When you lack adequate prep time, there are other things you can do with students besides free talking. Today I'm introducing a short series on how to make practical lessons when you have little to no time to prepare.
As some teachers reading are aware, there are times when you aren’t able to prepare a full-length lesson. Sometimes you're tasked to sub a class. At other times you’re tasked to teach a new class that just popped up. Or, you walk into a classroom not knowing what you’re going to teach.
This is a series on creating lessons with limited preparation time. Our first article will be on how to make a tailored dialogue just from small talk with your adult students. In other words, by taking a little time to get to know your learners, you can better understand the contexts that they're using English in.
How a Dialogue Might Look
For example, if your adult private lesson student works as an IT analyst, you can ask him about his job. You can find out in what contexts he uses English. Then, determine what they talk about (of course no company secrets).
Let’s say you discover through his introduction that Juan works as an IT analyst in an international software company and shares weekly updates with his colleague in the U.S. via video chat.
By way of conversation, you ask him what he specifically does. He tells you that he gathers data on clients accessing the company software download site. Then you ask Juan the name of the person in the U.S. he often speaks to when reporting this information. He tells you her name is Susan.
Now you have pretty much the basics to create a dialogue. You can collaborate with him to fill in the rest (an exercise in itself). After, by way of dialogue, you can build more confidence in him using English in this context.
Example Dialogue
Your dialogue might look something like this:
Juan: Hi Susan! Good morning. How're things today? / What's new?[1]
Susan: Hi Juan! Not too much. Just trying to keep my head above water.[2] How about you?
Juan: Ya, I know what you mean. Same thing over here. I'm putting in a lot of hours.
Susan: Ya, me too. So how's the data looking?
Juan: We've had more traffic this week thanks to the bad weather in our region.[3] It's keeping everybody home. And not only that, we've gotten[4] a much wider range of locations than previous weeks.
Susan: That's good news. Not about the weather—the visits, I meant.
Juan: Have a look at this chart—I'll share my screen. One moment.
Susan: Ya, I see what you mean. What about OSs and browsers?
Juan: Most of the OSs were Windows, but there was a spike in Linux usage. It might be due to the higher numbers. As for browsers, Chrome and Firefox were still first and second.
Susan: Got it! Can you share your numbers with me? Just attach the document to the chat.
Juan: Sure thing. Well, that's about it. Anything on your end? [5]
Susan: No … oh wait, yes—management here wants to know if you can send email alerts when anything unusual occurs.
Juan: Sure. I'll do that. Well hey, it was nice seeing you again, but I have to run. Talk to you next week. Take care. [6]
Analyzing the Dialogue
The reference numbers above indicate teaching points that help create a well rounded lesson for your learners.
1. How to open a conversation.
Juan can learn how to open conversations. By simply beginning your dialogue with something you might naturally say, Juan can learn to do the same.
2. Expressions for being busy.
Teaching Juan expressions you might naturally use to indicate you’re busy can help teach him new vocabulary.
3. How to transition.
Inserting a transitional statement such as this can teach Juan how to change topics. It shows him how he can use English to direct the conversation instead of the other way around—being led by the conversation.
4. Appropriate verb tense for the context.
By speaking English in a natural way, you are showing Juan proper use of verb tense. This is something that is natural for you, but not for him. By not overlooking the obvious, we can make the lesson more practical for Juan.
5. | 6. How to wrap up and end a conversation.
Learners I meet are often unclear as to how to wrap up or end conversations. This natural manner of closing the dialogue can be a big help to Juan.
Tying Up Loose Ends
Your learners would probably also appreciate this and all of our points above. That’s because sometimes, they’re tired of learning book English.
They often want to know how the language is naturally spoken. They want to understand and sound like what they hear on Netflix.
Of course, this is just an example. As you gain details from your students, you can make it more real. You’ll also want to involve them in creating the dialogue to find out how you can make it even more practical for them.
What about group lessons?
Some readers may be asking about group classes. Well, it works pretty much the same, but you’ll want to try and find a balance or middle ground with the contexts. You don't want other class members who are not IT getting bored with IT dialogues.
Wrapping Things Up
Dialogues are a great way to teach real-world interactions. You can use them not only to teach what to say (i.e., structure and vocabulary), but also how to say it (i.e., pronunciation, intonation, word choices, expression, …).
That makes this lesson material practical in application targeting learner needs.
Furthermore, there will likely be more than one context where students use English. That being the case, you’ve just created a series of potential lessons to work on with your learners.
In the end, you’ve entered a classroom without a lesson but came in with your own Kung Fu. That means you may not have a packaged lesson to teach but you can quickly adapt and overcome the situation.
Not only that, you’ve provided perhaps an even more practical lesson for your learners than they may have experienced before from other teachers who might play it by the book. Stay tuned for the next installment.
What do you think?
Share your experiences with this lesson about creating dialogues. Or, share your experience walking into a classroom unprepared. Was it a disaster or a triumph?
And remember, you can always contact me to learn more about teaching English as a Second Language. I offer an internationally-accredited TESOL course as well as coaching for certified teachers.
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Author: Jerry S.
This is an update of a blog post I wrote for the OnTESOL blog several years ago.
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