Dear Reader,

What is this feeling in my gut that tells me in no uncertain terms that I can wear t-shirts and make pitchers of lemonade as much as I like, but the truth is that the summer is pretty much over?

Are you, by any chance, also burying your head in the sand and deluding yourself September isn't right around the corner?

If so, welcome to the club, my deluded friend.

But the hard truth is that September always comes around, so at this time of the year, I know many of you will be preparing for the school year ahead. (Though of course, today is the last day of August, so I say: revel in it as much as you possibly can).

The best way to welcome September is to have a plan. So, whether you're waiting to start at your usual school, a new school where you're finally tenured or waiting for that unpredictable call that will dictate where you'll spend the next few weeks or months, this newsletter is for you!

Today, I'm especially picturing the teacher who gets thrown in at the deep end: a new class, possibly even a new school, and maybe a new(ish) teacher.

When you step into that classroom, what do you do?

​

Well, let me give you a hand with that, as today, I will share 5 activities you can do on your first day. They are:

• low prep, so if they call you on Day 1 and you're supposed to teach on Day 2, you won't need to panic
• adaptable for different levels
• suitable for all teachers, even those who have already done this once or twice before!

With this plan, you won't need to fear September: it is September that will have to fear you. Let's get cracking 🔥

---

But first: a thank you

Sometimes, as teachers, we forget to look back and take stock of all the successes, big and small, that we have accrued over the years.

I for one am guilty of this. A self-deprecating attitude mixed with a reluctance to toot my own horn (I mean, surely that's in bad taste, right?) and a slightly scattered brain were the perfect recipe to almost make me forget something that's actually important: this week, LanguagEd turned 5 years old ✨

It's been 5 years of learning and sharing so much. Ever since our very first course Language Teaching Methodology, we've done webinars, workshops, a whole conference (!), live courses, self-study courses, individual consultations. We've grown the blog(s), the YouTube channel, and of course, I've personally never let go of this newsletter I hold so dear.

But I still think the most valuable thing for me has been the people I've met. I have welcomed new expert trainers throughout the years who have helped me grow so much.

But most importantly, I have built and nurtured relationships with hundreds (probably now thousands?) of teachers. Each of you, with your stories, doubts, difficulties and successes, have taught me more than I could have thought possible. I've seen hundreds of you go from precarious contracts to concorso winners with permanent contracts, and knowing we've made a difference to the course of your life means the world to me.

So, in short, and before this becomes more mushy than my slightly British-inspired stiff upper lip can stomach, let me just tell you: thank you for everything and here's to another 5 years together ‪‪❤︎‬

​

5 activities for your first day

Now, if you've been around the block a few times, you know the drill: first day of school = stack of ready-made first day activities. You might like to check out these 10 first-day activities from our blog, for example.

But what happens if you get assigned to a new class, or, god forbid, a few new classes? Well, here are 5 low-prep activities you can pull out of your magic hat.

​

1. Needs analysis

In my experience, one of the reasons we sometimes find ourselves confused and aimless at some point halfway through the school year is that we didn't analyse our students' needs at the start. Conducting a needs analysis essentially means identifying 4 things:

• the objectives of the course (i.e. the Target Situation Analysis)
• what the students want to learn (Learning Situation Analysis)
• what the students can already do (Present Situation Analysis, usually analysed via a diagnostic test)
• the practical aspects of the course, like the time, coursebooks and digital tools available (Means Analysis)

A good needs analysis allows you to set suitable aims, and working towards suitable aims makes everything better: the materials are appropriate, the students (and parents!) are aware, engagement is higher because you're not repeating things that are already known... the list goes on. Plus, if you're working in a vocational or technical school, where you've got some overly specific English for Specific Purposes, finding out as much as you can is only going to benefit you.

So, why not bookmark a needs analysis worksheet and print off a few copies just in case? You might like this free one from Linguahouse or this one from IslCollective. You can modify them as needed, including translating them into the students' first language (for the avoidance of doubt: if you ask me, I think a needs analysis in the students' first language is better than no needs analysis).

​

2. The 1 thing activity

You know when you're given a class but also you're given absolutely 0 information on who/what's come before you? Delightful, I know.

In those cases, however, I think you can get two birds with one scone: by using the prompts below, you will both get a sense of your students' levels and also get information on what they may have done the previous year.

Ask your learners to fill in these prompts:

• 1 thing I remember studying last year
• 1 thing I remember finding difficult last year
• 1 test I did well in last year
• 1 test I failed last year
• 1 lesson I loved last year

You can put the prompts on the board and ask your learners to think individually, share in pairs and then share orally with the whole class: if you do this, you will get an opportunity to listen to their speaking, which can contribute to your Present Situation Analysis (i.e. what they can do).

You might opt for a writing task, where the students fill in the prompts individually on strips of paper or digitally via a survey or a Padlet. That way, you will get a sense of their writing skills. In either case, you will get a feel for their vocab and grammar.

​

3. The motivation activity

Setting goals is a crucial part of learning. Without goals, you don't know what you're aiming for, which means you don't know what strategies to put in place to get there (because you don't really know where you're going).

Allow me to use the football metaphor: if you can't see the goal, you don't know where to aim the ball. But in order to reach those goals, you need one key ingredient to sustain you: motivation.

There are many theories of motivation, but a simple one that you can share with your learners distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation:

At the beginning of the school year, put this question on the board: what's a good reason for me to learn English? Have your students answer this question on a Padlet, using a sentence but also pictures they may find online if they're allowed to use digital devices in your school (a tricky one in current times, but alas).

You will get all sorts of reasons, from understanding YouTubers to being able to game online to - hopefully! - using English in a future job. Explain the extrinsic/intrinsic motivation theory to your students, invite them to categorise the reasons on the Padlet accordingly, and discuss how they can find some intrinsic motivation to learn English (because intrinsic motivation is more effective at sustaining learning in the long term¹).

​

4. The GTKY bit

Starting in a new class means getting to know your students... and your students getting to know you. GTKY (getting to know you) games like 3 truths 1 lie generally go down well: put 4 sentences about yourself on the board, including 3 true ones and a lie. Have your students guess the lie and justify their answer (see how you can sneak in a little bit of speaking and diagnostic assessment easily in there?)

An example about me:

• I have two older brothers
• I can tell you how many letters a word has in less than a second
• I have lived in 7 cities in my life
• As a child, I wanted to be an archeologist

Have a go at guessing, if you like?

After your turn, you can also have the students play this game, first with each other, then with the whole class.

You can also turn this into a competition: split the students into 2 team, then each student will write their own 4 sentences. They should be as difficult as possible. Then, each student comes to the board and writes their sentences up. The students from the other team have to guess the answer. The team that guesses the most answers wins!

An extra activity to have your learners get to know you better: the ask-me-anything activity. Handle this one with care, because students can get very nosy, but you can stipulate that you will answer all questions as long as you see a real effort to formulate them in correct English (or as long as they work together to correct any mistakes).

​

5. The individual (but valuable) GTKY

Finally, a cool thing I like to do with students is an individual activity. Especially when we don't know each other, students may find it hard to express themselves. This can stem from a fear of authority, fear of losing face, lack of interest, assumption that the new teacher doesn't care, etc. So, from my end, I like my students to know that, within the boundaries of mutual respect, my metaphorical door is always open and I want to listen to them.

So, I ask them to fill in the prompt "one thing I want you to know about me is _____". They write it on a piece of paper for me or via an online survey.

Some students will take this lightly, no doubt, but others will take the opportunity to open up about their difficulties. As an example, in the past I've had students tell me about how they couldn't always deliver their assignments in time because they had to care for younger siblings or work in the afternoon. I've also had a student tell me about their recent ADHD diagnosis, which I would have gleaned from official documents anyway, but hearing how it made concentrating difficult from them was really valuable. Someone else once mentioned the bad experiences they had had with their previous English teacher - this was tricky as you don't want to undermine a colleague you don't even know, but you also want to make the student feel heard and valuable, particularly once they've had the courage to put this in writing.

In all these cases, it was better to know all these things: knowing them at the start of the school year makes things so much easier than finding them out halfway through! I also noticed it makes a difference in the rapport with students, because they know that no matter what, I will still want to listen to them.

And with that, comes the end of today's newsletter. I hope these low-prep activities help you stay afloat if you get thrown in at the deep end! If you use them, let me know how it goes.

In the meanwhile, I wish you a lovely Sunday with your loved ones and a non-traumatic first week back on school grounds.

Take care, dear teacher ✨

¹ It's the reason I still put tons of effort into trying to understand German whenever I hear it, despite catching one measly word every 20, but I gave up on my quest to understand physics (despite buying a delightful book in comic form) long, long ago.

✨Cool things I heard this week

I'm new to your courses, but I've been studying your self-study bundle for a week and I wanted to say: it's so well made! It's making a massive difference to my preparation. No more wasted time, but one resource with everything I need in it. A very nice change for me.

What did you think of today's newsletter?

❤️ I loved it: well, thank you so much! Hit "reply" to let me know (it makes my day) or hit "forward" and send it to a friend

👉 I'm new, a friend sent me this: great to have you here! To receive this newsletter every Sunday (ish), for free, subscribe here​

🚀 I want more: no problem - check out all my previous newsletters with tips, lesson plans and ramblings here or join our YouTube channel​

👎🏻 Meh, I'm not sure: that's absolutely fine: you can unsubscribe from the Sunday newsletter.

Quick links

​Preparation course for the written exam​

​Preparation programme for oral exam​

​Log onto your course​

​Our free resources​
​

​

​