Lesson Planning for SHS ALTs

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Lesson Planning for SHS ALTs

• From beginning concepts to making your own plan

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English Curriculum in Japanese High Schools

• 1. What are the four skills that comprise English
  proficiency?
• 2. Which of these skills have been traditionally
  the focus in English classrooms in Japan?

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English Curriculum in Japanese High Schools

• Japanese students have traditionally focused on
  reading, writing and listening practice with a
  focus on translation of English into Japanese.
• Part of your role introduce the missing
  component
• Of course, your lessons can involve all aspects
  of the 4 skills but try to keep speaking and
  communication in the front of your mind.

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April 2013 New Curriculum introduced by MEXT

• Curriculum has been changed from this year,
  including all of the textbooks (You may or may
  not be required to use/adapt a textbook for your
  class). The main changes are as follows
• Classes should be conducted in English (teachers
  are primarily using English in the classroom ).
• Students should be using as much English as
  possible
• Language activities are being made the centre of
  instruction
• What does this mean for the ALT class?
• gt Different textbooks (Ones that perhaps seem
  less communicative??)
• gt No Japanese
• gt Possibly more collaboration between ALTs and
  JTEs

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What students need from the ALTs class

• Students spend a lot of time learning grammar and
  vocabulary in their usual classes. You dont need
  to teach this directly! They need chances to use
  it.
• They need to
• learn useful English for communication,
• learn how to understand a class in English,
• get used to speaking English with each other,
• practice saying things in English,
• enjoy learning English with you so that they
  become motivated to continue their studies,
• get used to listening to real English,

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Lesson Planning
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Keeping a focus using objectives

• When you start planning a lesson, ask yourself
• Whats the objective of your lesson?
• To get to know your students so they are
  comfortable.
• To share your culture and experience with your
  students.
• To give them a chance to speak English.
• To give them a chance to listen to real English.

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When planning a lesson, know your students

• Well, how do I know what is a good goal for my
  students?? Surely, my classes are going to be
  different from another ALTs classes.
• Are there any performance outcomes you hope your
  students can accomplish this semester?
• Useful to do a Needs Assessment of your students
  this can be done through your own observations
  and consultation with your teachers.
• who are they, how many, what can they do, are
  they motivated, are they used to listening to
  English in class?
• After your first class, try to get a feel for
  what they are like and what they may be
  interested in. (It can be useful to use cards)
• Will you use a textbook? Is it necessary or
  flexible?

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Lets try tailoring objectives for a class

• From your needs assessment you found out
• Your class is 42 first year students. The
  students dont like speaking out in the class
  when you ask a general question but will use
  English when given pair-activities. As a class,
  they can understand only simple spoken English
  instructions but enjoy the class when they are
  given tasks they can do and understand. Many of
  the students like sports like basketball,
  baseball, and tennis. Some of the girls ask you
  about Justin Bieber and confess their love for
  him. You have a textbook you can use but you do
  not need to use it every lesson.
• What are some possible lesson objectives?

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Planning a Lesson The layout

• Lessons, like most things, have a beginning,
  middle, and end.
• Warm-ups and Openers
• Warm-up activity that have the students using
  English, that will activate their language.
• Examples of warm-ups broken telephone, who am
  I? game, tennis debate
• Openers A picture, story, joke, anecdote,
  interesting fact that you can use to elicit
  English from the students and pique their
  interest in the topic. (Particularly useful with
  Japanese students)

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Planning a Lesson The layout

• Main Activity This can be anything! It really
  depends on your objective
• Some examples Dialogue practice, Writing a
  story, surveys, guided group discussions,
  describing a picture, playing a game, making
  skits,
• Wrap-up To consolidate what you have done.
  Sometimes you may want to confirm a language
  point, have a pair demonstrate what they are
  doing, review what you did with the class.

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Example of lesson plans Using the textbooks

• Im going to tell you about Asada Mao. She was
  born in Nagoya in 1990. She started skating when
  she was five years old. At the age of 16, she won
  many tournaments and became a star in the
  international figure skating world. However, she
  couldnt go to the 2006 Turin Olympics because
  she was too young. Finally, she became the silver
  medalist in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Her
  dream now is to win the gold medal in the 2014
  Sochi Olympics.
• Crown Textbook from Speaking 1 82 words
• If you were to a design a lesson based on this
  text, what topics come to mind? How could you use
  it?

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Decide

• What are the students like?
• What can they do?
• What are possible objectives of this lesson?

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Your turn

• Design a lesson for either Halloween or a
  conversation lesson around shopping. For this
  lesson you do not need to use the textbook.
• In pairs, choose a scenario.
• You have only one 50 minute class to conduct your
  lesson.

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Online teaching resources

• www.bogglesworld.esl.com easily adaptable
  worksheets plans
• www.eslcafe.com/ideas idea cookbook a large
  collection of classroom ideas
• www.liteslj.org/questions conversation
  questions separated by categories
• www.mes-english.com flashcards, games,
  worksheets