BEFORE-READING:

1. Do you think a teacher should make lesson plans? Why?/Why not?

Yes. Every teacher must make lesson plans. To teach, besides knowing what to teach, you
also need to know how to teach. I think it is more important to know how to teach rather
than what to teach. Almost every teacher knows what to teach, but the key point is that you
should be able to know how to adapt the topics depending the students’ different skills,
needs and attitudes. You need a guideline to do all of these. That guideline is your lesson
plan. To sum up, lesson plan is a must because it allows for more effective teaching and
learning.

2. What makes a good lesson plan? In other words, what does a good lesson plan consist
of?
Firstly, and most importantly it should include the goals. By means of goals, what do you
want students to be able to do, know or understand by the end of the course/lesson. It
should also include the teachers’ aims, necessary materials that will be used, proportionate
time allocation and of course evaluation process to see if you and the sts have reached the
goals.

3. What challenges may a teacher face while making lesson plans?

Balancing the different learning need of students, time management, different ages of the
students, varying background knowledge of the students and classroom conditions.

4. Before making a lesson plan, what should a teacher do?

First of all, he/she should decide what are the objectives and goals. After doing this, he/she
should decide how to teach the related subjects and what materials, techniques or
approaches will be used. Whilst doing these, he/she must consider the different ages, needs,
levels of the students.

WHILE-READING:

1. Do the task at the very beginning of the chapter: ‘Exploring metaphors’. If you wish, you
can cooperate with your peers-online of course☺-while doing it.

I think a lesson is like a symphony and a warm welcome. It ıs a warm welcome to the
language being learnt. Students get rid of their prejudices thanks to this warm welcome
provided by the teacher. And it is like a symphony because like there are different
instruments in symphony, in the lessons there are many different students and many
different needs. I think the students and the instruments are similar things. The things being
learnt in the lesson and the music in the symphony are also similar. These both need a
cooperation to become a meaningful whole.
2. In how many different ways can we vary language learning activities within a lesson?

We have so many different ways I cannot write them all down. We have so many options to
choose from. We can choose and use those depending on the four language skills and what
we are teaching them. So I think the activities depend on the related topic.

3. Read the ‘Guidelines for ordering components of a lesson plan’ on page 97 carefully and
answer these questions:
A. How far do you agree with these guidelines?
I agree most of them.

B. Would they be appropriate for each teaching context as they stand, or would you
wish to omit, add to or change any of them according to our own teaching
situations?
I would probably change the put the harder tasks earlier teaching context. If you do
it like this, you may scare the language learners. Our first step in teaching should be
eliminating the sts’ prejudices about the language.

4. Visit the link below and watch the video of a lesson. By using the info. in Box 15.4 on
page 98 in the chapter, evaluate the effectiveness of it. Add your own criteria in addition
to those in the box. Afterwards, put them in order of priority: the most important, in
your opinion, first, the least important last. You may put two or more at the same level if
you think they are of the same importance.

a) The learners were active all the time. They were pretty active.

b) The learners were attentive all the time. They were eager to do the tasks. But I think
teacher talked too much.

c) The learners enjoyed the lesson, were motivated. Yes, the teacher actually kept them
motivated. This makes the learning process much easier. They were also enjoying the class.

d) The class seemed to be learning the material well. It seems like it. They were motivated
and eager to do so.

e) The lesson went according to plan. Yes.

f) The language was used communicatively throughout. For the main part, the teacher
talked. But when he finally give them a talk, the students were not afraid of using the target
language in the class.

g) The learners were engaging with the foreign language throughout. First they listened the
teacher and then they tried to use the language, so yes.

h) the learners were encouraged to use the target language by the teacher

I) The students were felt comfortable to make the learning process easier by the teacher.

Importance order I , H , C, A and B - G - D - F - E

 AFTER-READING

1. What do you think you know about lesson planning (LP) after you have studied the topic
thoroughly? Write 5 things you think you have learned about LP.

a- No teacher should start teaching without a lesson plan.

b- A good lesson plan is the key for effective teaching and learning.
c- Lesson plan helps about organized teaching and saves time.
d- It keeps the teacher away from thoughtless teaching.
e- Even if the teacher is unexperienced, he/she will be more confident teaching when a
good lesson plan is guiding him/her.

2. Go to the task in ‘COURSE MATERIALS’ on UKEY- ‘INTERVIEWING TEACHERS ABOUT

LESSON PLANNING’ and ask at least two teachers the questions in BOX 15.2.

Ertuğrul Dinçer, graduated from Uludağ University, has been teaching for 4 years.

a- How long before a specific lesson do you prepare it?

A week ago, I start to design the activities and think about how to teach the related topic.

b- Do you write down lesson notes to guide you? Or do you rely on a lesson format provided by
another teacher, the coursebook, or a Teacher’s Book?

Yes, I write down my notes. I do not rely on other lesson formats.

c- If so, are these notes brief (a single page or less) or long (more than one page)?

They are generally brief notes.

d- What do they consist of?

Time, activity sequence, activities.

e- Do you note down your objectives?

No, I don’t 

f- Do you actually look at your notes during the lesson? If so, rarely? Occasionally? Frequently?

I never do this during the lesson. I know what to teach.

g- What do you do with your lesson notes after the lesson?

I keep them to guide me for the next lesson. If there happens to be a problem in the previous
lesson, I try to not do it again in the future by looking at my notes.
 Fahri Yeşil, graduated from Amasya University, has been teaching for a year.

a- How long before a specific lesson do you prepare it?

I start preparing for my lessons 2 or 3 days before.

b- Do you write down lesson notes to guide you? Or do you rely on a lesson format provided by
another teacher, the coursebook, or a Teacher’s Book?

Yes, short and simple notes. And also I rely on the lesson formats of the teacher’s book.

c- If so, are these notes brief (a single page or less) or long (more than one page)?

My notes are pretty brief.

d- What do they consist of?

Mostly transitions and plan b activities for some situations.

e- Do you note down your objectives?

Yes, because writing objectives clearly makes the lesson more easy to manage.

f- Do you actually look at your notes during the lesson? If so, rarely? Occasionally? Frequently?

Yes, occasionally.

g- What do you do with your lesson notes after the lesson?

I archive them so in the future I can use them to prepare new lessons.

3. Reflect on the evidence-the teachers’ answers- you have gathered. What conclusions
have you arrived at about lesson planning? Note down.

I think a good teacher should know what to do and decide how to do it before the lessons.
He/she should not only rely on other formats about lesson planning. He/she should be able
to design his/her own lesson plan. The objectives and aims should be decided. If needed, the
notes should be taken and after the lessons, should not be thrown out because they will be
useful for future classes.