Coming Up

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

It is good to hear from you.  Your comments and questions play an important role in the direction of what and how many new ideas & materials are presented on this website.

A RECENTLY POSTED ARTICLE ON LESSON PLANNING

There have been a few developments over the summer, especially with the completion of the major project on lesson planning.  In my interactions with the teacher trainees in TESOL certificate courses and a number of questions and requests from teachers in Linked In, I came to realize how a more extensive look at lesson planning could be appreciated by some teachers.  After attempting to tackle the challenge in different ways, I finally decided to look at the PPP model, but with a modern interpretation so it could have more direct relevance to how language teaching is being conducted (in many places) nowadays.  While not all language centers take the same approach, and it can be argued that there are a number of effective ways to teach (& learn) an additional language, many elements were included that were not so prevalent when the PPP model first appeared.  These days, a higher importance is placed on elicitation and student involvement, and less on teacher lecturing, for example.

The article is quite extensive and is divided into different sections.  The first goes over the terminology and what constitutes this (modern version of a) model of lesson planning, through explanations and examples.  Another section applies these concepts in a specific lesson plan which will be followed while teaching a real class and that class is recorded.  A third section shows the video of that class, looking at how closely the lesson plan was followed and to see how the original plans and ideas translated into a real classroom situation.  The final section is dedicated to helping teachers come up with their own lesson plans (following this model).  For teachers unfamiliar with the PPP model, or some of the current practices in modern language teaching (elicitation, student-centered activities, increased student involvement, etc), it is recommended to at least look at the first section before going through the fourth one.

You can find this presentation in the black footer in MEC Articles or by clicking here:     The PPP Model – – A Modern Interpretation

USING VIDEO IN THE CLASSROOM

There has been progress made on other projects, one of which will be posted soon.  Coming up is a new article on the use of videos.  It will have one section on advice and considerations when using video in the classroom, and another section listing and explaining a number of practical tasks and actvities you could use to accompany the video.  This article will be posted around the time that a new category will be added to Max’s English Corner, a component called Cool Clips, which will be found in the top menu bar under  More Lessons.  Cool Clips will be basically an ongoing listing of videos you might find interesting to use in your classes, along with some practical ideas, brief lesson plans, and post-video discussion themes.  The intention is for a new video and its teacher’s guide to be added about every two weeks (twice a month, to be more exact).  They should start appearing by mid or late October.  This means that there won’t be much to begin with, but it won’t be long before there is a good variety to choose from.

MORE IDEAS, LESSON PLANS & IDEAS

More articles, projects, teaching ideas, lesson plans and materials are being developed and will be added to the site when completed.  Keep checking in to see the new elements, look around to other as yet unexplored parts of the website, and see what you might find useful to you as a teacher, and for your students in the classroom.