The document describes a teacher working with their class to develop a customized curriculum for the next three weeks. They began by having students identify what they wanted to learn. They then looked at the coursebook to identify relevant units and created a weekly plan with goals. This plan is displayed for students and remains flexible. Activities like a lavender farm tour are used to motivate students to practice language skills in real-world contexts. Progress checks and sharing the plan with a substitute teacher help ensure goals are met while the teacher is away.

1. Motivation
What do my class want this week?

2. Monday First Lesson: Negotiating content
• I made three posters and pinned them
around the room.
• I started by asking my students what
they wanted to study, what they needed
to learn and what they didn’t find
interesting.
• They got up and moved around the
room, adding their comments to the
three posters.

3. Imagining Identity
• They discussed their future selves.
• What would they use the English for?
• Who would they be speaking to?
• How proficient would they expect to
be?
• A short written description followed.

4. Next…..
• We looked at the units of the
coursebook to see what elements
would match their requirements.
• We made a note of the units of
interest and a plan of action for the
next 3 weeks, according to logical
progression and importance of
content.

5. Mapping the Journey
• We used the information to draw
up 3 weekly plans, leaving Friday
open in each week. This will allow
me to review the week, add new
ingredients, or redo anything that
might be needed.

6. Mapping the Journey 2
• So now we have the outline of a
plan, with clear weekly, and end of
course, goals.
• The chart goes on the wall, on the
Tuesday, for everyone to see,
however it is still flexible and can
be adapted.

7. Keeping the vision alive
• We decided to visit the local lavender farm
together on Wednesday afternoon.
• There is a tour, where visitors are expected
to ask questions about the process of
turning the plant into oils and perfumes.
• We prepared lots of ideas pre-visit and
the activity involved lots of their newly-
learnt language, thus motivating them to
use it naturally, and with confidence.

8. The First Friday
• I prepared an end of week checklist
so that students could measure
their feelings of progress, and I
could determine what, if anything,
needed to be revisited.
• There will be one for next week
too.

9. Sharing the Vision
• I will be in Budapest, at the Besig
conference, during the second week.
• The class explained our plan to the teacher
who will be taking my class next week,
which he is more than happy to adhere to.
• The students are going on an island tour
together on Sunday, so we have been using
the end of each lesson to investigate the
topics they find interesting and would like
to learn more about. This means that they
are doing the speaking they asked for, and
it is all relevant.
• On my return, the students have promised
me a project showing what they found out
about the island on their tour.
• We have started a class blog to showcase
their efforts, which I hope will motivate
them to keep it up in the future and which
should give them an opportunity to
practice their English once back at home.

10. The end
This is easily something which can transfer to classes in the
future. It isn’t often that I have closed groups such as this, but it
happens a few times in the year, and the benefits have already
been felt by this group