This is my second year of EL, and I just wanted to report on my success with it from a planning stand point. How have your plans gone?
First, I use all of the levels, 1 to 6. The fact that all of the books have 8 units, similar structure, and the same number of pages is a formatting wonder and hugely appreciated for its simplicity. This equates to execution that is identical in all of my EL classes. (And if you are teaching as many classes as I am, both EL and non-EL, you understand my relief.)
I use the 4-Lessons-per-Unit suggestion from the Teacher's Book. Basically, 2 pages for the first lesson, 1 for the second, 2 for the third, and 1 for the last. The first day tends to be busy, filled with vocabulary and a first crack at the grammar. The second day has a higher grammar focus. The third day was tricky at first, because it was easy to get hung up on the comprehension questions (prep well!). The last day tends to be light, with the Unit Test as the highlight (my kids all cheer for it! How cool is that?). There are 32 lessons in all.
I also use the Unit Review pages as lessons. This is 4 additional, 2-page lessons. Finally, I begin the year with the Hello lesson. These can be tough and require a lot of prep (as much as for an entire unit!) All of these lessons add up to 37 lessons in one year. I fill out my calendar with Holiday Lessons--that I can draw from the Holiday Lessons included with the back of the books, but mostly just make on my own.
Making school calendars is tricky business. There are a lot of things to balance in there. I really enjoy EL for having made things so easy across the board, but especially for scheduling.
Next time, I'd like to talk about the structure of individual classes a bit more.
Rock on,
Author: Daniel Llorin Stauffer
DearDaniel,
of all, thank you very much for using English Land. It is always nice to hear from the teachers who are using the materials that we've authored.
sounds like you have a successful school with a rigorous program. Four lessons per unit is a real good pace. At my home-based school, English Square (Kanazawa), I spend from eight to twelve months for one level, depending on the students' age and level. (I have 46 lessons per year. Phew!:-)
mentioned that Hello unit could be tough sometimes. I imagine that it can be a good challenge if students are completely new to the linguistic materials presented in the unit. If so, I will suggest that you do not worry too much about how much your students have internalized the materials, and move on. Then, you will have some opportunities to recycle the vocab. such as colors, numbers and dates later in the course. These topics are relatively easy to integrate into your daily teaching.
you are doing all this, but if so, I hope this can be helpful for other teachers who are reading this post.
again, Daniel, for your post, and good luck with your teaching!
Nakamuraof English Land
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Thanks
Best,
Mari
Co-author