Starting and Finishing a Lesson
Lead In
When language teachers start and end a lesson, a set of procedures have been prepared in order to focus the students’ attention on the learning aims of the lesson. The beginning and end of a lesson provide many opportunities for authentic language use. With the appropriate techniques and language items, starting and finishing a lesson in English create an effective classroom environment to take place. Research on teaching suggests that the opening, or “entry”, of a lesson generally occupies the first five minutes and can have an important influence on how much students learn from the lesson (Richard & Lockhart, 2004, p.114). In the other hand, it is also believed that teacher’s strategies in ending a lesson will influence on how the students internalize the concepts of any topic that they learn in a lesson. Therefore, through the discussions as well as tasks in this activity participants will discuss some strategies on managing the starting and finishing a lesson.Through the discussions and tasks in Activity 2, participants will practice how to make use the events of starting and finishing a lesson to provide students with exposure, opportunity and motivation for using English in such a real communication.
Purposes of Starting a lesson
Starting a lesson can serve a variety of purposes. For example, specific lesson openings can be use to (Richard & Lockhart, 2004, p. 114 -115):
- Help learner to relate the content of the new lesson to that of the last or previous lesson.
- Assess relevan knowledge.
- Establish an appropriate ”set” in learners: i.e prepare them for what is to follow.
- Allow ”tuning-in” time- which may be especially important in situation where learner have come directly from a radically different environment.
- Reduce the disturbance cause by late arriving students.
Interruptions on lesson
Lessons rarely proceed from beginning to end smoothly without any interruptions at all. What interruptions may possibly occur during your English lessons?. Sometimes when teacher is going to start a lesson there are some unexpected situations happen and interrupt the focus of the students in preparing to learn a particular lesson (Willis, 1981, p.63), for example:
- A student comes late for your class
- A student forgets to bring their book
- A student asks permission to go to toilet
- An absent student
- Students are busy with themselves
In fact, teacher can make use such situations to create a topic of ”social chat” and provide students opportunities to practice their English.
Strategies Effective Closure
Richard and Lockhard (2004, p. 124) mentions that another important dimension in teaching and learning activity in the classroom is an effective closure. They also suggest some strategies which can help teacher achieve effective closure through the use of teacher talk;
- Summarizing what has been covered in the lesson
- Reviewing key points of the lesson
- Relating the lesson to the course or lesson goals
- Pointing out links between the lesson and previous lesson
- Showing how the lesson relates to students’ real-world needs.
- Making links to forthcoming lesson
- Praising students for what they have accomplished during the lesson.
Example of classroom dialogue for finishing a lesson:
Teacher: Well, everyone. Finish the sentence you are writing, then put your pen down. It’s time to clear up…Come on! Finish now. OK?
Student A : I no finish
Teacher: You haven’t finished?
Student A: I haven’t finished
Teacher: Well, never mind. You’ve tried hard. Right. Could you leave your exercise book open at the page you are on, and pass them up?
Student B: Can I collect them for you?
Teacher: Yes, thank you, and could you put them on my desk? Well done everybody; most of you have worked very well today. Do you remember what you have to do for homework? I told you earlier……………………… yes?
Student C: Read page 57 and learn four lines of dialogue.
Teacher: Of the dialogue. Is she right? Anyone?
Students: Yes
Teacher: Now, while you’re packing your book up, tell me what plans you’ve got for the weekend…
(Willis, 1986, p. 76)
From the dialogue, we can see how the teacher is trying to provide exposure in using English. While the student A is making a mistake in speaking, she does not directly say that the sentence is wrong but she repeat the sentence that the students A wants to say in the correct pattern. Opportunity for using English is given as the teacher, at the same time, is checking about homework.