Lesson planning?

I have recently discovered the iTDi Blog with wonderful posts on teaching and great blog authors. At the moment I am reading about lesson planning and how important it is.
All bloggers do have a point. From what I see everybody agrees that we teachers do need a lesson plan, when we go into a class. We HAVE to be prepared. Prepared what to say, what activities to use, what we can do with our time with the students.
How detailed should a lesson plan be? Should we write every single activity, time, purpose?
Well, to tell you the truth, I have stopped doing that for years...
When I started teaching, I used to spend hours and hours preparing, writing, estimating time... And yes, it has helped me a lot. But from my experience I can say that none of my plans have been completed the way I wanted to. Why? The answer is simple: There will always be somebody who has a question, maybe you need more activities about a structure, because he students didn't quite get it the first time you've explained it, there is always the "entertainer" of the class who will say or do something to make the others laugh, or maybe you have to discuss something different with your class, such as discipline problems, evaluation, etc... Or the opposite happens an you do everything planned and you still have 5 minutes left....
What I do is keep notes of what I want to do every time, always more activities than needed. I always have extra stuff with me. Teacher's book does give me ideas, but I never stick to the plan.
Yes, lesson planning is important. You have to know what you are doing! But always be prepared to adapt to students needs....

My Failures

After watching this amazing Failure Fest from the latest IATEFL Conference, (which was lots of fun BTW) I couldn't stop thinking that I should write a blog about my failures as a teacher and what I have learned from them.
I remember two particular cases.
Some years ago, when I was still working at a language school in my neighborhood, I got a mixed-ability, mixed-ages class (second year German). First of all the school owner refused to have two separate classes because of the limited number of students, a few people learn German anyway so why bother and pay the teacher extra, but this is another matter and I shouldn't get into it right now.
My problem was not that I had to deal with two different age-groups. It had to do with discipline. The two teenagers (15-16) I had in class were extremely "lively" (I don't want to express myself with more "powerful" words)
They were not interested at all in the language, although I tried and tried to come up with new activities that could intrigue them. They never did homework, they never wanted to participate in any kind of game, exercise etc. All they did was noise, laughter and mocking the other kids.
I tried to deal with it on my own, read books on discipline techniques, talked with the school owner, talked with the parents, who admitted that they couldn't even discipline their children  themselves and that they were both "thrown out"of a couple of schools already.
School year ended without any result or progress, I don't know what happened to these children, because they changed schools again the next year.
I consider it a personal failure because I believe that I could have done more for these children, if I had searched deeper.
Second failure is when we started a class blog. I was all enthusiastic about blogging, I created one with my students. The mistake I made was gibe them free access to write whatever they want! As a result, instead of doing their "homework", they used the page for chatting!!!!!
This was of course something I could correct. So I deleted their free blog and let them use mine for publishing assignments and articles ONLY and this was a big success.
What I wanted to say is that of course we ALL make mistakes. It's only human. How we use these failure experiences is what defines us as teachers and as a person!!!

Pecha Kucha evening TESOL Macedonia Thrace Convention 2013

I would like to take part in a Pecha Kucha - I consider this the ultimate challenge for a speaker!

Kids write in - auf Deutsch!

Das Rotmützchen 
von Afroditi und Nikoletta Tanoula

Es war einmal ein kleines Mädchen, das Afroxilanthi hieß. Dieses Mädchen war sehr böse. Sie war nie ehrlich. Sie lügte die ganze Zeit. Afroxilanthi trug eine rote Mütze, deshalb nannte man sie Rotmützchen. Ihre Großmutter war krank und jeden Tag ging Afroxilanthi zu ihr zu Besuch.
Das mochte das Mädchen nicht, weil sie jedes Mal eine neue Lüge denken sollte, um nicht zu gehen. Eines Tages ging Rotmützchen endlich zu ihrer Oma, damit sie Essen und Medikamente bringt.
Auf den Weg traf sie den guten Wolf. Der Wolf war sehr höflich und freundlich und wollte den Leuten immer helfen.
Der gute Wolf fragte sie, wohin sie ging und sie antwortete, dass sie zu ihrer Oma gehen sollte, aber sie wollte nicht.
Und dann sagte der Wolf: "Wenn du willst, kann ich dir helfen" und brachte er die Dinge zur Oma.
Das Rotmützchen war schlau. So ging sie zu ihrer Mutter und sagte dass der Wolf die Oma fraß.
Die Mutter rannte zum Haus der Oma und fand die Oma und den Wolf an dem Tisch zusammen essen.
Dann ärgerte sich die Mutter und hat das Rotmützchen gestraft. Sie sollte Freunde mit dem Wolf werden.
Der Wolf half ihr nett zu sein und keine  Lügen  mehr zu sagen

Verbenspiele!!

Spielen wir ein bisschen mit den Verben?

 Heute haben wir ein paar Posters mit trennbaren und untrennbaren Verben gebastelt!!

Mit Musik arbeiten

Ein sehr einfaches Lied mit einem tollen Video!
 Schüler sehen das Video an, notieren die Worte die auf den Blättern geschrieben sind.
Man kann ein Plakat damit machen und dann das Lied eine Art "rekonsrtuieren".

Schüler sollen als Hausaufgabe ein Lied oder ein Gedicht mit diesen  Wörtern schreiben.

Kids write in

Anne Frank's Diary - By Helen Goura

This book is the real story of a Jewish young girl, Anne and her family who were forced to stay hidden in a tiny house for two years, because they were persecuted by the Nazis. It takes place in Holland, at the house they were living with her parents, her sister Margot, the Van Daan family and Mr Dousel.
Anne is the youngest girl there. In spite of her age, she is smart and very knowledgeable. But no one at the house appreciates her skills. Everybody believes that she is spoiled and ill-mannered. Except for her father, Pim. Anne really loves him. She never fights with him like she does with her mum and Mrs Van Daan. That's why she wrote a diary. Because she believes that the paper is more "patient" and she breaks out in writing.
But someone betrayed them. The Nazis caught them and sent them to Auschwitz. They all die except for her father who is later set free, finds the manuscript and publishes it.
If you enjoy a good read, this is a highly entertaining novel. The characters are familiar and their behavior is close to the reader.  their condition is very touching and in some parts it makes you want to cry. I truly recommend it to children and adults alike. You won't be able to put it down!!

Helen is an Intermediate level student and this is the beginning of my new student-project. It will not be just book and movie reviews, though.