And all of a sudden it’s May, time is running out and we’re nowhere near where we should be. What can we do? How should we approach this last leg of the course? Is it about cramming as much in as possible and push on? Or should we take a different approach? In this edition of The TEFLer we’ll answer these questions and help the last leg of the course be a beautiful thing.
The TEFLer is a fortnightly companion for language teachers written by Simon Pearlman and brought to you by Active Language Teacher Training. Get every edition straight to your inbox by subscribing here
For some of us we're into the last few weeks, for others the term might reach until the end of June, for all of us its the last push. Typically the coursebooks have more than we could possibly do and we've spent the year trying our best, selecting the parts we really need to cover and giving our students what they need. It's been a tough circle to square, there have been ups and downs, and now we are where we are. And our exam students have so much yet to cover, are they ready? How should we use the time between now and the end of the academic year?
Different language schools work in different ways, for some getting to the end of the book is key, others have more relaxed ideas around completion. If you're not sure on the school policy, ask, ask your colleagues or your DOS, it's always interesting to see different perspectives in the same organisation. And you might ask yourself if it was solely your choice, what would you like to do? There are good, solid reasons for finishing the book and other equally strong justifications for not. Like so much in teaching, there are different perspectives and often these can feel contradictory.
It's good to finish the book, it gives teachers and students alike a sense of completion, of something finished and complete. It gives us all confidence that we've covered the material that the students will need in upcoming exams and, with a longer-term view, over the next few years.
What would the students most benefit from?
So where should we go? What should we do? The place to start is with the most important people, the students, what would they most benefit from? They should be our North star.
… in exam preparation classes.
With our exam classes, let's give them an even bigger voice in the deciding what happens, ask them what they need and want. Self directed learning can be especially powerful in the run up to exams and there's still a good chunk of time until the end of June. Do our exam classes at this point in the year always need to be lockstep, with all students doing the same? Could it be more like a workshop format with different people doing different things in different groups around the classroom? So many of our students can engage better when they're making their own choices about the class. In many contexts this is especially true for our slightly older teenagers, maybe from B2 up, but it can also work well with often younger B1 students.
How do you move into the last weeks before the exam with your students? Please share your ideas in the comments.
…in primary.
In our primary classes it might be more beneficial to take a step back and use the last few weeks to move away from the book, to consolidate language, to make the content even more meaningful for them. It sounds like it could be time for a project or two!
Project work gives us all the chance to bring together the language we've looked at through the year around a topic of interest to the students. They could work in pairs or small groups. The final product could be a presentation to the rest of the class. Project work can really boost engagement among our students, they can be a great way to move towards the end of the year.
What end of year projects have you done? What could you do? What questions do you have around project work? Add to the comments.
It's good for the school too.
At this time of year, our language schools are looking to next year and signing up existing and new students. Our actions in the classrooms can have a huge impact; if students are happy, engaged and productive, they'll happily renew and tell their friends, if exam students are feeling the progress, they're much more likely to succeed and to be inspired to move on to the next challenge. Thinking about how to tackle the last leg of the course can be beneficial to everyone, us as teachers, our language school, and most importantly, it can make a big difference to our students.
How to cover a unit in 4 lessons!
Sometimes the instruction is to do our best to finish the book. Of course, this can't mean smashing through the pages getting everything done, this would only be negative. We can however tackle the book in a smart way, reducing things to a manageable minimum, and yes, we can do the unit in about four classes if we need to, certainly in our primary classes.
Focus on the questions we want our students to be better able to ask and answer by the end of the unit and use that as your base objective. Then use the activities from the book that best help us do that. For example, it might be that story is great and contains great examples of the target language in context, fabulous, let's use it. If it doesn't, don't. The focus on the target questions or target conversations keeps us tied to our communicative aims, will help us meaningfully use the grammar and the vocabulary of the unit. A perfect balance of skills feels unlikely at this point, we can't do everything after all.
There are so many wonderful communicative activities that can come from prioritising Q&A, from “rock, paper, scissors” in pairwork, to whole class questionnaires and on to role plays, there are options galore.
What are your favourite Q&A activities?
However we approach the last leg of the course, let's try and enjoy it. Happy TEFLing!
The TEFLer is a fortnightly companion for language school teachers brought to you by Active Language Teacher Training providers of Trinity CertTESOL, DipTESOL and Teaching Younger Learners courses. See www.activelanguage.net or email training@activelanguage.net for more information.