ESL teacher training: teacher’s checklist for learning strategies

Teachers should continually evaluate he impact of learning strategy intruction on their students, as well as their use of ELT materials, their methods, their teahniques, their lesson planning and their assessments. Teacher’s reflections on learning strategy instruction can be done using this checklist ( adapted from Sarah Bernhardt, 1996, copyright Longman). Teachers should answer how frequently they do the following things- often, sometimes, rarely.:

Preparation

- I ask students to describe the strategies that already use

- I include activities such as think alouds, and discussions to help students become aware of their strategies

Presentation

- I select strategies to teach that are appropriate for the task

-I give the strategy a name and I explain it

-I tell students why and when to use the strategy

- I model how to use the strategy with the same kind of task

Practice

-I choose challenging tasks for sudents

- I provide activities for students to practice the strategies

- I remind students to use the strategies I have taught

- I enourage students’ thought processes by asking them how they figured something out

- I point out any strategies I see students doing

- I praise good thinking more than right answers

Evaluation

- I encourage students to evaluate their own use of strategies

-I discuss with students which strategies they find most useful for the task hey’ve just completed

_ I encourage students to chosse the strategies they prefer

- I promote student autonomy by fading cues to use strategies

_  evaluate how I use strategies and revise as necessary

Exapansion

- I suggest to students how they can use the strategies in other subject and in daily life