Introductions to Lessons:   The cherry on the Top

This month in Pontian Bandar cluster, we have focused on introductions to lessons. Teachers often go into lessons without an introduction. We are focusing on why introductions are so important, and fun ideas to help improve them.  

What should be included in an introduction?

Breaking the ice – students often seem bored and unenthusiastic when the teacher walks in. Starting with a fun & simple warmer / ice-breaker in each lesson is a good way to make sure children will look forward to English lessons. It wakes them up, grabs their attention & motivates them to enjoy their learning. A fun lesson imprints on their mind that English is always a fun lesson.

Reminder of rules – every introduction reminds children of classroom rules.

Fun ideas:

1.       Behaviour charts

2.       Behaviour competitions

3.       Hand signals

4.       Freeze! Teacher shouts freeze and demonstrates freezing in a silly position. Children must all freeze when the teacher shouts “Freeze!”.

Teacher reminding students not to shout out.

·     Reminder of teams – Children need to be reminded of who is in whose team, and feel part of their team. For example, the teacher could ask Team 1 to put their hands up, and go around asking different teams to do different things: stand up, hands up, sleep etc.

7 Team competition chart chalked onto the board.

·    Levelling children – often some children are alert, while others are sleeping. An introduction should level out these differences.

v  Fun Ideas:

1.       Brain gym

2.       Repetition of similar sequence in introduction every lesson.

3.       Assigning jobs to particular children.

Brain gym activity.

Mental preparation for learning ahead: People are conditioned by routine. Routines & lesson sequencing can really be useful therefore. By starting every lesson in a fun way, or with a recognizable introduction that follows a similar sequence, children unconsciously & mentally prepare themselves for effective learning ahead.

Teacher starts every lesson routine with the days of the week.

·      Revision –include a section in the introduction which revises work already achieved. This revision can be made into a fun game, a quiz, or a fun flashcard set. Reminding children of things they already know, enables them to:

 1. Feel safe in the learning environment

2. Be motivated that they already know something.

3. Helps to solidify knowledge into their long term memory.

Teacher revising.

·        For fun – introductions first and foremost should be fun! They should pave the way for the rest of the lesson, and lead on from lessons before. Happy students learn more!

A fun revision game.

Introduce lesson topic & objectives: Most importantly, every lesson should have learning objectives. The introduction section of each lesson should outline for students clear learning objectives to achieve by the end of each lesson.

Students receive rewards to add to their reward plates for their achievements.

Happy teaching everyone! And, happy learning too!