Michael's example syllabus

Reasons a syllabus might be needed

No continuity from grade to grade, or from ALT to ALT. Students getting the same recycled games and material grade after grade.
No goals or milestones. Teachers had no idea what to do, how to plan, and left everything to the ALT.
Students were at a loss as much as everyone else.

There should be obvious progression from grade to grade (making necessary roughly 60 topics to teach).
Questions should be introduced as much as possible so students can learn from asking. The curious bunch.
Group topics in a way that encourages synthesis of ideas (for example: teaching foods, and than shopping, or teaching counting and then time). The students love reusing what they learned.
This syllabus is based on four lessons a topic, but is flexible. If classes are canceled in one school and not another, I can keep the same lessons at each school for the same week.
Teachers love having something to look at when talking about English classes in the future and you want them to make something or make a game.

Each month for each grade has a separate page I keep in a binder and make copies for the relevant teachers I am working with. Teachers love this. And they always freak out if I don't fill out a greeting which I do on purpose because I am not sure if students understand a new question enough to include in my greeting. Also teachers and I can add our ideas for each lesson and we try to have a 5 minute conversation each week about the following weeks lesson.

I tried to keep this simple enough so that I or a new ALT can keep making this better, more linear in progression, and more synthesized. I keep having new revelations of how to integrate three lessons together for a review or level up lesson.

I was told by my JTE not to teach writing because it is so important that when they first start they don't learn any bad habits. Since my handwriting is horrible, I printed letters and let them spell with those.

One school combines two grade levels (1&2, 3&4, 5&6) so they alternate between lessons every year so students don't have to repeat a lesson. It makes it harder to bring up older lessons, but the older kids love helping the younger kids.

To make more free time to use at the Junior High, I am having Elementary Teachers take over more and more of each lesson. Either making supplies, or helping me make rules for games or worksheets I make. The more structure I give them to work with in, the more confident they are. Baby steps.

I repeat some topics if I can level them up. For example, opposites turned into adjectives.