Lesson planning is a cornerstone of effective education, offering educators a roadmap to guide their students towards meaningful learning experiences. This meticulous process not only imparts structure to the classroom but also plays a pivotal role in achieving educational goals. Yet, planning effective lessons is not without its challenges. Striking a balance between content coverage, student engagement, diverse learning preferences, and time constraints can be intricate. Educators must adapt to changing needs and technologies, tailor lessons to meet individual student requirements, and remain flexible in the face of unforeseen circumstances. In this dynamic landscape, lesson planning becomes both an essential tool and an ongoing challenge, demanding creativity, adaptability, and a commitment to fostering enriched learning environments. During this 3-day course, we will tackle various challenges associated with lesson planning, with the aim that participants will leave better prepared to create and deliver more effective lessons.

Day 1:

Establishing the difference between lesson planning and a lesson plan

Analysing and aligning participants’ expectations about the course Identifying and reflecting on one’s

lesson planning competences

Addressing the basics of lesson planning, including concepts and jargon

The overall aim of the course is to assist freelance teachers and school teachers in designing a course that helps prepare students for international proficiency exams. Drawing on the Cambridge and British Council exams as a foundation, we will collectively consider the specificities of this type and style of course.

Day 1:

An overview

What is necessary to design a preparatory course? On the first day, we will be exploring the most general aspects of such a course. Issues such as (a) class hours (in and out of the classroom (self-study time), intensive or extensive) (it includes on-demand course activities for students who have little time to take an exam, e.g. IELTS); (b) pedagogical contracts i.e. what teacher/students can/cannot do (e.g. during listening exam tasks an online student will be expected to turn off their microphone, during speaking tasks I might ask to record them; face-to-face classes may have different expectations for the same tasks); what/when/how they're expected to hand in materials; how long I can take to give them feedback, etc.; (c) the organization and diversity of available materials; (d) the emphasis to be placed and the time allocated for different types of activities involving systems, skills, and exam tasks; and (e) how to tackle the development of exam skills with the students.

Accents play a pivotal role in shaping individuals’ identities. Paradoxically, many speakers believe that they must ‘lose’ their accents to improve their language proficiency. This highlights the importance of exploring concepts such as accent variation, accentism, and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), as well as their implications for the language classroom.

In this course, anchored in these concepts, we will contemplate ways to foster an appreciation for learners’ unique accents, thereby advancing equity in the learning process. Practical ideas will be presented and discussed throughout the whole course.

Day 1:

We’ll encourage participants to engage in self-reflection regarding their perceptions of accents and to examine their personal beliefs about how individuals should sound when speaking an additional language. We’ll explore various perspectives on accents, drawing from works by Prentis (2017), Thornbury (2017), among others.