Lesson Planning in teaching English - skills and activities - Essay Example

Lesson Planning in teaching English (theories and approaches) Teaching the English language requires that different approaches, skills and activities are applied, based on the nature of the class that is being taught, for example the kindergarten, K12, higher education or adult learners (Harmer, 2007:21). Nevertheless, when teaching English as a second language to a certain class (ESL), it becomes even more important to employ diversified tactics, which might not be necessary when teaching English as the first language of the classroom (Richards & Lockhart, 1996:7). There are two major theories/approaches that were developed to enhance the teaching of English to students who speak English a second language. The first theory/approach is the Natural Approach to Language Teaching, which provides that for English language to be taught effectively, teachers should put a great deal of emphasis on communication, while deemphasizing the strict following of grammar and correction of student errors (Krashen & Terrell, 1983:12). The other theory/approach that was developed to help teachers to teach English language in a classroom effectively is the Communicative Approach to Teaching Language, which provides that effective teaching of language should apply real-life situations that the learners interact with on a daily basis, to enhance the chances of better understanding and necessitate communication (Savignon, 1983:47). The above theories of teaching put a great emphasis on the focus on communication skills, as opposed to the strict rules of grammar and language structure. Additionally, these theories emphasize on the application of the real-life situations as the examples of teaching activities, to enable the learners acquire the communication skills of the language easily (Blair, 1982:77). It is against this background that this discussion seeks to develop a detailed lesson plan for teaching English listening and speaking skills to ESL Adult learners, with a view to justifying the necessity of all aspects of the lesson planning on the achievement of English communication skills objective, for ESL adult learners. Lesson Plan for Teaching English to ESL Adult; Listening Unit Date: Unit: Listening and Speaking Skills for Adult ESL Grade Level: Adult Learners Lesson: 1 Time: 1 hour (60 minutes) Content outline Primary Objective/outcome of the unit The learners should understand and apply the basic listening and speaking skills, and then apply the skills to accomplish various communication related activities. The learners should be able to apply the listening and speaking skill in different contexts such as the market place, playground and within the classroom. Five sub-objectives for the lessons (1) Knowledge: Learners to develop active listening skills and apply them to respond to different forms of communications. (2) Comprehension: Learners should develop functional competence (the ability to convey and interpret communicative intent), and thus be able to differentiate the intents of different types of communications and instructions. (3) Application: Learners to use the learnt listening and speaking skills to accomplish various tasks such as purchasing grocery from the market, playing different games where instructions are given in the English language and solving real-life problem situations as a group in the classroom. (4) Analysis: Learners to differentiate recognise and use different forms of listening and speaking in different contexts. (5) Synthesis: Learners apply the limited vocabulary possessed to accomplish a range of listening and speaking activities that produces meaningful speech. Rationale/Justification for material and resources to be used to meet the objectives The following materials and resources will be used to meet the objectives of the lesson: Material/resource 1: MP3 player Rationale for use: MP3 players will be very useful resources for accomplishing the objective of this lesson, since the adult learners will use the MP3 players to listen to different forms of communication, and then interpret them based on what they were able to hear. Material/resources 2: Story Books Rationale for use: Story books will be another important resource necessary for accomplishing the objectives of this lesson, through building on the listening skills of the learners. The story books will be used as resources for the adult learners to read aloud and have the rest of the class listen as they read. After listening the reading out of a story from the book, the learners will interpret what they have been able to hear from the story. Material/ resource 3: Football Rationale for use: A football will also be a very important material for this lesson, owing to the fact that the adult ESL learners will be required to participate in a football match on the play ground where the instructions of playing football will be given in English. This will be important to test how well the adult ESL students are able to listen to the instructions and respond to them appropriately. Material/resource 4: Grocery Shopping List Rationale for use: A Grocery Shopping List will be used as another important material for accomplishing the objectives of this lesson, where the adult ESL learners will be required to go to a grocery store across the road and do some grocery shopping while applying the English language. Lesson Plan Teacher/Tutor’s Name: Lesson: 1 Day: 1 Unit: Listening MP3 song for Adult ESL Time: 2 hours Goals/Objectives/Standards: Pre-Listening/Opening: 5 minutes Opening/Framing the Lesson/Introduction The teacher defines the objective of the lesson, as that of teaching the Adult ESL students the understanding and application of active listening and speaking skill in real-life situations. The teacher will provide students with some pamphlets that define the different stages of active listening. The teacher will then distribute the story books and ask the Adult ESL learners to identify the most interesting story from the story books. Then, the teacher will circulate the list of MP3 songs and ask the adult ESL learners to select the most interesting song they would like to listen to. Finally, the teacher will involve the adult ESL learners in building a consensus on the story and the song they will listen to. Monitor/Feedback Excellent: Learners identified the same interesting story and song Good: Most of the learners identified similar story and song, while a few identified. Poor All or most of the adult ESL learners were not able to identify a similar song or story that they will listen to. Organizing: 2 minutes The teacher organises the classroom like a conference hall or a boardroom, by requiring all students to come close and surround the table where the MP3 has been placed. The teacher offers the learners’ instructions to maintain silence and listen to the interesting music that all the adult ESL learners agreed to listen to. The teacher defines the required outcome of the listening; which is to make a summary of what the learners have heard from the song. Finally, the teacher starts the MP3 and allows the students to listen to the song for the next 3 minutes. Listening: 3 minutes The teacher monitors the behaviour of the learners as they listen to the MP3, noting any form of distracted behaviour, lack of concentration or confusion registered by the learners as they continue to listen through the song. Summarizing 2 minutes: The teacher asks the learners to summarize what they have heard from the song. The adult ESL learners are supposed to write down everything they have heard from the music, regardless of the order of the words or the message delivered by the song. The learners should write as much words and phrases as possible within the two minutes given. Comparison 4: minutes The teacher assesses summaries made by the students, seeking to underline the similarity in the words and the phrases that the students have heard from the song. The teacher makes note of all the common words and phrases that the students have written down. Discussion 4: minutes The teacher takes some time to discuss with the adult ESL learners on the possible areas of distraction the teacher observed during the first session of listening, and addresses how the learners can overcome the distractions. The teacher also identifies the common observations made from the summaries the learners made, regarding the clarity of the words and phrases they wrote, and then addresses how they can write in more clarity. Finally, the teacher defines the objective of the next phase; RE-Listening, by informing the learners that they need to be very attentive at the re-listening phase, and not just summarize the words and phrases heard, but also write down the message that the song passed across. Re-listening: 3 minutes The learners take time to listen to the song once again, while the teacher observes whether the learners are attentive. Re-summarizing: 3 minutes The learners are given 3 more minutes to summarize what they heard from the song, this time not by just writing down the words only, but also by writing down the common phrases and word sequences, as well as summarizing the message they have understood from the song. Comparison, & clarifications: 6 minutes The teacher then asks the adult ESL learners to exchange their summaries, so that at least an adult ESL learner can read two other summaries from their colleagues. The learners are required to note the similarity and difference between what they have written down and what their colleagues have written down. The comparison is then reduced into the most common understood words, phrases and message. The teacher them break down the song into common wording and summarises the message of the song to the learners based on the teachers understanding. The learners are then required to learn and discuss the meaning and application of the common wording derived from the song. Lesson 1: Day: 1 Unit: Listening a story for Adult ESL Time: 10 minutes Goals/Objectives/Standards: Opening: 2 minutes The teacher defines the expectations of the adult ESL learners after listening to the story. The teacher organises the class in a way appropriate for a reading context. Excellent: Students listened to the story with high attentiveness and minimal distraction Good: Students had little difficulty following the whole story from start to the end. Poor: Students were not able to follow the story Reading the story out loud: 4 minutes The teacher reads out the story that was selected by the students as they listen. Summarizing: 3 minutes The teacher asks the students to summarize the message of the story, as well as the common words and phrases they have heard from the story. Assessment: 4 minutes The teacher asks the learners to exchange their summaries and learn the differences and similarities from their colleagues. The teacher assesses the understanding of the students in relation to summary they make of the understanding of the message of the story, as well as the common words and phrases the students heard from the story. Clarifications: 2 minutes The teacher clarifies the areas where the students may not have understood regarding the wording, phrases or the message of the story Lesson 1: Day: 1 Unit: Football Instructions Time: 10 minutes Goals/Objectives/Standards: Opening: 2 minutes The teacher asks the students to go to the play ground and play some football. The teacher divided the students into two teams and the teacher referees the game. The referring is done in English, while the student playing the game are also required to communicate in English Excellent: Students understood the instructions without any difficulty Good: Students had some little difficulty understanding game instructions and communicating with one another during the game. Poor Students were not able to understand instructions given during the game. Playing & Instructions: 6 minutes The teacher gives the games instructions in English and assesses how well the students are able to follow the instructions. Closing: 2 minutes The teacher asks the students to converge and clarifies some of the words, phrases and instructions that the students did not appear to understand well during the game. Homework: 10 minutes The teacher asks the student to go and draw different types of plants, their biomes/habitat, and their parts and write their uses. Lesson 1: Day: 1 Subject: Homework-Grocery Shopping Time: 5 minutes Goals/Objectives/Standards: Homework-Grocery Shopping: 5 minutes The teacher uses the five last minutes to issue a grocery shopping list and accompanying oral instructions to each adult ESL learner as part of their homework. The homework will be assessed on the basis of how well the learners were able to follow the shopping list and the oral instructions to accomplish the shopping. Excellent: Students did the grocery shopping and followed all oral instructions specifications Good: Student did the grocery shopping by following the list and the oral specifications to a great percentage, only missing few aspects. Poor: Students were not able to follow the shopping list or the oral instruction specifications to accomplish the shopping. Rationale/Justification for material and resources to be used to meet the objectives The rationale/justification for the application of the methods of teaching above is the combination of both the requirements of both the Natural and the Communicative approaches to teaching language, which offers that the application of more communicative and less grammatical and structural instructions, coupled with the application of real-life activities can help ESL learners to understand a language better (Brown, 2000:27). The football and grocery shopping are real-life activities through which the adult ESL can be able to learn English language application, through practicing speaking (Larsen-Freeman, 1986:56). On the other hand, the listening of the song and the story being read out loud are activities that can enhance the listening skills of the adult ESL learners, while also enabling them contextualize the wording and phrases from the listening section into the speaking contexts (Stevick, 1980:112). Thus, the application of the method sought to foster both the listening and speaking skills of the adult ESL learners in practical and real-life ways, which do not entail applying strict grammar rules and structural correction of the student errors. References Blair, R.W., (Ed.). (1982). Innovative approaches to language teaching. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.). New York: Longman. Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Harlow: Longman Krashen, S.D. & Terrell, T.D. (1983). The Natural Approach. Hayward, CA: The Alemany Press.   Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques and principles in language teaching. New York: Oxford University Press. Richards, J. & Lockhart, C. (1996). Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge: CUP. Savignon, S. (1983). Communicative competence: Theory and classroom practice. Boston: Addison-Wesley. Stevick, E. (1980). Teaching languages: A way and ways, Chapters 3-6. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Read More