Making Lessons. Any Help?

[Lessuc6]

If I look at the Thai Curriculum for Foreign Languages the goals were comparable with the goals the have in the Netherlands. To be honest there isn't a school I've been that can speak as good as they suppose to do when the reach the goals in the Curriculum.

Is there a English program that fits the needs of the children/students?

Are there books that make English fun to learn for children/students without having extra for students?

I'm thinking of making my own lessons (website) that I can use in the classroom with only internet, a laptop and a projector. This makes the lessons visual and I can put Thai translation if necessary.

I want to use English songs for the lessons, because Thai people like karaoke and singing is a good way to remember words and to practice pronunciation. This way of teaching is already a success in the Netherlands and I think it can be in Thailand too.

Because it's a lot of work to make these lessons and for one year you need a lot of them I hope to find some teachers that willing to work together.

My main goals are:

- Students like to learn English again.

- Students are not shy to speak English in the classroom.

- The level of teaching fits the needs of the children.

- The goals in the lessons are the same as in the Thai Curriculum for Foreign Languages.

I hope there are some teachers that also want to help making these lessons. If you are interested I can send you a link with an example I made. (not finished yet, but it's an example of how I like it)

Hope to get some response.

Martin

[Towzak]

Visual aids and songs in a classroom are always a good idea, particularly with younger students. However, do not put all your eggs into one basket and set your mind on using the internet, a laptop, and a projector for every lesson. I would certainly have a plan B where technology is concerned and from my experience using the school internet has been highly unreliable. I would personally forego the internet and have my lesson on the laptop and link it up to the projector or large screen TV. It's also worth baring in mind that not all Thai students, particularly older boys, like singing karaoke or indeed singing in the classroom and would definitely shy away from singing in English so its best to mix it up a bit. Every classroom here has a widescreen TV but they are seldom if ever used......apart from the class Xmas party when the teacher puts a DVD movie in the drive !! Personally, I like to use them when I can because visual aids can be extremely useful, but, you need to ensure that all students can see the screen and hear it if you are using sound.

Is it a large government school with 50+ students per class ? I don't know anything about your particular teaching environment and of course this can make a huge difference. As an example, if I tried to use your idea in my previous school it would have fallen flat from day 1 for a variety of reasons. Not that it is a bad idea, its a commendable idea and the students do enjoy getting away from rote style and blackboard teaching.

Anyway, good luck with your venture Martin and let's know how you get on :-)

[aussiebebe]

Hi Lessuc6, welcome to Thai Visa, I hope you find the help you need. In terms of the two questions you have;

Is there a English program that fits the needs of the children/students?

Are there books that make English fun to learn for children/students without having extra for students?

Yes, there are such programs. 'Get, Set - Go!' is an excellent 6-stage language course for children learning English published by Oxford University Press and you can buy it from the Thai book store SE-ED. While that series has pupil books, workbooks and songs, any aspect can easily be supplemented by any teacher. Are you familiar with MES-English.com? This site is amazing; it's completely free but you can make a paypal donation if you want to support it and from here you can print ready-made or free flashcards, games, worksheets - even online flash games (for using in the classroom via a projector as you wish). There are even a few projects and lesson plans.

For a really fun reading and phonics resource, you can hardly beat starfall.com and there are already plenty of sites for karaoke like freekaraoke.com, but overall you have to accept that your idea to make lessons primarily visual is a self-limiting endeavour. Yes, a portion of lessons could be projector-based but kids learn language best when it's fun, engaging and active. Have a look at Get, Set - Go! and then read MES-English and you'll get the idea of how teachers can bring the material to life with flashcards, a few props like squeaky hammers, fly-swatters, sticky balls where child can compete in team games, running and hitting, or shouting out the vocabulary to score points. These sorts of activities are how people internalise language.

You also have to consider at what point some of your goals are served primarily by management, not only teachers;

The level of teaching fits the needs of the children.

Kids in Thai schools are simply grouped by age, not ability, for their English lessons and it's impossible for a teacher to meet all the children's ability levels in a wildly mixed-ability language class.

Edited January 7, 2013 by aussiebebe