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DVC Provides Strategies for Planning Effective English Language Lessons

An attentive public watches and listens   to the English Language Specialist as   she broadcasts from Paris. Full size.

In partnership with the Cameroon English Language and Literature Association (CAMELTA), the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section hosted a highly instructive and useful video conference from ARS Paris on “Lesson Planning and Variation” with English Language Specialist Diane Millar, on October 23, 2007.

In her presentation, Diane provided excellent guidelines on how to plan effective lessons. “The first thing that we need to do when planning a lesson is to set our lesson objectives,” she told participants. She added that these objectives should not only be based on the curriculum but should also take into consideration students needs.  The three elements students need, she explained, are E (Engage), S(Study), A(Activate).  The speaker also provided remarkable strategies for overcoming the numerous challenges faced by Cameroonian teachers, including large classes, unmotivated learners, and absence of textbooks. She presented various ready-to-use lesson frameworks that can easily be adapted to different learning situations.

The audience of thirty included English language teachers and pedagogic inspectors from the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education.  Mrs. Dorothy Forbin, National Pedagogic Inspector for English and CAMELTA President, thanked the U.S. Embassy for what she called an extremely useful and practical lesson on lesson planning, an often neglected stage in language teaching. Plans are underway to copy and distribute the hand-outs prepared by Diane Millar in the upcoming CAMELTA provincial conference to take place in November.