Purpose: Design a curriculum for a topic or an area of interest or current teaching in the field of language teaching. Design a Mini-syllabus (4-week) for a specific Topic, Skill or Student Population of possible interest. This assignment is intended to give you a chance to “strut your stuff” by designing a syllabus for a 4-week program for a particular group of students (who you will identify). Classes in this proposed course will be 3-5 hours per day.
Note: Inclusion of such a ‘spec’ curriculum in a teaching portfolio can be used to make proposals for new courses, to show your flexibility and interests as a teacher.
Just to clarify, the CDPs need to be 60-100 hours in length.
It should be hours, not days, because teaching is based on hours.
For example, 60 hours could be done in four weeks, at 15 hours per week (e.g., 3 hours per day X 5 days)
The sample CDPs are based on an intensive 4 week format, but the idea is they can be adapted to fit ‘real life’ context as necessary.
Process
First Stage:
You will decide on factors such as syllabus type, organizational atmosphere, available materials, class sizes, class composition (age, gender, culture, linguistic mix, etc.), class facilities, etc.
Second Stage:
You will design:
1. a course (4-week) syllabus/course outline
2. a weekly set of goals and objectives
3. 1 day’s complete lesson plan
a. with explicit goals and objectives
b. hour by hour (or activity by activity) plan
i. time expectations, materials, etc.
You will also contextualize this lesson plan within the overall plan of (1) and (2).
Step 1: Developing a course idea for the “Syllabus Design Project”
Brainstorm as many specific details about that course as you can. Discuss (i) goals and objectives, (ii) topics to be covered, (iii) number of class hours per week, (iv) class size, (v) student characteristics, (vi) location for course, (vii) materials that could be used, (vii) probable cost for course (guesstimate cost of time, materials, rental of room, etc).
(i) Identify the goals and objectives of the course (e.g., In this course, students will learn to….)
(ii) Topics to be covered
(iii) Number of class hours per week
(iv) Ideal class size
(v) Student characteristics (age, gender mix, education, ESL level, language/cultural background, socioeconomic status, etc)
(vi) Location for course (e.g., school, office, etc)
(vii) Materials that could be used (e.g., texts, realia, other materials, etc)
(viii) Probable cost for course per student (e.g., guesstimate cost of time, materials, rental of room, etc).
Step 2: Draft a course description
Fill in each of the following headings as best you can.
• Program philosophy/goal(s):
• Prospective student population/market
• Course outline:
• Course requirements/pre-requisites:
• Materials:
o Supplied:
o Required:
• Evaluation/Outcomes:
• Cost:
• Contact person:
Step 3: Building a syllabus
(1) Write a statement of Course Goals and Objectives: At the end of this course, students will know and/or be able to do…….
(2) Break down the course goals into weekly goals/topics, then daily goals, then hourly goals (based on a 4 week course length)
(A) Weekly goals/topics
WEEK General focus or goal
(1) Week One
(2) Week Two
(3) Week Three
(4) Week Four
(B) Break down weekly goals/topics into daily goals/topics
Week One General focus, goal or topic
1. Monday
2. Tuesday
3. Wednesday
4. Thursday
5. Friday
Week Two General focus, goal or topic
1. Monday
2. Tuesday
3. Wednesday
4. Thursday
5. Friday
Week Three General focus, goal or topic
1. Monday
2. Tuesday
3. Wednesday
4. Thursday
5. Friday
Week Four General focus, goal or topic
1. Monday
2. Tuesday
3. Wednesday
4. Thursday
5. Friday
(C) Break down daily goals into hourly goals (for one week only)
Week One
Time Activities and/or goals
Monday Hour 1 [ ]
Hour 2 [ ]
Hour 3 [ ]
Hour 4 [ ]
Time Activities and/or goals
Tuesday Hour 1 [ ]
Hour 2 [ ]
Hour 3 [ ]
Hour 4 [ ]
Time Activities and/or goals
Wednesday Hour 1 [ ]
Hour 2 [ ]
Hour 3 [ ]
Hour 4 [ ]
Time Activities and/or goals
Thursday Hour 1 [ ]
Hour 2 [ ]
Hour 3 [ ]
Hour 4 [ ]
Time Activities and/or goals
Friday Hour 1 [ ]
Hour 2 [ ]
Hour 3 [ ]
Hour 4 [ ]
(D) Create one (1) day’s complete lesson plan (choose any day in the course) which you will contextualize within the overall plan of the course.
a. with explicit goals and objectives
b. hour by hour (or activity by activity) plan
i. time expectations, materials, etc.
Important Note (I am from Saudi Arabia; learning context should match with Saudi Arabia. The lessons in Saudi Arabia, The students are Saudi, the gender is boy and the school is a public school)
Keep the project under 30 pages (including Appendices). Please consider if material in the Appendix is actually relevant and necessary to the CDP.
The CDP will include
• A rationale for the curriculum based on the identified learning context (e.g., students, school type and location, program length, etc.) and informed by current theoretical perspectives
• A course outline, including a statement of goals, educational philosophy and theory
• A syllabus, which more specifically outlines, week-by-week, a list of the pedagogical, linguistic, sociolinguistic and cultural goals
• A description of class variables, including size of class, number of students, student levels, ages, gender, cultural/linguistic background(s),etc., as well as physical environment, resourcing, any specific or special administrative concerns or constraints
• Text or materials selection: An outline of the text(s) and/or other learning resources materials to be used in the course, with a reasoned rationale for the choice
• At least one week’s worth of lesson goals (outline)
• At least one day’s complete lesson plan (detailed)
