No doubt your
students get critical. They complain about their tests their
textbooks etc.
Let them give some suggestions on how they would like an English
lesson to be.
As a teacher, one should be open-minded to new ideas, and so why
not let the students participate in this new way.
Of course, you're still the teacher and so you can point your
students in the right direction. Creating a lesson can be
stimulating!
Let them decide what can
be done in a 50 minute lesson.
What is the lesson goal?
How do they want to divide the time?
Explaining a grammar point, listening, reading, writing
What activity can they suggest?
Try to make all the students actively participate.
What can be done to stimulate a subject?
What materials can be used in class?
How can a "conversation" be conducted. (in small groups?)
What homework assignment can be given?
What long term project can be proposed? (class magazine?)
When they have finished
their lesson plan, it's up to the teacher to put it into action,
always, of course, with the full class participation.
Still another possibility
to stimulate the class: have them write suggestions on what can
be done in class to introduce the English language as a "real"
language. By a real language, I mean the "spoken" language.
Textbook grammar just goes
so far in inspiring spoken language. Perhaps an alternative
method can be used that is both "teacher and student
satisfactory".
It wouldn't be such a bad idea to hear what your students want
from their lessons, as most of them will eventually need this
language both at the university level and the business level.
And let's not forget that this generation of students will be
the "world travellers" of tomorrow. English is in their future!
A Nice Thought
"My idea of education is to
unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects".