Hello colleagues, At this time of year, we usually pay special attention to learner goal setting. Goal setting with beginners can be challenging since students may not understand the concept of goal setting let alone the English word GOAL!
This fall, I wanted to revise my approach to goal setting.The students I'm teaching are at the low and high beginning National Reporting System (NRS) levels. I found a helpful online resource, "Step by Step Goal Setting Lesson Plans" made available by our wonderful colleagues Gretchen Bitterlin and Donna Price, which they presented at the international TESOL conference in New York. I drew from this resource to first teach the concept of goal setting.
As suggested in this resource, I showed a photo of someone playing soccer, and we discussed the following questions and answers.
- A. Question: What does he want to do? Answer: He wants to win the game.
- B. Question: What is his goal? Answer: His goal is to win the game.
We worked with a few other examples of common goals, e.g., A. He wants to lose weight. B. His goal is to lose weight. A. She wants to stop smoking. B. Her goal is to stop smoking A. They want to learn English. B. Their goal is to learn English. Through these examples, students learned what a goal is and how to use the word GOAL for their own short and long term goals.
I then created my own handout, "Goal Setting with Beginners," to support students in setting their own goals for why they need more English. The goals are broken down into three areas: Work, Education and Personal/Family. I think I should add community involvement and citizenship to this handout. Feel free to download my handout and to revise it to suit your context.
We walked through the handout together, and students filled out the form. They also talked to one another about their goals. In addition, I asked the students to make a commitment to come to class regularly and to study English at home. I collected the handout to review each learners' goals. I will add a copy of this document to each learner's file, and we will revisit their goals and their commitments regularly during the semester.
Based on Gretchen and Donna's lesson plans, I also created a record sheet for students to set and track attendance and homework goals weekly. I'm curious to see how this will work for the students in my class.
How is goal setting working for you this semester? Please let us know what goal setting looks like in your class/program. Also feel free to pose any questions about goal setting to the community.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition