Set the Pace: The First 10 minutes of your lesson

Adapt your teaching to your strengths.

In my many years of observing lessons, I have found that every teacher has their own personal teaching style. So, when observing, my aim was not to change this but to build on strengths.

Take me, for example, when I begin a lesson, I like a certain order in my classroom. Then, I slowly let go of that control as the lesson progresses. For this reason, I have certain expectations for the first ten minutes of my lessons:

• The lesson begins the moment they walk into the room.
• There is an activity they should be doing.
• Focus on the students who are on-task.
• The activity should be clear to everyone, so I don’t have to explain.
• Start correcting the exercise after a few minutes.

Let’s take these one by one.

– The lesson begins the moment they walk into the room.

Entering the room acts like a trigger to switch their brains into English. This is especially important for students whose first language is not English (EFL lessons), where students have been using another language in a previous lesson or in the playground. This also means that I need to have something for them to do as they enter the room.

– There is an activity they should be doing.

This activity needs to be simple, easy to understand, quick to do, and have only one correct answer. Write the activity on the board as students walk into the room. This shows them you have started the lesson, and they should too. More on the activity later.

– Focus on the students who are on-task.

Praise the students who are working. Give them your attention. Support those who need help. The key here is that students who are working get the teacher’s attention.

– The activity should be clear to everyone, so I don’t have to explain.

You shouldn’t need to give lengthy instructions. All students should be able to do it if they want to. The exercise should be based on language they already know. For example, writing the jumbled letters of vocabulary they have learned, e.g. ‘1. aaabnn’ – it is clear this is ‘banana’.

– Start correcting the exercise after a few minutes.

Don’t wait for everyone to finish to start correcting. After a few minutes, call on someone to give you the answer to number 1. This will emphasise to the students that they should have started. Any who haven’t, now have the answer to number 1, if they are listening.  Give them a little time to get settled, then call for number 2. It is important to call on the students who have the answer. This will help the activity run smoothly and reward those who have been working.

This may take a little time for students to get used to, so be patient. Give your students time to adapt. Talk to them about why it is important that the class work as a group.

The Activities

Having the right activities is very important. Here are some guidelines:

– The activity should be simple.

You should be able to write it easily on the board or give students a handout.

Students should be able to see what is expected of them quickly and easily, without you needing to explain.

– The activity should not need further instructions.

The activity should be clear enough not to need any explanation from the teacher.  This could be a simple exercise from their workbook.  Simply looking at it, students know what is expected.

– It should be something that can be completed quickly.

The aim of the activity is to get students on-task as they enter the classroom. You don’t want an activity that takes too much time away from your lesson. Students should be able to complete the activity and correct it in no more than 5 minutes.

– Answers should be right or wrong.

Example: Yesterday Tommy ___ to the cinema with his friends. (go)

There is only one possible answer to this sentence, as the verb to be used is given in brackets.  This makes it easy to correct, saving time for the lesson.

After starting your lessons like this for a while, talk to your students about it, especially older ones. You are establishing a positive learning environment where everyone can learn successfully.

Click on this link to get examples of activities you can use: https://learningnaturally.co.uk/my-resources/