Best Lesson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Best Lesson - Essay Example An excellent model suchs as the CALLA model enables learners to approach instructional paradigms from a well-grounded and a critical standpoint. The strategy of teaching English as a Second Language for university students usually begin with a theoretical background that explains and justifies the premises of the instructional approaches to be presented. This practice helps the mastery of the important theories and helps acquire practical strategies for effective classroom teaching. The best lesson in the online module provide its learners with a principled set of instructional tools for teaching English to learners of English as a Second Language. I rated the CALLA Model of Ana Chamost and Michael O'Malley with a perfect grade of 10 out of 10 as the best lesson among the three lessons which were presented. The major reasons for this high rating are the CALLA Model considers the development of effective instructional skills for the teachers and it relies on a clear realization of the fundamental precepts that guide the teachers' prevailing beliefs and practices. In this model, the teachers take into account a variety of approaches, several underlying assumptions, and the specific practices that their teaching philosophy inspires. (Yates & Muchisky, 2003). The best lesson is that of the CALLA Model of Ana Chamot and Michael O'Malley which integrated grade level content, language and strategy instruction. The two researchers found that the group of ESLs identified by their teachers were very successful as they utilized a variety of strategies and were conscious as to the why to use, when to use, how to use and why the specific strategies were being used.This research led to the CALLA model or Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (Chamot and O'Malley, 1994) that integrates grade-level content, language, and strategy instruction. The three strategies included in the CALLA approach are metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social affective strategies. In this model, the students use the new information and skills they learn. The teaching and learning approaches encompass collaboration, inquiry, problem-solving and hands-on experience. These strategies are used by teachers when they predict, organize, evaluate, infer, question and summarize. The teachers of English learners need to be explicit in teaching these strategies. Students should be taught the declarative knowledge of the strategy. Then students should be given the strict procedural knowledge on how to use the strategy. Once the declarative and procedural knowledge are clear, students are then taught the conditional knowledge or when and why it would be appropriate to use the strategy. (Paris, Cross and Lipson, 1994).I gave the second lesson which is on interaction a grade of 8 out of a grade of perfect 10. I fully agree that interaction between students and teachers is necessary for English learners to help them develop their reading and speaking skill s for the language. However, I do understand that some English learners in developing countries may not have had the