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Ed Provencher
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
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 Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:12 pm Post subject: Communicative teaching methods for public schools |
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I submitted a sample lesson plan to a public school recruiter and was not invited to continue to the interview stage because
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After reviewing your lesson plan I'm afraid I will not be continuing on to the final interview stage with you. You lesson is too teacher-centered, and in a communicatve class you don't want students to simply read and memorise dialogues. You should have your students producing the language, not merely repeating it.
I think you would benefit from taking a TESOL/CELTA certification course. I recommend CELTA as I find teachers with this certification are better able to deliver a strong communicative based lesson. |
My response
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| I think you misread my lesson plan. Much of the class time is devoted to brainstorming, which in my mind is producing language. Is this not true? It's not simply reading and memorizing. |
His response
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| And if during those brainstorming sessions what if your students say nothing? Then you have a class of 40 students in silence. Brainstorming is ok in very small doses, but usually the same students will answer and in a public school setting you can't have the majority of the students not speaking. |
This was my instruction for the lesson plan
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I would like you to submit an oral skills lesson plan for the following class:
Topic: see attached (scanned pages from a middle school English textbook) http://tinyurl.com/atxekb
Class duration: 45 minutes
Class size: 30- 38 students
Grade: middle school grade 2
Level: mixed levels
Imagine you will teach two consecutive oral skills lessons with the material provided. Pease submit a communicative and interactive lesson plan for the first class, and then briefly explain about your plans for the second class. As a teacher, you have some freedom to adapt and rearrange the material/textbook planning for your lesson. |
Here is what I produced
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First class (Total 45 min)
�In the Street� (20/45 min)
Pronunciation practice
I read a sentence. Then the students repeat after me, focusing on correct pronunciation
Repeat 2 times
Pronunciation rules for difficult words explained and practiced again
Answer questions
Ask the class to volunteer questions about the dialogue
Answer questions, provide synonyms, explain as needed
Check for understanding by asking students questions about words or meanings
Partner practice
Students pair up with partners and practice the dialogue
Each student speaks Part A and Part B 2 times each
�Situational Dialogue� (20/45 min)
Part 1: You�re going to a baseball game.
Explain to students that the dialogue is an example of how people can arrange an activity with a friend
Brainstorm places that students would like to go to and write the responses on the blackboard
Brainstorm ways one could respond to a suggested activity, either positively, negatively, or neutrally and write them on the board
Students pair up with partners and use the suggestions from the blackboard to complete the dialogue with their partners 2 times each
Part 2: You are inviting your friend.
Explain to students that the dialogue is an example of how people can arrange an event with a friend
Brainstorm events that students would like to invite others to attend and write the events on the blackboard
Brainstorm ways one could respond to the invitation, either positively, negatively or neutrally and write them on the board
Students pair up with partners and use the suggestions from the blackboard to complete the dialogue with their partners 2 times each
(5 min)
Assign homework
o Memorize situational dialogue 1 & 2
Second Class (Total 45 min)
Repeat pronunciation drill for �In the Street� (10 min)
Review situational dialogue (10 min)
Speaking quiz: pair students and, by memory, complete both patterns as I listen (10 min)
Brainstorm alternative ways to make suggestions for activities and to invite people to events. (10 min)
Assign homework (5 min) |
In my last email to the recruiter, I asked the recruiter to send me a copy of the lesson plans that pass his criteria so that I may improve.
For now, I was hoping to get some feedback from those of you with TESOL/CELTA certification. What activities would you have planned for? How could my plan be improved? Etc, etc.
I really want to know. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Never ask for volunteers. Either provide some form of reward or randomly choose students. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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Good luck to him on finding anyone to meet his expecations for large MS classes. Your sample lesson doesn't look bad but I'd suggest a more targetted phonics component and having the students attempt to rewrite part of an original dialogue in pairs. A slide-show to introduce the vocab and some kind of A/V component would also look good.
It is pretty funny how some Korean educators expect the moon from us but think lectures in Korean from KETs are perfectly tolerable. |
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Ed Provencher
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
Good luck to him on finding anyone to meet his expecations for large MS classes. Your sample lesson doesn't look bad but I'd suggest a more targetted phonics component and having the students attempt to rewrite part of an original dialogue in pairs. A slide-show to introduce the vocab and some kind of A/V component would also look good.
It is pretty funny how some Korean educators expect the moon from us but think lectures in Korean from KETs are perfectly tolerable. |
Actually the recruiter has an Indian looking name. I can only assume he has the proper passport for the position.
Slide show? A/V component? I didn't know that was allowed! Goddamnit. |
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Xuanzang
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Sadang
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe you could use some footage from Field of Dreams, 61 or any ESPN cip or put up kbaseball players and stadiums. More visuals the better.
Your plan is pretty sound especially for public MS students. COnsidering a quarter wont know what you're talking about, a quarter doesnt care and the rest will be your audience. I think the recruiter is talking out of his ass on this one. |
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sobriquet
Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Location: Nakatomi Plaza
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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You missed the part where you have to explain what you are saying to the Korean teacher really carefully because if you don't she will instruct the kids wrongly.
and also the part where she instructs the kids wrongly anyway and you are required to try and correct everything without making her lose face and damaging your relationship for the remains of the year. |
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BrianInSuwon
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Find a different recruiter. I've never had to submit a sample lesson. |
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fromtheuk
Joined: 31 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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I'm sorry but I have no advice to give for your lesson plan.
I have a TESOL certificate and what I can say is if anybody ever accuses me of being rubbish, I will refer them to my TESOL certificate, as proof of my teaching competence.
I teach elementary kids. Has my teaching improved since I've acquired the TESOL course? Of course not! I only did it so I can say I am 'TESOL qualified'. It's a shallow world.
I intend to use virtually the same lesson plans I've already made, for the rest of my ESL career. 
Last edited by fromtheuk on Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:17 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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maingman
Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Location: left Korea
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Ed Provencher
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Xuanzang wrote: |
Maybe you could use some footage from Field of Dreams, 61 or any ESPN cip or put up kbaseball players and stadiums. More visuals the better.
Your plan is pretty sound especially for public MS students. COnsidering a quarter wont know what you're talking about, a quarter doesnt care and the rest will be your audience. I think the recruiter is talking out of his ass on this one. |
I hear ya.
I'm still wondering what activity he's thinking of that would get more spontaneous participation from students.
Maybe somebody who is REALLY proud of their CELTA or communicative teaching practices could chime in here...? |
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sobriquet
Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Location: Nakatomi Plaza
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Ed Provencher wrote: |
| Xuanzang wrote: |
Maybe you could use some footage from Field of Dreams, 61 or any ESPN cip or put up kbaseball players and stadiums. More visuals the better.
Your plan is pretty sound especially for public MS students. COnsidering a quarter wont know what you're talking about, a quarter doesnt care and the rest will be your audience. I think the recruiter is talking out of his ass on this one. |
I hear ya.
I'm still wondering what activity he's thinking of that would get more spontaneous participation from students.
Maybe somebody who is REALLY proud of their CELTA or communicative teaching practices could chime in here...? |
Communicative classes with 40 students with the English abilities of my office chair.
Hmmmmmmmmmm............did anybody say learning by rote? |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:07 am Post subject: |
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This guy giving the interview sounds really switched on. Dialogues and sentence repeating should never find its way into a conversation class.
Easy short answer - Show a video for 5 minutes and have students produce 5 sentences of 7 words or more about the video.
Help them to write the sentences and then have them read out their answers.
The time that they are writing in you go to their desks and engage them in conversation.
Also review the video and ask them some questions and get some opinions of the video. |
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Ed Provencher
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:23 am Post subject: |
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| D.D. wrote: |
This guy giving the interview sounds really switched on. Dialogues and sentence repeating should never find its way into a conversation class.
Easy short answer - Show a video for 5 minutes and have students produce 5 sentences of 7 words or more about the video.
Help them to write the sentences and then have them read out their answers.
The time that they are writing in you go to their desks and engage them in conversation.
Also review the video and ask them some questions and get some opinions of the video. |
By the way, what does "switched on" mean?
Concering the video, how is one supposed to find a video related to the topic of the textbook, which I linked to in the original post? Is that fair game for an email interview question about a lesson plan? I can see sentence creating is a good task for having students generate langauge, especially for strong writers, but it's not oral in nature.
Given only the page of book that I was given, and without the benefit of a video or projector or anything else, what are some oral communicative activities that a class of 40 students of mixed levels could do in two 45 minute blocks of class time?
This is all really fuzzy for me. Nothing I've read in this thread so far has really clerified this. |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:36 am Post subject: |
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Why are you spending so much time and energy on one recruiter?
There are plenty of other recruiters in Korea, and none of them ask their applicants for anything like this.
Besides, most of the schools use more than one recruiter. If it's this particular school you're interested in, you can probably get an interview through another recruiter.
He probably isn't getting much business, not if he has time for nitpicking like this.
Betcha all of his other applicants cross him off and go on to another recruiter.
Betcha within a year, he won't have enough applicants to stay in business and he'll close up shop. |
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Ed Provencher
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:45 am Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
Why are you spending so much time and energy on one recruiter?
There are plenty of other recruiters in Korea, and none of them ask their applicants for anything like this.
Besides, most of the schools use more than one recruiter. If it's this particular school you're interested in, you can probably get an interview through another recruiter.
Betcha all of his other applicants cross him off and go on to another recruiter.
Betcha within a year, he won't have enough applicants to stay in business and he'll close up shop. |
I appreciate your comment. He's been crossed off the list. I'm simply, and truely curious about what he was looking for. It may be as one poster already said, the recruiter was talking out of his ass. I can accept that, but first I was hoping to hear from others in this community who actually have studied such things and could confirm he was indeed accurate in his assessment or not.
I consider myself a professional in terms of my development and criticism of my teaching practices, so this is just another learning opportunity for me.
Part of me thinks studying for a CELTA will, as one poster said it, give me the right to say I'm qualified. Or, will give me the words to describe what I think comes naturally for me, teaching people to speak English. |
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