Find out about the required language items (functionsand .grammar) in the national curriculum for the level of English

you are teaching. If you can't gethold of a national curriculum, check in a textbook for recommended functions and grammar. You do not necessarily have to follow the exact order of functions '.ad grammatical items laid out in the national curriculum. How,:ver,

you must keep track of your progression sothat you know wSat you've covered, and your students have a sense of order in wha: they are learning. You will also want to keep records so that your succes-sor can carry on your goodwork.

3. Develop 4MAT lesson plans. In yourMOTIVATION lesson, use the topic/issue to introduce the selected functions, grammatical items and vocabulary. Your main focus in thislesson is to raise an issue which will motivate and interest yourstudents. In your

INFORMATION lesson, exploit the selected functions,grammati-cal items and vocabulary. When you aredeveloping these exercises, remember to stay within the framework raised inthe motivation section. And in the PRACTICE andAPPLICATION, provide opportunities for your students to use theselected functions,

gram-matical items and vocabulary. Again, remember to staywithin the framework of the issue/topic selected for this setof lessons.

Here is a model of how to organize a long-rangeplan for four weeks of a twelve week trimester. We have taken as anexample a class in

its fourth year of EFL which has fivelessons of English a week. This is a fairly common situation for studentsin secondary schools where English is studied as a foreign language. As you can see,in this case, it was decided to work with one issue aweek, thus giving five hours in which to cover a 4MAT cycle. As youread through it, think of ways in which you wouldadapt it to suit your situation.

1. Divide the trimester into 3 units of 4 weeks each.Each unit contains 20 hours of teaching, that is, 5 hours per^week.

2. Select a theme for each 20 hour unit. This gives you3 themes per term. Divide each unit into 4 sub-units of 1 week each.

Select a topic and an issue for each sub-unitwhich is related to the unit's overall theme.

3. Write teaching objectives for each unit orsub-unit, making sure that these objectives include the functions andgrammatical

items recommended by the nationalcurriculum and/or pre-sented in the official text books.

4. Divide each sub-unit into five lessons: Lesson 1,motivation;

I ecson 2, information; Lesson 3, practice;Lesson 4, application;

Leon 5, review and quiz. Write lessonplans for each lesson.

A fuller development of this four week programlooks as follows:

UNIT 1 Theme: Belonging

Week 1 Topic 1: Family

Issue: Conflicting responsibilities

Text: From Things Fall Apart a novel by Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe

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Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Discuss conflicting responsibilities faced by secondary school students and share with each other ways of balancing family and academic demands.

2. Ask and talk about the past, using simple past tense.

Talk about past and present obligations using "had to/haveto."

Ask for and give opinions. Recognize and use words to describe farming and household chores.

3. Read an extract from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and answer comprehension questions on the text.

Lesson 1: Motivation: problem-posing dialogue: conflicting demands

Lesson 2: Information: functions, vocabulary, grammar

Lesson 3: Practice: group work: work sheet on vocabulary; pre-pare comprehension questions on set textwhich will be answered by rest of the class; coach fellow group mem-bers to answer questions set by rest of class

Lesson 4: Application: fishbowl: groups take turn to enter the fishbowl and answer question on set text put to them by other groups

Lesson 5: Review: wrap up: group members coach and edit each other as each individual writes out the answers to the questions on the text

Week 2 Topic: Friendship

Issue: Disagreeing with friends

Text: Letters asking for advice on disagreements with friends

Objectives

Students will be able to;

1. Discuss and identify qualities looked for in a friend.

2. Express agreement and disagreement Describe likes and dislikes

Ask for and give opinions

Recognize and use words to describe human qualities 3. Read problem page letters and discuss possible plansof action

for resolving the dilemmas described in the letters.

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Lesson 1: Motivation: problem-posing dialogue: disagreeing with friends

Lesson 2: Information: functions, vocabulary, grammar Lesson 3:

Lesson 4:

Practice: group work: worksheets on functions, dis-cussing problem page letters, preparing role-plays

illus-tratingproblem and group solution to problem

Application role plays: each group presents its problem letter and solution, a spectator poll is taken to ascertain the whole class' degree of agreement with proposed solutions

Lesson 5: Review: wrap up: debate on a quote from E.M.Forster:

If I had to choose between my country and my friend, I hope I would have the courage to betray my country.

Week 3 Topic: Boyfriends and girlfriends Issue: Sexually transmitted diseases Text: A text on AIDS

Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Define the expectations and responsibilities that boyfriends have of and towards girlfriends, and vice versa.

2. Identify ways in which AIDS can and cannot be transmitted.

3. Talk about expectations and wishes

Talk about future plans, using future simple, present progressive and "going to"

Express agreement and disagreement

Recognize and use words to describe feelings

4. Read a text on AIDS prevention, and answer questions on the text.

Lesson 1: Motivation: problem-posing dialogue: safe sex Lesson ..: Information: functions, vocabulary, grammar Lesson 3: Practice group work: worksheet on functions and

vocabulary, readings from text, AIDS board game Lesson 4: Application guest speaker: listening to and questioning

a guest speaker on AIDS in the national context Lesson 5: Review wrap up: quiz on facts about AIDS, producing

posters on safe sex to be displayed throughout the school

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Week 4 ^{Topic: Neighbors}

Issue: Adapting to life in urban settings Text: Data on shifts from rural to urban settle

ments provided by teacher of social sciences Objectives

Students will be able to:

I. Share experiences they have had in adapting to urban life.

2. Compare past and present experiences and life styles Compare preferences

Ask about duration of adaptation processes, using already, ye, still Recognize and use words to describe and compare rural and urban living conditions

3. Demonstrate understanding of data by answering comprehen-sionquestions on tables of figures, and by presenting informa-tion found in tables in other forms, such as pie charts, bar graphs, and diagrams.

Lesson 1: Motivation: problem-posing dialogue: making ends meet in the city

Lesson 2: Information: functions, grammar, vocabulary

Lesson 3: Practice: group work: worksheets on already, yet, still using statistics given in tables to complete charts or answer comprehension questions

Lesson 4: Application: survey: in groups, devise questions and conduct an attitude survey on what class members look for in good living conditions, make graphs and charts showing survey results

Lesson 5: Review:presentation: each group presents its graphs and charts, showing results of the surveys

As you can see, these are just the outlines of four blocks^{of lesson} plans. Each block is linked thematically to the other blocks. And each lesson is now ready to be fully developed.

One way to get good mileage out of your efforts is to team up with a partner or two. If three of you gettogether and divide up the items required by the curriculum, then write 4MAT IPsson plans which you exchange among yourselves, you will only be preparing

four out of every twelve lessons that you teach. It's also quite chal-lenging having other teachers work from your lesson plans. Explain-ing why you did what you did and what results you expected can^he a clarifying experience whichsharpens your professional focus.

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