WEEK 9

When we reflect on the importance of teaching accurately the four English skills listening, speaking, reading, and writing there is a big wish of developing that chore as good as possible. We need to apply lesson plans to get that aim. If we want to teach any subject, it is necessary to do it organized and focused in specific objectives because we are going to deal with many other skills such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling and all of them play a role in effective English communication. The amount of attention we give to each skill will depend both the level of our learners as well as their situational needs. Generally beginners, especially those who are nonliterate, benefit most from listening and speaking instruction with relatively little work on reading and writing. As fluency increases, the amount of reading and writing in our lessons may also increase. With advanced learners, up to half of our lesson time can be spent on written skills, although our learners may wish to keep their focus directed toward oral communication if that is a greater need.

WEEK 8

I red an article about the pedagogical reasons why doing lesson plans, it was written by Dr. Bob Kizlik. It mentioned that planning lessons and write them efficiently is a skill that teachers learn as any other skill. It helps us to own our subject and teach it organized and proficiently. A well-prepared lesson plan makes us aware about our objectives constantly. Preparing lesson plans has no the aim of taking done ones from the Net and adapting them to our needs. By the time we are able to elaborate our own lesson plans in a competently way, we go forward and start owning not only the class preparation, but also the whole content of the syllabus.

Good lesson plans not guarantee that students will learn the content fast or well, but they contribute to do it for sure. Lesson plans are a way of communication and we cannot deny that this age of education is dedicated to develop communication skills. Besides, lesson plans help us as new teachers and inexpert ones to unify content, materials and methods.

                                                              

http://www.adprima.com/lesson.htm

WEEK 7

We are in-trainig teachers, so in the future we are going to elaborate professional works to develolp our name as teachers. We must learn to show PowerPoint Presentations as professional as possible to increase our style and to present information with clear levels of comprehensionable content. So here I am going to post many tips to get a very proficient PowerPoint Presentation. They come from a useful website: 

            http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-tips-for-preparing-a-professional-presentation/ 

1. Compose Slides

You must center all your attention on the content of the slide. It shall not distract the audience but it needs elements and details to show it inductively, so decorate it scarcely but well.

2. Use Consistency

Be consistent on font sizes, colors, logos, pictures and all the elements that are related to the topic. All the slides must have combined representations avoiding wide variety of flashy colors and features. Instead of that choose simple and basic colors that show significance.

3. Use Contrast

Simple text in black is always the best option, but take into account that it could result boring to listeners. It is necessary to implement more colors, but trying to keep just the needed ones to get the information highlighted in our audience´s minds. 

4. Apply Brilliance

Highlight the important parts of the text, but avoid using too much color on them because you could get weaken the whole content of the presentation. Use the common colors that you are managing, for example the colors of your company´s logo. 

5. KISS

Keep It Straight and Simple. It means that we never have to include complete sentences or worse, read them. If you read your slides and if you do it slow and badly, the audience will get bored and stop listening. Instead of that we shall include just keywords to talk freely and naturally. We must be aware about the goal of PowerPoint Presentations, they were designed to support you on a lecture, not to replace your talk.

6. Take Home Message

A Take Home Message is a memorable note. We must communicate the main one during the whole presentation expressing it as a personal summary.

7. Add Images

It is recommendable to use more images than words in your presentation because they help to reinforce and complement your exposition. Use images to explain not to decorate.

8. Don’t Be Silly

Use animations just with academic and serious purposes, to emphasize your Take Home Message or to clarify facts with effects that calls people´s attention.

9. Keep Your Audience In Mind

Take into account what your audience knows previously and what do they need to learn. Your aim should be to cover their expectations with your presentation shaped by images, key words, and animations which are attention getters and keepers as well. Remember if you lose the attention of your audience, everything will be lost.

10. Practice

A good lecture will contribute to keep audience attention. During the presentation it will be obvious if you are aware enough about the topic you are talking. It is advisable to practice your presentation in order to know your slides´ order and as a result of this, speak freely and confidently keeping a good rhythm and tone of voice. Maintaining eye contact is fundamental to convince your reliability.