Why plan?

Look at these comments from teachers. Which ones

reflect how you feel about planning?

I think it’s important to have aims.

I don’t have time to plan.

The textbook is my plan.

I don’t do detailed plans, but I make rough notes.

Planning helps me teach more effectively .

I never stick to plans.

 Benefits of planning
Brainstorm in your groups and add your ideas to the list.

• Helps to think through what learners will

achieve in the lesson
• • Helps teachers to know where they are
going and how they are getting there
• Helps teachers to think through what learners will achieve in the lesson
• Provides a framework for organizing ideas, methodology, materials etc
• Helps teachers to know where they are going and how they are going to get there
• Helps make the lesson coherent
• Avoids over-domination of coursebooks
• Demonstrates to learners that teacher knows what s/he is doing
• Being prepared boosts teacher confidence
• Helps to identify any problems or difficulties which may arise during the lesson
• Helps teachers to adapt to different classes
• Developmental – a learning document for teachers to reflect on after the lesson
• Helps to identify the kinds of activities and materials to include to achieve aims
• A plan can link the lesson explicitly to syllabus objectives
 Lesson Plan Component
Anticipated
problems and
solutions Timetable fit

Lesson plan Aims

Materials and Assumptions

Class profile
resources

Evaluation
When we plan a lesson, we ask ourselves a number of questions
• Who are we planning the lesson for? Class Profile

• How is the lesson connected to the last lesson and /or the next one? Timetable fit

• What do we want learners to learn or to be able to do by the end of

the lessons?
Main aim (s)

• What else do learners need to be able to do during the lesson to enable them
to achieve the main aim? Subsidiary aims

• What is the purpose of each stage of the lesson? Stage aims

• What aspects of our own teaching do we want to develop or improve? Personal aims

• What do we think learners already know or can already do related to the aims? Assumptions
• What further work will learners need to do before the next.
Homework
In which ways will learners work at different stages, i.e. individually, in pairs, in groups as a
whole class? Interaction
Patterns
• What may learners find difficult in the lesson? What may they not be used to
Anticipated
doing? What may they not feel confident about?
problems

• What action will take to deal with the anticipated problems? Possible
solutions

• What should we remember to take to the lesson? Teaching aids,

materials,
equipment
• What length of time will we need for each stage?

Timing
• What are the tasks and activities for each stage?

Procedures
 Name the components.

24 students at Students have already worked on

Intermediate (B2) Level
simple descriptions of people

Students use appropriate To extend range of vocabulary for

language for basic physical describing people oral fluency
descriptions practice

Students can use present Students may be unwilling to

simple and past simple to repeat the same task in the last
describe habits and past stage of the lesson.
event
If necessary, suggest that
students report description
from their original partner
rather than repeating their
own.
 Warmer/ lead in-to To introduce new
get students talking vocabulary
and introduce the Intensive listening
topic Family photographs

To highlight need for Short gapped transcripts

new language Recorded dialogues CD
To introduce new player Pair work
language
To focus on accuracy
Teacher’s notes
Whiteboard Teacher and
Whole class
To give students fluency practice:
Describing personalities, habitual
behavior and specific past events
Individual work
• Match the lesson plan components with the
descriptions below.
1. Procedure 2. Interaction pattern
3. Timetable fit 4. Stage
5. Main aim 6. Timing 7. Aids
8. Assumptions 9. Personal aim
10. Anticipated problems and solutions
11. Subsidiary aim
 The most important aim, e.g. the
teacher’s main aim could be to teach
the present perfect or develop listening
skills.
What the teacher would like to
improve on in his/her teaching,
e.g. To reduce the time I spend
writing on the whiteboard.

A section of a lesson. Lessons

work through different steps such
as lead-in, presentation,
controlled practice, etc.
When teachers plan lessons, they
think about how long each activity
will take and they usually write
this on their plan.

The details of exactly what is going to

happen in each stage of a lesson, e.g.
students practise the language of
complaints in a role-play in pairs.
 The things that a teacher uses in a class, e.g. handouts,
pictures, flashcards. When teachers plan lessons they
think about what things they will need.

When teachers are planning a lesson, they think about

what their students might find difficult about the
language or skills in the lesson so that they can help them
learn more effectively at certain points in the lesson.

When teachers think about what they believe their

students will know or how they will behave in a particular
lesson.
The different ways students and the
teacher work together in class, e.g.
student to student, in pairs or groups
or teacher to student, in open class.
How a lesson fits logically into a
sequence of lessons; what goes
before a particular lesson, how a
lesson links to, and helps students
with, the following lesson.

The secondary focus of the

lesson, less important then
the main aim. It could be
the language or skills
learners must be able to
use in order to achieve the
main aim.
• Identifying the different components of a lesson plan – Sample
Task 1
For questions 1–8 match the classroom management strategies with
the problems of group or pair work listed A, B, C and D
Mark the correct letter (A, B, C or D) on your answer sheet.
You need to use some options more than once.

Lesson plan components

A Aim(s)
B Personal aim(s)
C Teaching aids
D Procedure
Information from a lesson plan
1 keep the pace of the lesson lively

2 students talk about what they did at the weekend

3 tell students to put four photographs in the correct order

4 practise listening for specific information

5 recycle recently taught vocabulary in a different context

6 tape of two people talking about what they did at the weekend

7 students check their answers in pairs

8 make better use of the whiteboard