Teach English in Woodley - TESOL Courses

Syllabus design is a little more than simply preparing the lesson for each day. Whether your syllabus is well planned is going to affect your ability to prepare for each lesson, and stay on top of your students' ongoing learning. As an esl teacher of a longer term group it is important to plan your lessons as a development. Therefore preparing how each lesson will contribute the class moving forward overall is essential. A teacher must expand on the bigger picture of what the course will be for the students, and how the structure of the syllabus will get them to a higher level. This must be done prior to planning individual lessons. There are general issues that must be considered when doing this syllabus plan. The first step is to establish whether this class is your own class, a brand new class, or a class that you have taken over from another teacher. This is important as the age, personality and level of the students will be factors that will affect the general syllabus plan as well as individual lesson plans. If the class is a continuing class, it's a good idea to find out from the last teacher any areas of difficulty or issues that should be revised. On the other hand a more experimental approach would be one for starting a new class from scratch. assessment is the next thing to consider. You must have some kind of test in mind for the class during the syllabus time frame. You must ensure the test will cover the areas that you have taught and be at the correct level for the students. Tests will check and quantify the progress of your students and is often expected from both the institution and the students themselves. It gives your lesson plans progression, orientation and planned objectives, clearly illustrating the progression of the students. It is an obvious sign of being a ‘good teacher' and a good way to get feedback on your methodology. It will improve the confidence of your students and encourage revision. The next step is to decide what the general communicative objectives of your lessons. Consider the role of the textbook if you are using one and whether it follows a theme. The language areas you cover should run and fit together to make a succinct syllabus. The next thing for the teacher to discover is the key language items and language areas you wish to cover. You must realise which language will successfully facilitate your syllabus and the kind of grammar etc. that will be involved with key language items. Another important step is to consider which Key language areas could present problems and difficulties for you as the teacher and whether you understand the relevance and usefulness of the language you are teaching. This is something that native english speakers will especially need to consider as just being able to speak the language naturally and fluently does not qualify you to teach and you should not assume that you will be able to teach the rules of english successfully. The teacher is not an automatic expert and the best teachers are willing to learn and improve in their methods with experience. Allowing time to read up on issues and get advice when confronted with teaching something you are not entirely confident with is essential. Similarly it must be considered where the students may have difficulty. The size of the class, the nationality of the students and whether the group is mixed age or level all have roles to play in determining areas of struggle and planning on how to deal with them. Noting areas and problems the students have as they go is a very helpful thing to do for the teacher. The final things to consider are which language areas will need ongoing revision, how to combine various areas and how to decide your pronunciation priorities. It is important to decide how to best manage the classroom as a whole and what learning strategies to take on board that would best motivate the class. Your lesson plans will certainly benefit from a well planned syllabus. The teacher must consider primarily if the class was already established, whether the students are similar levels, what level the whole class is at, how to manage the group size and room size, and how to best assess the students. The institution, your position and responsibilities, your own personal aims as a teacher, the students wants and the class level, age and size will all affect your overall syllabus. In terms of planning material and methods used for a month or unit of study, it is imperative for the teacher to consider these key issues.