Lesson Planning
What can we do to prepare for the unexpected?
To start with, saying that all lessons will go exactly to plan, if I am not exaggerating, is almost like a wishful-thinking in the teaching area. This being said, divergence of the plan is inevitable and most of the time unpredictable situations are cause number one of this digression. In this context, absenteeism can be cited as an example of unforeseeable circumstances.
I believe being always flexible and willing to adjust modifications without affecting the overall course objectives is one way to face the unexpected. We need to have extra emergency plans. The latter can be either alternative lesson plans, review lessons, ready-made worksheets and activities that can a teacher pull out off his/her sleeves anytime. Also prioritizing of aims can be another way to cope with the unexpected.
Case Study:Saudi Arabia
Class Profile
Age range between 19 and 28.
Strengths: Keen interest in improving their language skills. Grasp vocabulary quickly. Good at speaking.
Weaknesses: weak at assimilating grammar, listening and writing.
They enjoy most activities that involve too much speaking .Strikingly enough; they prefer working with handouts to working with the course book. Last but not least, their most favourite activity is games.
As far as energy is concerned, the sessions after lunch are the most critical ones. Their motivation seems to diminish .First because of the number of sessions they have (six sessions per day with many coffee and lunch breaks) and second because of the heavy meals they have at lunch.
Having said that, these factors inevitably affect my planning. So, I prioritise aims and activities in my lesson. Aims and skills that require much concentration and energy are done before the lunch break.
Activities and ready-made handouts are often used in the last two sessions. Both activities and read-made handouts are not used as gap fillers but rather to consolidate target languages. Vocabs miming, broken sentences, simulation speaking games, matching half of sentences and use of the computer lab (interactive educational programs) are but some of the activities I like to plan for the last two periods.
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