Job Discussion Forums

[brittania898]

Hi everyone, I'm new to Dave and have just started my first semester teaching in China, but am in need of some advice! I'm really enjoying the teaching, people are being so friendly, accommodating etc etc, but I'm struggling with my lessons. I'll explain - I have nine Grade 7 classes and nine Grade 8 classes a week (and two English corners), but I'm delivering the same material to every one of those classes. The textbook I'm supposed to be teaching from is really, really bad, so I'm using a load of stuff from this site and others to make the lessons as fun and interesting as possible. I have a list of games to pick from if the students start falling asleep and try to use props and visuals as much as possible, but to be honest by Friday I am sick of the sound of my own voice repeating this stuff 18 times a week!

I know planning one lesson a week is pretty easy going, but if anyone has any ideas or advice on how to keep one lesson plan fresh for a week I would really appreciate the input. Thanks!

[Laurence]

could you create nine lessons form the material you have?

then..

say your classes are called a,b,c etc.
you could teach
lesson 1 to class a,
lesson 2 to class b
and so on
then the next week you could rotate, and teach
lesson 2 to class a,
lesson 3 to class b and so on

The your weeks would be the same, but at least you'd be teaching 9 different lessons. More planning initially, but less monotonous.

understand?

[askiptochina]

Let's say you have 10 words students could practice. Obviously, this will be really boring for you after a couple classes. It might even get boring for the class near the end.

So, what I have found (with elementary school students at least) is that they maintain their interest when you simply randomly pick a person and a word. Sounds too simple, but they don't feel like you are assigning them work then if it is randomly selected. They just accept it as the luck of the draw.

I often use cards to help in this because rolling dice can cause problems (kids will throw them around or complain the way it landed). I just take out one suit from ace to 10 for example and randomly pick one. Each card would be associated with a focus word.

Another idea is to divide the class into teams. Instead of you repeating over and over again. Have each group repeat. It will achieve the same effect but not come from just one person.

While having one group perform a task, you can walk around checking other groups and their pronunciation. I did this more often with the CD while it was playing. You can put it on repeat so students who weren't paying attention at first can do the first part over again.

[chengdu4me]

I have the same problem you have Britannia...13 classes (6 one day/7 the next)of 8th graders...One lesson plan, repeat ad nausea...

This is my first year teaching and I have no prior experience, so wisdom?...Probably not...digest with a grain of salt...

What I have found though, is that what I start the day with, I don't end the day with. The lesson plans gets altered, refined as the day progresses. What one class doesn't get at all...may change for the next class. Things get added to make it more understandable or get left out as it is just too far over their head...even though at the time, I thought they could do it.

Also, I try to have two activities for each class. I will alternate which comes first every few classes. Also, I drop the lesson plan routine once a month and have some sort of contest or game.

When the weather is great, but not more than once a month, we go outside and I teach them Tae Kwon Do. They have to be able to use English when describing the kicks/punches/blocks/guards/stances. It is amazing at how good their English gets during these types of classes, while during the more academic lesson, they act dumb as a rock!

You can also take them outside for just about any kind of lesson that does not involve writing. Let them name the parts of a tree, types of clouds, things they see on the horizon.