Planning and Preparation

Planning

Even the most experienced teacher faces daily planning pitfalls. Not only is it time consuming, it also requires a lot of imagination and creativity to plan a dynamic and engaging class day to day. You may have had or known teachers who could 'wing' a class and pull it off. This is, however, the exception to the rule. Most of us need to know what we are doing and how we are going to do it beforehand. Planning helps us keep in mind all those theoretical issues of methodologies and learning and teaching styles in addition to the course content. Planning helps us walk into a class confident and certain of our objectives. When we know exactly what we are going to do we can focus our attention on the task: Teaching!

Planning is and will continue to be a burden as long as you see it as this. If you take on the task of planning as a creative venture, a challenge to come up with something new, you will find that planning can be something you do in your head while you are walking down the street or enjoying a cup of coffee. It will nurture the creative spark in the brain and you will see that reflected in your students' involvement in the class. Don't worry if something doesn't work. You've just taken another step toward your own development. Just don't forget to have a back-up plan...always!!

Preparation

Once we've planned our lesson there is the unavoidable task of preparation. Photocopied handouts have always been the teacher's secret weapon. Worksheets still have their place in the second language classroom but should be seen more as extra practice or a homework assignment.

You will undoubtedly spend a good deal of time preparing your first classes. You will be both discouraged and frustrated at times when one activity that had taken you an hour to prepare was either ineffective or took but five minutes to complete. Teachers are regularly looking for ways in order to reduce the amount of their own free time just getting ready. In some cases, short cuts are a teacher's way to keep from burning out. For others, it is simply a way to make the job easier. For others still, these short cuts can become a handy tool in order to invest more time in teaching. Whichever way you look at them, short cuts are a teacher's friend. A simple example is flashcards. You can take the time to draw them yourself, color or laminate them. On the other hand, the students can create their own flash cards, use them in a game of memory in pairs, or take them home and practice with their parents.

There is no need to invest too much time in preparation. Once we have our plan there are many ways to make the preparation a smoother and less stressful task. There are numerous sites dedicated to making the planning and preparation of classes a little lighter, places where you will find ready-made flash cards, board games, activity ideas, and of course worksheets. But why stop there? In the next entry we will talk about materials and resources.