Introduction:
This report is to analyse two lessons of grade six. The lessons are the eighth and the eleventh lessons. All of the lessons are from the first unit. The whole has different types of syllabuses but most of them are task-based syllabus. The Approach that has been used in “the English for me” book is structural. That is because the focus is on the basic structure of language in terms of grammar rules, phonemes and lexical items. Key questions are posed to children in order to help them to discover language patterns and grammatical norms for themselves. By doing so, children become active participants in the learning process rather than passive recipients of information. According to language acquisition theories, this personalising of linguistic norms is critical in the language acquisition process. The whole syllabus of the whole book is skills-base. The both two lessons will be examined by the nature of language, the nature of language learning, the objectives, the syllabus model, types of learning and teaching activities, learner roles, teacher roles, the role of instructional materials, classroom techniques, practices, and behaviours observed when the method is used.
The theory of the nature of language and The theory of the nature of language Learning:
The theory of the nature of language for the eighth lesson is structural, and interactional. The students are learning how to use adjectives to describe people and things. There are many lexical items shown to them. They use the lexical items in the classroom excessively and interact with other students and with the teacher using what they have learned. The theory of language learning is based on the activities. The language is learned by following the tasks and answering the questions in its different ways but serves one goal which is acquiring lexical knowledge of adjectives.
Structuralism is the theory of language learning for the eleventh lesson. That is shown when they are learning the present continuous and how the verbs are written when applying the rule. They see the difference between the infinitive verb and when we add (-ing) to the verb. The language is learned through exposure to the language at different times. As an example, they guess the words, listen to the tape, and each student checks each other’s work. Moreover, they practise to check their understanding using the skills book.
The general and specific objectives of the Method:
The syllabus model:
Types of learning and teaching activities:
There are many types of learning and teaching activities in lesson eight. The first activity in the eighth lesson is self-correction. As mentioned in the teacher’s book, students have to listen to a tape to check their answers, and then students have to correct their work. In addition, students have to find mistakes in a paragraph on pages six and seven of the classbook and correct the mistakes by themselves. The second activity is memorization and conversation practice, as stated in the teacher’s manual. Students have to remember a story that they read in grade four, then students have to describe the characters orally in the classroom.
There are several kinds of learning and teaching activities in lesson eleven. The first task in the eleventh lesson is conversation practice or free conversation. In this activity, students are required to read the title of a story and look at the pictures that are in the story, and then students have to describe what they understood from the title and pictures. So, students have to take at least half a minute to talk. The second activity is fill-in-the-blank, as indicated in the teacher’s guidebook. Students have to read a story, and there are some words that are missing, so students are required to complete them. The third task is group work and reading aloud. As mentioned in the teacher’s manual, the teacher has to divide students into groups in order to read a story together, so each student in the group has to read one sentence aloud to other students. This shared reading practice develops children’s confidence in their abilities to read aloud to others.
learner roles:
Learners play an important role in any educational lessons. There are many roles of learners in lesson eight. First, students have to be active and participate in the classroom not only receive information from the teacher as mentioned in lesson eight students have to read sentences in groups in order to give each student the chance to read and participate then one member from each group has to present or give the answer for the teacher. Second, students have to listen to the teacher as stated in the teacher manual, students have to listen to the instructions that are given by the teacher in order to understand the tasks. For example, in lesson eight the teacher asks students to look at page eight of the classbook to know the three people who are in the pictures so students have to listen to these instructions to understand the activities in the classroom. Third, Learners should interact and help each other with their classmates in other words, learners have to correct themselves and their friends , as stated in the teacher guidebook that learners will have to read a text and then label the pictures after students finish, they have to check each other’s work to find out the right answers by themselves. Fourth, the students must discover and correct mistakes. For instance, in lesson eight the teacher asks students to read a report at page six and seven in classbook and find mistakes in that report then correct the mistakes that they found.
Learners are essential components of each educational lesson. In lesson eleven, students play a variety of roles.First, the student must discover information by themselves as stated in teacher’s guide students have to read a title and look at some pictures of a story then students have to discover and predict the story about what by themselves then students have to say what they discover to the teacher. Second, Learners should be sociable to their classmates as mentioned in teacher’s manual students have to read a story in their classbook on pages 10 and eleven and in the story some words are missing so, students have to complete the story then students have to share their work to other students to check their answers and to know if there is any mistakes to correct them.
The role of the teacher:
Teachers have a significant role in giving lessons in the classroom. The three main roles of the teacher are instructor, guide and giving feedback. In the role of the teacher for lesson eight, the teacher is required to give students very clear instructions of each task they are going to do. First the teacher should divide students into groups to do an activity. Teachers should explain the instructions for students before starting the activity. In lesson eight students are going to have a reading race. The teacher must tell the students that the task will be reading so students have an idea before starting the activity. Moreover, the teacher should tell students what the requirements are. For example, in lesson eight activity students are required to write the answers next to each statement in the poster, but that is only for one student from each group. So this is the teacher’s job to tell students the way of doing the activity. The first group to bring their sheet to the teacher, with all the correct answers, is the winner. The teacher should make sure that the class understands that each child in the group must take it in turn to come to the poster to find the answers. Finally, he should do a whole class feedback. He is going to check each group’s answers and discuss them with the students. Another way of teaching that teachers can use is the visual way of teaching. For example, the teacher asks students to open the course book which includes photographs of different people. Then he asks the students to guess who those people are using the photographs. After guessing the teacher can let students label the pictures with the correct answers and check the answers with each other. Then the teacher asks students to listen to a tap in order to check their answers. One main thing that the teacher should do is to encourage students to work cooperatively. Moreover, the teacher should provide support and guidance where necessary. The teacher can give students activities that provide an opportunity to assess how well children are able to read a text for specific information. Furthermore, an effective technique that a teacher can do with vocabulary is to give the opposite meaning of one word or synonyms. This way of presenting vocabulary helps students to recognize and get the meaning of the unknown works.
Teachers have an important role in the teaching process. In the role of the teacher for lesson eleven, the teacher is required to start with warming up students’ knowledge. He can start with mime games, showing pictures and asking students to look at the title. This can be done by asking students to look at the title and pictures of the story. Then he should ask them to tell him what the story is about. Also ask them to describe what they can see in the pictures. The teacher should encourage students to elicit as much information as possible. He should ask the students to read the story and complete the missing words. When they have finished, ask them to check their work with other students. After that the teacher tells students that they are going to listen to the story and check their answers. Finally, the teacher should discuss the answers with the students. One of the main teacher’s roles is to ask students to do self-evaluation and then he evaluates students’ work. Adding to that, the teacher’s work is to check students’ work and give feedback.
The role of instructional materials:
Instructional materials play an important role in any classroom lesson. The teacher is highly recommended to use any different type of materials while teaching. Because of its advantages, many resources recommend using them. Instructional materials can be printed such as textbooks, pamphlets, handouts, study guides,and manuals. Moreover, audio types for example Cassettes, microphone and podcast. Also, visual, Audiovisual and electronic interactive are types of materials. In lesson eight the teacher uses the textbook (classbook) as the main material. The teacher uses photographs, posters and listening transcripts.
Instructional materials are recommended in any lessons. The teacher mostly depends on instructional materials. In lesson eleven, the teacher mainly uses both the classbook and skillbook. Furthermore, pictures,boards and listening transcripts are used. The teacher uses so many activities using a skills book. These are the main instructional materials that were used in lesson eleven.
classroom techniques, practices, and behaviors observed when the method is used:
In lesson eight the teacher first starts with asking students to refer back to the course book. Then he plays a rhythm and asks students to listen to it. Also the teacher asks students to look at the pictures on page 13 of the classbook and look at the words on page 15 of the skillbook. The students are required to match the words to the pictures. When students are finished ask them to compare their ideas and then do a whole class feedback. Moreover, the teacher should give students an activity, but before doing the activity the teacher should ask students to read the rubric and instructions of that activity. He should check students’ understanding of the task in the usual way. In addition, the teacher is required to make sure that students read any attachment in any task such as the email in activity one. Also, the teacher tells students that they are going to have a discussion activity. He tells the students the topic that they are going to talk about. Then he should give students time to think and brainstorm their information. After they finish, he lets them express their ideas in groups and see their work. The teacher should encourage students to discuss and work in groups. This is the procedure of lesson eight that teachers use.
In lesson eleven the teacher starts the lesson by giving each group one copy of the exercise they are going to have. He has to tell the students that they are going to have a reading race. Also tell them that they have to write the answers next to each statement. Only one student from each group should go to the poster and answer. The teacher is required to make sure that the class each student in a group must take in turn to come to the poster to find the answers. The first group will bring the sheet to the teacher with all correct answers as the winner. Then the teacher does a whole class feedback and checks the answers with all groups. Another way of teaching in lesson eleven is asking students to look at the title and pictures of the story. Then the teacher should ask students to tell him what the story is about. Also ask them to describe what they can see in the pictures. The teacher should encourage students to elicit as much information as possible. He should ask the students to read the story and complete the missing words. When they have finished, ask them to check their work with other students. This is all about the procedure of teaching lesson eleven.
Conculaion:
This report has analysed two lessons from unit one of English for me in grade six. The lessons that were analysed were lessons eight and eleven. So, this report has discussed the theory of language, the theory of language learning, objectives, syllabus, types of activities, learners and teachers’ roles, the role of instructional material, and the procedures of lessons eight and eleven.
Done by:
1- Abdullah Al Farsi
2- Mohammed Al-Sarhani
3- Saleh Al Hammadi
4- Yarub Al Qasmi