Job Discussion Forums

[craftynick]

Hi, i am a complete newbie & i now have to give a mock lesson on Monday morning for a job i really want. It should last about 10-15 mins & i have to teach "conditionals" to Upper Inter level - any advice on how to start would be gratefully appreciated!!

[tedkarma]

"Conditionals" is really too big a topic for even a one hour class. Pick one of the conditionals only and go with that.

Upper-Int should have pretty good English skills - so start with eliciting something like, "If I were a rich man/woman, I would _________" EVERYONE has an answer for such a statement. As you elicit - build the structure for the conditional on the board. NB: some books now say that "If I was" is okay.

Then elicit or provide the question needed to get the response you want/need - such as, "What would you do, if you were a rich man" so you can build a practice of students asking and answering each other using the phrase correctly. (Also put that structure on the board - and don't forget to elicit - or otherwise bring up - changes when using, you, they, we, he, she)

Move on in a following practice for students to build whatever they would like, elicit or provide a model idea - such as, "If I could fly, I would______"

Bang - right there you have probably run out of time - but if not - have them quickly write down 2-3 three things they would do if ___ - and then have them get up and do a c*cktail activity (had to avoid the beep!) - walking around the room and asking and answering the questions of each other to see if they can find a match. For a little more structure - you can judge by how the first parts of the lesson go - you could give them a list of two or three things - and you'll have more possibility of them finding a match.

That would be a quick and dirty demo - you might fluff up the demo with nice big photos of rich people and a little context building - etc - to help it get started.

[craftynick]

Thanks for the advice - this is the type of lesson i had planned but then worried that it may be too easy for Upper Inter�s. So then i had decided that maybe i should do a quick review of "conditionals" & then proceed to "mixed conditionals" - is this a good or bad idea & am i maybe overcomplicating things for myself - all advice is gratefully appreciated!!!

[tedkarma]

10-15 minutes is not a long period of time, and a common mistake of newbie teachers is to try to teach too much. Better to teach a small amount intensively and make sure everyone "gets" it - than to teach too much and leave everyone confused and frustrated.

A better approach to dealing with a class that may have skills above what you are teaching - is to spend more time on pronunciation and stress. For help on that try:

http://teflbootcamp.com/Pronunciation.htm

A good approach to teaching pronunciation, rhythm and stress - is a sign of a skilled teacher - and will add a little polish and finesse to your lesson.

Just my opinion.

[craftynick]

Thanks again for all your advice tedkarma. I did take it all onboard & yippee I got the job, so thank you