International TEFL InstituteOrganizing your Board Work
Organizing your board work for a more effective TEFL lesson is the mark of a skilled EFL teacher. KISS or “Keep it Simple for Students” is a good rule. Before teaching a lesson, walk through it and as you do, put everything on the board.
Ideally, you don’t erase anything in one lesson and by the end of the TEFL lesson, it should look very well-organized and intuitively understandable. Check it from the back of the room.
Usually, the best way to organize your board work is to literally present the lesson in a dry run and write everything on the board including target language, grammar structure and vocabulary.
As you think your way through the lesson, you will probably notice that you need to reorganize or restructure your thinking. This is an excellent practical exercise just to catch and better plan the flow of your lesson as well as for organizing your board work.
Note that in many TEFL classrooms, students will not be able to see the bottom one-third of the board from the back of the room.
In some TEFL classrooms, the far left and right sides of the board may not be visible to students on the far opposite side of the room due to the extreme angle or from bright light from windows. If there are curtains in a room, use them.
Write on the board in the classroom and walk around the room to see if your writing is BIG enough, clear enough and visible to everyone from every angle and from every seat.
Never erase anything from the board without asking your students first. Why? Your very best students are taking notes! Just a simple, “Okay if I erase this?” and a fast look around the
room will do the job. It’s only polite, isn’t it? Good teachers certainly don’t mind waiting a moment while their best students are taking notes.
A good lesson plan should have an example of what the board will look like on the last page. This will help you plan your board work in advance.
Board work is a fine art that the best teachers practice improving regularly. Help your students by presenting your lesson clearly, visibly and in an understandable manner.
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