“Principles” Chapter 4

INTRODUCTION Curriculum design can be seen as a tool for all teachers around the world which helps to make education easy to manage a class with the proper environment. As the author of the book, in which I will base my reaction of, says: “Curriculum design can be seen as a kind of writing activity and as such it can usefully be studied as a process”. Language curriculum design / I.S.P. Nation and John Macalister. There are many factors which might influence the designing of a curriculum and those which we should take special attention are the principles. The principles will assist teachers and schools in their practice and as a basis for continuing to review the evaluation and the improvement. “The aim of this part of the curriculum design process is to decide how learning can be encouraged”. Language curriculum design / I.S.P. Nation and John Macalister. It is important to approach this issue not only by the need of understanding the curriculum design, but also to implement the different principles by studying them according to many variables in order to achieve optimal learning. There are twenty principles the author mentions on the book and different contents which will be taking into account and developed in the next chapter by way of a reaction essay. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK When we think about teaching we should talk about curriculum and some principles which may work as a guide for us and as a planning strategy for the students. Understanding how students learn and using established principles of learning as "decision screens" will surely help us make more effective curriculum decisions. Firstly, a curriculum design has to be well thought out and well founded on reliable statistics, so for that we would need to take into consideration some aspects, as the author mentioned three principles: Content and sequencing, Format and Preparation and Monitoring and Assessment. Thus, based on the conditions the writer cited, I reflect on those aspects as important key facts for the designing of a curriculum because by following the principles, the teachers can have a broad knowledge on the most important needs of a scholar population. Consequently, the selection of the material is undoubtedly one the most important features that needs to be carefully selected. It includes indeed the environment, the dialogues and the examples exposed on the books or photocopies. The students have to feel the sense of belonging, the capacity of understanding a situation because is similar to them. Also, the space of the institutions needs to be included on how the teachers prepare their planning’s, son that the language would be meaningful and the activities well used and so the students will be interested about learning. It is important not only the quantity of material seen in class, but also, the quality, so teachers should make a balance, because better is a subject well learnt, that many covered without learning them properly. Secondly, I would like to point out that, the only way to make the students really understand and to acquire the language, is not only by focusing on the teaching learning principles but also, on applying motivational teaching practices every day. Finally, we can think of all necessary principles or elements to create a curriculum, but if we do not have good teachers with appropriate level of English and continuous training, the classes will be not just tedious, but boring for the students CONCLUSION As a conclusion, all the subjects related with curriculum development are present in our daily classes and no matter with our technique is or what kind of methodology we prefer to apply, what important the most is for us to get to know, to be involved with the any new method or issues related with the teaching career since we are going to be dealing with objectives, students, and lesson plans and we must do it rightly. It is not a secret that, being a teacher implies undeniably imagination, courage, love and faith. Also, it requires special attention to the tasks when we are planning and even though all the time expend on activities, warm ups, objectives, vocabulary, materials, skills, strategies and assessment, we can be feel happy at the end of the day when students clearly express understanding and light on their faces.