A Criticism on Demonstration Lessons in EFL Teacher Training

Abstract

The scene is set, the audience waits with bited breath, the minor actors giggle nervously and fidget uneasily, the star performer checks his props and takes a last look at his lines. A scene in a West End theatre? It might as well be, but when we identify the audience as a group of TEFL trainees, the minor actors as foreign student volunteers and the star performer...does anybody out there recognize himself? Is there much difference between the demonstration lesson and a theatrical performance, or is that where the similarity ends?