Richard Reber

After an initial evaluation or the individual/group needs lessons will be set around the following parameters:

1. Present the language to the students in a way they can understand
Make sure to cover the meaning, the pronunciation and then the form to do this. This will cover things like word order or grammatical structure.
2. Help students understand how to use the language
Make sure students have examples of how the target language is used so they can use it themselves in a meaningful way.
3. Get students using the language themselves
Allow them to practise using the target language, as this is the main way for them to pick up new vocabulary or structures that are unfamiliar to them
4. Listen to the students and correct errors
Make sure you pay attention to as many students as possible and correct any errors they make so that you help them improve their fluency. If lots of people make the same error, perhaps go over it again in front of the whole class.
5. Consolidate language use
Now use the target language in different practice and production activities so that your students get extra practice using the language.
These tips can make a significant difference in helping you turn a rather ineffective lecture into a TEFL lesson, and hopefully leave a lasting impression on your students’ English skills.
Let’s look at the basics of what a seating arrangement choice should enable a teacher to do:
The teacher needs to be able to:
• See all of the students
• Move around, monitor and hear all the students
• Give clear instructions to all the students
• Get the attention of the students during the lesson
• Lead-in to activities the class should do
• Co-ordinate a variety of activities from mingling to group or pair work
• Present board work so all students can see it
Students also have needs from their point of view of the seating arrangement, so let’s look at those:
The students need to be able to:
• See and hear the teacher clearly
• Take notes as necessary
• See the board clearly when it is used in the lesson
• Speak to and work with a variety of fellow students during the lesson
• Sit close to fellow students when doing pair and group work
• Be monitored by the teacher and receive quality feedback
Depending on your class size, lesson type and the resources you have to hand, you’ll need to choose a seating arrangement that works best for you. This could be rows, cluster tables or something else – with each being ideal in different scenarios.
thumb_up Here are some tips to make sure you make the most of your seating arrangement.
• If you have a raised platform, like a stage, use it from the start and throughout the lesson to get students’ attention. If this isn’t available, use the head or front of the room. This creates a natural focal point and helps keep students on task.
• If there is a microphone, make sure to use it! If not, position yourself so all students can hear you and project your voice to those sitting furthest from you. Feel free to move around during the lesson to make sure separate groups have understood you.
• Try to make sure all students can face you when you speak, even if it means they need to turn their chairs. If they have their backs to you they’ll naturally fail to hear you properly and will miss out on non-verbal communication such as body language and facial expression, which are essential to picking up new language.
• Ensure you can physically move around to speak to every student if you need to, as this is important in monitoring effectively.
• Get the students to help you arrange the classroom. Don’t waste valuable lesson or preparation time by trying to do it all yourself; teach students the seating arrangements you want for different lessons and ask them to help. You could ask different groups to be responsible for different lessons or ask them to organise themselves individually, depending on what you think is best.
• Think carefully about changing seating arrangements mid-class. Doing this for every activity will waste time, so put activities with a similar classroom arrangement together and ensure you’re as efficient as possible.

Presentation, Practice, Production.
1. Lead-in
Use this to warm the students up for the lesson, grab their attention and find out what they already know about the TL. Remember not to teach anything here.
2. Presentation
Teach the meaning, pronunciation and form of the TL. Elicit as much as possible and don’t forget the concept questions . Remember you need to find a way for your sts to discover the meaning themselves rather than just tell them.
3. Practice (controlled)
Students practise using the TL themselves in structured activities.
4. Production (free)
When you are happy the students have grasped what you have taught them they can practise using the TL in a free way using everything else that they know. This should be a speaking activity and students should use the language naturally.
Lesson topic ideas
You need to do a lesson based around functions – i.e. how to do something. You can choose any function you like – here are a couple of ideas:
• Making a complaint
• Giving Opinions
• Making requests
• Agreeing and disagreeing
• Making excuses
Don’t forget as target language here, you will teach between 8 and 10 useful phrases rather than individual words for the function you choose.

Skills
1. Lead-in
Here we introduce the theme of the listening or reading to get the students “contextualised”. We don’t need to focus on the skill yet.
2. Pre-teach vocabulary
Try to get students to work together to work out the meanings of some tricky or unknown words from your text or listening resource.
3. Predictive activity
The students should predict something they think they will hear or see in listening or text.
4. Listening/reading for gist
Students should do a task that checks their general understanding of the listening or text.
5. Listening/reading for specific information
Students should do a task where they read or listen for specific information.
6. Follow-on task
This task is a continuation of the theme and should be a speaking or a writing activity.
Lesson topic ideas
Choose a listening or reading resource to base your lesson around. You don’t have to include the actual resource here but clearly explain what it is. Here are a couple of ideas:
• A newspaper headline about a popular musician
• A sports commentary from an important national game
• A short clip from a film or TV programme
• A review of a new games console

Lessons are always planed on the base of the individual/groups needs and goals.