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

Classroom Activities and Resources: Realia

Realia are the real world resources you use in activities or to demonstrate something. These can include newspapers, magazines, recipe books, leaflets etc. Anything that was not created specifically for teaching. These resources help students to learn by being exposed to real things. It also helps them to be engaged with the topic and motivates them to be able to understand it. 

Some things to consider when choosing realia, or an authentic text are:

• The language level of the learners
• Any cultural sensitivities
• The age of the learners (try to find something they will find interesting)
• The length of the text
• Whether the text effectively demonstrates your teaching point

If you have an online text, you can use this website to check what level of learners the text is suitable for. You can use a resource that is 1 above your students' level to challenge them.

Classroom Activities: Storytelling

So this can work both ways. As a teacher, it is so important to use examples, or stories, when explaining concepts and lexis. Use physical things, facial expressions and body actions to show the meaning of what you are teaching. Allow students to ask questions, explain their understanding or discuss their own examples. You should include any stories/examples in your lesson plan ahead of time so you don't forget to use them and so you use them at the right part of the lesson.

It is also important to allow the students to tell stories. This helps the students in speaking and understanding and it also helps the other students with listening and understanding. Students really help each other in the classroom to explain things to each other and it also allows them to question each other and the teacher to improve understanding. 

Remember that TTT (teacher talking time) should not take over the lesson. Allow the students plenty of time for tasks and to give their own feedback. 

It is also important to allow students to give examples from their own lives or things that they think of and to frame any feedback you give them in a positive light: use positive reinforcement when students have used a term correctly or given a good example. Write down any mistakes you notice and correct them at the end of the lesson with a statement such as 'one thing I heard was (insert example), is this correct?' and see if the students can correct it. If they can't, show them the correct answer and explain.

Classroom Activities and Resources: Story Pictures

Pictures can be used to help students to tell a story and see the actions taking place. You can use pictures of actual short stories, or comics. Or you can put some different images together to show a story and assist the students in using their vocabularly to explain what is happening or to help them with writing, reading or listening. Images are very important when teaching English as without images and your actions, the topic or lexis would be taught in an abstract way and students would find it very difficult to understand!

Make sure you include pictures in your presentations, handouts and any activities where necessary. 

Classroom Activities and Resources: Flashcards

In English language teaching, flashcards is the term used for pictures, diagrams or words that you can hold up in front of your students to assist in their understanding.

Demonstration and examples are very important when teaching English. They help the students to understand the language in context and to better understand the meaning, for example, of different tenses. 

You can find images on the internet or from books, magazines, newspapers or leaflets and you can create diagrams yourself. It's a good idea to save anything you create so you can use it in future lessons or adapt it if things didn't go so well and your resources could use some improving to help the students further. 

Laminate or stick pictures to cardboard so that they are more durable. It's a good idea to organise any paper and digital resources by topic so that you have everything in one place for easy reference in the future.

Past Simple Tense

Past simple uses different forms of 'be'.

I/he/she/it was or was not
You/we/they were or were not

For yes or no questions:

Invert the above so

Was he/she/I/is

Were you/they/we

Answers can include:

Yes I/he/she/they was

Yes you/they/we were

Or the negative for no (wasn't/weren't)

For wh- questions:

Who was I/she/he/they

Who were they/you/we

The form of 'be' may be followed by

• An adjective: I was cold
• A noun or noun phrase: I was asleep
• A prepositional phrase: I was behind the sofa

Pronouns

Subject pronouns come at the beginning of a sentence, before the verb.

Subject pronouns:

I

You

He/she/it

We

You (plural)

They

Object pronouns come after the verb. 

Object pronouns:

Me

You

Him/her/it

Us

You (plural)

Them

Relative pronouns:

That (things and people)

Which (things)

Who (people)

Whose (for possession of a person or thing, for example whose daughters liked to run)