Developing communicative skills in a learner-centred classroom. Развитие коммуникативных навыков методом повышения самостоятельной работы ученика на уроке.
план-конспект урока по английскому языку на тему

Lesson plan cover page

Country

Ukraine

Name

Olga Vladymyrova

Workshop title

Core Issues. Learner-centred classroom.

Brief description of context, location and time (size of classroom, facilities/resources available, time of day, lesson length, etc) – 50 words maximum

Private language center, 15 sq.m classroom, 1 whiteboard, 3 desks with computers and Internet connection. 60 min. lesson. Evening time.

Brief description of learners (how many,  age, level,  special needs/behavioural issues, etc) –
50 words maximum

2 brothers, one is 10 years old with Elementary level of English, he still behaves as a child, another is 12 years old and his language level is Pre-Intermediate, he wants to do everything by his own to show everyone that he is an adult.

Brief description of the new idea and why chosen
(50 words maximum)

I’d like to try out such a combination of speaking and listening activities to develop students’ communication skills. These students have grammar and vocabulary knowledge but aren’t able to use them as they don’t communicate in English. I think this lesson will give them an opportunity to speak English more.

Lesson plan cover page

How does the lesson fit with syllabus/timetable?
(30 words maximum)

One of the students is from the 4th form, the second is from the 6th form. They study at the comprehensive secondary school.

Learning outcome

By the end of the lesson the students will be able to:

• Talk about themselves using basic tenses and a variety of structures
• Understand a live speaking of the teacher and the peer about personal interests and opinions

Materials and references (attach worksheets)

2 sets of “Feedback cards”, Worksheet 1.

Anticipated problems
(50 words maximum)

1. The group is mixed-ability as students are of a different language level and age.
2. The students will not be able to fill a worksheet.

Proposed solutions
(50 words maximum)

1. To create such a worksheet that will be suitable for both students.
2. To provide a personal example (orally) as a model to be used later by students.

Lesson procedure

Time

Teacher activity

Student activity

Interaction

Stage aim

10 min

5 min

10 min

5 min

10 min

5 min

5 min

5 min

Stage 1. Warm-up

Writes up 3 sentences on the whiteboard (“I have a sister. Yesterday I bought some presents. Tomorrow I’m going to meet my friends”), tells that these sentences are about him/her and asks students to ask questions to find out more about these facts (e.g “How old is your sister? What’s her name?”)

Stage 2.  Writing about them.

Asks students to write 6 sentences on a piece of paper about themselves, 3 positive (I have, I like, I want etc) and 3 negative (I don’t, I didn’t, I won’t etc) without showing to others. Writes such the sentences as well.

Stage 3. Live discussion.

Asks students to stand up, make a circle, read one of their written sentences and ask any person from the circle “And you?”

Stage 4. Pre-writing task.

Tells to the students that he/she is going to complete the sentences about him/herself  (orally) and asks students to listen carefully and remember as many facts as they can to be able to do further tasks in stage 7 (without writing down any notes). Takes a worksheet and completes the sentences aiming to provide a model.

Stage 5. Filling the worksheet.

Distributes the worksheets (one worksheet for each student) and asks them to complete the sentences about themselves.

Stage 6. Post-writing task.

Asks students to read out their finished sentences one by one. Listens to the students reading and makes notes (on a piece of paper) about common students’ errors without interrupting students’ speech (to be worked out and improved next lessons).

Stage 7.

Asks students to work in pair for a limited time (3 minutes) to make notes about anything they remember about him/her from stage 4.

Stage 8. Feedback.

Thanks to the students for being honest the whole lesson long and asks them to answer honestly his/her questions using “feedback cards” (like, don’t like, so-so). Asks questions and gets feedbacks (Did you like the lesson? Was the worksheet difficult for you?)

Read sentences, ask questions and listen to the teacher’s answers.

Write 6 sentences about themselves.

Stand up, make a circle, one student reads a sentence from his paper and asks another student or the teacher “And you?” who answers with “Me too/me neither” and then makes the same (reads and asks). Complete till all the sentences will be read and discussed.

Listen to the teacher.

Fill the worksheet with their ideas.

Read out their finished sentences, listen to the peer.

Discuss together, make notes about their teacher and read them when ready.

Listen to the teacher’s questions and give feedbacks by showing “feedback cards”.

Students- Teacher

Individual work

Student-student

Teacher-Students

Individual work.

Student-Student

Pair-work

Teacher-Students

To review a necessary vocabulary; to create more confident and friendly atmosphere; to remind basic tenses and questions.

To give students a chance to express themselves; to let students work on their own; to practice useful vocabulary; to discover information about each other.

To focus on live listening and speaking; to practice speaking using basic tenses and “me too/me neither”; to develop understanding of different people’s speaking.

To provide a model for students; to clarify some meanings from the worksheet; to draw students’ attention to the useful language; to develop listening skills.

To practice basic tenses and useful lexical structures.

To help students to focus on fluency when speaking; to develop communicative skills.

To imprint useful lexical structures in students’ memory; to practice the third person of tenses; to give students one more chance to chat in English.

To consume the lesson and to get students’ feedbacks.

Reflection

What went well? Why?

(refer to the learners, learning outcomes and stage aims, lesson procedures, tasks / activities and materials)

1. The main aim of the lesson was to encourage learners to talk and this aim was picked up.
2. While planning the lesson I was following the points that were mentioned in “Learner-centred activities poster” from British Consul Course CiSELT that made the lesson very integrated. I could present almost all the points from this poster:

• checking what learners already know about this topic (stage 1);
• increasing the level of students’ involvement (they were involved in all the activities in each stage);
• including varying levels of difficulty for the tasks (the worksheet I created was really suitable for both learners so everybody felt well while filling it out);
• checking what learners have done (stage 6 and 7);
• providing options for individual, pair and group work (individual work – stage 2 and 5), pair work - stage 7, group work – stage 1, 3 and 8);
• personalizing topic (as the topic was “All about me” the students were encouraged to participate in all the tasks);
•  deciding on timing to complete the activity (stage 7).

3. I succeed in creating confident and friendly atmosphere that urged my students to be honest and open.
4. While taking feedbacks in stage 8 I was surprised that they had never showed a “negative” card but 90% “positive” and 10 % “neutral”.... This lesson proved to me that learner-centered activities are enjoyable, effective and stimulating.

What didn’t go well? Why?

(refer to the learners, learning outcomes and stage aims, lesson procedures, tasks / activities and materials)

In stage 1 after I wrote the 3 sentences on the board one of the students said that he couldn’t see because he had a problem with his eyes. Therefore I had to write the sentences on a white sheet A4 and put it on his desk.

In stage 3 while we were discussing the written sentences we discovered that there were sentences that could not be answered with “me too” and “me neither”, e.g. one student said: “I don’t have a dog, and you?” asking another student who has a dog, so he could not answer with “Me too” or “Me neither” and we agreed that there was the third answer to use: “No, I have”.

In stage 5 when the students were filling their worksheets they asked me for some words in L1 as they did not know them in L2, first I asked another student if he could help, in case if the second student could not answer I translated the asked word.

I identified the main errors of my new students - misuse of basic tenses, lack of vocabulary (giving personal information) and little knowledge about using prepositions. But I did not interrupt them and did not correct their errors at all during this lesson because the aim of the lesson was to teach them chatting and communication in English, to see what they have already known and to create a friendly atmosphere to let them feel free to speak. But for sure I’m going to work through these errors next lessons.

What changes will I make next time? Why?

There is one point from the ““Learner-centred activities poster” that I could not adapt to this lesson, it’s “selecting different methods for completing the tasks”. I think next time I can do it next time by providing a choice for example while filling out worksheet: I would give them a choice to complete the sentences orally or in writing.

Result

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