Trial English lesson via Skype: how to get the most out of it. How to make an English lesson interesting and exciting The first lesson of an English teacher

When I started teaching seriously at a foreign language school, my first group was a teacher's dream come true: 10 interested, motivated, attentive and patient students. Therefore, I was absolutely not embarrassed by the fact that I started each lesson with “How are you today?”

As their knowledge grew, the answers to the questions became more extensive, the conversation dragged on and took more than 5 minutes. By the end of the semester, my students received their A1 certificates and I received my firstfeedback: Everything is fine, but it’s just very boring to start every lesson with the same thing.

Then I seriously thought about how to start an English lesson correctly.

Why is it so important to start the lesson right?

The proverb says: “ A good beginning is half done" Likewise, the introductory part of the lesson is a key aspect of effective teaching.

The introductory part of the lesson is needed in order to:

- present the topic of the lesson

- get students interested in the topic

— set the pace of the lesson and the atmosphere necessary for learning

Imagine tired students who most likely came to your lesson after work, study, perhaps they had a hard day. Our task as teachers is to smoothly switch and focus their attention on the English lesson and prepare them for everything that they will do during the lesson.

Basic principles of the introductory part

To start a lesson effectively, you need to remember the following principles:

1. The introductory part should be short and take from 3 to 10 minutes depending on the length of the lesson.

- if the lesson lasts 30 minutes, it is optimal to allocate 3 minutes for warm-up;

- if the lesson lasts an hour and a half, you can do a 10-minute warm-up.

2. . “Great advice, Captain Obvious,” you say. But it should be remembered that interest encourages motivation to learn and stimulates the desire to learn.

If your students are interested in the topic you raised in the introduction, they will be more willing to express an opinion, share experiences, agree or refute information.

3. Relevance. When selecting and developing activities for the introductory part, be sure to keep in mind the ultimate goal of the lesson and the program as a whole. A mismatch between the introductory part and the main part of the lesson can cause misunderstanding among students and the question “Why did we do all this?”

4. Authenticity. « Being fully exposed to the authentic materials is one of key factors for language acquisition". Authentic materials can serve to increase student interest, provided they are selected according to the level, age, and interests of your group.

Types of tasks for the introductory part

There are two types of introductory exercises:warmers and lead-ins .

Warmers are used to increase the energy level in the classroom, creating a positive and relaxed atmosphere before the main part of the lesson begins. They may not always be related to the topic of the lesson. TOwarmersinclude games, quizzes, tongue twisters, songs, etc.

Lead-ins are a summary of the main part and content of the lesson. The purpose of this kind of assignment is to motivate students and focus their attention on the topic of the lesson, to create a connection between the topic of the lesson and the lives of students (personalization).

Lesson Introduction Ideas

We published not long ago. So today we’ll look at ideas forlead-in tasks:

Multimedia tasks

1. Songs . Before starting the lesson, play a song that fits the topic of the lesson. Try playing the song before the students arrive - while they are getting ready and taking their seats, they will already have a chance to listen to the piece and form an opinion about it. Once the lesson begins, discuss how the song made you feel, whether you liked it, what it is about, etc.

2. Video . Use a music video/fragment from a movie, TV series, etc. For this you will need a projector. The principle of discussion will be the same as with the song.

3. Freeze . Show students a still from the video. Discuss what is happening there and what will happen next. After the discussion, you can watch the video to the end and talk about whether they expected this ending or not and why.

4. Photo . Discussion of an image is a very common task. To make a bigger impression on students, use a projector to display the photo on a wall or board.

Phrases, sentences, quotes

5. Finish the sentence . Write the beginning of a sentence on the board in advance (for example,I feel the happiest when...) and ask each student to complete it as he/she sees fit. A brief discussion may follow.

6. Quote . Write a pre-selected quote on the board. Ask how students understand it, whether they agree or disagree, who the quote might belong to, why they think so, etc.

7. Idiom/proverb/catchphrase. Ask your students to explain how they understand the phrase written on the board. Ask if they agree with it or not and why.

Visual aids

8. What common? Prepare several photos on the same topic. Discuss with them what these photographs have in common. Ask students to guess the topic of the lesson from the pictures.

9. Moving agree/disagree . Ask students to rise from their seats. Prepare some statements in advance. Set rules - if they agree with the statement, then they occupy, for example, the left side of the classroom, if not, then the right.

10. Moving true/false. The principle is the same as in the previous task. Prepare some facts. If students believe that the statement is accurate, they occupy one part of the room, if not, then another.

Repetition

11. Use the word. Write down the vocabulary you recently covered on the board in advance. Ask a question such as " How was your weekend?" When answering a question, the student must use one or more words written on the board.

12. Explain the word. Prepare cards with new vocabulary in advance (one card - one word) and lay them out face down. Students must explain the meaning of the words; If the student doesn’t know the word, let him try to guess its meaning based on the topic.

Lifehacks for the introductory part of the lesson

— It is important to prepare the class for the introductory part in advance: write on the board the phrase/expression/quote that you will discuss, turn on the projector, display a video, photo, clip, etc.

So, even before the lesson begins, students will begin to think about what is written on the board, to understand whether they like what they just read/saw. This way you will start the learning process before the lesson starts.

— the question “How are you?” takes place. But you shouldn't use it at the beginning of every lesson. Ask it before the start of the lesson, when students are just entering the classroom.

Use this question in the introduction if the topic of the lesson really relates to it.

Don't be afraid to experiment and Happy Teaching!

Depending on the level of the students, this question one way or another arises before every English teacher and, despite the fact that the need to minimize the native language in a foreign lesson is obvious, solving this problem requires some effort. Let's try to figure out how to make the most of English in an English lesson and not switch to your native language unnecessarily.

Firstly, to the teacherit is important to understand that no matter what stage of education the student is at, conducting lessons in a foreign language is not only possible, but also necessary: It is the constant use of English for solving educational issues, discussions, clarifying goals, as well as for games, comments, questions and assessments that is an indispensable condition for the development of language skills in students. If children get used to the fact that in an English lesson all conversations, answers, questions, as well as explanations and comments take place in English, you can expect that they will gradually become involved in this process and even at an early stage of learning the language will try to construct phrases in English .

An important concept in talking about the use of English in the classroom is the so-called. Teacher Talking Time (TTT), that is, the time of the lesson when the teacher talks. Of course there is also Student Talking Time (STT)– student talking time. Since it is obvious that it is the student who needs training and development of language skills in the lesson, his STT, “talking time,” should be maximized by reducing TTT, “teacher talking time.” Thus, the teacher faces a difficult task: to speak less and at the same time in English. And here are the means you can use to solve this problem.

Grade language – simplify your language and speak a little slower

Firstly, in order to speak English in a lesson with children who have just or recently started learning the language, everything you say must be simplified: use as much as possible the vocabulary that the children already know, as well as “international” words - something that sounds about the same in English as in Russian. This is an excellent and incredibly useful practice both for you (later you will be able to switch to different levels automatically) and for your students: you will speak to them in English, using what they already know, and children will get used to skipping or guessing unknown words (incredibly useful strategy for using English outside of school).

For example, you need to give instructions for completing a task in pairs. Probably, turning to an English-speaking teenager, you can say: “Take your handouts and when you"ve read the task fill in the first column with information about your hobbies." It is unlikely, however, that the average fifth grader will understand such instructions.

You can simplify it like this:

Or, for example, a student asks the meaning of the word dangerous.

Instead of the unadapted “it is something that can harm you or cause problems,” you can simply say “it”s bad for you. Fire (draw fire on the board) is dangerous: ouch! (You can show how you pull your hand away.) Angry dog ​​(draw a dog’s face with bigger teeth on the board) is dangerous (point to the angry dog ​​and teeth). At some point in your explanation, someone in the group will definitely guess. Encourage students to come up with ideas, even if they are not entirely correct. Show with gestures that the student has almost guessed it and needs to try a little more. Praise everyone involved—not too much, but be sure to show that you appreciate their efforts.

Use gestures and pictures – use gestures and pictures

As you already noticed from the previous advice and its examples, gestures are an indispensable attribute of simplifying language. And this is absolutely natural, because in life we ​​often use gestures to reinforce what is being said. Of course, not every English teacher can portray an angry, toothy dog, but most common verbs and objects are not difficult to demonstrate. And what is difficult to depict is sometimes easy to sketch on the board: love looks like a heart, angry - like a smiley face with knitted eyebrows, and windy - like curls in which a couple of leaves are floating.

There are some gestures you will use quite often, and once children remember them, it will become a very handy tool. In this way you can show the tense of the verb: past - point your thumb behind your back, present Continuous - point with your index finger in front of you.

Plan and break down what you are going to say - plan in advance what you are going to say

Plan what you are going to say in advance: Most importantly, be sure to plan instructions for difficult or new tasks. First, state what needs to be explained. Then break it down into steps and think about at what point you will voice it. After that, simplify the text as much as possible.

For example, you need to explain to students how to play a game like Happy Families (this is a type of game where there are cards on several topics in a set and each player, having identified a topic for himself, collects it during the game by exchanging cards with neighbors). If you focus on the starting level of students, you can prepare the following explanation:

(Surely one of the children has already understood what game you are talking about, and happily duplicates you in Russian: nod and show that the guess is correct, but do not allow the discussion to be translated into Russian).

2. Each student takes 5 cards (slowly, say and show 5 with your fingers and pretend that you are taking the cards).

3. Hold your cards like this (raise your hand with the cards and show how to hold).

4. Student number 1 takes one card from student number 2 (again, take your time and show specific children who takes out cards from whom).

5. Now, student number 2 takes one card from student number 3... – and so on. Monitor the class to see if the children have understood the instructions or if it is better to repeat something again.

6. If you have 4 cards from 1 topic (speak slowly and show all the numbers on your fingers) – 4 birds or 4 animals – the game is finished, you are the champion!

Give examples and models – show yourself how to complete tasks

One of the most convenient ways to avoid long and complex explanations, especially when it comes to instructions for a task, is to demonstrate its implementation. You can either do it yourself, simply by doing the first point of the exercise out loud, or ask someone who has already guessed it. For example, if you start solving a crossword puzzle, you can do this:

1. Let's look at the crossword (take the crossword and demonstratively look at it).

2. Read number 1 Across (turning your piece of paper or textbook towards the children, point with your finger which section you are reading from) – “This is something you wear on your head” (read the task out loud).

4. Okay? Now you finish the rest. Make sure everyone understands and give the task. If one or two do not understand, repeat it to them again without distracting the others.

Use and display classroom language– use “lesson phrases” and make sure they are always visible to children

Classroom language, or “lesson phrases,” are the most common phrases that you and your students say in class.

Typically, the list looks something like this:

Sorry, I don't understand.

I don't remember.

What does ____ mean?

What's ___ in English?

Can you say that again, please?

Can I have _____, please?

Help me, please!

To ensure that children always use these phrases, you can write them and hang them on signs near the board, hand them out on printouts and ask them to paste them into notebooks, or simply write them on the board, take them apart and ask the children to copy them into notebooks.

Help learners say what they want– help students formulate English phrases

This is probably one of the easiest ways to switch the class to English: when a child says something in Russian and cannot formulate it in English, translate and ask him to repeat it. This is a good strategy because the student gets a good model and actually pronounces it himself. This should not be done in the case of some long comments that are not related to the course of the lesson, but if necessary, the strategy is absolutely justified.

At the same time, teach schoolchildren to ask for a specific word that they do not know and formulate a phrase with it, nothing will always be absolutely correct.

An English lesson in which the native language is used minimally and only when necessary is not an ideal picture, but a joint work of students and teachers, without which results in learning a foreign language are impossible. At the same time, by trying different techniques and analyzing your actions and students' reactions, you can establish an effective working atmosphere in your lessons and create an English-speaking environment in which students gradually develop their skills.

Teaching English is a much more complex, but at the same time interesting process than is commonly believed. ? This is the question asked by every young teacher, course teacher (language school) and beginning English tutor. It is important to understand that teaching the first lesson is no less stressful for a teacher than the first lesson at school for a first-grader. And sometimes a lot depends on how successfully everything goes. Many people underestimate the role of the teacher, but it depends on him whether the student will love this subject, or will think that he has no abilities; many continued to study English after school and moved to live abroad, only because their school teacher instilled in them a love of languages.

How to conduct English lessons? Knowing the answer to this question, we will certainly get a new generation of schoolchildren for whom English will not cause stress and who will be able to speak it normally while on vacation with their parents abroad, or with a foreign friend via the Internet. The problem for most Russian schoolchildren is that after many years of English at school (usually from the 5th grade), they cannot speak even a couple of words without hesitation! I believe that the roots of this problem go back to teachers who don't like their subject or don't even want to try to teach it in an interesting way.

Teaching English is never easy, whether you're teaching native English speakers or teaching non-native English speakers. English lessons begin in the classroom. Ideally, this is a permanent place that the teacher can independently arrange in accordance with his wishes. What can you recommend for designing an English class? Flags, coats of arms and maps of countries where English is the official language. Since the list of such countries exceeds several dozen, you can stop at: Canada, Australia,. Cuttings from newspapers and magazines in English will look stylish. A great option is a bookshelf with magazines, books and printouts in English that you can take home. If it is modern literature with interesting content (even fashion magazines or books for teenagers), your students will want to read them, and for this they will have to pick up a dictionary. If there is interest, there will be progress! If you are an English tutor and your students come to your home, then this rule applies to you too. Tables with rules are common companions in the English classroom, but let them not be the only decorations.

Another important aspect is the textbooks and other additional materials on which your English lesson is based. Most school textbooks are not very interesting, but if the school curriculum requires the use of specific teaching aids, as in language schools, then the tutor has much more scope for activity! Again, no one will forbid you to use additional ones. When going to class, plan for more interactivity so that all students feel comfortable and can discuss different topics orally. Always keep in mind that when students participate in English lessons, then you are on the right track to become a successful English teacher.

Now let's look at some points on how you can make your English lessons more meaningful for your class. Good teaching requires you to be friendly, be everyone's friend. An angry, arrogant teacher who is always confident that he is right will never become ideal, much less popular. If you think that this is unrealistic, then you are deeply mistaken, I know many such teachers, they are loved and happy in their work. Surprisingly, almost all of them are men...

If you are teaching people who already know English, then your main goal is to help them appreciate the beauty of the language and appreciate English literature. Literature will allow them to learn more beautiful, competent and refined English, unconsciously and without pressure. People who read speak more beautifully and correctly, that’s a fact. Grammar is also well absorbed and learned through reading.

And if you teach those for whom English is still a completely unfamiliar language, then it depends on you whether they will love this language or not. Your main goal is to instill in them the knowledge necessary to have basic speaking skills in that language. You'll have to start with the simplest words and slowly but surely work your way up. Teaching English requires you to be unpredictable, constantly changing your strategies over and over again. However, it would be nice to have traditions - it unites both the family and the teacher with the students. Holidays and traditions of celebrating them are your key to success! Thematic lessons, tea parties, and performances are labor intensive, but the payoff is worth it. This will bring your lessons to life.

How to conduct English lessons? As a teacher, there are several things you can do to keep your class active and engaged. Games are the most effective, with many different vocabulary, grammar and speaking skills games that can be adapted into the classroom. But make sure that the games will be interesting and useful. Dialogues and improvised skits are more important than just boring grammar, if you look at it from a practical point of view. Grammar, divorced from conversational skills, has little value. Interesting dialogues, texts, songs and much more can also be found on the website of the online English language learning service -. I told you more about this service.

Any subject involves testing knowledge: tests, quizzes and assessments. Give occasional easy tests that you can be sure students will do well. This will give them confidence and they will actually look forward to more difficult challenges (tests and quizzes).

Comprehension is the best way to test English. Written comprehension tests are good, but if you also give audio or visual comprehension tests, it will be much better. Listen, conduct dialogues, watch videos.

Another important aspect, sometimes the most important, is grades. There is one golden rule: do not scold a student in front of everyone. Ask him to stay and explain his shortcomings face to face, public humiliation and insult are unacceptable! However, I think there is no need to explain that in general any humiliation, rude expressions and insults are unacceptable! As for praise, it is necessary to praise. But don’t overdo it by singling out favorites; you harm both them and yourself. Especially if these are subjective likes and dislikes. It's difficult, but possible.

If you think about it, there is nothing difficult about becoming an ideal English teacher, and now you know exactly how to teach English lessons. By following all these simple rules, you can be sure that your students will sincerely be able to say: I love English!

Every person who has at least once attended a language course or individual lessons with a teacher asks himself the questions: “How effective are my lessons? Is the teacher constructing the course of the lesson correctly?”

We will try to answer these questions and approximately recreate the structure of an ideal lesson. I would like to immediately note that the sequence of blocks that we will indicate may change depending on the wishes of the teacher.

1 . Let's start with the fact that an effective lesson cannot last less than an hour and a half. 1 hour 30 minutes is the time during which the teacher will be able to explain all the new material, check your homework, play a small vocabulary or grammar game with you, and give you audio materials to listen to or watch a video.

2 . In addition, the number of people in the group should be limited. If there are more than 8 students in the classroom, then the lesson is considered ineffective. The teacher cannot devote time to everyone and interview everyone, check homework, etc. So it’s better to choose mini-groups with 4-7 people.

3 . Each lesson must begin with checking homework. “Why didn’t we do it at school? Why homework? - your indignation can be heard. The fact is that homework, sad as it may sound, plays one of the main roles in learning English.

Many people who come to language courses do not even suspect that they will be assigned work at home, and some simply declare out of the gate that they will not do anything at home. But it's not right! Homework is necessary to ensure that you constantly maintain a normal level of knowledge and consolidate the material you have covered. Therefore, you cannot refuse homework!

4 . Next in the lesson plan there should be a new topic. Here the teacher plans new vocabulary and grammar. To consolidate lexical material, you can watch a thematic film or other video materials; to consolidate grammar, you can do several exercises, play a grammar game, etc.

5 . A good lesson must have time devoted to listening. The teacher gives you a dialogue, monologue or audiobook, you must catch the spoken language, and then recreate it yourself in English (retell). For groups where the language level is not very high, listening is often practiced as homework. Students first listen to the material in class, the teacher explains unclear points, and then the students independently listen to the same material several times at home and retell it at the next lesson.

7 . At the end of a good lesson there should be a relaxing part. You can watch a short piece of a film in English, tell the latest news or a funny joke, etc.

If a teacher pays attention to only one student in a lesson or doesn’t have time to interview everyone, don’t be too happy about it (like, hurray, they got rid of me!). If you do not participate in the dialogue, you will not be able to consolidate the acquired knowledge. Besides, you will never be able to overcome the notorious language barrier because you will not have the oral communication skills.

In general, a good English lesson is a lesson in which the teacher puts his soul into it. If you feel that something in a lesson does not suit you, it is better to change teachers, because such lessons will definitely not be of any use.

The job of a teacher seems simple and quite obvious - you know English and tell others how to speak, write, etc. Some people believe that there is practically no need to do anything at all - they came, talked and left. But few people except us teachers know that a huge part of this work remains behind the scenes. After all, each lesson is a well-developed and carefully prepared material, adapted to a specific student, built into the structure of lesson cycles in such a way as not to violate the integrity of the entire educational process.

How much time to waste

In schools today, teachers are required to carefully prepare by writing written notes for each lesson. This is very labor- and time-consuming, especially for young teachers who have not yet gotten their hands on this difficult task. Private schools and courses do not require this, but preparation for lessons has also not been canceled. Some teachers believe that you should prepare for each lesson for about an hour to find suitable material, prepare or adapt tasks for the lesson. If you have two lessons a day, then it’s not a big deal; if you have six, then get ready to spend the rest of your life behind a pile of books or in front of a monitor screen. Of course, everything can and should be optimized as much as possible.

Do the bare minimum when preparing for your lessons, and then it will take you on average fifteen or twenty minutes. By and large, the teacher has to work mainly with the same educational materials. So, if the textbook is new to you, you will need more time to thoroughly familiarize yourself with the tasks, read the texts, listen to audio recordings, and familiarize yourself with the additional tasks presented in it. Plus, spend five minutes thinking through creative game activities in class, and plus five minutes writing everything down nicely and legibly.

First impression

Preparation for the first lesson with a new group and a new student is especially important. The first meeting is always very important, as it deposits in the student’s subconscious the impression of the teacher and the lesson with him. At the first lesson, you can infect the student with a huge charge of motivation or discourage the desire to study at all. That is why you should prepare especially carefully for the first lesson. Some modern educators argue that a teacher should normally spend the entire day preparing for a lesson with a new group of students. But, unfortunately, not everyone has such luxury and can afford to spend so much time, even with all the desire. It is important to consider some factors here.

• First of all, it's your experience. If you are just starting to work and you don’t have your own experience yet, you don’t know what to expect from the first lesson, how to properly develop its structure, then in this case you will need much more time, perhaps a couple of hours. If you are an experienced teacher, you should not relax, since every new student is a new “challenge”.
• Secondly, it is important to be prepared for the fact that different people have different paces. The number of tasks that one student will complete for a whole lesson, another can complete in ten minutes. Make sure that you don’t have to figure out what to do with your more active students during the lesson.
• Thirdly, remember that the stated level of a student does not always correspond to the actual level. Often people either underestimate or overestimate their knowledge. Therefore, if the tasks are too easy or too difficult, there will be no point. Prepare at least two versions of tasks, more difficult and easier, and during the lesson decide which is best to use.
• Fourthly, make sure that the lesson is not boring. Everyone loves positive emotions. Include a game moment in the tasks, take interesting topics for discussion or short humorous articles. Be sure to praise the student.

Materials

There is no clear opinion on what materials to use when preparing for lessons. Some methodologists encourage the development of teachers' creative abilities and encourage them in every possible way to apply them in life. Some enthusiastic teachers draw pictures, come up with crossword puzzles, and almost write books themselves. But there is also the opposite opinion - why invent a bicycle? There are a ton of great textbooks that are freely available from a variety of resources. They already offer a lot of interesting and extremely useful tasks. They are well structured, developed by talented and experienced methodologists and teachers. Just take and consistently perform all the exercises in order.

As always, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The best way is to use several textbooks in preparation for the lesson and personal experiences that, in your experience, resonate with students. It is extremely effective to combine several textbooks on a similar topic. For example, you are working on the Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate textbook and are going through the first module in it, which touches on the Present Simple tense. In addition, you can take a grammar book - R. Murphy for adults or Round-Up for children - to further work on grammar. You can also offer some kind of grammar game or your own developments. This way the lesson will be rich, will cover all aspects, and you will be able to work on this topic as efficiently as possible.

Remember that the time spent preparing for classes will pay off handsomely. You will always feel confident in any situation in the lesson, and you will not be caught off guard. Always take into account the needs and wishes of your students, take into account their individual characteristics and level of ability. Then your lessons will always be interesting and your students motivated.

Big and friendly EnglishDom family