Every AllGenius class is carefully planned out to optimize time and effort as well as set the perfect environment for students to produce.

The four parts of the AllGenius class are:
Opening, class map and class goal presentation, production, and closing.

The objective of the opening is to break the ice and warm-up for the class. Most students have English as their second language and do not use it for most of their days. Considering that our 100% English classes are cognitively demanding, we start our classes with comfortable conversations so students are already "in the zone" when the class gets technical.
 

Opening

The opening is the first part of the class and lasts around 15 minutes. It is also used for:

Introductions
If there's a new student in class, we take the time to make them feel at home, so we have a round of introductions. Veteran students go first so that new students have a reference on how to present themselves and don't feel exposed for being the first ones to speak.

Survival Sentences
If there's an intro or A1 student, it's time to go over the Survival Sentences again. These are basic sentences that enable students to interact in a 100% English environment even if they cannot speak proficiently. Some examples of survival sentences are:
"What is <word>?" "Speak slower, please." "Repeat, please." "I don't understand".

Setting a positive environment
Depending on how students interact during the opening, it is the teacher's responsibility to set the pace and the mood. Either by making funny remarks or coming up with a light-hearted topic to make everyone feel at ease.

Adjusting expectations
If the class goal is a complex subject or if any student seems distressed for any reason, the teacher can use the opening to explain what will happen during the class so that students already know what they're going to face, thus building confidence for the remainder of the class.

Overview & Purpose
The teacher might also use this moment to contextualize or clarify the use of the class goal. Explaining in which real-life situations certain structures are used or with what intention they are replicated helps students connect theory to practice.



Class map and class goal presentation

The second part of the class is the class map and class goal presentation, this section lasts around 30 minutes. This is the part where we talk about the English language.
 
The class map is a script of how the class will go. It includes date when students finish the class, they save their productions and class map in their AllGenius Diary, that way things are better organized.

class goal is the grammar topic that will be studied and used in class with a short explanation and possibly some examples. A brief explanation of how are students going to produce during class and what will be the topic in the following class.

The class goal presentation is a teacher-centered moment. This is the time when the teacher explains in detail how are structures or concepts formed and replicated. They give examples and thoroughly explain uses and appropriate situations to replicate the English grammar. The teacher will share some visual aid (eg. a picture, a pdf) and texts to give students more references and help them fossilize knowledge.

Important: During the second part, most of the input is done by the teacher, however, if there's a student capable of explaining said structure, the teacher will evaluate if the explanation is sufficient for the rest of the students to produce or if they must complement it somehow.

Production

Time to get to work! In the third part of our classes, we put to practice what we have learned and talked about in part two. After discussing the theory and clarifying any uncertainty, we produce using the class' chosen structure. This part lasts 30 minutes.

The teacher presents an exercise to be done by the students. The teacher selects the appropriate correction techniques to be used depending on the moment and student. This exercise may show up in several different forms, such as:

Text production - The teacher asks the students to produce a written assignment telling a story, stating a fact, convincing peers of something, or exposing a point of view. They give an example to be used as a reference and/or inspiration. Right after that, they correct any mistakes and eventually may ask students to read their texts aloud to evaluate pronunciation and develop a sense of belonging and confidence in students by making them speak clearly with no judgment whatsoever, after all, it's their moment to shine! The objective of asking students to write something done is to practice their writing and reading skills; when combined with reading aloud, they also include the speaking and listening skills.

Spoken production - The teacher may or may not ask students to present their speech in written words so that other students can follow along. Speaking in class is not only to make students feel comfortable by speaking English in front of others but also to build better communication strategies. The teacher interacts by asking questions, trying to fill in the gaps of any possible missing information, or even asking questions fueled by curiosity so that the student has to clarify the same way he would in real life.

Videos & Music - Using videos or music as material in class helps students develop their listening skills and at the same time brings out real-life content so students feel even closer to the English language by making them connect familiar information to the class topic. Not to mention it is also absurdly fun to talk about our favorite TV series or favorite band!

Debates - The teacher might promote debates by selecting specific topics and making students take turns in arguments to defend a point of view or persuade one another.

Presentations - The teacher can ask students to prepare a short presentation on a given topic. This generates the need for research and preparation. The students access online search engines to collect information, organize their thoughts and then speak their minds for the class to listen. The teacher usually asks questions for clarification.