Lesson Planning

A lesson needs a topic and associated content and resource materials. Students need to be exposed to the language content of the lesson so that they can learn, use, and apply it in meaningful ways.

Knowing what to teach is the most difficult question we have to answer for ourselves as teachers. For this we have an invaluable tool which is the needs analysis.

Once you have identified your students' needs you can put together a syllabus and then plan each of your lessons accordingly.

Whilst a syllabus shows the progression of the lessons planned to be carried out over a period of time, a lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction for an individual lesson.

A good lesson plan contains plenty of detail – the materials, the procedures for each activity, the questions and examples you’d use, definitions, feedback methods and so on, each presented in a step-by-step manner.

Basically you should imagine this scenario: you prepare a lesson plan but 5 minutes before the start of the lesson you get sick and have to hand over the lesson to another teacher. They need to be able to read through the lesson plan you’ve prepared and take the lesson.

Preparation

1. Work out exactly the target for the lesson. This can usualy be summed up in one sentence or phrase, e.g. talk about the past or tell the time. Some teachers even write this on the board when they first come into the classroom.

2. Write down the expected outcomes. For example, you should complete this sentence: By the end of the lesson my students will be able to... This is all about clarifying in your mind what you want the lesson to be about.

3. Work out what you're going to do in the lesson. That is, which exercises you're going to do. How you're going to present the material. What specific preparations you'll need (e.g. preparing flashcards or taking in realia).

4. Go over the exercises and activities and make sure you understand exactly what is going to happen and you know the material backwards!

Finally, run through the lesson in your mind, covering every singe angle and trying to see what problems can arise so you can prepare for them beforehand so you'll be familiar with all the grammar and vocabularly explanations you might have to give; you'll have a backup plan in case some students have forgotten their books and so on.

Issues

Some teachers get bogged down in their lesson planning. They can spend hours on each one and find it frustrating when the lesson strays from their plan or something doesn't quite work out. The key here is to be flexible.

Remember that a lesson plan is a guide, it's not written in stone. In the classroom play it by ear and be prepared to move off your plan if the situation calls for it.

The first time you write out a lesson plan it might take you an hour or longer for each class. Don't be put off! The next time you prepare a lesson it will be quicker until finally you will find that a lesson may literally take just a few minutes to prepare.

Remember, the more lessons you plan, the easier the planning becomes and less time it takes.

Example of a Detailed Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan for Class X

• Lesson Title: Around Town!
• Class: General English – evening – 17 students
• Level: Beginner
• Length of lesson: 90 minutes
• Lesson Target: Ask for and follow directions to various places around town.
• Materials & Resources:‘Places Around Town’ flashcards including: bakery, bank, bookstore, City Hall, dentist’s, hairdresser’s, hospital, library, post office, restaurant, shoe shop and supermarket.‘Directions’ and ‘Positions’ flashcards including: turn left, turn right, go along, go past, on the left, on the right, next to and on X street.

Worksheet made up of an empty street map of an imaginary town (streets only), place and direction words, and practice conversations.

• Preparation: Copies of the worksheets for each student. Flashcards mentioned above. Transparency for OHP
• Possible Problems: Students don’t know or can’t recognize the places (different from home country). Further explanation will be necessary. There are 17 students, so there will either be one group of three with someone doing the conversation twice, or someone will have to pair up with the teacher - might be useful when giving examples.

Introduction: Ask the students about places they know around town. Try to elicit names of places to get them thinking about the day’s topic.

Activities/Exercises

• Activity/Exercise 1 (20 – 25 mins)

Material Required: Place flashcards; Worksheet - Map Section

Hand out the worksheet. Show the students the flashcards of places around town. Ask the students to name the places if they know them. If not tell them the answers. Have them write the names of the places under the pictures on the worksheet. Where would these places be on the map? Using the OHP show transparency with an empty map similar to the one on the worksheet. As an example, mark and write the name of one place somewhere on the map (basically write the name in the squares provided). Randomly pass out the flashcards to the students. Ask each student with a card to come to the OHP and mark (and possibly) write the name of the place they have on the map where they think it would be. Other students copy (mark and write) the map from the projection onto their own worksheet, so eventually everyone has the same map.

• Activity/Exercise 2 (10 – 15 mins)

Material Required: Position Flashcards; Worksheet - Where Is It? Section

Introduce and teach "on X street" and "next to". Use examples sentences referring to the map.

Explain that street names don’t need "the" but other places usually do. Students fill in their examples on the worksheet Where is it? section and read their examples to the class.

• Activity/Exercise 3 (10 – 15 mins)

Material required: Position flashcards; Direction flashcards; Worksheet - Direction & Location Section Use the flash cards and the map to introduce and teach the remaining direction and position vocabulary. Students fill in the vocabulary on the worksheet Directions & Location section.

• Activity/Exercise 4 (15 – 20 mins)

Material required: Worksheet - Conversation Section

Introduce Conversation (Conversation One) Break up the class into pairs and practice. Teacher might need to practice with a student if someone is left alone. Teacher monitors pronunciation and accuracy by moving around the class. Next, each pair stands up in front of the class and acts out the conversation.

• Activity/Exercise 5 (20 – 25 mins)

Material required: Worksheet - Conversation Section

Fill in the blanks conversation (Conversation Two) Point out the starting point on the map (the star in the lower right hand corner). Explain that they will be having this conversation at this spot and that they will make original conversations based on conversation one to various places in the map. Using the map made in class, fill in the dialogue in pairs with original ideas. Again, practice and then say in front of class.

Closure

Ask the students directions to places on the map. Let them all answer together as a group or individuals. Set them the homework assignment.

Materials

• Flashcards

_______________ (Picture of Restaurant)

_______________ (Picture of Dentist’s)

_______________ (Picture of Shoe Shop)

_______________ (Picture of Bakery)

_______________ (Picture of Supermarket)

_______________ (Picture of Post Office)

_______________ (Picture of Bank)

_______________ (Picture of Hairdresser’s)

_______________ (Picture of Bookstore)

_______________ (Picture of Library)

_______________ (Picture of Hospital)

_______________ (Picture of City Hall)

• Street Map

Where is it?

1. The ... is on ... Street, next to the ... 2. The ... is on ... Street, next to the ... 3. The ... is on ... Street, next to the ...

• Directions Worksheet page 2

Fill in the direction words in the spaces provided.

etc.