Language Policy And Language Planning: Strategies For Effective Learning

Equipment to Facilitate the Lesson

Discuss about the Language Policy and Language Planning.

According to Shamim (2007), effective learning process is often accompanied by strategic unit or lesson plans that are simple, clear, and focused to the learning objectives as well as in line with the curriculum. The design adopted is essential in giving a sense of direction in relation to effective learning of languages for the target group of learners. The direction of the syllabus is clear and directed to the unit objective, an aspect that helps in boosting teaching confidence during the lesson delivery. The simple structure adopted gives a useful basis of future planning. In the learning process, learners often have different abilities and understanding skills not only in English but other subjects as well. The structure adopted is hence an effective lesion planning to meet the needs of every student with different abilities and learning skills. This paper hence focuses on three main sections; a structural unit plan, sample lesson plan, and an essay that addresses the primary importance of the structure adopted in the unit and lesson plan for teaching intermediate English Language learners.

In the previous studies, it was found that language is often adopted as a tool by learners for their development, an aspect that depends on the medium of instruction. In Pakistan, it is only in post-secondary institutions that English is adopted as a medium of instruction while the available texts in the language are only used as study materials as pointed out by Muhammad (2011). For this study, the profile of the group will focus on 30 intermediate students who are in preparation to join post-secondary institution. The primary aim is to help the learners to gain the basic skills in speaking English language so as to prepare them for the studies ahead. These learners are from different background. As others are purely green concerning the basics in English language, others have had the opportunity of exposure to either learning the language or having relatives in institutions of higher learning who speaks English.

Foreign languages are critical to enable every individual to travel from one country to another for different purposes such as work, holiday and other official and personal issues (Harmer, 2015). The demographic composition of the class is diversified from those who have the basic knowledge of different languages, working experiences with different cultural backgrounds experience, and better background of the Italian to the amateurs that need the basic linguistically introduction (Menghini, 2017). The difference in the skills and knowledge requires me as a teacher to determine the best way of interaction all of them by involving in the discussion of the best way to go about it taking into account of the amateurs. From my method, I will use the instructional and participation methods to offer every one chance to show cast their ability. The students will be required to fill out an informational form to that will be used to know and recognize each student depending on their ability progress.

Cultural and Language Backgrounds

Equipment to facilitate the lesson-The inadequate number of linguistically books that can be used will force the class to have to find a better way of acquiring more equipment to facilitate the lesson. Students and the teacher need to have a laid strategy and to agree on the best ways of obtaining the necessary material by choosing between the common purchase and individual purchase as long as the required learning documents are made available. During the discussion, the students should take into account the price of each book. During the language learning process will also have to be accommodative to the individuals with impaired learning process who are so as they can be at the same par with the rest of the class.

Cultural backgrounds- The different cultural background and the limited knowledge about the language forces the students to have basic lessons on the different types of languages that will help them understand the deeper meaning of the basic terms in English while taking part in the lessons. Each student should have the basic knowledge of English to facilitate their overall learning process and interaction with other international students.

At the end of the learning, the class should be able to communicate in English effectively with one another. The student s will learn about the underlying rules of the language and develop structural sentence in the English at the end of the first week of the lesson.

At the end the course, each student should be able to draw the Basic English terms used in communication by an amateur of the language.  The students should be able to have the easy time in communication and listening keenly to any discussion carried out in the English language. The students should be able to write up a composition in English and present it the class for analysis. The learners are also expected to have the confidence of speaking, listening, reading, and writing using Basic English skills. The unit is also intended to encourage the learners to adopt English learning in early stages of their learning to reduce the gap of poor English speaking skills among the citizens of Pakistan.

English is one of the common languages used globally in international communication, a language that is adopted by most global industries line in businesses, tourism and hospitality among others as pointed out by Shamim (2007). The students are motivated by my linguistically ability to communicate in four different languages that are English, French, Germany, and Italiano. The students are determined and highly gifted individuals with varied cultural background characteristics. As the French teacher who dearly enjoys making writing stories and socializing, my students get motivated to take the first initiative to learning and show their enjoyment as from my ability to offer a safe, free environment where they socialize and entirely get involved with their education. Learning from each student allows free flow of ideas and interpretations. The student’s competition moods help them to learn from others and upgrade their abilities as they try to be better than one another

Target Context

At the end of every learning process, it is essential to evaluate and understand the success of the learning process as pointed out by Oxford (1990). For this case, the progress of the students will be indicated by their fluent communication ability, writing ability, and their class assessment and examination performance.  The learning process will be considered successful if the learners are at the end able to speak, read, and write in a manner that expresses their basic understanding in using English language.

Overall aim(s) of Unit of Work: Ensuring the students gain the basic English language skills to perfectly boost their performance in the post-secondary school.
Learner profile: In the previous studies, it was found that language is often adopted as a tool by learners for their development, an aspect that depends on the medium of instruction. In Pakistan, it is only in post-secondary institutions that English is adopted as a medium of instruction while the available texts in the language are only used as study materials as pointed out by Muhammad (2011). For this study, the profile of the group will focus on 30 intermediate students who are in preparation to join post-secondary institution.	Context: Foreign languages are critical to enable every individual to travel from one country to another for different purposes such as work, holiday and other official and personal issues. I will use the instructional and participation methods to offer every one chance to show cast their ability. The students will be required to fill out an informational form to that will be used to know and recognize each student depending on their ability progress. The study will focus on three primary contextual factors; Equipment to facilitate the lesson Language background Cultural backgrounds	Target context: The primary aim is to help the learners to gain the basic skills in speaking English language so as to prepare them for the studies ahead. These learners are from different background. As others are purely green concerning the basics in English language, others have had the opportunity of exposure to either learning the language or having relatives in institutions of higher learning who speaks English.
Lesson	Aims and Objectives	Focus	Activities	Resources	Assessment
1	At the end of the lesson, every student will be; -Equipped with the knowledge on the correct pattern of English Language -Able to analyze the  comparatives and superlatives sentences -Able to show how the comparatives and superlatives bring about the coherence of paragraphs.	The use of superlatives and comparatives	–        Question and answers –        Class discussions –        Practical demonstrations –        Story telling	Charts, books, pens, marker pens	The lesson will be successful when the learner is able to understand a clear language pattern on the basic English language skills in understanding how to make comparison between objects.
2	At the end of the lesson, every student should be able to appreciate the natural variations of languages that occur across the globe.	Importance of comparatives and how it is used in a sentence.	Class teachings and discussions	Charts, books, pens, marker pens	The lesson will be successful if the students are able to identify how comparatives are used in a statement.
3	At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to; -Identify and name different objects in English -Speak the simple greetings in English -Easily read simple stories in English Read the common stories, essays that are in English language and then later retell the story to the class in vernacular.	What is a superlative?	The class will also be required to make a chart naming objects and	Charts, books, pens, marker pens, objects of different colors and sizes	The lesson will be successful if the learner is able to correctly identify different objects by their names
4	The lesson will focus on engaging the students to the listening of the audio lessons and watching related videos so as to improve the listening skills. The student’s lesson will be based on the listening and an analysis of the use of comparatives and superlatives and understanding on the close English terms and use of body language during communication.	What are the differences between comparatives and superlatives?	The learner will listen to different basic stories that will be narrated in English. They will then explain to each other the content or meaning of the stories	DVD, laptop, speakers, charts	The lesson will be successful when at the end of the lesson, the learner will be able to use comparatives and superlatives correctly in sentences.

Section Two: The lesson Plan

Name:	Class: Intermediate Class
By the end of this lesson, the learner will be able to; –        Use superlatives and comparatives in a sentence both literally and orally –        Use superlatives and comparative used in a sentence –        Be able to give example superlative and comparative sentences constructed on their own.	Learner group profile: In Pakistan, it is only in post-secondary institutions that English is adopted as a medium of instruction while the available texts in the language are only used as study materials. For this study, the profile of the group will focus on 30 intermediate students who are in preparation to join post-secondary institution.
When the lesson ends, the learners will be able to; –        Orally mention and write at least 5 superlative and 5 comparative forms of adjectives –        Write five three to five sentences using the correct phrases or forms of superlative and comparative based on objects or pictures. –        Identify the use of superlative and comparative adjectives in a sentence	Anticipated challenges and their solutions: ·       Students may get confused with naming objects of different colors. Solution: The teacher will show them accurate naming of the objects as per the colors of the objects. ·       The learners may find remembering the naming difficult. Solution: Chats will be used to help them master the content ·       The learners may have challenges in spelling work while doing the comparative and superlative adjectives. Solution: A recap will be done in the three conservative lessons to help them master the concepts.

Date/Day	6th November 2017, Monday
Duration/Time	1 hour
Year	Intermediate
Enrolment/No. of students	30
Unit/ Topic/ Themes	Topic: Grammar- Comparatives and Superlatives Theme: The world around us
Skills	Distinguishing words that show comparison such as –er; er+ than; -est Adjectives- superlative forms Adjectives- Comparative forms
Objectives of the lesson	By the end of this lesson, the learner will be able to; –        Use superlatives and comparatives in a sentence both literally and orally –        Use superlatives and comparative used in a sentence –        Be able to give example superlative and comparative sentences constructed on their own.
Learning outcomes	When the lesson ends, the learners will be able to; –        Orally mention and write at least 5 superlative and 5 comparative forms of adjectives –        Write five three to five sentences using the correct phrases or forms of superlative and comparative based on objects or pictures. –        Identify the use of superlative and comparative adjectives in a sentence
Moral Values	The success of the lesson will depend on two primary values from the students; –        Cooperation –        Attentiveness
Materials	Text books, objects of different color concentrations, charts
Methods of teaching	–        Giving practical examples using the objects –        Asking and answering of questions –        Group discussions –        Practical reading of a story from the text book
Comments	… (The teacher will give the comments after summarizing the lesson and asking the learners a few recap questions).
Assessment	The success of the lesson will be assessed depending on the response of the students towards the questions asked concerning what they have learned from the lesson

It is a dream of every academic institution to achieve its best results for its students, an aspect that has promoted stiff competition in both private and public institutions globally (Muhammad 2011). Like other countries, the private schools in Pakistan are as well focused in English qualification not only as a basic language but a preferred international language. Rahman (2002) points out that most students who are not native English speakers are good at speaking their vernacular languages and effectively comprehend their basis structure, but fails to do so when it comes to English language. For this reason, different academic institutions have resorted to various means of achieving accreditation from different international chains. In teaching, it is essential to have a unit plan not only for languages but other subjects as well. This essay focuses on the importance of adopting a particular structure of a unit plan for teaching English language.

According to Shamim (2007), effective learning process is often accompanied by strategic unit or lesson plans that are simple, clear, and focused to the learning objectives as well as in line with the curriculum. The design adopted is essential in giving a sense of direction in relation to effective learning of languages for the target group of learners. The direction of the syllabus is clear and directed to the unit objective, an aspect that helps in boosting teaching confidence during the lesson delivery. The simple structure adopted gives a useful basis of future planning. In the learning process, learners often have different abilities and understanding skills not only in English but other subjects as well. The structure adopted is hence an effective lesion planning to meet the needs of every student with different abilities and learning skills.

A proof of the considerable time for preparation of the lesson, hence one can predict what the students are likely to gain at the end of the lesson. According to Oxford (1990), a simple lesson planning structure is an essential component of learning process. In other words, the simple design adopted is a clear indication of the proper planning hence keeping the teacher in track and organized while teaching. As a result, they are able to teach more and help students to achieve the language objectives easily. Language learning is a complex exercise and other concepts may be conceived as easy or difficult by learners depending on their ability (Nath, 2017). As a result, the better prepared the teacher is, the more likely he can handle any issue that comes unexpectedly in the process of learning.

The goals in the plan are essential in setting the stage for the study hence has been typically written in a broad statement. The introduction lesson is mainly aimed at grabbing the attention of the students and stimulating them to want to learn more about English language hence will be given extra attention. In a systematic study, Walker (2012) denotes that there are various exciting ways of beginning a new unit. However, the conclusion of the lesson is as well essential by helping the learners to synthesize and reflect upon the content that has been covered in the lesson. At the end of the lesson, the learning activities adopted are expected to help the students with their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills with the aim of helping them to understand the elements of language such as grammar and vocabulary acquisition.

Learner Profile

In his study, Wright (2004) points out that the activities and resources adopted in the process of learning should be clear and effectively relates to one another. Therefore, identifying the components that are related for learning effectiveness requires the tutors to ask themselves some specific questions. For instance, how far should the unit is planned? What details need to be covered in the planning? How will the components adopted help the class get a balance of grammar activities, fluency oriented activities, and language skills? How to ensure a variety on the unit components adopted (Saha & Mandal, 2017).  Finding relevant answers to such questions during planning is essential in adopting lesson planning components that are relevant to the reaching process.

Class discussion for instance, should have a right tone with will help the teacher establish a rapport with the students. The unit plan is also organized around the theme of listening, speaking, writing, and reading English effectively (Cholin, Dell, & Levelt, 2011). The rational for the thematic components adopted is that it demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of language learning. As a result, the components has to be relating to each other to ensure that it increases the engagement of the students and capture their interest in wanting to learn more about the language. It also ensures that the unit plan ends up being a more relevant and compacting curriculum with simpler organization of the content and less content overlap. That way, the unit plan expands the assessment options as well as assignment relevancy to the goals of the unit. According to Nunan (1998), effective unit planning begins with the selection of an appropriate theme that reflects the student interests, issues to be addressed, and the requirements of the curriculum. The components must hence work together in achieving the identified goals that the tutor wishes the learners to accomplish once the unit comes to an end. However, these should relate to the local or international standards or competence, an aspect that requires a selection of content-rich and challenging activities to use to ensure the competencies are met.

According to Harmer (2015), the designing a unit plan is an essential aspect if effective teaching. In other words, they are indispensable in ensuring a good language learning progression. It is a characteristic of most teachers to spend long hours with desks full of textbooks, resources, and website addresses to elaborate the appropriate unit plans. It is a process that takes weeks to be completed so that to have a comprehensive planning for the lessons. Therefore, it is essential to understand why it is necessary to prepare a unit plan even though it may look like time wastage. Walker (2012) points out that the preparing a unit plan takes time, organization, patience, and critical thinking but reduces the worry of teaching planning all the time once it is completed.

Overall Aims of Unit of Work

In the case of this study, designing and preparation of the unit plan helps in giving an overview of what the language lessons are going to cover all through the teaching sessions. For instance, at a glance of the lesson plan, there is a clear view of the ideas on how to cover every lesson and the areas to focus on teaching the lessons so that you do not go out the objectives. One is able to see what is going to be taught in the unit, the learning objectives, and what is expected of the students at the end of the lesson, questions that are often the starting points in unit planning. Apart from the teaching objectives, it also shows the overall daily activities, homework, resources, and differentiated learning objectives.

In many case, some language concepts often take long to teach as they are more difficult to learn, an aspect that requires the teacher to allocate more hours for the concepts (Aryee & Debrah, 2015). Designing a unit plan is essential in such cases especially in dividing the time allocation to ensure the learning process is effective for both the complicated and easy concepts to grab. At the completion of the lesson plan, the teacher also gets time to evaluate the teaching materials available at their disposal. It hence helps in making the lesson more engaging as the tutor will get the chance of sourcing or other relevant materials, an aspect that would be more difficult without making a lesson plan (Nikam, 2016). With all the required materials at the disposal, they can easily be organized in a manner that they can effectively serve the teaching objectives. Making available the relevant resources for each lesson makes it easier in deciding the learning activities that best suits needs of the students. Having a complete unit plan is this important in having a good deal of thinking critically with the aim of ensuring that resources and activities meet the requirements of the learning objectives.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is a tendency that is common when we start teaching, which is designing great, innovative, and colorful complex activities and resources with the hope that they will be very motivating to students. However, they often end up proving hard to be used in cases since they may not be adapted to the abilities of the learners. As a result, it is essential to prepare a unit plan in advance as it helps in readapting our teaching planning to suit the abilities of the target students as well as stick to the curriculum. It is a process that determines the success of the teaching process, an aspect that will prove that the teaching objectives are met.

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