How do I teach with no curriculum?

Whereas some schools will give you detailed instructions of what you must teach, others do not. For some teachers this is good news (great I have no restraints!) and for others this is an absolute nightmare. It’s often a scary prospect knowing how to even begin, so here are some pointers:

* Find out the school’s expectations – It’s always best to cover your back and ask a few vital questions ‘What skills would you like me to focus on?’ ‘Am I preparing students for any exams?’ ‘What progress would you like to see by the end of the course?’ ‘What do other teachers do?’ etc.

* Find out the students’ expectations – as with any class it is always a good idea to compile a questionnaire (for Elementary level you will need to make this very simple or translate it). Possible questions could be about what they want to learn and identifying their strengths and weaknesses.

* Identify what students need to work on – set some activities to gage the level of your students (written work, speaking activities etc) in your first few lessons.

* Use the internet – there are vast amounts of lesson plans, tips and resources at your very fingertips, just waiting to be discovered – make good use of the marvel of today’s technology!

* Set realistic goals – make a plan of how many classes you will have and consider what language points, topics, vocabulary etc you would like to cover. Also think about dividing lessons into skills lessons

* Use a textbook as a guide – whether you are teaching a conversation class or general English, textbooks are a great way of seeing what topics/grammar you should be doing.

* Incorporate themes – with no curriculum you may want to have some themes to bring your lessons together.

* Exams? Students expect to progress. Therefore it’s a good idea to think about ways in which students can evaluate this. If you want to do assessed exams and presentations or self evaluations, you will need to inform students in advance.

Designing your own curriculum isn’t an easy task – it’s one of the many challenges that await you in the world of TEFL. Take the challenge and be bold and go where many TEFLers have had to go before!

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