Lesson 6-7 Planning lessons for teaching different age learners. Paying attention to age factors What does a lesson involve?

5. End on a positive note

This does not necessarily mean ending with a joke or a fun activity - though of course it may. For some classes it may mean something quite serious, like a summary of what we have achieved today or a positive evaluation of something the class has done. Another possibility is to give a task, which the class is very likely to succeed in and which will generate feelings of satisfaction. The point is to have students leave the classroom feeling good.

Practical lesson management

'If only you'd told me before,' complained a young teacher to me recently. She had found herself with extra time on her hands at the end of a lesson, and nothing with which to fill it, and I had suggested that she should make a habit of having a reserve activity ready as part of her regular lesson plan.

She adopted the idea gladly, but reproached me - perhaps rightly - for not having suggested it earlier.

In Box 4 is a set of such hints, which you may find useful - and which may, hopefully, help to prevent you finding yourself in a similar situation! If you are yourself experienced, you may be able to add more.