MA ELT Advanced Practical Teaching

Lesson Plan

Tutor : James Greenough Trainee : Martin Sketchley

Lesson number : 6 Number of students : 6 to 10 sts Date : 8 March 2011

Level : Intermediate Length of lesson (e.g. 60mins): 60 mins

Class Profile: (Nationalities/Age range/learning styles etc)

The students consist of a mixed group of nationalities, mostly young adults and students, with
all being relatively motivated and supportive during classes. The class consist mostly of
female students. Some students have habits of referring to and using an electronic dictionary
too much in class (which could disrupt the flow of potential lessons). Furthermore, there are
some other students that are outgoing and contribute well during group and class activities.
There is also a possibility that some students may be late for class or may not turn up at all
due to responsibilities outside of class. The students that have regularly turned up include the
following:

Name Age Nationality Interests & Studies

Studying Gender & Development at
Sussex University. Her interests
include watching movies, swimming,
singing karaoke. She has learnt
Maki 26 Japanese
Spanish in Japan and spent a year in
Mexico so has some previous
experience of learning a foreign
language.
She is currently a housewife and does
not study. Her husband is studying at
Sussex University and she has two
young children. Her interests include
Husne 39 French/Turkish
travelling, history and learning
languages. She is bilingual in French
and Turkish. She is quite extrovert
and voices her opinion rather freely.
Currently studying Management &
Finance at Sussex University. Her
interests include watching movies and
Cindy 23 Chinese
drama. She does have a tendency to
refer to the dictionary during teaching
practice.
She is currently studying International
Development at Sussex University.
Her interests include swimming, travel
Nagisa 21 Japanese and watching musicals. Nagisa does
have an electronic dictionary which
she uses a little during teaching
practice. She is rather quiet.
 She is studying Contemporary
European at Sussex University with her
Mare 29 Croatian interests including gymnastics. She is
usually quiet in class but works well
with other students.
He has recently completed the FCE
and is studying English in the UK. He
enjoys sports and watching movies.
Alexandre 23 French He also works in tourism. He arrived
for the class for the first time last
week. He has no difficulty working
with other students.
She is currently studying an EFL course
at Sussex University. She has been
studying English for 8 years. She likes
watching movies, reading books and
Miho 20 Japanese travelling. She arrived for teaching
practice for the first time last week
and has some difficulty with
pronunciation particularly with /r/
and /l/ sounds.
She is currently studying at Sussex
University. She enjoys sports
particularly cycling and mountain
Edlira 27 Italian
biking. She does have a tendency to
arrive slightly late for class but does
contribute well during activities.

The majority of students are of a strong Intermediate level but most have weaknesses with
pronunciation with typical L1 interference. Husne has consistently arrived late each week
during the teaching practice. Some other students that may turn up could include:

Name Nationality
Arnup Indian
Vijay Indian
Arnup Bangladeshi
Serena Italian

Rationale:
This week‟s lesson is an unplugged lesson. I am teaching for one hour as a final lesson for the
class and I would like to provide students the opportunity to complete teaching practice with
something that was an objective in my personal reflections; to do a Dogme style lesson.
Obviously, the main objective for an unplugged approach is to remove „a dependency on
materials, aids and technology‟ (Meddings & Thornbury, 2009). With this in mind, I will be
focusing on a materials light lesson.
Dogme in ELT
Dogme in ELT is driven by ten principles is defined and further explained by Meddings &
Thornbury (2009). However, the underlying principle for Dogme ELT focuses upon the
following:
 Dogme is about teaching that is conversation-driven
 Dogme is about teaching that is materials-light
 Dogme is about teaching that focuses on emergent language
Doing a Dogme style lesson for teaching practice is high-risk as reliance on materials is limited
and the teacher will focus on language that emerges from the learners. Although formally
planned, I will obviously be focusing on the emergent language in the classroom, thinking on
my feet and responding to it.

Why Dogme?
I have never done a Dogme related lesson before and I feel that this would be a really
interesting and insightful approach to language learning. Furthermore, the lesson will promote
conversation with the use of statements to provoke an opinion and referring to the language
that the student is supplying during the course of the teaching practice. Meddings &
Thornbury (2009) regard conversation as „both interactive and dialogic‟ and is considered more
appropriate if learners are communicating about themselves.

What will be taught? Not a lot really!

The question “What will be taught?” should be rewritten “What will be uncovered?” However
in the context of a Dogme lesson, I am sure not many observers will appreciate being told by
teachers on a teaching practice course that nothing shall be taught formally during lesson.
However, the language will be uncovered during the lesson, with student production being
used to promote and develop language. The language uncovered in the classroom will be
formed from the voicing of a learner‟s opinion. This emergent language will form the focus of
the lesson and, hopefully, the basis for reviewing language and phonology. As I have covered
the use of debates (or voicing an opinion) in my fourth teaching practice, I will plan for a
lesson that focuses on agreeing and disagreeing primarily but in the context of a materials
light approach.

Linguistic Aims and Outcomes

 Main Aims

By the end of the lesson students will have discussed and voiced their own opinions in the
context of statements that provoke response(s).
  Sub Aims

The sub aims for the lesson will include referring „emergent language‟ as well as „scaffolding‟
language that is recommended for the voicing of opinions. Stress and pronunciation will be
monitored.

 Personal Aims

My personal aim for this teaching practice session will include trying to incorporate a Dogme
lesson. I have not done a Dogme lesson and during the writing of my Personal Reflections prior
to commencing the course, I mentioned that I wanted to attempt a Dogme lesson. I am aware
that a Dogme lesson does have a degree of risk for success and I will prepare supplementary
material in case the lesson is not as successful as originally planned.

Target Language:

Previous lexical phrases that were taught to students during the fourth teaching
practice included the following:
Giving Opinions
I‟d just like to say that I think that …
You know what I think, I think …
I‟d say that …
The point is …
As I see it …
Persuading
Surely it would make more sense to …?
Have you thought of the effect on …?
You must admit that it‟s a bad/good point.
It‟s in your best interest to …
Let‟s face it, there …
Agreement
I couldn‟t agree more.
That‟s just what I was thinking.
You know, that‟s exactly what I think.
I agree entirely.
That‟s a good point.
Disagreement
Yes, that‟s quite true, but …
I‟m not sure I quite agree …
Well, you have a point, but …
Perhaps, but don‟t you think that …
I see what you mean, but …

Assumptions:
Students should have the vocabulary to exercise their opinion as this has been taught
previously but the lesson should reinforce the fourth teaching practice within a more learner
centric environment.
Anticipated Problems:
Some students may feel slightly self-conscious when voicing their reasoning for agreeing or
disagreeing with a statement. Other difficulties could arise when students are not that
engaging during the lesson.

Solutions to the anticipated problems above:

Should the lesson begin to stall, I will have a second activity prepared should learners become
bored or less dialogic in the classroom. This „just-in-case‟ activity will involve a language
activity for the class to provoke dialogic discussion as well as offering agreement or
disagreement. At most, this second activity could be a semi-Dogme lesson.

Materials Used:
Materials used during the lesson will include:
 Three pieces of paper with the following written:
o Agree
o Disagree
o Not sure
 Whiteboard
 Boardmarker
Other material for the „just-in-case‟ activity:
 Some pieces of paper screwed into a ball
 Some music
 Statements written on the board
Board plan:

Useful
Reference to emergent language (successful, problems, etc), Vocabulary
phonology and stress

Classroom Setting
Seating
for
students

Whiteboards
Stage Time Aims Interaction Activity & teaching notes Time

Sts > Sts The teacher will welcome students to class and will monitor the
Welcome class for their discussion topic. Should the class be discussing
1. 14:00 T > Sts 5 mins
Students a topic of interest, the teacher will monitor for emergent
Sts > T language.
The classroom will be divided between three sections; agree,
disagree and not sure. Instructions will be first given to the
Start Statement
class with a statement written on the whiteboard. Next students
2. 14:05 Activity – T > Sts 5 mins
will have to move to the opinion they believe. Once complete,
Instruction
students will then have to tell the two nearest students about
their opinion.
Monitor for T The teacher will monitor students for language in relation to
3. 14:10 ‘emergent agreement or disagreement. Emergent language will be 5 mins
language’ Sts > Sts transcribed on to the whiteboard for review later.
T Continue section 2 and 3 adding new statements or substituting
14:15
words in the statements. Provide students the opportunity to
4. – Repeat 2 & 3 Sts 20 mins
discuss with partners their opinion and then note any language
14:35 Sts > Sts that is successful or less successful.
During The teacher will elicit and offer feedback on emergent language
a) Feedback … …
TP from the activity.
During Invite During the activity, the teacher will invite students to present
b) … …
TP Presentation their opinion to the class.
The teacher will note language that is produced during the
During Noting
c) … teaching practice as well as any words or phrases that were …
TP Language
unsuitable.
 Students write their opinion for statements that are written on
5. 14:35 Follow-up Sts the board using the emerged language that has been presented 10 mins
previously during the lesson.
Comparison of Students compare their opinions and writing with each other
6. 14:45 Sts > Sts 10 mins
Opinions and discuss in groups.
The teacher will monitor students and provide assistance if
During
a) Monitor T required. Any language requested by students or offered by the …
TP
teacher will be noted on the whiteboard for review later.
Sts > T
Discussion of A final review of the language on the whiteboard with some
7. 14:55 Sts > Sts 5 mins
language comprehension checking of meaning.
T > Sts

Potential Filler – Pass the Paper Game

The activity will be used should conversation or discussion starts to ebb.