WEEK 16 SYLLABUS STUDY

SCHEME OF WORK

What Is Scheme of Work

A

scheme of work is a plan that indicates what will be taught for the semester/year and in what order it will be taught. Objectives set out in the syllabus for each school year form the basis for the scheme of work for the year.

Who Plans the Scheme of Work

It

is good for all the teachers who teach a particular class to work together on the scheme of work for the year. There are many reasons for this such as; monthly tests and school exams make it necessary for teachers to synchronize what is taught and the order in which it is taught.

......Who Plans the Scheme of Work

All the teachers perceptions on the syllabus items become known to everyone and this enriches the teachers.

Teaching resources, especially audiovisual aids can be shared.

Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

A

syllabus is just a list of items to be covered. It does not specify the amount of time to be spent on each item, in what order the items need to be taught and so on. These are decisions that the teachers teaching the subject need to make.

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

Planning

the scheme of work would involve taking into account; The amount of time available per lesson/ per week/ per semester What items need to be covered, how important each item is for the pupils, how long it will take to achieve the level of mastery

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

How

the items can be graded, sequenced and combined. How recycling, reinforcement and enrichment can be incorporated into the scheme of work for the year. How to achieve a good balance and integration of the four skills

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

1.Amount of Time Available In calculating the amount of time available, a teacher should consider: Actual class contact time provided for by the Ministry of Education (MOE). By how many hours learning time can be extended through homework, extended reading and project work (if any suggested)

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

2. What Items Need To Be Covered The syllabus spells out what need to be taught in any one year. Syllabus is stated/written in a very general way. Therefore, syllabus need to be interpreted. For example; the KBSR syllabus does not specify the Present Tense. The syllabus presents it implicitly in the form of sentence patterns to be covered in the teaching of certain units that come with the KBSR syllabus and the Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran (HSP) Therefore a teacher needs to recognize the pattern behind the sample sentences in order to generate other sentences to help pupils perceive rules or internalize knowledge of appropriate use.

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

3. Grading and Sequencing A number of criteria need to be kept in mind when making decisions regarding grading and sequencing: Level of relative learning difficulty. - this refers to the items specified in the syllabus - easier items must be taught before more difficult ones

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

3. Grading and Sequencing Nature of skill to be taught - Pronunciation & grammar require very systematic, step-to-step teaching. - The productive skills of speaking and writing need to be more carefully controlled than the receptive skills of reading and listening Possible timing of items - should be appropriate according to the students and schools calendar of events.

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

Effect on Motivation to Learn - Should be appropriate according to the level of students Coherence Within Units of Learning - There should be a logical and natural development in the teachinglearning process. - The earlier units should prepare for the later ones

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

4. Providing for Recycling, Reinforcement and Enrichment In deciding which items need recycling, reinforcement and enrichment, a few issues need to be emphasized; - why recycling is important. Eg: to deepen students understanding of appropriate contexts of use of for different linguistic forms, etc - the importance of the item/ skill - how much repetition is required for the skill to be well-learnt - the level of proficiency of the pupils

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

5. Balance There are some important issues that need to be emphasized in achieving balance: - whether the emphasis and time allocated to an item reflects its importance in the learning process and usefulness to students - whether the 4 language skills L,S,R&W are given balanced treatment - whether grammar and vocabulary have been given appropriate attention

........Factors To Be Considered In Planning A Scheme of Work

6. Integration Is particularly important in the communicative approach for a number of reasons: - real communication involves using more than one skill eg: S & L most frequently occur in interactive situation - integration of language with interests of stds and needs - variety of input and output in the learning process improves comprehension and retention - Voc and grammar are best learnt in contexts integrated with skills like W & S

Suggested Procedure For Drawing Up Scheme of Work For the Year

Step 1 Use the syllabus, the textbooks and workbooks and the guidelines given to break the syllabus into a number of themes and topics Step 2 Use the inventory of skills, grammar items and prescribed vocabulary to decide which items/skills should go with each theme and topic Step 3 Decide on an appropriate sequence for presenting the themes Step 4 Decide on the amount of time you can usefully spend on each theme and topic.

Sample Scheme of Work

(Refer to the Scheme of Work that you have compiled during the SBE.) You may wish to plan a general scheme of work which merely specifies the themes in the order in which they will be covered and when. You may also wish to work out a more detailed scheme that allows you to check for balance and integration of skills.

Procedures For Developing a Scheme of Work For an Integrated Unit

Identify the broad topic Identify sub-topics within it. Think of what ss do when listening to, speaking about, reading or writing about the topic Think of what language (vocabulary and structures) ss need to do activities Decide what language ss would already know. Check syllabus for previous years. Check amount of time available and decide how much can be taught and what would be most useful for ss at this stage of their development. Think of interesting tasks that ss can do that will allow them to learn the target skills and language items. Work out in detail how the skills can be integrated.

THE END