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Teach English in Laozhai Zhen - Jining Shi

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As I began my examination of syllabus design I found it instructive to peruse definitions of the word syllabus. The different definitions contained a similar thread of thought that a syllabus is an outline of the subjects in a course of study and is for those either taking or teaching the course. These definitions are in line with the Latin root which means list. Some of the definitions gave more insight such as it is an academic document that communicates information and defines expectations. One author provided further explanation that a syllabus can vaguely mention the class topics or it can be extremely detailed by including reading and homework assignments and even exam questions. The points that stimulated my thoughts on the subject of syllabus design that I choose to emphasize are 1.) a syllabus communicates information and defines expectations and 2.) that it can be vague or extremely detailed. With these two concepts it opens the way for the teacher to create a syllabus which will be of the most use to the students and which matches the teacher’s personal style and preferences. Before beginning to outline a syllabus it is helpful to gather as much information as possible about the class, the students, the type of curriculum, and the expectations of the school or learning center where you will be teaching. Some logistical considerations are the time restraints of the class: Length of the course series Length of classroom sessions The number of class sessions per week Time of day and how this may affect the students focus There are the class demographics to consider such as: Similar or varied ages Similar or mixed genders Mono-lingual or multi-lingual Working or non-working Familiar with each other, as in working together for the same company, or random selection as in a community offered class Cultural considerations The more information you can gather the more vision you will have in preparing the class. The first several class sessions can be very useful for compiling more information about the needs and expectations of the students. These classes can be devoted to language level testing and in doing a needs analysis with the students. It is now time to sort out all the information and begin preparing the syllabus. The ITTT courses present great instructions and a model for this step of the process. I will provide a hypothetical class situation to illustrate the process. We have an 8-week course in Business English which meets 3 times a week. Each class time is 1 hour. The class is held at a learning center where the curriculum is provided. This means we will have 24 class periods for presenting the information. We must remember to work in time for language level testing, needs analysis, introductions, testing times, class activities and holidays. All these and other items that may be specific to our class all take time to accomplish and need to be considered in our class calendar. For our example, we will have one day for introductions and ice breakers while students are pulled from class individually to take a language level test. We will take one class period to have a needs analysis written assignment and a class discussion. The course includes a review day at the end of weeks 3 and 6. There is a mid-term test at the during week 4 and a final exam in week 8. Upon checking the calendar, we find that there is a countrywide holiday during week 7. Also, as teachers we always enjoy having a class party to celebrate completion of the course. These activities will take 8 of our 24 class days. We will mark these days on our course outline. We have 16 days to teach the actual topics of the curriculum. We review the curriculum and prioritize the ideas that need to be covered. Our goal is to have an outline of the classes that build upon each other and provides a step by step approach to reaching our learning goals for the class. Now we plug our class order into the class calendar. As the teacher we can decide on how much information we include on the student’s syllabus. The student syllabus can be general or very specific as long as it communicates information and defines expectations. An idea that I have personally found very useful is to create an Excel spreadsheet that gives me a visual representation of the entire course. I am able to see the vision and know the topics that will be covered which helps me notice and find materials during the course of the class that can be used to enhance the learning opportunities of the individual class topics. I include on the spreadsheet columns for the topics of the day, vocabulary for each day, the copies/handouts to be produced. The spreadsheet provides me with an overview of the planned flow of themes/topics. It helps me to see if the class outline makes sense and builds upon previous classes. If it is a multi-level language class, I place on the spreadsheet the planned ways/activities to meet the different levels. The spreadsheet also includes my plans for pair work and group work. It provides me a visually clue to know if there is variety of types of activities in the lesson plans. A syllabus distills the important elements of each lesson and provides a guide for the teacher and for the students. A good syllabus gives the students an overall view of the class. It is a tool for the students to enable them to plan ahead and to be prepared for class. A syllabus is more than a list, it provides a foundation for class success.


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