Lesson Plans

A selection of lesson plans of all levels for use in EFL classes. The lesson plans contain the teaching stages and procedures as well as the worksheets that will be used in the lesson. All of them are available for free download in PDF format. Your comments and feedback are highly appreciated.

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Lots of students-even at higher levels-have problems with dates and especially with years. They seem confused that they can say two thousand seventeen (2017) but they cannot say one thousand nine hundred ninety (1992). They confuse numbers like ‘fifteen’ and fifty’ and sometimes they don’t know where to say ‘and’. This is an activity that gives the students the chance to practice the years in an engaging way after they have been introduced into how to say the years in English. For worksheets on how to read the years and further practice see here http://eltea.org/esl-worksheets/saying-the-year-date-in-english-2

dates

In this activity the students work in pairs.

Student A is on the one side of the classroom and Student B is on the other (just like in shouting dictation). Student A is standing in front of a desk with three timelines. The first one Is for the inventions, the second one is for the dates and the third one is for the inventors.  

Student A is given seven inventions (telescope-piano-fridge-hot air balloon- bike-plastic-telephone) at a random order. The student is also given twelve dates (years) seven of which match the year the inventions were invented. The goal is  to place the inventions along with their dates from the oldest to the latest.

Student B is given a photocopy with the right answers, e.g. The telescope was invented in 1608, again at a random order. Then he/she shouts the answers (in the order they appear on the photocopy) to Student A  who needs to place the inventions from the oldest to the latest. Student B shouts the answers only once. If student A doesn’t catch all of the dates ,he/she will have the chance to hear them again later on.

Later on Student B repeats the dates but this time the inventor is also mentioned, e.g. The telescope was invented in 1608 by Lippershey . Student A needs to place the inventors on the third timeline.

Depending on your students, you can make this more competitive by setting a time limit.

Download the materials below

 

Thursday, 26 October 2017 15:25

Saying the year date in English

Saying the date year in English seems to be quite a challenge for most students as they often tend to transfer the knowledge of their own L1. Below you can download a worksheet on how to read/pronounce the years in English as well as a 'HEAR &SAY' exercise for extra practice. If you want a more fun activity or if you have any kinaesthetic learners in you class, try a more hands-on activity here http://eltea.org/classroom-activities/shouting-the-dates-out

In a previous blogspot http://eltea.org/blog/how-to-implement-project-based-learning-in-your-esl-classroom I have presented the framework of a project based course and how it can build bridges between the classroom and the real world. One of the main arguments against project based courses is that they cannot be applied to young learners  as their cognitive framework and thinking capacity are still in the process of development.

Teachers sometimes get frustrated when they have to plan a course that will revolve around a real world challenge and it will be addressed to students with limited life experience and knowledge of English.

Taking into consideration that most young learners start a foreign language at the age of 5-6, we can assume that by the age of 7-8 they have acquired a low A2 level. Children between the ages of 7 and 11 are in what Piaget has called the concrete operational stage which is the third out of the four Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. During this time rational thought processes and their ability to make decisions and look for answers are sufficiently developed. At that age they also start dropping some egocentric characteristics and they find it easier to co-exist and share with others. Still, they might be reluctant to do away with ‘magical’ in exchange to reality thinking but this could be taken into account by incorporating more fantasy elements in your project.

Taking also into consideration that the project won’t be in the students’ L1 but in L2 it becomes obvious that the students will need more guidance by their teacher. The latter also needs to have a rough idea of how the whole project is going to unfold as the young learners do not get as much  freedom as the older students, who basically lead the whole project. Finally, the teacher needs to monitor closely in order to make sure that everyone is on the right track.

Below I will present the framework of a one-week project based course with a group of 12 Chinese students aged from 6 to 10. The age and the nationality of the students might sound intimidating to some teachers but as we all know students can surprise us in the most unexpected ways.

This is how the week unfolded:

A

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Monday

B

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

As it has already been mentioned here http://eltea.org/blog/how-to-implement-project-based-learning-in-your-esl-classroom,  a project-based course is framed by a guiding question. Assuming that the young learners enjoy getting messy and using their hands, I had decided to base my project on British food. When the students entered the classroom, I introduced myself and I asked them if they liked their classroom and the school. The students seemed to be amazed by the fact that in the grounds of the school there was a cemetery. So from the very beginning of our first lesson they started bombarding me with questions formed by single words in rising intonation. ‘Dead people?’, “Ghosts?’, “Ghosts in the school?’, ‘See ghosts?’

One of the main principles of PBL is that it answers a real life  question and at that exact moment the students burning question was if there were ghosts in the school and where they were.

I think that we as teachers struggle to come up with a guiding question for young learners because we try to think of  real life issues that we can also relate to. I really didn’t care if there were ghosts in the school or if ghosts really existed but for that group of students knowing the answer to such questions meant the world to them.

So obviously my pre-planned project on British food was ditched and the guiding questions of the week were the following: Do you believe in ghosts? Where do ghosts hide? 

 

Tuesday

C  D                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

E                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                         

On Tuesday the students were asked to draw on an A3 piece of paper a house with all its rooms and everything there was in the rooms. A model was provided on the board so that all students knew what to do.
There was lots of vocabulary practice on the things we can find in a house and towards the end of the lesson the students presented the house they had drawn to the whole class.

 

Wednesday

F  G  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

H   I

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

On Wednesday the students practised the prepositions of place and discussed where in the school/classroom the ghosts could hide. They were introduced to There is/There are and they practised using their drawing from the day before. Finally, they were given the picture of a house where they placed ghosts following the teacher’s instructions.

 

Thursday

J   K

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

On Thursday the plan was to come up with adjectives that could describe ghosts and I was thinking of words like scary, invisible etc. However, the students focused more on personality adjectives because they were looking for words to describe their own ghosts. Going down the path the students had chosen (focusing on personality adjectives), they wrote a description of their ghost after having seen the model on the board. After they had finished, the students read silently the descriptions of the other ghosts and decided with which one their own ghost would have become good friends.

 

Friday

L

                                                                                                                                                                              

On Friday the students revised what they had been doing all week and set up their project. One of the key features of a PBL course is the final outcome to match the guiding question and to be presented to an audience.
So the students decided to draw a big haunted house on the board and in each room they stuck photos of things people can find in each room (the flashcards they had practised on Tuesday). The students wrote the name of their ghost in a small ghost picture and stuck/hid it behind a thing in the house they had drawn on the board.
When the other students (the guests) came to see their project, each student (the hosts) talked about his/her ghost (the description they had written on Thursday) and asked the guests to guess where his/her ghost was.                                       

Eg: Guest: ‘ Is there a ghost behind the sofa in the living room?

        Host: Yes, there is. / No there isn’t.

Upon reflection, despite the initial concerns the project did come off. The students had the chance to practise all four skills throughout the project and they examined an issue they were genuinely interested in. This turned out to be an enjoyable experience for this group of young learners but indeed in the past there were also projects that did not work with young learners. But throughout my teaching career there were projects that were addressed to teenagers and adults that also did not work. It is not an issue of age. A project can fail due to many other reasons. It might be the choice of the topic, the lack of motivation or the group dynamics of a class. Despite the teacher’s good intentions, projects do fail just like any other kind of lesson. They key issue for the teacher is to examine why. PBL can be applied to all age groups provided the content of the course matches the students’ interests and expectations and any failure should not deter the teachers from experimenting with PBL or any other new approach.

If you want to see a PBL course with teenagers, have a look here http://eltea.org/blog/project-based-learning-and-teenagers-demanding-but-rewarding-an-authentic-one-week-course-with-plan-of-work,-materials-and-photos-slides-from-the-lessons 

 

More often than not, students ask teachers’ advice on how to sound more like a native speaker. Besides the distinct pronunciation, the use of emphatic intensifiers is an integral part in the speech of native speakers. The aim of this lesson is to practise students’ speaking skills by using emphatic intensifiers in order to sound more natural when they are talking about something they like or don’t like.

Find the lesson plan (with board pictures) below.

Wednesday, 27 September 2017 00:05

Icebreakers: It's that time of the year again!

It’s that time of the year again when teachers flip through their notes or browse through the Internet in search of the best icebreakers to kick off the new school year. Icebreakers can be an effective way to get to know each other in a new group and they are often used on the first day of a new course. When they are used in moderation, they can create a sense of community and establish a more relaxed and positive atmosphere in the classroom. What I find particularly useful when it comes to icebreakers is that they can set the tone and the nature of the course. It becomes clear from the very first day that the students will learn/practise the new language through engaging activities and group work and that’s something that all students do appreciate.

Icebreakers can be of great benefit provided they are not ritualistic and certain parameters are taken into consideration. What is usually problematic is that some teachers feel obliged to fit them in their first lesson and they often choose random activities that they have heard of or come across online or even worse they use the same icebreakers for all age groups.

What is essential when teachers select their icebreakers is to make sure that the latter fit the profile of their group. This might sound hard or even impossible considering that most teachers meet their students on the first day of the course. However, although you might not know details on the individuals, you can still make some assumptions and select your icebreakers based on their age. This seems to be quite a good principal since different age groups respond to them in different ways. For example, young learners love them whereas most adults want to be over fast. Finally, if age is your criterion you need to remember that the older your students, the more cautious you need to be when you select icebreakers.

YOUNG LEARNERS

Young learners respond positively almost to any icebreaker that involves moving around, playing, drawing or singing. They love talking about themselves and their families and they are very enthusiastic and curious about their classmates and their teacher. Even when there is a language barrier, this doesn’t seem to be a problem. Kids come up with many different ways, such as miming or drawing, in order to find out if their classmates like the same PC games, sports and celebs as they do. By the end of the first lesson, young learners will have found the students with whom they have most in common and they will have formed new friendships. The only thing that teachers need to make sure is that there aren’t any students who have been marginalized from their peers. These students might be the silent ones who possibly need more time to bond or the ones who have been dominated by the more lively students. In such cases, the teacher needs to act fast and give equal opportunities to all students. It’s also a good idea to pair those students with someone who seems to have the same interests just like them. This needs to happen in a subtle and discreet way, such as regrouping all students or introducing a new game. Changing the group dynamics is something that young learners enjoy anyway.

TEENAGERS

The selection of icebreakers for a group of teenagers on the first day of a course can be quite crucial as it can determine the rapport between the teacher and the students. Their attitude towards you and your lesson will probably depend a lot on that first lesson and the activities you have designed for them. If you choose childish or random icebreakers, such as say your name and something that you like that starts with the first letter of your name, they will probably switch off. If you choose something interesting and relevant to their own world, they will probably be intrigued and interested to see what is coming next.
When your students are teenagers you need to choose icebreakers that will give each one of them the chance to show off at their peers and say something interesting that will make them stand out. After all, they want to make a good impression on their classmates and not the teacher. Therefore, you need to make sure that your activities on the first day do not involve any kind of embarrassment, such as miming, imitation of sounds or getting messy with food. These could be great fun once you know your group well so that you can decide who can take it and who not. Completive games might also be a bad idea on the first day. You don’t want anyone to leave the classroom feeling like a winner or a loser. As a teacher you want to create a classroom environment where everyone feels comfortable and everyone leaves the room with a positive attitude.

ADULTS

Teachers who have taught adults do know that, unlike young learners and teenagers, adults come to class with strong and specific expectations. Some of them might not even expect an icebreaker on the first day or they might want their teacher to cut to the chase right away. When my dad joined his first English lesson at the age of 67, he came back home quite disappointed that instead of reading texts and grammar rules he spent almost the whole lesson talking about himself in his broken English. I could get his frustration since all these icebreakers and personalization activities did not match the teaching he received earlier in life. Using his broken English for almost an hour to talk to people he had never seen before must have made him feel quite uncomfortable. When you select icebreakers for adults, it’s advisable to keep them short and sweet. If you have a large group, split them in smaller groups. Don’t feel obliged that everyone has to speak to everyone. Icebreakers that drag on too long cause frustration and boredom. Choose activities that are mature and relevant to your group’s interests. Avoid icebreakers that can be demeaning, threatening or involve any kind of physical contact. So, on the first day try to avoid icebreakers, such as the human knot, post-it notes on foreheads or line up from the youngest to the oldest. You don’t know your students well and you don’t know how they might react.

To sum up, icebreakers are a good way to bond the students with each other and the teacher and they can be a fun and enjoyable experience. However, when they are treated as part of a ritual of the first day at school or when they are chosen randomly, they can get off the wrong foot and bring the opposite results.


Find icebreakers for all age groups here: http://eltea.org/classroom-activities/icebreakers-for-kids-teens-and-adults-with-images 

Young learners

A. The Name Game

4

Place in front of the students 3 cards that show the following actions: a) whisper b) clap your hands c) snap your fingers. The cards should be upside down so that the students cannot see them. Ask each student to choose one and turn it over. Now the students have to say their name and something they like, e.g. My name is Annie and I like summer however the card they have chosen tells them to do so. They can whisper it, they can say it by rhythmically clapping their hands or snapping their fingers. It’s highly recommended to demonstrate and practise all three ways before the students start. Once all students have a go, ask them to choose another card (now there are just two cards on their desks) and do the same. This time they can say something else about themselves, e.g. another thing they like or don’t like. Do the same with the last card. Once they have said their name in all three ways turn it into a competition by asking questions like, ‘Who remembers all names?’, ‘What does Mary like?’ etc and give stickers or stamps. It’s also a good idea to let them know about the game in advance so that they have a reason to pay attention to everyone.

Another variation is after the student has said his/her name, the rest of the students repeat it as a chorus the same way the student has said it. For example, if a student says his/her name while rhythmically clapping his/her hands, the rest of the students repeat it as a chorus while they are also clapping their hands.

If you want to make it even more fun, the rest of the students can repeat it in the way the card they have chosen tells them to do so. So, some students will be whispering, some will be clapping their hands and some will be snapping their fingers. It can be quite loud but still lots of fun.

 

B. Discovering your classmate

7

Draw on the board a picture of you and write your name underneath. Then, draw things that are related to you and give them prompts. For example, write Food and next to it draw your favourite dish. Split your students in groups and ask them to discuss what they know about their teacher based on what’s on the board. When you elicit the answers, write the full sentences on the board.

Now that the students have a model on the board, ask them to do the same about themselves on an A4 piece of paper. Give them coloured markers and plenty of time as they love drawing. Once they finish, ask them to swap papers and see what they can discover about their classmates. During feedback discuss what they have in common. Finally, ask the students to leave their A4 pieces of paper in class and stick them on a wall to create a class profile. Remember to give them back at the end of the course. 

6            1

 

Another variation could be to write their name vertically and use the letters of their names to write things they like. The words they choose to write don’t have to start with the letters of their name. That is difficult and restrictive as the words they choose to write might not represent them.One of my groups came up with a better idea and they drew hearts to show how much they liked them. They drew one heart if they just liked it, two if they liked it a lot and three if they loved it. I found their idea brilliant and I decided to keep it. If you have young learners in a higher class, you can even adapt it and use phrases such as ‘I am keen on’, ’I’m fond of’ etc.Obviously inspired by my students’ idea, instead of hearts I drew pictures that could help somebody decide what these words reveal about me. Whichever you choose, give the students the chance to have a look at all of them either by passing them around or on a wall display that will later be used as a class profile. Let the students see/discuss what they have in common.

Obviously inspired by my students’ idea, instead of hearts I drew pictures that could help somebody decide what these words reveal about me. Whichever you choose, give the students the chance to have a look at all of them either by passing them around or on a wall display that will later be used as a class profile. Let the students see/discuss what they have in common.

Teenagers

A. ‘Do you think you know me?

This is an icebreaker that you could use when the students know each other a bit but you don’t know them. Prepare strips of paper that write: ‘What most people do not know about me is...’. Give one to each student and ask them to finish the sentence and write their name on the top. Once they finish, ask the students to pass them hand in hand from one person to the other until they get theirs back. Ask students by which one they were most impressed by and what additional questions they would like to ask the other students. This will probably initiate interesting discussions as all students become more motivated when they talk about themselves.

 

B. ‘What are you most proud of?’

25

Write on the board. ‘ I have saved a boy from drowning.’

Tell the students that this is your answer to a question somebody has recently asked you. Ask the students to discuss in pairs/groups what they think the question was. If after several attempts the students can’t find the exact question, give it to them. Write the question above the answer on the board. The question is ‘What are you most proud of in your life?’. The students will probably be impressed by your achievement and they will be intrigued to find out more by asking additional questions. Ask the students to write down something they are proud of and later ask them to go around the class and ask their classmates what they are proud of. When their partner answers their question, they can ask them two more additional questions. Set a time limit and ask them to speak to as many as possible.
This activity lends itself to some language instruction as well. Point out that the answer to the question is going to be in Present Perfect, e.g. I have saved a boy whereas all the additional questions will be in Simple Past, e.g. When did this happen? How did you feel? Make sure you have a model on the board for the weaker students.

Adults

The icebreakers described in teenagers can also be used with adults as they are mature enough and they also allow some language instruction.

A. Make a guess

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This is quite a common icebreaker that seems to work well with adults. It is short and it can initiate interesting conversations. Write on the board people, things and dates that are related to you and ask the students to guess how they are related to you. Have one or two ambiguous items in order to spark interesting guesses. First give them some time to discuss in pairs and later as a whole class. Remember to write the correct guesses on the board. With the model on the board ask the students to do the same. Tell them that they can write as many as they want ( ideally between 3-6 items) and they can be as revealing as they also want. Once they finish, they swap papers with the person next to them and they start making guesses.

B. Language learning beliefs and attitudes

As adults do come to class with specific expectations, it’s a good idea to discuss their attitude towards language learning and possibly their learning style.

Start with something more general by asking them to discuss the following quote:

language 4

 

Then, ask them to discuss whether they agree or disagree with the following:


a. If you want to learn a foreign language, you need to memorize vocabulary and grammar rules

b. I want to improve my speaking skills, so grammar is not that important.

c. The teacher should correct all of my mistakes, otherwise I won’t improve.

d. Different methods make no difference to English language learning.


Give them some time to discuss in groups and then as an open class.


Finally, reorganize the groups and give them some open ended questions, such as the following:


1. How would you describe the language teaching in your country?

2. What should be the elements of a successful lesson?

3. Do you have a method that helps you learn better?

4. When you learn a foreign language, besides the language what else do you learn?

It’s really important to know your students’ attitude towards language learning early on in order to adapt your teaching accordingly or explain what you do differently so that your students know what to expect.
It would also be a good idea to ask them to write their course expectations on post-it notes and stick them somewhere in the classroom. At the end of the course check how many of those have been fulfilled.

How about designing your own icebreakers? Before you do,you might want to have a look here: http://eltea.org/blog/icebreakers-it-s-that-time-of-the-year-again 

 

 

Project based learning (PBL)

Project based learning (PBL) is an inquiry-based method where students use language to tackle and solve real-world problems/tasks within a given amount of time.  Most teachers tend to relate PBL to TBL and though both of them are very much alike, there is a distinct difference. In PBL the task becomes the focal point, not of a lesson, but of a whole course which could range from one week to a whole term.

Though PBL stands out for its creativity and its authenticity, it’s these same reasons that might deter some teachers from implementing PBL in their ESL classroom. Teaching the standards through a project can be quite challenging especially for newly qualified teachers as it requires the teachers to think a lot on their feet.

A Guiding Question as a starting point of your project

Project-based lessons are framed by a guiding question that runs as a thread throughout the duration of the course and keeps the students focused on the project. The question derives from a central topic, e.g. London life and poses real life problems that reflect the students’ interests, e.g. How can a ‘newbie’ survive in London? for a group of students who are planning to study in London. Ideally the guiding question should be decided and phrased along with the students but when the latter are young or the time frame is tight the teacher can form the question on behalf of the students taking always into consideration the students’ interests.

Students’ & Teacher’s Role

Once the guiding question has been identified, the students work collaboratively and decide what steps need to be taken to answer the question and what could be their final outcome, e.g. a survival guidebook for London. Their investigation will often include interviews, internet research or reading books.PBL stands out not only because it engages students in meaningful tasks but also because it equips them with soft skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and team work. Throughout the project the students have to evaluate their findings, manage their time, make decisions and delegate duties just like in real life.

By granting so much autonomy to the students, some teachers might feel that they do not teach the basics and therefore they do not fulfill their role. However, this is not the case as there is still room for teacher-directed instruction. During the project the teacher can spot what language the students lack to successfully complete the task or what language could improve their project and provide immediate instruction. Moreover, knowing the guiding question and the final outcome of the project gives the teachers the chance to predict the language the students will need in advance. At this stage it is also the teacher’s responsibility to impose standards and check the students’ progress or even put them back on track if he/she feels that their findings might not contribute to the final outcome. All the tasks should be driven by the guiding question and all the tasks should contribute to the final outcome. A good way to ensure that is to ask your students questions like, ‘Why are we doing this now?’ or ‘Why do you need to know this? after every single task. This is a key element of PBL since it enables the students to see the connection between the guiding question and the tasks ,as well as the connection between the tasks and the final outcome and therefore stay motivated.

The Outcome - Presentation

Once the end product of the project is completed, the students need to showcase their learning and the progress they have made and pass that knowledge to the others. The most common way to achieve that is to present their work to an audience which could be the students from the other classes. Bear in mind that this should be communicated to the students from the very beginning in order to keep the students motivated until the end and give them a motive to strive for better performance throughout the project. If the students find this out last minute, they will probably get stressed and frustrated and it is even possible to refuse to do it which will sadly lead to the failure of the project, though the students might have worked hard for it.

It is also essential that the audience is actively involved during the presentation and also learns something before they walk out of the classroom. This means that the host students should prepare an interactive presentation where the guest students (audience) are also involved or are given a question to answer or a short quiz.

Reflecting

Ending the presentation gives the students a feeling of great relief and satisfaction but this is not the end of their project based experience. This time students return back in their groups and discuss their project. The discussion revolves around questions like ‘Was our project successful?, ‘What were its strengths and weaknesses?’, ‘What could we have done differently?’, ‘Which of the projects did you enjoy the most?’.  It creates a learning community where students reflect on what language or skills they were not good at, at the beginning of the project and how much progress they have made by the end of it, giving them a sense of progress.

Finally, once the whole process is finished it’s time for the teacher to also self-reflect and self-assess his/her performance. As has already been mentioned, in PBL, once the final outcome has been decided the teacher as the expert can predict the language the students will need. So, the end of the project gives the teacher the chance to check whether his/her predictions were accurate and contemplate on what he/she has missed. It’s also a good idea while the project is still fresh in the teacher’s mind, to think how this project could be adapted in order to be used with a different level class or group.

PBL: the benefits and the challenges

PBL has lots of advantages and though quite demanding it’s worth giving it a try or adopting some of its techniques and see how it differentiates from other more traditional approaches. It is ideal for mixed-ability classes as all students can bring some of their own knowledge and there are still lots of opportunities to upgrade their language and skills.

The basic criticism of PBL is that it cannot be used with young learners and exam classes. Having used PBL in both cases, I have come to believe that it is possible with a few variations. When you teach exam classes you can use PBL as it is and adapt your activities to exam type activities, eg. ask your students to rephrase what they have said by giving them prompts (FCE-Key Word Transformations). However, it is true that you cannot rely solely on PBL to prepare your students for exams and if you do, prepare yourself for mental exhaustion and sleepless nights.

When it comes to young learners PBL is also possible provided you do not give your students excessive autonomy. You need to be available to offer constant guidance and supervision as they can easily go off track. You will also probably need to rely a lot on your strong students to lead the projects and as with all young learners, you need to bear in mind that the activities will take longer than what you assumed when you were planning.

If you feel that your teaching of Grammar is teacher-led, take a step back and introduce the past tenses through an inductive approach that will actively involve your students and make their learning more memorable. Encourage your students to take responsibility for their own  learning and discover the rules themselves.

It probably goes without saying but it’s  advisable not to introduce all of them at once if the students are introduced to past tenses for the first time.

 

There’s been lots of discussion lately whether BBC’s decision to cast a woman in the lead role of Doctor Who was either right or wrong. Inspired by the whole fuss, I planned a lesson based on the issue and the gender stereotypes that surround us. The students seemed to enjoy it and the issue triggered lots of discussion.

The main aim of the lesson is to practise students’ reading sub-skills by giving them the chance to predict the content of the text and the content of each paragraph. Secondarily, the students will have the chance to practise their speaking skills in the context of gender stereotypes.

Please find the lesson plan and the article used in this lesson below.

 

 

The LEA is a whole language approach that came about for the development of reading skills and aims primarily at learners with literacy needs. LEA uses students’ own language in order to generate materials that will later be read by those same students. It can be used both with individuals or groups.

The learners recount a personal experience or a story to their teacher who then reformulates what the student has said into full sentences in order to create a text around which they will work on. The degree of difficulty is determined by the students’ own language and learning takes place at a comprehensible level. Though the students might not be able to produce the language themselves, they will still be able to understand what they are doing and why. As a result, their learning experience is less stressful and the learners become more positively orientated towards the target language. The teacher can also expand what the students are saying by asking questions and eliciting more information on the topic. In such a way the students get more challenged and their learning moves to a slightly higher level, following Krashen’s i+1 model.

What’s more, LEA draws on students’ life experiences making their learning more meaningful and memorable. The students are able to see the link between real life and language learning and their motivation is increased. Their progress becomes evident shortly and they get more confident and positive.

Although LEA is designed for the development of reading skills, it can be equally used for the promotion of other skills such as writing, speaking or listening. It can also be adapted to suit learners of all levels. It’s a whole language approach that is structured around students’ personal input, it provides plenty of opportunities for scaffolding and it allows language development to take place in a relaxed classroom environment.

See a LEA classroom activity here: http://eltea.org/classroom-activities/language-experience-classroom-activity

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