Planning for Introductory lesson & general teaching advice

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Planning for Introductory lesson & general teaching advice
« on: October 31, 2015, 04:51:16 AM »
Hello all !

I'm leaving for China on Wednesday morning, at last!! I am just in the process of planning my introductory class and researching some more general teaching ideas. I'm thinking of doing a basic presentation on where I'm from, a little bit of background to England and the county I'm actually from, some history, and then what I like to do, family, house (teaching a few words along the way), what I did following school and how I came to be in China (via Korea). I'm going to struggle with the visual elements as there is no projector etc provided.

I've already downloaded Tree's "How to teach Adults" from another thread on this board.

Can anyone offer any further suggestions?

Re: Planning for Introductory lesson & general teaching advice
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2015, 02:22:15 PM »
If you have (or can cobble together) a syllabus and you know what you're going to be teaching, presenting it in some digestible format is good. Failing that, some idea of how lessons will go in general and what you as teacher will focus on. Some idea of how you intend to assess work.

Introducing yourself is always necessary, of course. At least your name and where you come from. But since you'll be using the target language to do your introduction, you might as well turn what you say into some kind of lesson. For instance, what language function will you be using as you speak - telling stories, using past tense, Q&A? As you do the introduction, will you use and emphasize certain elements that students can then go on replicate in some activity? Etc.

The absence of a projector can be a good thing. Simple diagrams on a blackboard are, I have found, sometimes much more engaging than a ppt. You have to draw them on the spot. They engage imagination. They don't get as often photographed as ppt screens do...


China protip: something I wish I'd known my first year - a passing score in China is "60", not "50". My first semester in China I inadvertently failed about 12 students (and boy, were they were annoyed).
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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Tree

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Re: Planning for Introductory lesson & general teaching advice
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2015, 03:02:34 PM »
There's a little icebreaker I like to do called "two true one false." I give the students three sentences about myself and they have to guess which one is the lie. After a few rounds brainstorm topics that people lie about and write them on the board, then have the students make a few sentences about themselves. Collect the papers and read them out, or have the students read their own. This has the secondary effect of you being able to suss out early on who are the stronger and weaker students.
The greatest and most important problems of life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.
- Jung

Re: Planning for Introductory lesson & general teaching advice
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2015, 12:46:26 AM »
I actually have a text book called Let's Talk 1, it's by Cambridge and seems pretty good; certainly better than the horrors I faced in SK, anyway! And I can use, not use it or use some of it, the choice is mine, which is great  bhbhbhbhbh bhbhbhbhbh

I'm mining the web to find fun activities that I can use with low level classes and not coming up with that much - they must be mainly or wholly conversational / speaking and have no technology at all involved. I've found many conversational prompts but honestly, the classes would bomb spectacularly if I just gave them discussion questions as they simply don't have the vocabulary.

Any sites / links / books that you can suggest?

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Tree

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Re: Planning for Introductory lesson & general teaching advice
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2015, 05:01:08 PM »
Do lots and lots of this:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber

The low hanging fruit at the beginning will not only help some students recall whatever English will be dormant, but also give them low risk chances to participate. Keep track of what skills you are teaching them and think of creative ways to weave them together as you progress through the semester.
The greatest and most important problems of life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.
- Jung

Re: Planning for Introductory lesson & general teaching advice
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2016, 05:46:29 PM »
Show pictures of yourself and your family.  Show pictures of your travels, that also makes for a really interesting introduction lesson.  Also, have the students stand up and introduce each other.