TEACHERS TRAINING

Pre-training Discussion

Trainer: Cassim, Farhad Abdul Kader

Contact: cassim@yuntech.edu.tw
Copyright: The following handout cannot be used without the trainer’s permission.

Hrs: 1 hr

Outline
The main aim of the pre-training discussion is to figure out what the main weaknesses
are in our teaching so that these can be included in the training workshop. A secondary
aim is to build rapport between the trainer and you before the actual training.

Agenda
The conversation will proceed as follows:

A. Brief Introduction (5 minutes)

B. Discussion
1. Teacher’s roles (10 minutes)
2. Lesson framework (10 minutes)
3. Scaffolding and Diagnosis (15 minutes)
4. Inter-cultural knowledge (10 minutes)
C. Other issues and Q/A (10 minutes)

Expectations
I believe all of us will do our best to actively participate in the discussion and will be
open to new ideas.

I also believe that because we just have an hour that all of us will stay on task with
minimal to no distraction.
Exercise 1-- Teacher’s Roles

1. Teachers play many roles. Match the description below with these roles:
1. Language Resource
2. Facilitator

A. Helping learners access resources

B. Providing language input
C. Consolidating learner language
D. Correcting learner language
E. Enabling learners to fulfill their potential
F. Providing opportunities for individual learning
G. Personalizing, contextualizing, eliciting, clarifying, explaining,
modeling language

2. What roles do you play when teaching?

Exercise 2— Lesson Framework

Lessons typically follow a structure. What steps do your lessons follow?

Exercise 3— Scaffolding and Diagnosis

1. Look at the classroom activity and the teacher’s instructions. Which instruction
would you put first, which would you put second, and which third?

The teacher gives students an article to read from the newspaper. She says:
A. Let’s discuss your opinions about some important ideas in this article.
B. Read the article quickly and decide on a good title.
C. Look at these 10 questions. The answers are directly in the text. You have
fifteen minutes to find the answers.
2. Do you modify your English when talking to non-native speakers?

3. What are some approaches you use to help students understand and talk about
difficult content?

4. Do you identify your learners’ mistakes? Do you classify your learners’ mistakes?

Exercise 4— Intercultural knowledge

1. How would you describe your students’ responses to your teaching?

2. From 1 (needs improvement) to 5 (excellent), how well would you say you
understand your students’ cultural background?

1: needs improvement
2: not good
3: ok
4: good
5: excellent