January is a good month as any to plan theme lessons for your class. Theme Lessons are centered around a topic that you choose in terms of its suitability and user-friendliness for your class. Theme units are a good way to change the pace of the lessons that can sometimes be textbook oriented. Theme units also enhance your teaching, add for a bit of personalization, give students a chance to show off what they know and enhance the textbooks which may not interest either you or your students. The beauty of theme lessons is that you can spend as much or as little as you want on the topic. You will want to explore a variety of activities either in the computer room or in the classroom, but save the speaking activities for after when you have introduced the topic and worked on it for a few lessons. You can conclude a theme lesson with student presentations, a simple check up quiz or a mini project.
Take a look at these hints when planning:
· Pick a subject that is motivating.
· You might need to provide some background knowledge.
· Use pictures as lead-ins wherever possible.
I have provided below a few websites. Check and see that they are age appropriate and learner appropriate. Example: if you are teaching English as a foreign language (like me), consider teaching specific words such as 'resolution' and elicit other background information before you can begin. Consider the cultural appropriateness of the theme as well.
Here’s a theme lesson on New Year resolutions.
Here’s another one on New Years around the world.
And another one on winter. (Penquins)
Computer assisted technology can facilitate lesson planning if your school has such resources such as a computer room.Here is a fun and easy way to end a lesson.
Check out the additional activities on Education world including an Internet scavenger hunt on the four seasons and a winter weather watch.
Try them. Add your own ideas and make a note of what went well in class and what was difficult. Use the class outcomes to plan your next lessons and learn from their comments.
A good way to wrap up a theme unit is to ask the kids to reflect on their work. Encourage the kids to be specific in their answers.
Some questions could be:
List three things you learned from this unit.
What did you like the most? The least? Why?
Which task was difficult? What would you change or make different about parts or all of the theme units?
If you would like other feedback questions email me and I will happily send them to you.For those of you teachers out there who teach the Jewish holidays, I have theme units prepared with websites on the Jewish holidays. Email me if you wish to see them.
Sometimes you need to change the pace of your teaching. So go ahead and experiment with different theme units. And most of all, try and have fun with your students wherever you teach!
