(This should be my third class, but you know that I could not teach one class because of the problem you already know!!)
In this class, the students did a great job working on a warm-up activity that I prepared to review the future tense. In this activity, the students played the role of fortune tellers. I wrote their names in small pieces of paper and I asked them to put them in a bag. Then, they took one name from the bag and I asked them to make a prediction for that person. They were predicting funny things.
Some predictions were:
-That they were going to be great teacher.
-That they were going to marry a wealthy person.
-That they were going to have 5 children.
-That they were going to have a relation with a married person.
I think that the part that did not go so well was the grammar explanation stage. My tutor teacher told me that I had talked too much in that part. He suggested me to teach that stage in a more communicative way in order to give students the opportunity to discover the new structure by themselves. I would like to know some ways in which I can teach grammar using a communicative strategy!!!
I asked the students to work in pairs to develop the warm-up activity. Then, they worked individually in order to read a paragraph about predictions related with technology that experts have done. The students liked this reading because it had many things that called their attention. There is a prediction that says that malls will disappear because people will shop at electronic virtual reality stores. Experts also said that in the future, people will plant “knowledge chips” in their brains. These chips will enable people to speak French, to repair the TV, to play any sport, etc. These fortune tellers describe some other things that could happen. Finally, the students worked in groups because I asked them to talk about some other things that will change in the future. They were discussing advantages and disadvantages of the changes the world could have.
I think that I reached my objective because the students were using the future tense and they were giving nice predictions. They were also shaing some plans and goals they have. I just can say that they used the structure very well!!
If I teach that lesson again, I will take into account my tutor`s suggestion about how to teach the grammar stage. I will try to give students as many opportunities as possible to speak because some of them really need to practice this skill.
The warm-up activity sounds really interesting, specially because they students can use their imagination to predict things about other, also they enjoy saying something funny about what is going to happen in the future, I really like this warm-up, definitely I'm going to take it for my future classes.
ReplyDeleteI do understand the Grammar explanation stage is the hardest part to develop because most of the time students get bored on this part of the class. For that reason it is really important to look for an innovative way to teach Grammar, a way in which students understand, learn and enjoy at the same time. As well as you Lili, I would like to know some other strategies in order to break monotony in the grammar explanation stage.
Wow Lili, I admire the work you are doing. It was a very nice class, congratulations!! I liked the warm up you used with the students. It sounds great!!! I will try to use it in the future with my students when talking about predictions.
ReplyDeleteThe grammar part is almost always a problem. I recommend you to look for some ideas in internet. I don't know that much about it, but i guess there must be something in there.
It was a very nice class, Lili. continue working the way you have been doing it.
IT WAS A VERY NICE JOB!!
Good job my friend!
ReplyDeleteLili, I know how hard you create to reach your objectives every class. You have done a nice work the whole semester. You produce nice activities and this helps your students to enjoy the class and to understand better. Unfourtunately there is always something not so good in our practice even when he have worked hard. I know how difficult is for all of us to teach grammar. I guess that if someone says that teaching grammar is a piece of cake, this person is a lier : )I believe that some day we will find an easier way to teach grammar but meanwhile we need to continue learning from each other : ) Keep on doing great things Lili!