Challenges Sue Sheerin, 3

1. Course Design:
Meeting the Challenges –
Seizing the Opportunities!
©Eaquals Eaquals – Training for Excellence | Edinburgh | 23-24 November 2018 www.eaquals.org 1

2. Coursebooks
• Coursebooks are tools, not masters
• Selection – look for ‘best fit’
coursebooks
• Analysis – Prioritize ‘can do’ objectives
in each unit
• Adaptation, Omission, Supplementation
• What is unnecessary / not appropriate?
• What is missing?
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3. Resources & Materials
• How will teachers get access to
other teaching and learning
materials needed to deliver the
syllabus?
• Sharing resources and ideas
• What do you want to say about use of
IT?
• Material banks and / or indexes
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4. Beyond the coursebook
• Story-telling, Drama, Music
• Content: Local customs / culture /
festivals etc. (Local or target culture)
• Content related to Leisure Programme
• CLIL approach
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5. Short Courses
• What can you do in two weeks?
• Select ‘real-world’ learning
outcomes
• Use domains and scenarios to
develop material
• Think about non-linguistic
learning outcomes
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6. Include Transferable Skills
in Course Design?
• Think also about transferable skills
not directly related to language
learning e.g. learning to learn,
becoming an independent learner,
communication strategies, cultural
competence etc.
• Example: “You will be more confident
in using English”
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7. Rolling Enrolment
Possible approaches:
• Pick list? Inventory of possibilities at level?
• Modular approach? Break the course book
up or create own material?
• Break the year up into smaller periods e.g. 3
months? Weekly plans in the longer period
do not have to happen in a strict order
• Self-access ‘catch up’ packs or online help?
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8. Maintain Flexibility
• Design your curriculum to facilitate
flexibility so that teachers can:
• Vary learning outcomes according to the
group of learners they have in front of them
• Depart from plans if there is a good reason to
do so
• Checklists, pick-lists or inventories
are more useful in this regard than
very detailed specifications
8Sue Sheerin, sue.sheerin@googlemail.com

9. Passing it on to Teachers
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10. Classroom activity
• Tasks
• Pedagogic tasks - practice
• Real world tasks – situational
authenticity
• Scenarios / domains
• Workshops to move from LO to real
world tasks
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11. Eaquals International Conference, 21 – 23 April 2016

12. Eaquals International Conference, 21 – 23 April 2016

13. Lesson plans
• Distinguish clearly between real
world ‘can do’s’ and enabling
language
• Avoid ‘can do’s’ like:
• can talk about the past with present
relevance
• Processes & activities are not
‘ends’. They are the means to an
end.
Sue Sheerin Eaquals Meeting Edinburgh, 23-24 November 2018

14. Task – Outline a lesson plan
Level:- A2; Scale:- Spoken interaction
Global learning outcome:-
Can interact with reasonable ease in structured situations
& short conversations etc.
Sub-scale: Informal discussion (with friends)
Can discuss what to do, where to go and make
arrangements to meet.
Can exchange opinions and compare things and people.
What domain, location, context?
Detailed learning outcomes – ‘Can do …’?
Enabling phrases / structure / lexis?
Sue Sheerin Eaquals Meeting Edinburgh, 23-24 November 2018
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15. What’s yours?
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