TESL 170 - Skill-Based Lesson Plan

Reading  

2 hours
Level: Advanced 2A (B2-C1)  
Students: 14

My second day of teaching went pretty well. I felt a bit more confident than last time. For this class, I had to create a skill-based lesson on reading. The positive side of this lesson was that the classroom teacher provided me with the materials I needed to cover in this class.
The lessons consisted of creating a worksheet (template provided by the classroom teacher), and the reading of an article which was part of the students' workbook already.
When I began to create the worksheet, I knew that I had to follow the same format as the classroom teacher. A list of new vocabulary words, idioms, and phrasal verbs had to be listed on this activity sheet along with their classifications (noun, adj, adv, verb, etc), and their meanings. In addition to this, there were two other sections, the fill in the blank and a set of sentences that were used for their conversation activity. I spent hours creating this activity sheet. I didn't think it was going to be that hard, but I guess my problem was in trying to find a simple way for the definitions. Although I got the definitions from the dictionary, sometimes you get more than one meaning, and that's when you get confused.
That was one of the observations of the classroom teacher for me. I was getting out of context when explaining an idiom. She suggested that it was better to stick to the context because you can easily confuse the students if you don't.
Another point that I have to keep in mind is that I have to allow the students to figure out things on their own. I cannot give everything to them because otherwise, they'll have no questions for me.

In overall, I think my lesson went well. I know that time will give the experience that I need so I can improve in those areas where I'm weak. I know I'll get there eventually.

Click here for this Lesson Plan, worksheet, and article used for this lesson.


 Feedback from the sponsor teacher:

Hi Jenny,

It was nice to meet Jainy. I'm sure she enjoyed your lesson and had some great feedback for you. You managed the lesson very well.

Attached is the observation form and below are some additional comments.

Observation: July 15 (2 hrs)

Level: Advanced 2A (B2-C1) - Reading
Done well:

• You had a friendly start to the lesson and effective small talk
• You did a good job with creating the vocabulary worksheet
• You gave good definitions and examples of target vocabulary
• You got students to offer ideas and ask/answer questions
• You gave good clarification with take a breath/take a breather
• Great idea to have them share their sentences with each other
• You gave students practice reading aloud
• The Smart Board gave you trouble, but you easily adapted

 Areas to grow:

• Remember to support harder vocabulary that you use (bin)
• Let students try to match the vocabulary and meanings on their own before doing it as a class
• Post the answers at the end of class if you don't have time to get to them. Many students will be interested in seeing them

You made student very comfortable and created a good learning environment.  Let me know if you have any questions.