2. Unit planning
The teacher needs two kinds of plans to work successfully: the plan of a series
of class-periods for a lesson or unit of the textbook or a unit plan, and the daily
plan or the lesson plan for a particular class-period.
In compiling a unit plan, i. e., in planning the lesson of the textbook, the
teacher determines the difficulties of the lesson, namely, phonetic difficulties
(sounds, stress, intonation); grammar difficulties (grammar items, their character
and amount), and vocabulary difficulties (the amount of new words, their
character).
He then distributes these difficulties evenly over the number of class-periods
allotted to the lesson in the calendar plan.
1.
The teacher starts by stating the objective or objectives of each
class-period, that is, what can be achieved in a classroom lesson. Of course the
long-term aims of the course help the teacher to ensure that every particular lesson
is pulling in the right direction and is another step towards gaining the ultimate
goals of the course. “To help the class to speak English better”, “To teach pupils to
and” or “To develop pupils' proficiency in reading” cannot be the objectives of the
lesson because they are too abstract to be clear to the learners. The lesson
objectives should be stated as precisely as possible.
Pupils coming to the lesson should know what they are to do during the
lesson, what performance level is required of them, and how it can be achieved.
There are a few examples:
- Teach pupils to understand the following words … when hearing and to use
them in sentences orally.
- Teach pupils to form new words with the help of the following suffixes …
and to use them in the situations given.
- Teach pupils to consult a dictionary to look up the meaning of the following
words ... .
- Teach pupils to recognize the international words ... when hearing (or
reading).
- Teach pupils to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from the context
while reading text " ...".
- Teach pupils to understand the statements in the Present Perfect and to use
them in the following situations ... ... .
- Teach pupils to ask and answer questions in the Present Perfect and to make
up dialogues following the models ... ... .
- Teach pupils to find the logical predicate in the sentences ... while reading
following the structural signals.
- Teach pupils to speak about the following objects ... ... on utterance level (in
a few sentences).
- Teach pupils to use the words and grammar covered in speaking about the
places of interest in our town.
- Teach pupils to find topical sentences while reading text "..." silently.
- Teach pupils to get the main information while reading text "...".
The teacher can state no more than three concrete objectives for a particular
class-period depending on the stage of instruction, the material of the lesson, and
some other factors.
2.
The teacher distributes the linguistic material (sounds, words, grammar,
etc.) throughout the class-periods according to the objectives of each period, trying
to teach new vocabulary on the grammatical material familiar to pupils, and to
teach a new grammar item within the vocabulary assimilated by pupils; or he first
teaches pupils hearing and speaking on the new material presented, and then pupils
use this in reading and writing.
3.
The teacher selects and distributes exercises for class and homework
using various teaching aids and teaching materials depending on the objectives of
each class-period. For example, for developing his pupils' skill in dialogic speech
within the material covered the teacher needs a record with a pattern dialogue,
word cards for changing the semantic meaning of the pattern dialogue to make the
structure of the dialogue fit new situations.
In distributing exercises throughout the class-periods the teacher should
involve his pupils in oral practice and speech, in oral and silent reading, and in
writing. Exercises which are difficult for pupils should be done under the teacher's
supervision, i. e., in class. Those exercises which pupils can easily perform
independently are left for homework. In other words, new techniques, exercises,
and skills should be practiced in class before the pupil attempts them at home. The
homework done, the pupils return to class for perfecting, polishing, expanding, and
varying what they have practiced at home, they learn to use the new words, the
new structures in varied situations.
When the teacher determines the pupil's homework he should take into
account that the subject he is teaching though important and difficult is not the only
one the pupil learns at school. The realities of schools militate against more than
20-30 minutes of every day homework in a foreign language. This requires the
teacher to teach in class rather than test. Practice proves that pupils do their
homework provided they know exactly what to do, how it should be done, and that
their work will be evaluated. Besides, pupils should know that six twenty-minutes'
work at their English on consecutive days is more effective than two hours at a
stretch.
The unit plan, therefore, involves everything the teacher needs for the detailed
planning of a lesson (class-period), namely: the objective (objectives) of each
lesson, the material to work at, and the exercises which should be done both during
the class-period and at home to develop pupils’ habits and skills in the target
language.
A unit plan usually consists of:
1. The number of class-periods.
2. The objectives.
3. Language material.
4 – 7. Language skills.
8. Accessories.
9. Homework.
The importance of unit plans cannot be overestimated since unit planning
permits the teacher to direct the development of all language skills on the basis of
the new linguistic material the lesson involves. He can lead his pupils from
reception through pattern practice to creative exercises, and in this way perfect
their proficiency in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing. He can vary teaching
aids and teaching materials within the class-periods allotted to the lesson. Unit
planning allows the teacher to concentrate pupils’ attention on one or two language
skills during the lesson; in this case the class hour is divided into two main parts: a
period of 20 – 25 minutes, during which he takes his pupils through a series of
structural drills or other exercises supplied by the textbook, and a period of 20 – 25
minutes during which the teacher engages the class in creative exercises when they
use the target language as a means of communication.
The teacher should bear in mind that pupils lose all interest in a language that
is presented to them by means of endless repetitions, pattern practices,
substitutions, and so on, and which they cannot use in its main function of
exchange of information through hearing or reading. That is why, whenever
possible, the teacher should make his pupils values of his pupils aware of the
immediate values of his lesson if he hopes to keep and stimulate their interest in
language learning which is very important in itself. When a pupil is convinced that
learning is vital, he is usually willing to work hard to acquire a good knowledge of
the target language. It is well known that some pupils see little value in much of
their school work in a foreign language and feel no enthusiasm for their work at the
language. Careful unit planning helps the teacher to keep pupils’ progress in
language learning under constant control and use teaching aids and teaching
materials more effectively and, in this way, make his classes worthwhile to all of
his pupils.
All this should be done by the teacher if there are no teacher’s books to the
textbooks. If there are such books the teacher’s planning should deal with
(1) the study of the author’s recommendations;
(2) the development of these recommendations according to his pupils’
abilities.
The teacher tries to adapt the plan to his pupils. He may either take it as it is
and strictly follow the authors’ recommendations, or he may change it a bit. For
instance, if he has a group of bright pupils who can easily assimilate the material,
the teacher utilizes all the exercises involved in Pupil's Book and include some
additional material or stimuli pictures, objects for the pupils’ speaking within the
same class-periods. If the teacher has a group of slow pupils, he needs at least one
more period to cover the material, he also omits some exercises in Pupil's Book
with asterisk designed for those pupils who want to have more practice in the target
language. The teacher may also increase the number of oral exercises and give
pupils special cards to work on individually and in pairs.
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