Currently, the entire PEDAL CBLP group has decided to work in smaller segments,

divided by different levels and ways that the class was delivered (in-person and online). Within

our small group, Beryl and I created a shared file that documented teaching materials from

previous PEDAL Level 1 teachers (including in-person and online) from 2022 to 2023 (Refer to

the link in Appendix A). As mentioned in Blog 3, we choose materials from 2022 to 2023 to

avoid outdated information and teaching content. More importantly, by collecting and analyzing

the existing materials to investigate the environmental factors and students’ needs.

First of all, by combining the discussion between An and Elliot ( 2023 Summer Level 1

teachers), Beryl and I are able to develop a holistic understanding of the environmental factors

that may influence our curriculum design. One of the most important environmental factors is

that the student’s cultural backgrounds and ages may be diverse, which may influence the topic

choice and workload of the class. Secondly, students’ needs are relatively easier to determine,

especially for in-person classes. Given that students who come for the in-person class are living

in Philadelphia, the class topic and content choice may created largely in the context of

Philadelphia, creating a sense of alignment to better equip our students with practical English

ability.

Thus, after thoughtful consideration, we have come up with class topics for one

semester based on the 18-class curriculum in a logical sequence (refer to Appendix B). The

selected topic lists were sent out to PEDAL teachers from other levels and our supervisors for

feedback. Currently, we are waiting for the responses and comments so that Beryl and I can

move on to the next step, adding more detailed information from the perspective of vocabulary,

grammar, and pragmatics. Up to now, we have received feedback that putting the topics in a

logical order within different units is a wonderful idea. And yet, may not be applicable for

advanced-level students since their classes will be more diverse as the students have sufficient

language resources and varied individual preferences for the class content. However, in my

opinion, a curriculum with a sequenced topic order definitely will help beginner-level and
intermediate-level students as they may need more scaffolding and support, teaching simpler

topics and concepts first and then moving on to more complex ones.

As for our group work, I think things are starting to get better. At the very beginning,

creating a curriculum is relatively a complex project for us to start as everyone holds a different

opinion and understanding of it. But most importantly, the stumbling block that we encountered,

which I believe is common in every type of group work, is that we shared different work styles

and working paces. To keep the progress on track, we decided to split the group of 7 people

into smaller groups. However, each member of the group is not only a team member but also a

coordinator, as we all have to work together and cooperate with one another.
 Appendix A

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/

1SKjuE9JM2VVnuEbUD9wBpSAnJBJACuzAKv7Hfduf0lk/edit?usp=drive_link
 Appendix B

Lesson Topics

Intro 1 Welcome

Unit1 2 Transportation (Travel in Philly with authentic materials)

3 Giving directions (Philly map)

4 Time (read the clock& parts of the day）

5 Important dates (month and dates– festivals)

(Optional Review for Lesson 2-5

review class) (Mainly fluency development activity)

Unit 2 6 Food (Ingredients)

7 Grocery shopping

8 Money+number+Check out

9 At a restaurant

(Optional Review for Lesson 6-9

review class) (Mainly fluency development activity)

Unit 3 10 Daily routine+ days of the week

11 Personal hobbies

12 Cooking

13 Food culture (Cusines; taste)

(Optional Review for Lesson 10-13

review class) (Mainly fluency development activity)

Unit 4 14 Body parts

15 Symptoms

16 Medication and pharmacy

17 Go to the doctor

Wrap-up 18 Review class and reward

(Content based on students’ proficiency level and learning
outcome)