One good way to begin a team-teaching class is for the JTE and the AET to perform a skit together in front of the students. A skit can be a useful way to introduce the lesson because it creates a relaxed atmosphere and captures the students’ attention. Students see their teacher:
A. Involved in English dialogue with a native speaker, and
B. Performing and enjoying it! (A situation they have probably never seen their teacher in before)
Note: Adding humor, using props, signs, pictures, and flash cards can help the students understand the dialogue.
The following skit was used to introduce a lesson called “What Hiroshi Wants to Be” from Mainstream IIC. P.83. (The story of this lesson concerns a junior high school student named Hiroshi, who is considering what he wants to be when he grows up.)
Lesson Plan: (explained in more detail below)
1. Introduce skit and explain new words
2. Perform skit
3. Listening comprehension quiz
4. Exercises using the textbook
5. AET asks students questions using the textbook pattern
1. Introduce the skit and explain new words
“Okay… Today, everyone, we are going to study page 83 in your textbooks, ‘What Hiroshi Wants to Be,’ but first we are going to do a skit for you.”
[Write the name of the JTE on the board as follows: “What Mr. Itoh Wanted to Be”]
“Imagine Mr. Itoh is very young again. He is a high school student, like you. He wants to decide about his future, so he is going to have a career interview.” [show sign] “I am going to give him advice.”
JTE tells the students that they must listen carefully because after the skit, they will be given a True or False quiz.
2. Perform Skit:
AET: Good Morning.
JTE: Good Morning.
AET: Please sit down. So you have come for a career interview. You want to
decide about your future.
JTE: That’s right.
AET: What do you want to be in the future?
JTE: I don’t know.
AET: Well, what are you interested in?
JTE: Nothing in particular.
AET: I see, you have a problem. Would you like to be a movie star like Michael J.
Fox or Tom Cruise? [shows pictures of movie stars]
JTE: Mmmmm. . . It’s a good idea, but movie stars have to travel a lot. I get sick
on airplanes. I hate flying.
AET: Well, maybe you could become a strong man like Arnold Schwarzeneggar.
[mimes lifting weights, flexing muscles, or shows picture] Which sports club
are you in at school?
JTE: Nope, I’m very bad at sports. I was in the Shuji Club.
AET: One possibility is to become a singer. What about joining Smap! ?
JTE: No way, I can’t sing and I don’t like Karaoke.
AET: Maybe you should become an important statesman like Prince Charles or
Tony Blair?
JTE: No, I’m too shy. It is difficult for me to make speeches.
AET: Oh, can you speak English?
JTE: Yes. . .
AET: Then I have the perfect job for you! You should major in English at
University and become an English teacher!
. . . and so ends the story of how Mr. Itoh came to be an English teacher.
3. Listening Comprehension Test
Use the contents of the skit in a short listening comprehension test. The AET reads five or so statements about the skit. The students must write in their notebooks whether the statements are true or false. Answers should be checked orally.
Note: The bulk of this article, including the example skit, was written for the 1990 edition of Communicative English: A Practical Guide