LESSON PLANNING

A TRAINEE'S GUIDE
THE FRONT PAGE

MAIN AIM

Your main aim is the most important part of your lesson plan. This is what you want
the students to be able to do, or do better, at the end of the lesson that they couldn't
do at the beginning. Think of your lesson in terms of you, the teacher, taking your
students on a journey. Your main aim is your destination. Once you've decided where
you want your students to go, the journey is much easier to plan. You should only have
one main aim (or possibly two in a long lesson).

Express your main aims in terms of STUDENT OUTCOMES (what the students will do in
the lesson), not teacher actions.

Examples of main aims are:

• To present and provide controlled oral practice of the past simple in the
affirmative, negative and question forms.

• To enable students to understand and use the structure ‘used to + infinitive’ in

the context of childhood memories.

• To enable students to understand and use the following lexical items related to
sport. (then list the lexical items you intend them to learn)

• To enable students to understand and use the following expressions for making
personal arrangements (then list the expressions you intend them to learn)

• To enable students to understand and use the following functional exponents for
giving advice (then list the functional exponents you intend them to learn)

• To check and extend students’ understanding of narrative tenses for telling a

story, and to enable students to practise these in the context of a disastrous
holiday.

• To enable students to prepare and then give a talk on the best places to visit in
their country.

• To develop students’ skills of listening for gist and specific information in the
context of a newspaper article on relationships.

• To develop students’ skills of listening for gist and specific information in the
context of a an interview with a famous person.

• To enable students to write a letter to a friend using linking structures for

addition and contrast (eg What’s more, although, despite, however, etc)
If the main aim of your lesson is new language, then write down exactly what language
you are planning to teach. For example, if you’re planning to teach a structure or
tense, write down an example of the structure / tense from the lesson (and the
question and negative forms if you are teaching them). If you’re planning to teach new
lexical items or functional exponents, then list all the items you intend to teach.

SUBSIDIARY AIMS

As well as your main aim, you might also have some subsidiary aims. These are aims
that are not the main focus of the lesson, but are aims that you hope will be achieved
along the way on the journey to your main aim.

Examples of subsidiary aims are:

• To revise yesterday's vocabulary on the topic of housework.

• To develop students’ skills of reading / listening for gist / specific information

(if, for example, your main aim is a new language point and you are presenting
it through a text).

• To improve students' writing skills (if, for example, the writing is practice of a
language point)

• To improve students' awareness of intonation (if, for example, you're teaching

some functional language).

• To introduce vocabulary items related to travel (for example you’re pre-

teaching them for a reading text)

NOTE : You don't have to have any subsidiary aims; it depends on your lesson. Leave
this box blank if you haven't got any.

MATERIALS & RESOURCES

These are the things you need to do the lesson; eg flashcards, tape, map of the world,
cue cards for controlled practice, handouts, dictionaries etc. Listing them on the front
of your plan will help you make sure you've got everything ready, and will be useful
when you look back at the lesson after the course. If you've copied from published
material, don't forget to acknowledge the source.
e.g. © Cutting Edge Elementary – S. Cunningham (pg 52-3)
STUDENTS' ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE / SKILL LEVEL

These are the things relating to your lesson that you feel you can safely assume your
students will know. For example:

• The students will be familiar with past participles of the verbs used in the
lesson.

• The students will be familiar with the present simple active (if, for example, you
are teaching the passive).

• The students will be familiar with meaning, form and pronunciation of the
present perfect simple (if, for example, you are following on from another
teacher who is going to present the language).

• The students will have a basic knowledge of the political systems in their own
countries.

• The students will know some of the vocabulary included in the lesson (if you’re
doing a test-teach-test type lesson)

Be specific in this area. Don't say “I assume students will know English” or “They will
know how to read and write”

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

This is the section that you probably need to spend the most time thinking about. You
need to consider what mishaps might befall you on your journey, and how you will deal
with these if they occur. If you haven't got a bag full of solutions with you, you might
not reach your destination!

Problems with Skills

Anticipating problems during skills work obviously depends on the skill you are working
on. For receptive skills (listening and reading) you need to consider vocabulary
problems, the content of the text, the degree of difficulty, your students' different
abilities, the length of the text, any cultural problems the text or topic might produce
etc. For productive skills (speaking and writing) you will need to consider whether the
students have the appropriate language to do the task, whether they'll be interested in
the topic, problems with grouping your students, whether the students will have
enough ideas to contribute etc.
Once you have thought of your problems, work out your solutions.
Problems with Language

Anticipated problems when focussing on language can be problems of meaning, form,

pronunciation and possibly appropriacy (although remember that not every language
item necessarily causes all these problems for your students). This section needs to be
done in some detail. For example, 'They'll have problems with form' isn't enough! You
need to say what problems they'll have with form - is it the question form, infinitive
with or without 'to', word order, spelling, third person ‘s’ etc.

Once you have anticipated the problems your students will have, you're half way there -
now you only need to think of the solutions! These need to relate directly to your
anticipated problems, and are the key to successfully arriving at your destination with
your students still on the same bus as you! If you have anticipated their problems
accurately and devised solutions to these problems, then you and your students will
arrive at your planned destination. Again, your solutions need to be considered in some
detail, and written on your plan.

PERSONAL AIMS

These are aims that relate to you as a teacher, rather than the lesson itself, and will
help you focus on your own personal development.

They could include such things as:

• To stop talking so much

• To make sure I include all the students
• To sit down more
• To give clearer instructions
• To check instructions
• To monitor more effectively
• To maintain a good pace
• To correct more during drilling
THE LESSON PLAN

Now you've decided where you and your students going on your journey, the next thing
to think about is how to get there. Therefore think of your lesson plan as your route
map; it tells you how you are going to reach your destination.

STAGES

Each lesson needs to be broken down into stages. You can have as many stages as you
like, depending on the lesson.

Examples of stages are:

• lead-in or context setting

• pre-teach vocabulary
• presentation stage
• controlled practice
• freer (or less controlled) practice
• boardwork stage
• feedback
• first / second listening
• correction slot
• speaking
• roleplay

STAGE AIMS

Each stage must have an aim; a reason why you're doing this in the class. What's more,
this aim must in some way help the students achieve the main aim on the front of the
plan; it must help them move forward on their journey to their final destination. If it
doesn't, you might need to reconsider - perhaps you're getting sidetracked.

Examples of possible stage aims are:

• to generate interest in the topic of television

• to present the question form and short answer

• to provide controlled oral practice of the new vocabulary

• to practise listening for gist

• to provide students with a written record of the language

• to provide free speaking practice

PROCEDURE

For each stage aim, you need to decide how you are going to achieve this aim; this is
your procedure. Your procedure says exactly what you are going to do in the class to
achieve that particular stage aim. You don't need to write every single word you are
going to say, although you might like to script your instructions, particularly at low
levels.

Things you need to consider putting in your procedure are:

• model sentences (sentences you are planning to use to highlight meaning / form
/ pronunciation)

• concept questions (questions to check if students have the correct meaning of

new language)

• your boardwork - what’s it going to look like?

• generating interest questions

• instructions (particularly at low levels)

• vocabulary you are planning to pre-teach for skills work

• how you are going to highlight potential problems (eg which words you’re going
to drill, how you’re going to highlight form on the board)

TIME AND FOCUS

You also need to estimate the time you think each stage of your journey will take. Try
to be realistic here - very few stages take two minutes! This will help you to time your
lesson as a whole, and help you reach your destination before the man with the big
hook comes to haul you off the stage!
Finally, think about the focus of the class for each stage.
This will help you think about what the students are doing in the class, and help you
achieve a variety of focus during the lesson.

You can use symbols like these if you want:

T - S (Teacher talking to whole class)
S (Students working on their own)
S - S (Students working in pairs)
S - S (Students working in groups)

S
CHECKING YOUR PLAN

When you've finished your plan, check the following:

1. Is there a variety of focus in the lesson? If there are too many T - S stages, the
lesson is probably going to be too teacher centred.
2. Is your plan logical and does each stage follow on from the previous one?
3. Look at your plan backwards. Do the students have the necessary language or
information to be able to do your final activity? For example, if the students are
asking each other questions at the end, have they been taught the question and
the answers?

A FEW FINAL WORDS OF ADVICE...

I know how daunting all of this looks, particularly this early in the course. However,
this is intended to help you think more clearly about what you are doing in the
classroom (the stage), why you are doing it (the aim), and how you’re going to do it
(the procedure). Once you start doing this more effectively, your lessons are much
more likely to be successful, and your students will arrive at the destination beaming
with smiles and showering you will gratitude (maybe!).

Finally, a few tips while you're planning:

• For your first couple of plans, if you can't think what to write in one of the
boxes, just give it a try. It's easy for your tutor to give you advice if they know
your thought process.

• Try to time your lesson realistically. Watch your colleagues and see how long
each stage lasts.

• Plan first, and make your materials second.

• DON'T MAKE TWO PLANS! This is a working document, not an essay to hand in
to us to be corrected. Try to write the plan so that you can refer to it in the
lesson (and do refer to it in the lesson; it's not cheating!).

• If you find the layout of the sheets I've given you restricting, make your own
version. However, you must include all the same things on your front page and
your plan.