It seems to have taken me a very long time indeed …
It seems to have taken me a very long time indeed to prepare my second lesson. I’ve been working on it almost all evening, as well as yesterday evening, and some time this morning. I now have colour-coded flashcards, and lots of sheets to photocopy in the morning before it all begins. There’s so much work to do at the moment, with various assignments as well as the lesson plans, that time seems to be going past in a crazy whirl of working, working, eating (keep needing lots of energy for all that work!), working, trains being cancelled (grrr), waiting, working… I’m feeling mostly better now (hooray!) – but alas, other people on my course seem to be getting ill. I hope it’s not entirely my fault…
Today we were given lots of ideas for getting students to practise language, as well as having sessions on communicative games and teaching young learners. We were advised not to teach children younger than three, but apparently it’s normal to start teaching English to children at about that age in lots of countries. I think it would be fun (lots of toys and bright colours!) but also very tiring. And I imagine it would require more preparation than an adult lesson, or at least more thought, because each session would need to be packed with interesting activities. No gap-filling exercises for three year olds!
We were warned against gap-filling exercises, even for adults. Obviously too many people have got them wrong over the years (too easy, too hard, gaps too small…) – and I know it’s boring to go to lessons where you have to fill in gaps all the time. We were encouraged to try more active things, like running dictations, and language relays. Just hope we don’t all try the out on the same day, or the poor students will hardly get chance to sit down!
