Writing A Complete Curriculum For A Primary School...

[sirchai]

Hi,

I'm planning to write a curriculum, including lesson plans, worksheets, etc for our school. (Primary) Teachers at my school are using four different (three pretty crappy) textbooks, most foreign teachers do whatever they like.

There's no follow up, no continuity of what they've learned and what not, to continue in the next grade.I'm aware that you can't just use another already existing curriculum, which is based on the Thai curriculum.

I'd like to know if anybody out there has ever done something similar. Which textbooks would be best for a school without an EP, four hours of English a week, two taught bt a foreign teacher, two by a Thai English teacher.

I'd be more than happy to read about other people's experiences. We start already at Kindergarten, guess they should know the ABC and numbers from 1-50.

Sad is that even some six graders can't even write their names in English. I know that it could take years to see good results, but it's time for a change. Any input will be deeply appreciated.

Cheers-

[Riley'sLife]

Why can't one use a pre-existing curriculum based upon the Thai curriculum?

[Kilgore Trout]

Hi,

I'm planning to write a curriculum, including lesson plans, worksheets, etc for our school. (Primary) Teachers at my school are using four different (three pretty crappy) textbooks, most foreign teachers do whatever they like.

There's no follow up, no continuity of what they've learned and what not, to continue in the next grade.I'm aware that you can't just use another already existing curriculum, which is based on the Thai curriculum.

I'd like to know if anybody out there has ever done something similar. Which textbooks would be best for a school without an EP, four hours of English a week, two taught bt a foreign teacher, two by a Thai English teacher.

I'd be more than happy to read about other people's experiences. We start already at Kindergarten, guess they should know the ABC and numbers from 1-50.

Sad is that even some six graders can't even write their names in English. I know that it could take years to see good results, but it's time for a change. Any input will be deeply appreciated.

Cheers-

Lesson plans and worksheets are not a curriculum

Curriculum involves standards/goals/benchmarks, scope and sequence

[Phatcharanan]

Lesson plans and worksheets are not a curriculum

Curriculum involves standards/goals/benchmarks, scope and sequence

LOL! That's funny.

Seeing as how curriculum is a course and content then worksheets are certainly 'content.'

Lesson plans need to be designed to be able to deliver the content in a structured manner. The other points you refer to also come within 'learning outcomes and assessment'.

@ the OP.

You have to work backwards on this. You need to decide what are the expected outcomes from this. What is it that you want your learners to achieve? Communicative skills............possible exams such as KET or PET?

Is it just literacy or are you considering IT, numeracy and science etc?

Forget about writing curricula yourself. Once you have decided on what the learners need to achieve, simply look for a curricula that matches those needs.

Look here for an overview:-

http://www.cie.org.uk/

[sirchai]

Lesson plans and worksheets are not a curriculum

Curriculum involves standards/goals/benchmarks, scope and sequence

LOL! That's funny.

Seeing as how curriculum is a course and content then worksheets are certainly 'content.'

Lesson plans need to be designed to be able to deliver the content in a structured manner. The other points you refer to also come within 'learning outcomes and assessment'.

@ the OP.

You have to work backwards on this. You need to decide what are the expected outcomes from this. What is it that you want your learners to achieve? Communicative skills............possible exams such as KET or PET?

Is it just literacy or are you considering IT, numeracy and science etc?

Forget about writing curricula yourself. Once you have decided on what the learners need to achieve, simply look for a curricula that matches those needs.

Look here for an overview:-

http://www.cie.org.uk/

Thanks a lot!!!!!!---

[Phatcharanan]

You're welcome.

You could always try going down this route as well, although there is a 'one-off' payment involved.

http://www.cie.org.u...become_a_school

Thai directors/owners have to be sold to though but you do that on 'prestige and status' of being a 'Cambridge accredited school'.

I think the fee is quite low (50,000 baht maybe?) but from that you get access to all the Cambridge resources, Schemes of Work, Frameworks for Literacy etc etc. They have a specific literacy framework for Second Language learners. Sounds ideal for your school.

I am sure there may be an American equivalent somewhere but as I'm a Brit, can only give you that UK aligned advice.

Good luck with whatever you do and if you need help, just holler.

Edited February 16, 2013 by Phatcharanan

[sirchai]

Why can't one use a pre-existing curriculum based upon the Thai curriculum?

Any idea of a pre-existing one for a Primary school?--

[sirchai]

Lesson plans and worksheets are not a curriculum

Curriculum involves standards/goals/benchmarks, scope and sequence

LOL! That's funny.

Seeing as how curriculum is a course and content then worksheets are certainly 'content.'

Lesson plans need to be designed to be able to deliver the content in a structured manner. The other points you refer to also come within 'learning outcomes and assessment'.

@ the OP.

You have to work backwards on this. You need to decide what are the expected outcomes from this. What is it that you want your learners to achieve? Communicative skills............possible exams such as KET or PET?

Is it just literacy or are you considering IT, numeracy and science etc?

Forget about writing curricula yourself. Once you have decided on what the learners need to achieve, simply look for a curricula that matches those needs.

Look here for an overview:-

http://www.cie.org.uk/

We don't have an EP, so it's only English from Kindergarten to P.6. The two hours taught by foreigners, plus the two taught by Thai teachers should be planned together.

Like using D.Sousa for Kindergarten ,P.1 etc, the right textbooks from P1.-P6.

What's the best textbook for Thai kids that goes from grade one to grade six? I thought it would make sense when Thai and foreign teachers would use the same topics.

Things around them like their homes, the school, places in Thailand, how to order food in a restaurant, how to make phone calls and other useful English for daily conversation, not some crappy unrealistic blah blah.

All we need is a kind of continuity. Guess our school isn't the only one, where such a curriculum has to be implanted.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.--

Edited February 17, 2013 by sirchai

[Kilgore Trout]

Lesson plans and worksheets are not a curriculum

Curriculum involves standards/goals/benchmarks, scope and sequence

LOL! That's funny.

Seeing as how curriculum is a course and content then worksheets are certainly 'content.'

Lesson plans need to be designed to be able to deliver the content in a structured manner. The other points you refer to also come within 'learning outcomes and assessment'.

@ the OP.

You have to work backwards on this. You need to decide what are the expected outcomes from this. What is it that you want your learners to achieve? Communicative skills............possible exams such as KET or PET?

Is it just literacy or are you considering IT, numeracy and science etc?

Forget about writing curricula yourself. Once you have decided on what the learners need to achieve, simply look for a curricula that matches those needs.

Look here for an overview:-

http://www.cie.org.uk/

Lesson plans and classwork can be completely different from teacher to teacher as long as they relate to the goals and standards of the strand being taught. They are not part of the curriculum, as creative teachers write their own lesson plans and find/create their own material BASED on the curriculum.

Many fly by night english teachers seem to think that textbooks, worksheets etc. a curriculum make; I assure you this is not the case.

[sirchai]

Lesson plans and worksheets are not a curriculum

Curriculum involves standards/goals/benchmarks, scope and sequence

LOL! That's funny.

Seeing as how curriculum is a course and content then worksheets are certainly 'content.'

Lesson plans need to be designed to be able to deliver the content in a structured manner. The other points you refer to also come within 'learning outcomes and assessment'.

@ the OP.

You have to work backwards on this. You need to decide what are the expected outcomes from this. What is it that you want your learners to achieve? Communicative skills............possible exams such as KET or PET?

Is it just literacy or are you considering IT, numeracy and science etc?

Forget about writing curricula yourself. Once you have decided on what the learners need to achieve, simply look for a curricula that matches those needs.

Look here for an overview:-

http://www.cie.org.uk/

Lesson plans and classwork can be completely different from teacher to teacher as long as they relate to the goals and standards of the strand being taught. They are not part of the curriculum, as creative teachers write their own lesson plans and find/create their own material BASED on the curriculum.

Many fly by night english teachers seem to think that textbooks, worksheets etc. a curriculum make; I assure you this is not the case.

Have you seen the Thai curriculum before? It gives you just an idea, not more. My point being is to have something set up that works well, even for teachers who just started. Instead of people doing whatever they think it night be good.

I want to set the goals and standards that are being taught. Following a textbook from grade one to six does make sense, if it's covering the Thai curriculum.

Never said that textbooks and lesson plans were the curriculum.

Edited February 17, 2013 by sirchai

[Phatcharanan]

Lesson plans and classwork can be completely different from teacher to teacher as long as they relate to the goals and standards of the strand being taught. They are not part of the curriculum, as creative teachers write their own lesson plans and find/create their own material BASED on the curriculum.Many fly by night english teachers seem to think that textbooks, worksheets etc. a curriculum make; I assure you this is not the case.

It goes without saying that lesson plans are different from teacher to teacher. That is how it should be when taking into consideration differentiation, teacher ability, relationships to students etc. However, the learning objective and learning outcome is still clearly defined (or should be) within all lesson planning and if following an 'official' curriculum, then those will remain the same, regardless.

I suspect you are referring to a 'taught' curriculum. Anyway, you are not exactly answering the OP's questions, merely defining curriculum without any advice on where he/she goes from here.

The choice of text/workbooks is of course of paramount importance. Get it wrong and you've not only wasted time and money but will probably put students off language learning for life. :-)

Curriculum resources for Thai students need to be colourful, relevant and not full of technical and complex vocabulary.

@ Sirchai..............Have a look at the 'Jolly Phonics' range of books which will be good for the younger ones within primary/elementary. They can be used to support other resources such as the 'Get Set -Go!' series of books which includes a lot of class activities such as music, rhymes and games. Teachers resources are also available.

http://elt.oup.com/c...&selLanguage=en

Edited February 17, 2013 by Phatcharanan

[sirchai]

Lesson plans and classwork can be completely different from teacher to teacher as long as they relate to the goals and standards of the strand being taught. They are not part of the curriculum, as creative teachers write their own lesson plans and find/create their own material BASED on the curriculum.Many fly by night english teachers seem to think that textbooks, worksheets etc. a curriculum make; I assure you this is not the case.

It goes without saying that lesson plans are different from teacher to teacher. That is how it should be when taking into consideration differentiation, teacher ability, relationships to students etc. However, the learning objective and learning outcome is still clearly defined (or should be) within all lesson planning and if following an 'official' curriculum, then those will remain the same, regardless.

I suspect you are referring to a 'taught' curriculum. Anyway, you are not exactly answering the OP's questions, merely defining curriculum without any advice on where he/she goes from here.

The choice of text/workbooks is of course of paramount importance. Get it wrong and you've not only wasted time and money but will probably put students off language learning for life. :-)

Curriculum resources for Thai students need to be colourful, relevant and not full of technical and complex vocabulary.

@ Sirchai..............Have a look at the 'Jolly Phonics' range of books which will be good for the younger ones within primary/elementary. They can be used to support other resources such as the 'Get Set -Go!' series of books which includes a lot of class activities such as music, rhymes and games. Teachers resources are also available.

http://elt.oup.com/c...&selLanguage=en

Thanks a lot. Deeply appreciated. --

[otherstuff1957]

Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar are both excellent resources, though I don't think that they go all the way up to P6.

I used the Chatterbox series a few years ago & liked it very much.

[Phatcharanan]

Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar are both excellent resources, though I don't think that they go all the way up to P6.

You are right of course, absolutely. They should be used as 'support', particularly if the standard of literacy is quite low amongst Sirchai's students.

Chatterbox is also good.

[SlyAnimal]

This is a subject which I've given a little bit of thought to on various occasions. As if you were able to essentially design a course, with lesson plans / work sheets / tests / teaching aids and eventually a textbook & work book. Then you could potentially market it to schools, and make a lot of money from it (Assuming that your initial design was successful of course). However I'm not likely to do anything like that myself lol, as I'm too lazy lol.

With approximately 20 weeks per term, 2 terms per year, with 2 lessons per week, you'd have a potential 80 lessons per grade, and 480 lessons for the school.

However you could probably design a course based on around 40-50% of that time being taken as holidays for various reasons (exams/exam prep/public holidays/random school holidays/special school events/camps etc).

Which would leave around 240 lessons to prepare, with any remaining time being left over for revision etc.

It'd take a bit of time to put it all together, but if you did, it'd have some pretty significant benefits for your school. As with all of the teachers working together, you wouldn't have double ups on learning, you wouldn't have large "gaps" in their learning, you could build on topics more to increase understanding and retention, you could also prepare lesson plans in a way which could make a teacher who doesn't prepare a lot, on par with a teacher who does do a lot of preparation work.

So if you do decide to go ahead with it yourself, rather than just using materials from others, then I definitely wish you the best of luck. Although there's a lot of work involved, the easier option would definitely be to use materials from other companies etc.

[CaptainSplod]

Kindergarten......

We're having very good "success" in teaching ABC and numbers 1-30 (expanding further over time)

- PLUS

1. Body parts.

2. Colours/colors

3. Animal recognition

4. Word (3-letter) recognition and spelling.

5. The full- and half hours on the clock.

...... might be something of interest here for you.

Cheers

Splod

[Kilgore Trout]

Lesson plans and classwork can be completely different from teacher to teacher as long as they relate to the goals and standards of the strand being taught. They are not part of the curriculum, as creative teachers write their own lesson plans and find/create their own material BASED on the curriculum.Many fly by night english teachers seem to think that textbooks, worksheets etc. a curriculum make; I assure you this is not the case.

It goes without saying that lesson plans are different from teacher to teacher. That is how it should be when taking into consideration differentiation, teacher ability, relationships to students etc. However, the learning objective and learning outcome is still clearly defined (or should be) within all lesson planning and if following an 'official' curriculum, then those will remain the same, regardless.

I suspect you are referring to a 'taught' curriculum. Anyway, you are not exactly answering the OP's questions, merely defining curriculum without any advice on where he/she goes from here.

The choice of text/workbooks is of course of paramount importance. Get it wrong and you've not only wasted time and money but will probably put students off language learning for life. :-)

Curriculum resources for Thai students need to be colourful, relevant and not full of technical and complex vocabulary.

@ Sirchai..............Have a look at the 'Jolly Phonics' range of books which will be good for the younger ones within primary/elementary. They can be used to support other resources such as the 'Get Set -Go!' series of books which includes a lot of class activities such as music, rhymes and games. Teachers resources are also available.

http://elt.oup.com/c...&selLanguage=en

Agreed and your advice is sound.

When making a curriculum ask yourself

What prior knowledge do students need?

What are the intended outcomes?

Hpw will we get there?

Hpw will we know we've gotten there?

[sirchai]

This is a subject which I've given a little bit of thought to on various occasions. As if you were able to essentially design a course, with lesson plans / work sheets / tests / teaching aids and eventually a textbook & work book. Then you could potentially market it to schools, and make a lot of money from it (Assuming that your initial design was successful of course). However I'm not likely to do anything like that myself lol, as I'm too lazy lol.

With approximately 20 weeks per term, 2 terms per year, with 2 lessons per week, you'd have a potential 80 lessons per grade, and 480 lessons for the school.

However you could probably design a course based on around 40-50% of that time being taken as holidays for various reasons (exams/exam prep/public holidays/random school holidays/special school events/camps etc).

Which would leave around 240 lessons to prepare, with any remaining time being left over for revision etc.

It'd take a bit of time to put it all together, but if you did, it'd have some pretty significant benefits for your school. As with all of the teachers working together, you wouldn't have double ups on learning, you wouldn't have large "gaps" in their learning, you could build on topics more to increase understanding and retention, you could also prepare lesson plans in a way which could make a teacher who doesn't prepare a lot, on par with a teacher who does do a lot of preparation work.

So if you do decide to go ahead with it yourself, rather than just using materials from others, then I definitely wish you the best of luck. Although there's a lot of work involved, the easier option would definitely be to use materials from other companies etc.

Well written...I know it's hard work and I'll do it. Guess other schools will be interested in such a program as well. Who else could make a better one than a guy who's working there for years already?

Would work well for most schools in this country, having the right textbooks, of course. Programs like Rosetta Stone, Tell me more will just make it better, depending on the schools' circumstances.

Got a few thousand worksheets, tests etc already. All made by myself, not just copied from a website. Would be nice to know if anybody had done that before....

Edited February 19, 2013 by sirchai

[Riley'sLife]

Why can't one use a pre-existing curriculum based upon the Thai curriculum?

Any idea of a pre-existing one for a Primary school?--

Why can't one use a pre-existing curriculum based upon the Thai curriculum?

Any idea of a pre-existing one for a Primary school?--

I have a number of curricula from various Thai schools but they are all badly written. My wife is currently designing her own.

Personally I can't see the point of starting from scratch when there are so many books available that already deal with the Thai curriculum. The best way forward would seem to be to look at some textbooks written by native English speakers and aimed at the Thai curriculum/market, and sadly avoid any written by Thais.

I have been searching for content for a few weeks and have at last discovered a bookshop stocking a range of textbooks published by Oxford University Press called "Let's Go" which are free from errors - unlike all the Thai authored books. Thai script on the book cover states that the series of books follow the Thai English Language curriculum.

Also available from the same publishers are, "Incredible English", "Family and Friends", "Grammar Friends", "New Headway", "Everybody UP!". Cambridge University Press publish "Join Us", and MacMillan publish "Jump Aboard", "Smile", "Fantastic!", "Get Smart", and my favourite, "To The Top" - which is to European curriculum.

All the above are available in Student's Book, Workbook (black and white), and Teacher's Book for each set, most also include CDs.

With the exception of "To The Top", they all seem to follow the Thai curriculum.

I endorse the opinions already expressed about "Jolly Phonics", (plus Grammar, and Music), which are ideal for young learners, and are both innovative and creative. I was unable to find a set of either "Get Set- Go" referred to by Phatcharanan, or "Chatterbox referred to by Otherstuff1957 above.