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Perhaps if only to get new teachers started on thinking about the structure of a lesson, the oft derided PPP method is something that all TEFL teachers should try to master. Here is an overview and a few tips - no more than that! For seasoned TEFLers, this is not an apology for PPP, but for untrained, inexperienced teachers, it�s good to practice this. I�m focusing here on developing speaking rather than the other skills.

Presentation

Here the teacher presents the target language (the language he/she means to teach). It should be new language and pitched at the students� level. If you don�t know how well they know the target language, you can try the Test-Teach-Test method.

It can be a set of new words (vocabulary based lesson), a new grammar structure (grammar based lesson), a little of both, a skill, a function etc. One shouldn�t try to teach too much in 50 or 60 minutes. The more you present, the more you�re obliged to practice and activate. Methods of presentation include a traditional whiteboard presentation, text dialogue, a listening dialogue, pictures, a video clip�Try to use a variety in a course to engage their interest.

Practice

Students need to check meaning and practice pronunciation and use the target language in sentences. This involves choral/individual repetition of words/sentences, written gap fills, matching exercises etc. Less controlled practice - students create their own examples to use the structure or vocabulary / use substitution drills etc.

Production (Activation)

The payload! Uncontrolled spoken practice in discussion, Q&A pairwork, games, activities etc. Teacher should record and give error feedback afterwards.

Common errors

* Teacher failed to keep the scope narrow so presentation mushroomed out of control. Hijacked by students questions.
* Presentation took too long as the target language was pitched too high / too many items.
* Students turned off by a chalk and talk presentation. There are many ways to present.
* Presentation interrupted by late arrivals. (no warmer�)
* Written practice is done individually and therefore non-interactively.
* No error correction in practice.
* No transactional language used. (See below)
* Pronunciation not practiced.
* Too intrusive / TTT (Teacher talking time) too high.
* Practice too short.
* In production, Teacher fails to insist on target language.
* Fails to give feedback after production.

In PPP, transactional language is important. In many lessons which are supposed to be aimed at improving students� speaking, there is a tendency among teachers to have just a section of the lesson where the students actually speak for an extended period of time - and this is usually at the end. Even this is often sacrificed as the teacher spends too long on the presentation & practice parts and often there are only a few minutes left out of 50 or 60 when the students get a chance to produce what was taught (production phase) A better way is to make sure that the students are speaking to each other throughout the lesson as well as at the end. This is achieved through insisting on the use of transactional language.What this means is as follows: In the practice phase, the students will be doing a gap-fill or a matching exercise etc to use the grammatical structure (grammar based speaking lesson) or vocabulary (vocabulary based speaking lesson). Perhaps you have presented a little of both, or presented something different.It is important in practice and production that the students work in pairs or in small groups rather than individually. Even in written practice they should discuss and check with each other what the right answer might be, before receiving confirmation from you. You can teach them simple phrases such as Ok, Let�s start. What did you get for the first one? Let�s move on to the next one. What do you think? etc etc.If we don�t insist on this, then quite a large section of the lesson becomes non-interactive and this is a missed opportunity we can�t afford in a short 50-60 minute session. It�s not a good idea to postpone speaking to the next lesson! Students often just show their answers to each other without speaking. In monolingual classrooms, they will discuss in their mother tongue unless the teacher intervenes. Teaching and insisting on simple transactional phrases which later can graduate to challenging each other and debating is important to maximise use of time.

[BS.Dos.]

Has somebody completed a TESOL/CELTA recently by any chance?

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long, long time ago.