Welcome!

The goal of this course is twofold. We will look at teaching and learning to identify how language should be taught and we will look at language learning materials to discover how materials can facilitate teachers and learners in this endeavor. To accomplish these goals, we will analyze the materials involved in the teaching and learning process as well as discuss the methods that will best facilitate the learning of the target language. Central to this discussion will be your personal beliefs about language learning and teaching. The intended outcome of this course is through reflection you will become more aware of your own beliefs and this awareness will allow you to more consistently select methods and materials that will allow you and your students to achieve their learning purposes.

Class Notes

Class notes are here for your preview and review. Please note that the PPTs may vary from the ones in class. The PPT currently available are from a previous semester, so page numbers, dates and similar kinds of minutia may vary. If time allows, I will try to update the lecture notes as we move through the semester.

top

Grading Criteria

10% Attendance and Homework on readings
20% Class Description and Belief Statement
20% Methods Presentation
20% Lesson Plan & Rationale
10% Microteaching
20% Final Learning Statement

top

Expectations

Attendance/Participation
Attendance is mandatory: Participants who arrive to class 10 minutes or more after class begins will be considered late. Participants who are late 3 times will receive 1 absence. Any participant who misses 1/4 of all class meetings will receive an F. Mastery of the ideas and concepts of this course requires engagement and discussion. If you are not in class, you miss that opportunity to exchange ideas. Moreover, participation is also essential. Just coming to class is not enough. I expect all participants to be active in class discussion and lectures as well as to complete all oral and written assignments.

Class Description & Belief Statement
Describe a lesson you have taught. Try to choose one that you have taught recently so it is fresh in your mind. Provide the context of the teaching (Time, place, age & level of students, textbook and unit being taught or language point and materials being used). Describe the intended learning objective for the lesson and the focus skill that is being taught. After Describing your class, (sample of the template) please write a paragraph for each of the following questions:
1. What is the teacher's role in language learning? What are the students' roles?
2. What are some important characteristics/traits of the teaching / learning process?
3. Describe what the interaction patterns should look like in a lesson plan, and why?
4. How should the feelings of students be dealt with?
5. What is language and how should it be viewed?
6. What is culture and how should it be viewed?
7. What kind of evaluation/assessment should be used and why?
8. How should student errors be handled?

Methods Presentation
Each person will have twenty minutes. In your presentation you need to cover the following:
1)What are the main principles about language, teaching and learning that guides the techniques and strategies of the method? How do these pronciples influence the techniques and strategies that the method uses?
2) What are some of the key techniques and strategies that the method uses to convey, practice, and assess language and language learning?
3) How is this method classified? (designer method/non-method, teacher-centered, learning-centered, deductive, etc?? Why?
4) How might the method's techniques and strategies help learners to learn the language? How might those same techniques and strategies hinder student learning?
5) How might you use the method, its techniques and strategies in your own future teaching? (Describe an activity or specific learning sequence and explain how it uses the principles, techniques and strategies of the method)

Lesson Plan & Rationale
Participants will be asked to develop a 15 - 20 minute lesson that applies the theories that they have studied in the class. Choose a chapter of unit from our textbook and develop a lesson plan based on that unit or chapter. Try to use the different frameworks we have learnerd to help you sequnce your activities. Use the following template.

Microteaching
You will teach your lesson to the class. It will be an actual lesson. DO NOT explain your lesson, just go ahead and do the lesson as if they were your students. Moreover, put into practice the theories and principles of teaching that were studied in this class. The Ministry of Eduction (MoE) also requires the following:
1) Lesson plan prepared by the student
2) Micro-teaching recorded on video
3) Feedback recorded on video
4) Refelection on micro-teaching written by the student (template)

Final Learning Statement
Re-answer the following questions:
1. What is the teacher's role in language learning? What are the students' roles?
2. What are some important characteristics/traits of the teaching / learning process?
3. Describe what the interaction patterns should look like in a lesson plan, and why?
4. How should the feelings of students be dealt with?
5. What is language and how should it be viewed?
6. What is culture and how should it be viewed?
7. What kind of evaluation/assessment should be used and why?
8. How should student errors be handled?

top

Additional Resources

ALM	CBI	CLT	Comm LL	Desugg	S Way	TBL	TPR
resource 1	resource 1	resource 1	resource 1	resource 1	resource 1	resource 1	resource 1
resource 2	resource 2	resource 2	resource 2	resource 2	resource 2	resource 2	resource 2

Method Classification & video library

GTM: Resource 1 & Resource 2

Tentative Semester Schedule

This is a tentative schedule because I will adjust the course of study based on your needs. We may spend more time on some aspects an less time on others based on your individual stregnths and weaknesses.

Time	Topic
Week 1	Course Introduction: Begin work on your Class Description & Belief Statement
Week 2	Key concepts and vocabulary: Finish Class Description & Belief Statement - Read Intro to Material Dev
Week 3	Features of Good Material & Issues in Teaching and Learning: Class Description & Belief Statement due
Week 4	Finish discussion about good materials and sample methods presentation: Read Framework of Materials and Methods
Week 5	Presentation walk through & Methods presentation conferencing: Read Current Approaches to Materials & Methods
Week 6	Presentations
Week 7	Presentations: Read Humaning Coursebooks
Week 8	Other methods and Personalization & Humanization: Read Lesson Plan Frameworks
Week 9	Introduce lesson plan and rationale project - Sample listening lesson: Read: Tasks based on Texts
Week 10	Sample speaking lesson with processing
Week 11	Sample task-based learning lesson with processing
Week 12	Sample Jigsaw reading lesson with processing
Week 13	Conferencing on lesson plans
Week 14	Microteaching
Week 15	Microteaching
Week 16	Class Closure (Survey): Final Learning Statement due

top