Writing and Speaking Tasks

In a writing or speaking lesson, there are different tasks compared to a reading or listening lesson. Here is the structure and some examples for a productive skills lesson:

Controlled practice: This is to improve writing or speaking accuracy

This can include:

• Gap-fill exercises
• 50/50 choice questions
• Changing something in a sentence

Then remind students of the context of the lesson

Free practice: This is to improve fluency and it requires a specific context 

This can include

• Group writing
• Presentations
• Debates
• Role-plays

When setting a free practice task, include:

• The language structure
• Context
• Task (what they need to do)
• Procedure (how they are going to do it)

Reading and Listening Sub-Skills

When you are teaching reading or listening, there are sub-skills that you will be focusing on teaching your students. These are:

Gist/skimming

• Short time, read quickly
• Don't need to read every word
• Get a general understanding of the text
• Give task before they read or listen so they can look for it

Specific information/scanning

• Answers are easy to find
• Don't need to think about the meaning
• The words in the questions are similar/related to the words in the text

Detail (comprehension)

• Requires students to think a bit 
• Need to understand the text and context to answer the questions
• Need to read more slowly and carefully

Guessing meaning from context

• Includes some new words
• Read text then use what they've learnt to answer questions
• Afterwards use CCQs and drill to check that they have understood the meaning and pronunciation

Reading for inference (reading between the lines)

• Need a deep understanding of the text
• The answers can't be specifically found in a particular sentence or part of the text
• Requires the students to make assumptions based on what they have read

Drilling

Drilling is another method that you will use in lessons. This is to help the students to pronounce the lexis.

How to drill:

When planning- 

• Have the word or sentence on the board
• Have the phonemes below potential problem words
• Show circles above parts of the word or sentence that are stressed (but let these come up after you have drilled)

During the lesson-

• Model the word or sentence
• Ask everybody or particular people to say it, you can do this numerous times 
• You can ask them where the stress is and then show it on the board

Eliciting

Eliciting is a way to obtain the answer from students without giving them the answer. You can elicit by:

• Including a picture and asking them what they think the picture is of
• Using the meaning of a word and asking 'what do we call...'

You can use elicting at the beginning of a lesson to set the context but you can also use it to introduce new words and phrases.

Elicting is used to teach lexis alonside CCQs and drilling.

Planning and Teaching: CCQs

Concept check questions, or CCQs, are very important for teaching English as a language. These are questions you use to check the learners' understanding of the context and meaning at different points of the lesson. You should include your CCQs in your lesson plan and make sure you ask them during lessons. 

So how do you come up with CCQs? Well when you do your lesson plan and your language analysis you will highlight any words or concepts that you think could be a potential problem for students to understand. In your language analysis you will include a definition for words and phrases and this is what will help you to create those questions. 

• Look at the context of the word or phrase you are teaching
• What is the meaning?
• What could students think it means that it does not?

You can use these misunderstandings to come up with your questions. Your questions should be short and to the point. Answers should be short, for example yes or no or past, present or future etc.

CCQs check the students' understanding of the meaning and context of a word or phrase. They should be simple and not above the language level of the students. Do not use the word or phrase in your question!

If you are teaching grammar, your CCQs should be focused on the grammar point in the sentence in context from your lesson.

Grammar Lesson Structure: Guided Discovery

One way of structuring a grammar lesson is to use guided discovery. This is where you use examples followed by the meaning, form and pronunciation of the grammar and then practice of using the grammar. 

An example structure of a guided discovery lesson:

• Set the context using pictures and eliciting 
• Personalise the context by asking students to discuss their own experiences related to the topic
• Receptive task (listening or reading)
• Grammar: meaning
• Grammar: form
• Grammar: pronunciation
• Controlled practice (help students understand the use of the grammar with a limited task)
• Free practice: a productive task (writing or speaking) to help the students with forming the grammar themselves

Hint: remember to use your lesson plan and language analysis to help with all of this.

Language Analysis: Functional Skills Lesson

Example of a language analysis structure for functional skills lessons:

Context you are using to teach the language

Formality and relationship between speakers

What will this language enable the students to do or improve upon?

 

Examples of target language:

Example

Pronunciation (include phonemes and stress)

Form (part of speech it is) e.g. fixed expression

What does it mean and what is it’s function in this example?

CCQs

Problems and solutions with meaning, pronunciation or form

Language Analysis: Grammar

Example of the points to cover in a language analysis sheet for a grammar lesson:

Grammatical structure and define how it’s used

An example sentence of each structure from your lesson

What does it mean? What is it used for? Include CCQs and timelines for the meaning and uses of the grammar. Use examples from your lesson

Pronunciation: phonemic transcript- include relevant stress, contractions and weak forms for the grammar points

Pronunciation problems and solutions (may include guided discovery of form)

Structure of the form (include each element)

Type of lesson Guided discovery/text-based/test-teach-test

Language Analysis: Skills Lesson- Vocabulary

When doing CELTA, part of the lesson plan that you have to complete is a language analysis. The structure of this differs depending on whether you are teaching a skills lesson (vocabulary analysis), a grammar lesson (analysis of the grammar) or a functional skills lesson. 

The aim of the language analysis is to identify any potential difficulties the students might have and to plan how you will avoid these issues.

Here is a short example of a vocabulary language analysis:

Words or phrases and what type of speech	How you will show the meaning and check it	Pronunciation, stress and any issues	Problems the Ss might have with meaning, pronunciation or form and how to tackle them
Recipe (noun)	Show a recipe Say each step CCQs	O /ˈresəpi/	P1: Ss might pronounce the i as an ɪ sound S1: Show the phonetic structure on the board and drill pronunciation P2: Ss might not pronounce the ‘I’ sound at the end S2: Show the stress on the board and drill pronunciation

TEFL or CELTA?

If you are interested in teaching English as a language, there are two courses you will hear a lot about: TEFL and CELTA. So what's the difference?

TEFL is a cheaper alternative and it is typically a lot less rigorous in terms of assessment. TEFL is usually completed fully online. If you are looking at doing a TEFL qualification, make sure you check that the qualification is accredited.

CELTA is the internationally recognised qualification for teaching English. It was created by Cambridge English. CELTA can be taken in person part time or full time, as well as online. CELTA is a more significant investment and it is intense but if you are looking to become a teacher, look at CELTA. It is recommended by ESOL teachers and it really opens doors.

If you are looking for a taster or are looking to teach on a short-term basis, you might like to check out a TEFL qualification but look into requirements for the jobs you are interested in beforehand.

If you're interested in taking a CELTA, you can get £50 off a CELTA at Teaching House! I did my CELTA with Teaching House and I highly highly recommend them. The tutors are knowledgeable, supportive and encouraging. The resources are excellent. You can do CELTA 100% online or in person. They also do helpful conferences. I loved doing my CELTA with them and I would definitely recommend them. To get the discount- apply online, in the box for 'where did you hear about teaching house' select 'friend' and in the box, write 'English Teacher Lucy'.

Lesson Planning with Examples

Lesson plans are hugely important for both CELTA and teaching in general. For English Language teaching, the lesson plan differs depending on the type of lesson that you are teaching. There are two main types of lessons- a skills lesson or a grammar lesson. Skills lessons involve going over listening, reading, speaking or writing. Your lesson plan will vary but here are some example structures.

Plan for a skills lesson:

1. Lead-in: This is what sets the topic of the lesson and engages the students.

2. Lexis: This is where you introduce any key vocabulary that you are going to use.

3. Skill 1 e.g. reading

4. Skill 2 e.g. speaking

5. Skills 1 and 2

Plan for a grammar lesson:

1. Lead-in

2. Skill to introduce students to the grammar point/s

3. Form and meaning: to show students how the grammar point is used and what it means

4. Pronunciation of the grammar point in context

5. Controlled practice: a set task to use the grammar in

6. Free practice: a task where students can create their own answers

Some Key Vocabulary for English Language Teaching

When you start CELTA, there are some key terms that will become drilled into your head. These are things that you need to consider when planning each lesson and they are essential for crafting a great lesson. Here are some essential terms to know for teaching English.

Teacher Talking Time or TTT

This is the amount of time the teacher (you) spends talking throughout the lesson. This should not be too high, in order to allow students to practice the skill or grammar point you are focusing on. 

Student Talking Time or STT

In your lesson plan, you should allow for activities that allow your students to practise, as well as during input, that they have time to talk.

Concept Check Questions or CCQs

CCQs are a very important part of teaching English. These are questions you use to check that the students have understood the meaning of a word. 

Instruction Check Questions or ICQs

ICQs are questions you use to check if the students have understood the instructions for a task. For example, 'are you going to read quickly or slowly?', depending on the skill you are practicing will alter the answer. 

Drilling

Lessons include drilling, which is where you say a word or phrase and then afterwards the students copy you. You can ask everyone to copy, as well as individual students to ensure that they have understood the pronunciation correctly.