Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T18:30:35.057Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - The lesson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2024

Get access

Summary

The lesson: different perspectives

The lesson is a type of organized goal-oriented social event that occurs in most, if not all, cultures. And although lessons in different places may vary in topic, atmosphere, methodology and materials, they all have several basic elements in common:

• Their main objective is learning;

• They are attended by a predetermined population of learner(s) and teacher(s);

• They are held at a preset time and place (except for asynchronous online lessons:

see 18 Digital technology and online teaching). There are additional aspects of a lesson which may be less obvious. It is useful to consider these through the medium of metaphor, as suggested in Pause for thought below.

Which of the following metaphors captures the essence of a lesson, in your opinion? You can choose more than one, or invent a new one of your own.

climbing a mountain consulting a doctor a conversation eating a meal a football game a menu a television show a wedding

Optionally, discuss your choices with a partner, and your reasons for them. Then read on.

Comment

It is interesting that in any given group of people, there will be a wide variety of different selections, because of the different ways individuals interpret reality (see 20 Learner differences 2: diversity and inclusion). The main aspects of a lesson which are foregrounded in the different interpretations are the following:

Cooperative interaction. This is most obvious in the metaphor of conversation, but is also represented by the wedding, the television show and, in perhaps a rather different way, the football game. The focus here is on the dynamic relationship among students, or between students and teacher. A lesson essentially involves cooperative social interaction, and should promote the participation of all members of the class.

Goal-oriented effort, involving hard work. Here, climbing a mountain might be an appropriate metaphor, or perhaps a football game. This image suggests the existence of a clear, worthwhile objective, the necessity of effort to attain it and a resulting sense of satisfaction and triumph if it is achieved, or of failure and disappointment if it is not.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • The lesson
  • Penny Ur
  • Book: A Course in English Language Teaching
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009417594.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The lesson
  • Penny Ur
  • Book: A Course in English Language Teaching
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009417594.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The lesson
  • Penny Ur
  • Book: A Course in English Language Teaching
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009417594.003
Available formats
×