1. Whose planning style is most like your own – Deniz's, Paolo's, Erika's or none of these? Why?
ANSWER:
My planning style is like Deniz one, because I teach English in a secondary school too, and because I almost teach the same number of classes that she teaches. In my case I have 3 hours a week per group. I have 11 groups and I like planning in this way because it is very practical for me. My lessons have to have a logical order and I really like to get my students attention. It is very important to present every class with a real life situation, in that way my teenagers can see the importance of learning English at the school.
2. Which qualities do you think are most important in planning a unit of work? Give your reasons. Choose from this list, and add others if necessary:
ANSWER:
The most important in my planning lesson would be in this order. I work in a community where there is a high level of poverty, school drop out and early pregnancy. If I am not realistic in my class with relevant issues and the context of my students I am wasting valuable time. I believe that my profession gives me a great opportunity to teach and support my students at the same time.
1- Relevance
2- Logic
3- Variety
4- Cohesion
5- Balance
6- Flow
3. When you plan a lesson, do you...
ANSWER:
a. I start with the aims
b. I plan one lesson at a time
c. I plan in detail
d. I start with a general idea of what will "fit"
e. I use the coursebook sometimes
4. What advice would you give a new teacher who says, "I spend hours and hours planning a scheme of work: I seem to go round and round, not getting anywhere"?
ANSWER:
My advice would be to be patient and before planning it is very important to know your students, the context of the place where you work, and to think about the importance of the issues that are going to be learned by them.