My insights
- The logic of presented textbook pages: 1. set the context 2. activate the vocabulary 3. contextualize the target grammar (through listening/reading) 4. clarify and practice the target grammar.
- Activate students’ schemata (activate students’ schema) — is a pedagogical term. This means helping students remember what they already know about a topic before learning something new. A schema is a mental framework — like a “folder” in the brain where experiences, vocabulary, and knowledge are stored. So when teachers activate students’ schemata, they prepare learners’ minds by connecting old knowledge with new information.
- The difference between learning goals and success criteria. Learning goals explain what students will learn, while success criteria explain how students will show they have learned it.
Learning Goals vs Success Criteria
🎯 Learning Goals
What students are going to learn.
They describe the purpose of the lesson — the knowledge or skill.
👉 Teacher-focused (planned by the teacher).
👉 Answer the question: “What am I learning today?”
Examples:
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We are learning to use the past simple tense.
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We are learning to write a short email.
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We are learning to identify main ideas in a text.
✅ Success Criteria
How students know they have achieved the goal.
They describe what successful learning looks like in concrete terms.
👉 Student-friendly.
👉 Observable and measurable.
👉 Answer the question: “How do I know I’ve done it well?”
Examples (for the past simple goal):
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I can write 5 sentences in the past simple.
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I can use regular and irregular verbs correctly.
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I can talk about yesterday using past verbs.
✨ Simple analogy
🗺 Learning goal = destination
📏 Success criteria = signs that you arrived
Very short version:
👉 Learning goal = WHAT we learn.
👉 Success criteria = HOW we show we learned it.
