I have this class consisting of 9
students who are all adult women (actually they�re teenagers and young women).
They are supposedly at upper-intermediate level. Up to now, they�ve been taught
using Total English books and they�re going to continue using this series. The
last term I had with them was UI2 (Upper course, here, is divided to 5 terms,
each term 21 sessions, and each session is about an hour an a half. Classes are
held 3 times a week). The thing is, they are not strong enough for this level! They
know the grammar, but it hasn�t been internalized, so they make a lot of mistakes
when speaking and writing, and they use too many simple words which makes it
worse, though again they know enough words for their level. To remedy the
situation, I�ve been charged with forming an extra class for them. Now, I�m not
really sure what I should do, especially considering the fact that these
classes are going to be one hour per session only. There will probably be about
15 sessions overall.
The lesson plan I�ve been considering
is like this:
- * Since using proper tense
and maintaining the correct point of view is a major issue, I�m going to start
the term by working on tenses. The framework for this part will be the first 4 chapters
of the book �Understanding and Using English Grammar� by Betty Schrampfer Azar.
These chapters are about all past, present and future tenses. The students will
study and do the related exercises at home and in the class we will troubleshoot
and focus on the use of particular tenses when speaking. One the main exercises
will be telling stories and changing their perspective to a particular time.
They can be provided with very short stories in order to have basis to build on.
- * Each week, one whole
session will be dedicated to debates and free discussion. The topics will be
decided one week before in order to give the students ample time to prepare
themselves. Meanwhile they will be provided with related vocabularies and
information. These will be chosen from different sources, including documentary
films, recorded lectures and radio talks, some lessons from the book �English Collocations
in Use�, etc. They�ll also be asked to do research on the topic using the Internet.
-
* The study of the book �Common
mistakes in English� will be another task that the students should do. They each
will be assigned 50 pages of the book. They are expected to study these pages
to the end of the term and each session, one of them will explain a tip or two
for her fellow classmates. (The book is not very long and it�s easy to read.)
-
* To improve the students�
pronunciation, some sessions they will read out short passages from different
books. They will prepare themselves for this part beforehand. These texts will
be chosen from different sources and some of them will be accompanied with
audio versions to give the students a source to compare their pronunciation and
accents with. This part will also include the audio course of �New Headway Pronunciation
Course (Upper-Intermediate)� and a few lessons from the book �American Accent Training�
by Ann Cook. The lessons about accent will be practical and not theoretical,
meaning mainly the exercises will be used, although the whole book will be available
for self study.
-
* Some story books, in the form
of Audio, will be another part of the lesson plan for this term. The stories
will be chosen from MacMillan series and will be listened to rather than being
read. These books will be discussed in the class.
Obviously we won�t be able to
cover all of these and even if we try, it�ll be overwhelming for the students,
especially because they�re mostly students and have many other commitments.
Now I want to know what you think
I should do. Which parts are more important and which parts should I put aside?
I�m sure many of you have had similar problems, one time or another, during you
careers as English teachers. I�d be eternally grateful if you could share your
experiences and expertise with me. I�m looking forward to your suggestion.
