions in English that students have never seen before

Make sure the test 'covers' the curriculum

Make the level of difficulty suitable for average students Be careful not to make beginner's tests too hard The lower the level of the test, the harder it is to write

Make sure all the test texts are grammatically correct Make sure the task design does not induce errors

Always get someone to be a moderator and 'try out' your test items before putting them in the test

Allow enough time to develop the test It cannot be done quickly

3 Format of a 40 minute test

3.1 Suggested Format

Ex. Skills/ language

focus

Input Item type No of items No of marks or points

2 Phonics and listening Separate words or sentences - Multiple choice (check one of two words/ sentences) - Numbering

5

5 55

3

Vocabulary Incomplete words/ sentences

- Gap filling

- Multiple choice (odd one out) 5 5 Grammar/ Competencies (use of language) - Incomplete sentences - Questions and answers or statements and responses

Multiple choice (circle the correct answer A,B or C/ responses)

5

6 Reading/ Controlled writing (not essays) - Open-dialogues (incomplete dialogues) or a short passage (about 40 -50 words)

-Completing the table - Filling the gaps with the words given to complete the passage - Writing the answers to the questions

5

Total:

30 Total:30

3.2 Marking