TESL 0110- Unit 4- Reflections

This course was very interesting to me. I found that although teaching grammar could be challenging for novice teachers, there are many ways to make it fun and attractive for both teacher and students. We learned about different approaches (deductive and inductive), corrective feedback and assessments. The most interesting part of this course to me was lesson plan types. The lesson plan types are: PPP (present-practice-produce), task-based and skill-based.  

According to Hines (2011), an excellent ESL lesson plans have common characteristics that you should integrate in your own teaching strategies:

· "Ideal lesson plans have a concise summary that fits on a single page. The detailed plan proper may--and often--exceeds this number, but the idea is to allow anyone to have a quick overview of the lesson.

· Great lesson plans are organized in a way that is easy and a delight to follow.

· Lesson plans should be strongly aligned with the needs and learning competencies of their intended audience.

· Each individual lesson plan should adhere to a continuity of lesson concepts and should not only fit in the curriculum but also reflect the overall vision of the subject.

· ESL Lesson plans should establish platforms for students to apply language learning to real-world situations" (para 7).

Here comes a question, which lesson plan works better in the ESL classrooms? As I was reading my peers' posts in the discussion forum most of them mentioned that task-based lesson plan would be better for teaching grammar as it is more engaging and students are put in real life situations; however, it would be a big challenge for novice teachers to find the perfect activity. On the other hand, to create a good lesson plan , teachers should always refer to students' needs assessment, check their needs and levels to create a lesson. All these types can be used in teaching grammar; however, the teacher must consider students' level, needs and goals to design an effective lesson plan. 
I found a video which explains the PPP, TTT and Task-based lesson plan, their pros and cons:

ElTtraining (Apr 6, 2013). CELTA - Different approaches to teaching language -PPP to TBL [video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-DRmN42fE

Resources:

Hines, Micheal (December 24, 2011). ESL Lesson Plans: Types and Purpose. Retrieve from: http://ezinearticles.com/?ESL-Lesson-Plans:-Types-and-Purpose&id=6777729

ElTtraining (Apr 6, 2013). CELTA - Different approaches to teaching language -PPP to TBL [video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-DRmN42fE