How to get started with the ULAT program

Below you will find a checklist of activities to help teachers get up and running with the ULAT program as quickly as possible. The best and most complete orientation you could provide yourself would be to read through the topics and watch the videos found in the teacher's manual to the ULAT. However, if time is too short, below are the minimum essential activities you should perform to get started:

DAILY LESSON PREPARATION

  1. Above all else, if you feel you need help, e-mail the ULAT at "[email protected]" to express either your question or your need.

  2. Click on the following links to view the three types of buttons found in each lesson which provide guidance to the instructor: TEACHING TIPS VIDEO, consult the LESSON PLAN and THE INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO.

  3. Before beginning the first lesson, watch the TEACHING TIPS VIDEO and then consult the LESSON PLAN regarding the first day of class.

  4. To access the first lesson, go to the TEACHER'S TABLE OF CONTENTS which can be found toward the bottom of the "Teacher Resources" section of the TEACHER'S MANUAL.

  5. Go to the first lesson (ULAT 1.1) and watch the teaching tips video and consult the lesson plan. (Please note: the instructional videos do not begin until the second lesson.) Thereafter, if time permits and you feel the need in order to prepare yourself, repeat these three steps for each lesson as you move from lesson 1.1 to 1.2, etc.: 1) watch the teaching tips video, 2) consult the lesson plan and 3) watch the instructional video.

LONG-TERM PLANNING: THE 12-STEP ACTIVITY CYCLE

You can map out your path through the ULAT by simply following this sequence of activities:

  1. Introduce the topic to be studied to your students by providing them with a frame of reference for the subject that is related either to their lives or to yours. For example, if you are about to study verbs related to one's daily routine, show them a PowerPoint presentation of photos of you doing the things in chronological order that you tend to do in a typical week day. Click here to see an example.

  2. Show your students the instructional video or have them watch it at home (flipped classroom) or on the school's computers or IPads.

  3. Read through the lesson, as the students listen, while projecting it on the classroom screen. Highlight elements that are likely to cause them some difficulty.

  4. Have the students study the lesson's exercises independently or in pairs on the school's computers or IPads.

  5. Form pairs of students with those sitting in proximity one to another. Push the students to form the projected lesson's statements more rapidly by advancing the lesson at a steady, challenging pace while the students alternate at forming the statements within their pair.

  6. Conduct an oral participation activity in which the students volunteer the answers to the lesson projected on the classroom screen.

  7. Show the class the lesson's PowerPoint to challenge the students to develop linguistic reflexes and to prepare them for the test that will require the students to maintain a certain pace to their responses.

  8. Have the students practice the four forms of their online test, after having modeled the activity for them, and then call on a student to take one of the forms as a practice test, while the others listen, to provide feedback for the others regarding mistakes and your grading expectations.

  9. Test the students one-on-one while assigning the next lesson's instructional video for the rest to view while awaiting their turn to be tested and after having been tested.

  10. For oral participation credit, conduct an open-ended discussion on a theme of personal import to the students and related to the subject just studied.

  11. Before beginning this sequence again, to maintain interest and to provide the opportunity for oral expression involving the skill just presented by the standard sequence above, have the students engage in international exchange communication with a classroom overseas.

  12. Finally, show the students an excerpt from a video or read a chapter from a book from one of the ULAT's video and book selections. (See the Table of Contents for the particular language you are teaching to find a video or book for which ULAT lessons have been created.) Engage the students in discussion guided by the ULAT lesson on that particular excerpt or chapter.