MY LESSON PLANNING: TEACHING CONJUNCTIONS TO ADULT LEARNERS

The lesson has been orginised into a logical structure that students will be able to follow
easily and this way it will be possible to detrmine a range of different types of activities,
reflecting the different learner styles of my class. Also it is easier to know exactly what
materials and resources will be needed.
When students learn how to use conjunctions they can easily conect them with their
previous knowledge about subjects and to actually starting to produce complete and
more complex sentences to talk about places, persons or things. This will make the
student feel progress and as a consequence more confident using the lenguage.
Enableing the students with the skill of conecting sentences in a new lenguage can be
a solid set up for other topics. This is particularly easier for adults since they can use a
wider range of resources to practise new sets of words, they can make assumptions and
inquirements about what the teacher is trying to teach.
As everything when learning a new lenguage, the students alre less keen to particpate
if they don’t feel secure enough about making mistakes specially if they are adult
learners it makes it a little bit more challenging when it comes to produce more complex
sentences. That is why the lesson is focused on developing the use of the rule in paper
first and when is not, particpation can be managed for the students to feel more
comfortable to speak using english having already created a secure enviroment for
mistakes.
Every stage of the lesson is designed to help the student to make solid grammar
foundations. Once they have reviewed and consolidated previous lessons it is time to
introduce the new topic, always trying to make the conections with what they have
already learned. Once they have learned the new words and its use, starting to give as
many examples as posible before the concept check questions, the immediate
enviroment it will prove helpful when reviewing the topic in the next lesson since same
examples can be used for better understanding.
Once the student is prepared, complex sentences about the students’s life can be used
as examples for better understanding. For this, there must be a previous preparation
from the teacher that it can be writing the example sentences in the lesson plan
considerating the information already shared through the course.
Finally, making a round of questions for clarification at the final stage it is crucial because
the student will feel more comfortable since they already worked with the topic so they
can elaborate better questions.
It is important to deliver material to study after the class to encourage students to practice
by themselves at home or just reviewing what they have learn to get ready to use it in
the next class. Giving students as many resources as possible to save time outside the
classroom it is more important for adult learners who are less likely to have time for it
because of their jobs and families.
Using and activity to practice complex sentences in an oral way it can be considerated
a safe way to practise a part of the speech but in this case the student’s age could
represent a difficulty for these kind of activity even when they already know each other
and are upper intermediate. Adult learners appreciate written structures and they are
more keen to follow activities that present like a puzzle to them, so oral activities will be
need it eventually, they could not be recomended right after the new topic has been
introduced, which is why they were not included.
The sitting arrengment for this lesson carries a significant importance since for the first
two stages of the lesson students need to keep their attention focused on the teacher
and not the other students. The introduction and the warm up activities can help a lot to
set the mood to a quiet and engaged class, making the students to pay special atention
to what comes next. And it is the presentation part where this can be a little more
challenging since the intetion is that the teacher moves around the classroom giving
examples but it is still better to ask students to turn their heads than wasting valuable
time changing their sits. Once they have understood the main aim of the lesson, it is
important to take some minutes to rearrenge the sits so the students feel more
comfortable working by siting in a circle so the teacher could monitor the students
progress and solve any doubts that the students may have during the activity.
One of the most important things to considerate on this scenario is the time. A group of
twelve students will make the classroom managment easier and the participation of all
will be possible without having to worry about the other students getting bored.
Nonetheless, there can be students who are slower or less confident to talk even in their
first lenguage but it is important to let them have the time necessary to produce
something. That is why time in the class can end sooner and it might be impossible to
continue with the whole lesson. Since every stage of the lesson is significant for the
student’s learning, in this case the rest of the activities will be posposed for the next
sesion.
This lesson can be applied later to teach other sets of vocabulary or parts of the speech
to adult learners just by making some modifications about the worksheets.
This lesson planning is carefully constructed and allows the teacher to enter the
classroom with considerably more confidence, especially during the early months of
teaching because it rests heavily in good habits such as setting aside quality time for
establishing rapport with students, expressing interest in them and the people they know
also implementing warmers as the tongue twister to help activating the switching process
which at the same time creates a warm, friendly class atmosphere making teaching and
learning easier for all concerned.