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Building a lesson plan can be one of the most difficult and overwhelming things for new teachers. Where do you even start?
Depending on how much support is available from your school and what resources you have access, it can be quite difficult.
Sometimes, a curriculum is clearly laid out. The goals are visible and achievable with the resources are easily available. Other times, you are given an old book and told to use your expertise as a teacher to develop a plan.
We all hope for the former but sometimes are faced with the latter.
I’m going to give you a few great tips to help you with lesson planning in this article covering 3 main situations teachers may find themselves in.
Adolescence is a trying time. Hormones, new responsibilities, higher expectations, and more autonomy. It’s a lot to deal with. Knowing how to talk to teenagers can go a long way in helping them understand and retain the information you’re passing on to them.
Careful dialogue
It’s common for teenagers to feel insecure and as a result, on the defensive. When we insist that they have to pay more attention, work harder or focus more, it only makes them push back in a negative way. However, they know what they have to do, and they don’t want to be treated as children.
As educators, we should be approaching teenage students with respect, the same way we would an adult student.
Studies are finding that we do some of our best learning when we aren’t actually paying attention to it. It comes when we’re in situations where we find the information useful, or when our minds have a moment to rest and process the new information.
In fact, studying a language for an hour before going to sleep might get you better results than sitting in a desk for an hour before lunch working in sentence structures.
The TOEFL is a standardised test, so it’s easy to develop a clear strategy for success if you know exactly what the examiners are looking for. I have some great tips that will help you prepare your students for the TOEFL test and achieve a high score.
When teaching English as a second language student assessment must be done as you go. Not just at the end of a unit, or midterm tests but throughout the course. If students are falling behind it can become very frustrating for them and you could easily lose their interest.
Creative writing has been widely studied as a way to organise your thoughts and help improve your mental health. It may also help students form a clear path from their past self to their future self, which is an important aspect of successfully reaching goals.
Personal development should be a continuous process. There are many ways we can improve our teaching skills. We should always be learning new techniques to make our classrooms effective and relevant. The right book is an easy and effective way to stay current. Some of us are teaching abroad and don’t have access to personal development seminars or conferences. Reading for personal development can be a really great way to build understanding, learn new methods and keep up with the research.
Student behaviour management strategies are an important part of teaching. As an English teacher abroad, I see a lot of students with many different circumstances. Some have resources and encouragement while others struggle.
As teachers, we’re told that we must create order in our classrooms if we’re going to provide a good learning environment for students. But order and clarity may be sending the wrong message, inhibiting students from reaching their full potential.
By changing the traditional classroom strategy ideas, we can promote a more intuitive learning environment, helping students reach a higher potential. With a little organized chaos in the classroom, we can encourage critical thinking skills in students and create a richer learning environment.
Reading is important, but it can be difficult to find appropriate material. This ESL reading list will help you students improve quickly.