General Info
This is a general English class for students aged 16+ in an ESL setting. Students come from a variety of language backgrounds, and most of them are aiming to join mainstream UK education in order to sit their school-leaving exams (‘A-Levels') in due course. This lesson is largely focused on vocabulary.
Materials used:
Soars, John & Liz (2000) New Headway English Course. Pre-intermediate. Student's Book. Oxford: OUP
Soars, John & Liz (2000) New Headway English Course. Pre-intermediate. Workbook. Oxford: OUP.
Notes:
The post-its referred to at times are used so that students can share the textbooks if they've forgotten their own copies. Students write answers to tasks in the book onto the post-its, or cover previous writing with them.
TEACHER EDUCATION TASKS
1) What's in a word?
Aim: to gain a better understanding of the elements included in ‘knowing a word' and to discover alternative means of teaching vocabulary
Procedure:
Before watching the video, discuss the following points with a fellow student to tap into your beliefs and previous knowled
- What's the main point of a vocabulary lesson?
- How can we introduce new words?
- What aspects of the words do students need to know?
- How can we check students have learned these different aspects of the words?
- What if they haven't?
- What helps students remember?
- What makes students forget?
Now watch the video of Emma's pre-intermediate class. You can either observe the entire lesson, or choose sequences particular areas to focus on, for example the revision section at the beginning (until min 12.20) and the section towards the end where new words on hospitality and tourism are introduced (1:10). Now try to answer the following questions and link them to your previous discussion
- Which words were chosen? Why?
- Are these high or low-frequency words?
- Was the meaning of these words conveyed effectively? How?
- Was the pronunciation shown? How?
- Did the teacher check word knowledge? How?
- Were all students equally engaged in these tasks? Why (not)?
- How do the tasks shown compare to your own experience as a teacher or language learner?
Compare your answers with those of another student and discuss any implications for your own teaching practice
2) Stepping into teacher educator and teacher roles
The teacher's views
Listen to Emma talk about her pre-intermediate class!