Over-planning
It's very important to plan your English lessons carefully so that you are prepared to teach your students new skills and practice them.
You also need to organize your lessons to make sure they are effective and easy for your students to understand. Your lesson plan is your "road map" for teaching, but of course things do not always go as planned!
But don't worry! The secret is to be flexible. Understand that you will not always be able to follow your lesson plan exactly.
You will learn to have a "plan B" or a back-up activity just in case one of the activities you have planned does not work.
Maybe your students are very tired or the topic you are working on is much harder for them to understand than you expected. What can you do?
You also need to organize your lessons to make sure they are effective and easy for your students to understand. Your lesson plan is your "road map" for teaching, but of course things do not always go as planned!
But don't worry! The secret is to be flexible. Understand that you will not always be able to follow your lesson plan exactly.
You will learn to have a "plan B" or a back-up activity just in case one of the activities you have planned does not work.
Maybe your students are very tired or the topic you are working on is much harder for them to understand than you expected. What can you do?
- Be patient. This is the golden rule of teaching! If you need to spend much more time than you expected explaining a new topic and giving examples, that is okay.
- Check understanding before you move on. Have your students give you some examples of their own. Can they use the new skill? If not, you are not ready to go on to your next activity.
- Try explaining it in a different way. If your students do not understand, be prepared to give a different explanation with new examples. This can be difficult! But your students will appreciate it.
- Have a back-up plan. If things do not work out the way you expected, you should have an alternative activity prepared. It should be something fun, like a game. This will help your students relax during a particularly difficult lesson.
Be relaxed and flexible about your lesson plans. Pay attention to how your students react to the lesson and be ready to work with them. This takes some practice, but you will feel much more comfortable soon!
