Introduction
to Eclectic Approach
Larsen-Freeman
(2000) and Mellow (2000) both have used the term principled
eclecticism to describe a desirable, coherent, pluralistic approach
to language teaching. Eclecticism involves the use of a variety of
language learning activities, each of which may have very different
characteristics and may be motivated by different underlying
assumptions. The use eclecticism is due to the fact that there are
strengths as well as weaknesses of single theory based methods.
Reliance upon a single theory of teaching has been criticized because
the use of a limited number of techniques can become mechanic. The
students, thus, cannot get benefits of learning. Relativism i.e. to
emphasize the context of pedagogical situations is also criticized
because it leads towards dissimilarities rather than similarities
between teaching contexts. The use of eclecticism does not mean to
mix up different approaches randomly. There must have some
philosophical backgrounds and some systematic relation among
different activities. Usually it is recommended to mix structural
approaches with communicative use of language.
The kind of
eclecticism we tried to implement here is a mixture of traditional
reading based approach and some conversational practice for students.
We have tried to see language based on structures but which cannot be
acquired without reasonable practice by communication and
conversation.
So the main
postulates of this approach can be as follows.
Theory
of Language
Language is based on
structures which are used to convey meanings, which perform
functions.
Theory
of Language Learning
We see language
learning as a combined process of structural and communicative
activities.
Objectives
of Current Lesson Plan
We shall try to
teach the students about past simple tense by a combination of
different traditional reading, writing and conversational activities.
Teaching
Material
Teaching material is
different worksheets and black board.
Role
of Teacher
Here we are adopting
the role of teacher roughly equal to CLT. We consider teacher as a
facilitator: who facilitates the learner, as a guide: who guides the
students, as a slightly higher rank official: who uses his authority
to conduct the class and make the process of teaching and learning
systematic.
Role
of Learner
Learner is seen by
us as the center of teaching learning activities. His participation
is very important. So teacher will always try to involve the
learners. As well as the learner's role in class should be
cooperative and they will be allowed to communicate, self correct
each other and ask questions about the substance provided for
teaching learning activities.
Lesson
Plan
In this lesson our
focus is on Past Simple Tense. For this purpose we shall try to
present a series of activities which will provide the learners'
opportunity to practice the structures with in context with conscious
and unconscious state of mind. The students are supposed to be class
6 students.
Activity
1: Reading of Passage (10 Mins Approx)
Activity
2: Question Answering about Passage (10 Mins Approx)
Activity
3: Fill in the Blanks (10 Mins Approx)
Activity
4: Past Simple Practice (10 Mins Approx)
Activity
5: Story Writing (10 Mins Approx)
Miss Wajeeha will
present a passage for reading. The purpose is to provide a context
for next activities.
The
Lady With the Lamp
Florance Nightingale
was a young girl, in the early part of the nineteenth century. At
that time, the hospitals were not as good as they are now. The
doctors and nurses were not trained about healing wounds. Many poor
soldiers died because of this in result of war. So she wanted to be a
nurse. But her father did not want that. He sent Florance to travel
many countries. She did not forget and visited hospitals. She worked
in convents where nurses were trained. She worked in the hospital and
improved the system. She worked day and night. She looked after the
wounded soldiers. She used to walk around the hospital with a small
lamp. So the hospitals became clean and nurses were much more
skillful. She stayed at hospital till the end of the war and saved
hundreds of lives.
That's why today,
nurses all over the world remember “The Lady with the Lamp”
Activity
2: Question Answer (10 Mins Approx)
The purpose is conversational practice in a controlled
situation as well as to remind what students previously read. It will
allow the students to remember the new vocabulary items specially the
content words used in the passage. As well as students will
unconsciously practice past simple tense.
Questions:-
Q1:- Who was
Nightingale?
Q2:- Are hospitals
today better or worse than in Florance Nightingale's times?
Q3:- Why did many
soldiers die?
Q4:- Did her father
wanted his daughter to be a nurse?
Q5:- Why did she
want to learn about nursing?
Q6:- What she did
for the improvement of the system of hospitals?
Q7:- Why she was
called “The Lady with the Lamp”?
Activity
3: Fill in the Blanks (10 Mins Approx)
The purpose is again to let the students
interact with the teacher and to memorize the vocabulary items.
Fill in the
blanks with appropriate words.
Florance was a
_________ girl. (Old, Young)
She wanted to be a
_________. (Nurse, Doctor)
She visited
_________. (Hospitals, Saloons)
Florance is called
____________________. (Lady with a Piano, Lady with a Lamp)
Florance was in the
early part of _____________. (Twentieth century, Nineteenth century)
The hospitals were
not so _________. (Good, Beautiful)
But his _________
did not want that. (Brother, Father)
She worked in a
___________. (School, Hospital)
Andy many _________
soldiers died because of that. (rich, poor)
He sent Florance to
travel many ________. (Countries, Villages)
She worked in
convents where ________ were trained. (Teachers, Nurses)
She improved the
system and worked ___________. (Day and night, for a month)
She used to walk
around the hospitals with __________. (a lamp, a piano)
Hospitals became
_________. (clean, ugly)
Nurses were much
more __________ now. (reasonable, skillful)
She stayed at
hospital until the end of ________. (war, dinner)
Nurses all over the
world __________ “The Lady with the Lamp”. (remember, forget)
Activity
4: Practice of Past Simple Tense (10 Mins Approx)
The purpose of this activity is to convert the
previous unconscious knowledge about the past simple tense to
conscious one. The definition and structural formula will be
presented in traditional way and then the sentences will be practiced
in substitution tables.
The Simple Past
Tense
The simple past
tense is used to talk about actions that happened at a specific time
in the past. You form the simple past of a verb by adding -ed onto
the end of a regular verb but, irregular verb forms have to be
learned.
Practice
of to
be
statements
in Past Simple. Positive and Negative Sentences.
I
|
was
|
Happy.
|
We
|
were
|
You
|
was not
|
He
|
were not
|
She
|
|
It
|
They
|
Practice
of regular verbs
in
Past Simple. Positive and Negative Sentences.
I
|
visited
did not visit
|
hospitals.
|
We
|
You
|
He
|
She
|
improved
did not improve
|
the system.
|
It
|
They
|
Practice
of to
be
statements
and
regular verbs
in
Past Simple. Interrogative Sentences.
Was
|
I
|
happy?
|
|
Were
|
we
|
Did
|
you
|
visit
|
hospitals?
|
he
|
she
|
it
|
improve
|
the system?
|
they
|
Activity
5: Story Writing (10 Mins Approx)
The purpose is to let the students use their
minds and provide linguistic output in desired form i.e. past simple
tense. A picture will be presented and then the students will be
asked to write a story according to their perception of the picture.
Reasonable guide and clues will be provided by the teacher after the
students having brainstormed.
