4. LESSON EVALUATION

Now you’ve taught your lesson, it’s not time to think ‘It’s over now, lets forget about it.’ Firstly, you may teach that same lesson again someday, so keeping a file of all your lessons and materials is invaluable. It’s also useful to look back on old lesson materials for review exercises and game ideas.

As well as filing though, always look back on your lesson and ask yourself a few simple questions like…

• • Was the SWBAT target achieved?
  • Did the lesson flow?
  • Was the lesson fun?
  • Did the lesson cater to all levels in the class?
  • Were the students communicating in English?
  • Was the target useful?
  • Did I finish everything that I wanted to do?
  • What was the general mood of the class in the beginning, middle and end?
  • Were the students paying attention?

Personal evaluation is very important. You may find that, no matter how the lesson went, your JTE will say that the lesson was fine, but be true to yourself and you should know how it actually went.

As you build up your student radar you will be able to tell how your students are taking your lesson.

So, what can be done with a ‘challenged’ lesson plan?

IMPROVING THE LESSON PLAN

There will of course be times in your teaching career where you think you’ve planned the perfect lesson but it bombs and you find yourself thinking, ‘What on Earth just happened?’ There will also be times when you think you may have planned a ‘so-so’ lesson and it ends up being great. In this case you are saying to yourself ‘How on Earth did that happen? I must be naturally gifted!’ Some of this could have something to do with the students’ general attitude on the day. Maybe it’s a Monday morning or a lesson straight after PE. But before you start blaming the students, take another look at you lesson plan.

THINGS TO EVALUATE IN A LESSON PLAN

Below are a list of things that you should think about when you have had a lesson, or are having lessons, that you feel aren’t going well. Most problems can be overcome by addressing these questions.

1. How is the Timing?

An important part of your lesson plan is timing! When you plan out your lesson, think about how long each activity should take, and then do your best to keep to that schedule.

Try playing games with another teacher first, and then add a few minutes to give you an idea how long the activity will take. USE A STOPWATCH. This is golden. If, like with interview activities, it could go on for any length of time, use a stopwatch and stop the students when the activity is up. It seems like a simple idea, but it can make the world of difference.

When you don’t have enough time

If the students are struggling with the target, it may be that you want to give them more time with the practice. This can happen quite often. If this is the case, you won’t have time to do your actual production activity. It’s always a good idea to have a back up challenge activity that you can throw in if you end up only having a few minutes at the end.

When you have too much time

You may plan 15 minutes for a game but it only takes 5 minutes, to your shock and dismay, the students may be uncharacteristically versed in the target language. In this case it’s always best to have that extra activity ready to throw in to save the day.

Don’t be afraid to mix things up and change your lesson plan if it’s not working. Your lesson plan is a guide and it may or may not end up reflecting what actually happened in the lesson. BE FLEXIBLE! As time goes on though, you should hopefully find that what you plan gets closer and closer to what actually happens!

2. Does the level Fit the Student’s Needs?

This could be responsible for a whole number of things going wrong in your class! You are trying to hold your students’ attention and make them want to be part of your lesson. Making lessons too easy or too hard can either result in students feeling bored and unchallenged, or de-motivated.

If your plan is too easy

You may notice students losing focus, and perhaps talking amongst themselves distracting the rest of the class. In this case, just telling them to be quiet and get on with it will just de-motivate them and make them begin to dislike English. A bad thing! Some students will be at a higher level and find some activities or targets easy. In these cases try to find activities that may challenge these students more, or similarly that are exciting enough that even these students will enjoy doing them. I usually try to have the higher students expand on their answers by giving more information.

If the plan is too hard

This, in most cases, is more detrimental than having a plan that’s too easy. The easy trap to fall into is when you first start at a school, the students may be highly motivated, so whatever you give them, they try their hardest even if they are finding the target extremely challenging. Developing your student radar will help you to tell if the students are actually understanding or just being polite. If the lessons are too hard, motivation will soon die away and the students will lose an element of respect for your class and this may be challenging to come back from.

When looking at the level issue, think about what is too hard or easy before changing anything.

Language Target: Is it not focused enough or too focused?

Classroom Activities: Are they too complicated or too childish? Remember, relating an activity to the students’ life is always a good idea.

Classroom Language: Is the language you are using too complicated? Do students understand your explanations? Are you using enough modeling?

Any of these could be getting in the way of perfect lessons and harmonious relationships between you and your students.

3. Are the Students Staying Focused Throughout the Class?

Again, this could be related to the problems listed above. Your lessons may be too easy or difficult to follow.

Look at your lesson plan and look at how you are conducting your class. Keep mixing up ideas. KEEP IT FRESH!

Personality in the class is very important. The philosophy of this manual is ‘A happy teacher is a good teacher!’ Students can read your feelings in class. If you are coming across like you don’t care then the students will give you what they are getting. This then becomes a slippery slope of ‘who’s making who unhappy?’

4. Are the Students Able To Do The Activities and Understand The SWBAT?

First, check that the target you have chosen is appropriate to the level of the students, as described above. After that, look at the way you are teaching and setting up the activities for the students.

Setting up an activity.

Of course there will be subtle variations with most activities, but you should consider all or most of these points.

• Have you pre-taught the language that the students will find necessary to complete the activity? (Don’t add new things at this stage.)
• Have you practiced the game with the JTE so they know exactly how it works?
• Are the worksheet, or game rules easily understandable?
• Is the main activity encouraged by the game directly related to the target you are teaching? (Else the students will feel a little ‘Why am I doing this?’)
• Do the games have a distinct start and finish?
• Do they have a goal or a purpose?

After that, you should be thinking about how you are introducing the game to the students.

• Use lots of modeling!
• Don’t just ask the students ‘Do you understand?’ Check by getting some students to demonstrate.
• Monitor and aid the students who are struggling.
• Get higher students to expand on their answers a little, if they are able.

5. Are You Doing Most of the Talking?

If you are having problems with any of the above, you may find that this could be either the result or one of the causes of this problem.

The ratio of talk time between students and teachers should be around the 70 – 30 mark. It’s the students’ class and you are teaching them to communicate with each other in English. Obviously, one of the best ways to do this is to have the students communicate in English. If you find yourself doing most of the talking, then you are turning your lesson more into a lecture than an English conversation class!

What’s Going Wrong?

Classroom language: Again, create systems in the language that you use that are easy for the students to follow. Avoiding complicated words, idioms, or colloquialisms, will help understanding and allow you to drift quickly and seamlessly from one activity to the next.

Classroom Gestures: Gestures are a perfectly valid form of communication. Develop your gesture system so that you can get the students ready to talk without having to use lengthy explanations.

Classroom techniques: As well as gestures, use eliciting and modeling more. Targets and language should come from the students, not just told to them. Also, a picture speaks a thousand words. Model the activity so they can see how it’s done, use the board and pictures to help you explain things. Words can be your friend or your enemy! Use them wisely!

If you don’t feel that your lesson is the problem, try thinking about these simple things:

Your life in Japan: Don’t bring your problems into the classroom. If you just broke up with your girlfriend, your students shouldn’t have to suffer.

Culture shock: Always ask yourself ‘Is this just culture shock?’ Try talking to other teachers about any problems you are having.

Your life in the school: It’s important to get the most out of your experience as an ALT. If you aren’t trying hard with your co-workers or your students, they won’t try hard with you. Then you may start feeling a little unappreciated. Try joining after-school activities and getting involved with the school life more.

Other Areas To Think About

Error Correction

Error correction is well covered in UNIT 7 of the book ‘Classroom Language’ on the McMillan website (www.onestopenglish.com). It is a free download.

The main points are:

Make the answers come from the students.

• If the students make a mistake, highlight that mistake by either using gestures, repeating the mistake using stress where it was made, allowing the student to correct themselves.
• Use the knowledge of other students to aid the one who made the mistake. Then allow the student to try again.
• Be careful with the language you present questions in. Change if necessary to avoid confusing the student or to highlight errors.
• The book also has other sections that are very useful to the classroom.

At The End Of The Day! (A final word)

Everything written in this manual comes from the experiences of ALTs in Japan (and a modicum of research).

The Best Piece Of Advice…

At the end of the day, you are going to become a part of your school community. You will be responsible for your part in that community. Making the minimal effort and just trying to get through to the end of the day may pass the time, but as a teacher, you are in the position to actively influence your students’ lives. Perhaps a good way to look at it is, the more you put in, the more appreciation you will get from your students and fellow teachers, and the more personal satisfaction you will get from your job.

If you have any problems, first look at yourself, then start making efforts towards bettering both your lessons and your life in the school as well as your relationship with your students and fellow teachers. If problems persist remember that there are always other people who you can talk to. Your employee and fellow English Teachers are always great sounding boards and always have a wealth of advice and ideas available to share.