Tips for trainees during feedback/ individual progress sessions

workshop for teacher trainers

Alex Case- July 03

Problems with listenings (also relevant for readings)

Trainer’s task- for each statement, mark: always/ almost always/ usually/ sometimes/ occassionally/never  (for a class where listening is the main focus, not a grammar class where the listening is just used to present the language).

• play the tape twice
• play the tape three times
• play the tape four times
• play the tape and stop during the recording
• listen and read the tapescript
• pre-teach vocabulary etc.
• give students a chance to read the question(s) before they hear the tape
• have one single gist question the first time they hear it
• write the gist Q on the board
• check the answers to the gist question in pairs
• have detailed comprehension questions
• do the first detailed comprehension question as a class, stopping the tape at that point. Then rewind the tape and tell Ss you will not stop the tape again.
• write their answers to the detailed comprehension questions down
• compare their answers to the detailed comprehension questions in pairs
• use prediction tasks
• analyse the language used in the recording
• have a post-text production task using similar topic and/ or language to that in the recording
• have an error correction stage after the post-text production

Compare your answers as a group. Under what circumstances should they do these when the answer was not ‘always’ or ‘never’?

Problems with timing

Trainers’ task- rank these tips from the most useful to the least useful, imagining they had made all these mistakes but you only want them to concentrate on one:

• Lead-ins should only be 3 to 5 minutes. Any longer and they must include pairwork.
• Maximum pre-teach is 7 words. If they need to know more than that to do the tasks, change the tasks.
• Have a single focus for your lesson. A grammar, listening and speaking lesson is probably just grammar lesson- the other parts need to fit into that framework (PPP).
• If they are reading too slow, it’s because it wasn’t made clear enough that they were reading quickly for just one gist question. Try writing it on the board.
• Fend off all vocabulary and grammar questions until fixed ‘Any Qs’ stages on your lesson plan

• Act out the class in front of the mirror/ in an empty classroom/ with another trainee or a friend or relative as the students before the lesson and time yourself

Problems with graded language

Trainer task: decide if this tips will work to reduce graded language problems for:  a) all trainees b) most trainees c) only some trainees

• write the instructions/ explanation language you are planning on using down before the class
• write all your vocabulary explanations down on the board after you finish them
• try to think about how it would be in Italian, and use similar words
• use instruction checking questions after you give out the instructions

If only some trainees, which ones?

Problems with lesson planning

For all trainees, or only those who are having problems with this?

• Use a highlighter pen on the most important bits
• Have an observer/ another trainee read through your actual lesson plan before the lesson
• Write out another simpler lesson plan for your own use during the lesson
• Draw board plans for every stage