3.2.

Making SMARTA Objectives and Action Plans

SMARTA= Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant or Realistic
Time-bound
Adjustable
SPECIFIC: What exactly? How many/much/often? How well? With what resources?

MEASURABLE: How will you know you have achieved your goal? What will you see, hear, be
able to do?

ACHIEVABLE: Is it possible to do, given the time-constraints, starting point, etc.? Is it an

appropriate goal at this point?

RELEVANT or REALISTIC: Is the goal useful? Is there a need or reason to achieve it? Does it
have real-world significance?

TIME-BOUND: In what period should the goal be reached (by the end of the activity? The class?
The week? The year?)

ADJUSTABLE: Is the goal flexible? Can it be adjusted if reaching it turns out to be easier/harder
than expected?

3.3. Creating Objectives for Lesson Plans

“If you don’t know where you’re going,
you will never know when you get there”

Objectives must be the point of departure, and everything you do is built on knowing what you
want to accomplish. Good objectives clearly do not go anywhere without good instruction, or
good assessment.

3.3.1. What’s a useful objective?

Look at the following and decide if they are SMARTA. If not, which characteristics are missing?
Is the objective more likely to be for the whole of the lesson or for part of the lesson?

a) Students will be able to ask and answer questions.

b) Students will be exposed to the language of business meetings and how the level of
formality relates to their language and culture.
c) Students will be able to use some vocabulary relating to car rental.
d) Students will practice speaking.
e) Students will be able to fill in a worksheet with the correct form of the present simple.
f) Students will be able to do a role play.
g) Students will be able to do page 16 of Interchange Intro.

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h) Students will read the newspaper.
i) Students will be able to differentiate between short /I/ (as in ship) and long /i:/ (as in
sheep).
j) Students will be able to use the new vocabulary in a conversation about their own family.
k) Students will make a written record of the new grammar.
l) By the end of the lesson students will be able to use the past simple affirmative, negative,
Wh-question form and short answer form in the context of talking about their vacations.

When planning a lesson plan, all objectives will start by saying:

By the end of the lesson, SWBAT:

Listening & Reading
Speaking & Writing

Components For Productive Skills Components For Receptive Skills Objectives

Objectives
• USE (target language) • SHOW UNDERSTANDING OF (text)
• TO (function) • BY (observable student action showing
• IN (meaningful communicative task). the most complete/deep understanding
of the text)
• AND THEN (activity that expands on or
personalizes the ideas in the text)

Productive skills lessons are lessons in which the main learning objective involves the students
actually creating or producing language to communicate.

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