Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Shazhen Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Liaocheng Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
I believe that lesson planning will be a critical part of my success as an English as a Foreign Language Teacher at Northeastern University in Shenyang, China. Once I have an idea as to how long the class will be, the number of students I will have, and the class level, these details will be foundationally included in the nature of my lesson plans. As a new teacher, lesson planning will help me establish clear goals and objectives for myself and my students, record what the class has accomplished, and aid in my planning process. Beyond setting a language point, choosing materials, and setting a plan for learning phases, I hope that measurable objectives are the center-point for my lessons. An objective that is measurable enables a teacher to know if students have met learning goals at the end of the lesson. An objective that is measurable might state: “Students will be able to write a 5 sentence paragraph summarizing a current event”. An objective that is not measurable might state: “Students will be able to summarize a current event” or “Students will be taught about a current event”. These objectives will be met by a set procedure written out in the lesson plan. A procedure will include the activities that will be utilized, and the schedule of timing for each of these activities. Significant time in a lesson plan should be set aside for interaction between peers and between the teacher and student. First, independent practice enables students to practice using the skills or knowledge on their own. Then, practice with peers will help with communication, speaking, and negotiating skills. Guided practice will enable the student to practice these new skills or new ideas with teacher input and will hopefully enable me to establish a rapport with each student in the process. To be able to ascertain as to whether or not students have met the objectives, assessment is absolutely necessary. Assessment will check to see if students have met lesson plan objectives. Lesson plans should include a method of informal assessment which might include monitoring students speaking in pairs to check for errors/successes. This will help to assess any problems that students are having meeting the learning objectives. Activating prior knowledge helps students make connections to the material they are learning. This often helps students in the learning process by connecting what they already know, to what they are about to learn. Scaffolding is an interactive way to provide a temporary framework for a student who is working beyond their independent capabilities. Examples of scaffolding might include modeling, cueing, demonstrations, simplifying language, guided questions, or supporting vocabulary development. After each lesson, I will take a moment to reflect on what went well and what didn’t go well, and how I can work to improve as a teacher for the next lesson. I will include the worksheet provided for self-evaluation on the back of each lesson plan as a reminder to engage with this practice. This will also help me effectively plan sequential lessons, and improve in creating lesson planning. .
