Humble Opinion On Preparing Lessons

陳明根

Summary:

Preparing a lesson well is the prerequisite to a lesson. As a teacher of English we must grasp the spirit of the textbook; go through the whole unit and prepare lessons – one unit as a whole; use the teacher’s book well and add something new according to what the students need. We must proceed from Presentation; devote a lot of time and energy to Reading and Practice; devote much attention to Consolidation and Summing up afterwards. In this way, we can reach the goal of English teaching and achieve good teaching efficiency.

Key words:

preparing lessons – one unit as a whole; practicing design ; summing up afterwards ; teaching efficiency;

As it is well-known to all of us, preparing a lesson well is the prerequisite to a lesson. I know it only after many years of teaching. I began to teach English 25 years ago. In 1996 SEFC (Senior English for China) started to be widely used all over our country. I felt it is an honor for me to teach it for three rounds. After eight years of teaching I have found that it has a lot of advantages compared with the old one. The students can get to know much daily spoken English and written English. It provides the students with a lot of vivid and instructive teaching materials. It is a perfect combination of contents and formation. If we don’t try our best to grasp the spirit of the textbook; If we don’t understand well the purposes of the editors; If we don’t transit the traditional teaching method to the modern communicative approach, we can not use the textbook well and we can not make full use of the advantages it has .I think that a good lesson given by a certain teacher is based on a good preparation. If you prepare the lessons well, you will have been half way to success . Your students will surely like the lessons you given. In this article, I would like to talk about something on how to prepare the lessons.

1. Getting to know the unit

As you know, it is very important to get the lessons well prepared. I think it is good and helpful to prepare one unit as a whole. We know the teaching material provides a very new teaching system which is combined with small systems of several units. Every unit has its task to finish as part of the whole system of the book. And every unit has its own small system which has four lessons with different teaching requirements. Each lesson has a clear teaching goal which is always connected with the goals of the whole unit. That is why we have to think about our teaching plan within the whole unit. We should try to improve the students’ English level step by step. We know from the book that one unit has only one topic. Everything goes around this topic. So first, we should go through the whole unit, including the notes to the texts, and get to know what it is about; how many new words and expressions for the students to have; what words we need to give more explanations; what grammar we are supposed to teach in this unit and what connection it has with other units; what kind of teaching aids we will need in class, etc. In this way, we will have some idea of when and how to teach the certain new knowledge.

2. Preparing

The teacher’s book gives us some advice and suggestions on how to teach. They are very good and practical. But in my understanding, they are only suggestions. You do not have to do exactly the same. So when I read through the teaching plan for one unit in the teacher’s book, sometimes I make some changes and I choose some of the suggestions and sometimes I add something new myself according to what my students need. But the spirit and purposes should be almost the same. Usually we have five steps in one period such as Revision; Presentation; Drill or Reading; Practice and Consolidation. If we do not understand them well, it will be very difficult to reach the teaching goal of the textbook. Now let me tell you how I usually do in class.

The first step: Revision: I think it is very important to get the students to revise what they have learned in last few units. I usually deal with this step orally. The teacher’s book gives us some directions. I often do something according to what I have asked the students to do in the class before. Only after many times of revision, can the students really learn it. As we know, language can be mastered only after a period of time, not in a short time. I usually do one or two of the following three ways (A,B,C) in this step in one class.

A) Question bombardment – a kind of free talk according to what the students have learned or what they will learn. Sometimes we talk about our daily life. I’ll ask a lot of questions in English very quickly and get my students to answer them quickly. For example, in Lesson 91 Unit 23 in Book II , I say: “Yesterday we learned a passage about telephones. We have known something about the telephones, especially the developing history of the telephone and how the telephone works. Now I’ll ask you some questions. Please listen carefully.

Q 1: What do you call a book with all the telephone numbers in it? (We call it a telephone directory.)

Q 2: How were the first telephones connected with each other? (They were connected with each other by thick heavy wires.)

Q 3: How are the telephones connected with each other today? (They are connected with each other by satellite and by very thin glass pipes.)

Q 4: Why did a person have to wind a handle at the side of the old telephone? (Because she must produce enough electricity to make a call.)

Q 5: What is the problem with using metal wires to send electrical signals? (The problem is that electrical signals get weaker and weaker as they travel along metal wires.)

B) Free-talking – ask the students to raise questions freely about one topic I give them. Usually this topic has something to do with our previous units.

C) Homework checking: We often find we don’t have enough time to finish all the exercises in the workbook in class, so I usually check those left in the previous class after the students finish them at home. From this we can know how well they have understood.

The second step: Presentation. In this step, the teacher should be a demonstrator. He / She should try to make some situation to let the students know naturally and clearly the new words and expressions and also some language points. When I prepare my lessons, I always spend a lot of time on presentation, thinking about it for quite a while before I get down to writing them down. This is a step to form a connecting link between the proceeding and the following. If you present it well, the students will show great interest in what you are going to teach. During the presentation, the students can get to know the knowledge supposed to be taught in this unit. I always have something to say before I ask the students to open the book whether the teacher’s book gives us certain suggestions.

Again let me take lesson 91 unit 23 Book II for an example. I show a mobile phone to the students while I say: “Look, What’s this? You can answer in Chinese.” Some of the students may answer: “手機”. I say: Yes. In Chinese we call it “手機” while in English we call it a mobile phone. (Bb: Mobile phone) And I again ask them: “Can you guess the meaning of the word “mobile”? The students: Yes. “mobile” means “可移動的” in Chinese. Then I say: “ Very good. Today we are going to read a text about mobile phones. They are new models of telephone. Please turn to page 64. Look at the passage. I’ll give you five minutes to read the passage quickly and silently. And then answer the following questions:”

Answer the following questions: (Write down the questions on the blackboard:)

Q 1. Which new type of mobile phone is described in the text? (The mobile phone with a small computer which remembers the telephone numbers of people you want to ring.)

Q 2. What is a mobile phone? (A mobile phone is a phone that has no wires and can be carried about in your pocket or your bag.)

Q 3. What is the difference between a mobile phone and an ordinary phone? (A mobile photo is smart and you can take it with you wherever you go. But you can’t take an ordinary phone with you.)

Q 4. What is cordless phone? (A cordless phone is a phone which also has no wires and be useful

in the office or in the factory.)

Q 5. What can the new model phone do? Why can it do so? (The phone can recognize the name you say and then dials the correct numbers. Because it has a computer in it.)

The third step: Drill / Reading. I usually teach in the way the teacher’s book suggests. But if it is about the reading , I often have something different to do in class in order to get more information from the passage and understand it better. Besides the way the teacher’s book tells us to, I sometimes ask my students to read the passage and choose the best answer. Now let me take lesson 90 unit 23 Book II for an example.

Read the passage <<Telephones>> and choose the best answer

( ) 1. The number of telephone in 1990 is nearly times as large as that in 1877 .

A. 1000 B. 10000 C. 100 D. 100000

( ) 2. People prefer to use light signals because .

A. they are lighter B. they are cheaper to send

C. they are simpler D. they are clearer

( ) 3. How is a message transferred on the telephone ?

A. Sound waves electrical signals sound

B. Voice electrical signals light signals electrical signals sound

C. Sound waves light signals voice

D. Sound waves light signals sound

( ) 4. The handle of an old telephone was used for .

A. producing enough electricity to make a call

B. making a note of the length of the telephone call

C. telling the operator which number is wanted

D. changing the waves of your voice into electrical signals

( ) 5. The job of an operator is .

A. to wind the handle for customers and charge the phone call B. to connect the two numbers and make a note of the time and charge the call C. to mend telephones and telephone wires D. all of the above

The fourth step: Language points learning and practice. I always lead the students to deal with the language points and then let them do some translations designed by me to these points. Take Lesson 89 Unit 23 Book II. for an example:

Explain some difficult points of the dialogue:

1. I’m sorry, I think I dialled the wrong number. 對不起, 我撥錯了電話號碼了. dial vt / vi撥(電話號碼) 例如: If you wish to call the United States, dial 0011 and then the number. 如果你想打電話去美國, 先撥0011, 再撥你要撥的電話號碼. I dialled my friend’s number, but the line was busy. 我打電話給我的朋友, 但電話占著線.

2. Would you like a word with her? 你想和她談談嗎? = Would you like a few words with her? =Would you like to speak to her? like a word / a few words with sb. = have a word / a few words with sb. 和某人說幾句話. *** have words with sb. 和某人吵架; 試比較: He is waiting to have a word with you / like a word with you. 他正在等著想和你講幾句話呢. They said that Mr. Smith and Miss Allen had words with each other last Friday. 他們說上周五史密斯先生和艾倫小姐吵架了.

3. Hold on. I’ll go and get her. 請稍侯, 我去把她找來接電話. hold on (可接 a moment ; a minute ) 請稍侯; 別掛電話; 例如: Hold on a moment, I’ll tell you Lin Mei’s telephone number. 請稍侯, 我來告訴你林梅的電話號碼. Hold on Li Fang, I’ll check answers to the maths problems with you. 別掛電話李芳, 我來與你對一下數學題的答案. 堅持; 繼續; 例如: Heavy snow held on the whole night. 大雪下了整整一夜. In the storm, people were told to hold on till the PLA men came. 在暴風雨中人們被告知要堅持到解放軍戰士的到來. hold on to 抓住 …… 不松開 例如: The little boy held on to his mother’s hand while crossing the street. 過馬路時, 那個小男孩緊緊抓著他媽媽的手. get 叫來; 找來; 請來; 例如: Shall I go and get a taxi? 要我去叫輛出租車嗎?

4. The speaker’s supposed to be excellent. 這個演講者據說很不錯. be supposed to be 被認為是……. ; 應該 …… ; 理應 …… (表示根據規定人們不得不做的事情, 或期待發生的事情). 例如: He is supposed to be there on time. 人們認為他會準時到的. They are supposed to be away from home. 大家認為他們出遠門去了. You are supposed to start work at 8 o’clock every morning. 你應當在上午八點鐘開始干活. I’m supposed to be at home by ten o’clock at night. 晚上十點時我應當在家. ***主動語態用法例句: All the students suppose him to be bright. 所有的學生都認為他聰明. People in old times supposed the earth to be flat. 古時候人們認為地球是平的.

5. I’ve already got something on that evening. 那天晚上我有些事. 句中的 on 表示 “有某種活動正在進行” 例如: Have you got anything on this evening? 你今晚有事嗎? We’ve got a very important piece of work at the moment. 此時我們有項重要工作在進行.

6. We must get together some other time for a chat. 我們得找個別的時間聚在一起聊聊. chat vi 聊天 get together 相聚; 例如: The whole family got together for the Mid-Autumn Festival. We need less chat and more work. 我們必須少說話多干事.

7. All the best! 祝你萬事如意! 再如: All the best with your family!祝你全家都好! All the best with / in your study / business! 祝你學習進步! / 事業有成!

Put the following into English or Chinese :

1. 你姐姐似乎想和你講幾句話 .

(Your sister seems to have a word / a few words with you.)

2. 他們和她吵過架 .

(They have had words with her.)

3. 對不起, 先生. 請別掛電話, 我找一下鋼筆 .

(Excuse me, Sir. Hold on, please. I’m looking for a pen.)

4. 堅持下去. 一切都會好起來的.

(Hold on, everything will be all right soon.)

5. The wind was blowing so hard that I had to hold on to my hat when I went home .

(我下班的時候風特別大, 我不得不一路抓著帽子.)

6. 珍妮被認為是我們班里最好的學生 .

(Jenny is supposed to be the best student in our class.)

7. Professor Smith is supposed to be the main speaker at the conference .

(據猜測, 史密斯教授將是大會的主要發言人.)

8. 我們的飛機應在上午十點半起飛 .

(Our plane is supposed to take off at 10 a.m.)

9. 你不可以在公共汽車上抽煙 .

(You are not supposed to smoke on the bus.)

10. 祝你在新的工作崗位上一切順利 .

(All the best in your new job!)

Sometimes I ask them to work in pairs or in groups to discuss and find out the main idea for each paragraph or ask them to do “asking and answering questions” according to the passage. For example, to ask and answer one or two questions for each paragraph, I’ll ask them to practice in pairs first, then do the chain-work. They may ask any student in class to answer his /her question. In these two steps, the teacher should be the conductor and listener.

The fifth step: Consolidation. If time permits besides what is told in the teacher’s book I will sometimes give the students some “T” or “F” statements to do so that I can check how well they understand the passage. Sometimes I ask my students to retell the dialogue or the passage. I usually give them some hints or just ask them to do it according to the main ideas of each paragraph or the questions given as clues. (If there is not enough time, I’ll leave this as their homework. When they come back the next day, I’ll check it.) I’ll ask them to practice in groups first, then one or two groups demonstrate in class. In lesson 79 Unit 20 book II, I ask the students to find out the main idea in each paragraph after class . The students like to do this. They learn a lot from this.

Find out the main idea in each paragraph: (the following is the answers)

1. People with disabilities are not stupid and disabilities are very common / usual .

2. Disabilities are not total .

3. We must make life easier for the disabled people .

4. We must bring disabled children back into normal school and we should take care of them .

3. Summing up

From my experience in my teaching for many years, I find it is very important to sum up afterwards what you have taught. Many teachers may think they have finished teaching when the class is over and after finishing grading the students’ homework. But in fact it is not completely right. If we consider the preparation as the teaching plan, grading the students’ homework as evaluation of the teaching procedure, then the teaching notes after the class should be considered as the rethinking of the teaching procedure. Without rethinking, we cannot evaluate our own teaching efficiency and we cannot find the strong points and shortcomings of our teaching. I often make notes after class. Sometimes, you know, we feel after class it has been very successful. And sometimes we also find it has not been so good. I make some notes in order to improve my teaching in the future. By and by, I have a lot of experience. This is a teaching research for myself. It is also for the research in the field of English teaching. I’ve realized if we have a small summary for one lesson or one unit, after one semester we’ll have a big summary for the whole teaching. This is not only good for the students, it is also good for the teachers. In this way, we can improve our teaching method to reach the goal of the English teaching. Only by doing this, can we see clearly how the new teaching material will meet the need of the new teaching situation.

Now my students are becoming more and more interested in English. They say they never feel sleepy in the English classes. They are always in high spirits from the beginning to the end of the class . The students are not passive to receive the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. They are very active to participate in the activities in class to use the language through practice. It clearly improve their abilities of listening and speaking. The study of English is no longer dull to them. They don’t have to try very hard to remember the new words and grammar rules. They get to know customs, culture, technology and achievements by learning English. They master a very important weapon to get more information. They have become more confident, more interested in learning English. They will try very willingly to find more materials to read to improve their English and become more cultured. They enjoy the happiness of their success through the study of English.

What I have been doing in my classes has no doubt brought good results. Their marks always stay at the top of the ten classes in the same grade in my school. Maybe it has something to do with the proper teaching method.

What I have talked about above is only a superficial understanding about the teaching of the textbook in the past eight years. If there is anything helpful to you, I’d be very pleased. I sincerely hope to get some feedback from all of you, teachers and experts.