LESSON PLANNING

LESSON 1. PREPARING A SYLLABUS & LESSON PLANNING INTRO

What is a syllabus?

A common question asked in relation to English Language Teaching (ELT) is

‘how should I structure the classes’? A lot of people wonder how a teacher
can be a good teacher if they have to improvise all the time and you may ask
yourself ‘How can I avoid improvisation and give successful classes?’

One of the most useful tools in addressing these issues is the syllabus. A
syllabus is an outline and summary of topics to be covered in an education or
training course. It is descriptive (unlike the prescriptive or specific curriculum)
and makes sure the objectives and the means of obtaining them are clear. A
syllabus usually contains specific information about the course, such as an
outline of what will be covered in the course; a schedule of dates and issues
covered during the course; etc.
Syllabi are used to ensure consistency between classes and that all teachers
know what must be taught and what is not required (extraneous).

Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

A session will never be successful if it is not prepared and as we have already

mentioned improvising in class doesn’t necessarily lead to students’ learning.
Enabling students to learn is only possible if we have a well-prepared class.

It’s only possible to have a well-prepared class if we have a well-structured

course syllabus that defines goals and objectives, content and distribution of
the content with concrete dates.

Usually TEFL courses don’t put much focus on the syllabuses or the curricula,
as the English school or institution that you work for has normally set them out
already. However, in the Oxbridge English Teaching System they are of
enormous importance, as they provide a context for a class (or lesson) and
because we believe that knowing the syllabus helps you to understand each
and every particular class.

Why are syllabi important?

Syllabi are important because they state objectives according to the purposes
of language learning. A syllabus is an exponent of a planned course. It
establishes what objectives we state for students to acquire at a certain stage
in the learning process (level) through the distribution of the different
categories (vocabulary, structures, topics).

The syllabus is a combination of:

• Learning goals and objectives per level
• Content distribution per session
• Distribution of classes within a period of time (dates)

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Different types of syllabi

There are different syllabi used for different types of courses. For example:

• General English courses

• English for Specific Purpose (ESP) courses (Business
English, Medical English, Legal English, etc.)
• Intensive English courses (concentrates more sessions in a
period of time)
• English courses for particular ages (Kids & Teens)
• Courses for specific categories only (Vocabulary, Grammar,
etc.)

A lesson can be very well planned and successful but if it does not belong to a
major organisational category (course syllabus, curriculum) we don’t have
enough information about the “before and after” of that particular lesson plan.
The syllabus gives the context for each and every class.

The course syllabus is usually set by the school or institution you are working
for. Textbooks can be a starting point, but, although it is tempting to just follow
the textbook, you will become a boring teacher if you don’t support your class
with extra material. The textbook can be only one of your resources, but
should not be the only resource.

That’s one of the reasons for Oxbridge choosing to distribute and share
lesson plans and activities. The workload for one teacher in lesson planning is
such that if the collective work is not considered, teachers often find the task
impossible and end up taking the easy way: a textbook.

Everybody can become a course author and activities editor if we know what
the purpose of the course is and its target students. That’s why knowing
what’s behind a syllabus is very important.

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The minimal unit of a planned course (or syllabus) is the concrete lesson (or
session).

What do we need to include in a complete session?

The answer to this question determines the success (or failure) of any single
English class.

A complete session should provide all the necessary tools for achieving one
or more communicative goals with their right timing.

For example, compare both of these definitions:

• A lesson plan should include aims, assumptions, anticipated

problems, stages, procedure, stage aims. (communicative approach)

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 • A session should enable the teacher with all the necessary tools for
successful learning, consisting on a well-studied incorporation of
vocabulary, topic and structures activities according to each level
with a correct pace and timing. Each of these activities has to agree
with the ability of the target students and contain an engaging
subject, proportional and realistic target language, guided steps for
its practice, visuals aids to stimulate and motivate the student, all the
necessary information for the teacher and a logical conclusion with
error analysis. (Oxbridge model)

Which one is in your opinion more complete? Which one aims at achieving a
goal that goes beyond one concrete communicative task?

The duration of the class determines the amount of activities and the
communicative goals we establish for a session. Usually, English language
learning sessions are 60 or 90 minutes. For a 120-minute session it is often
better to use two different classes.

Elements of a class

In his book, ‘How to Study English’, Jeremy Harmer said that a lesson plan
should include the following elements:

• Engage: catching student’s interest in the topic or task

• Study: this point in the teaching sequence is when students’
attention is focused or the new construction or target language.
Students analyse language and work out the rules and practice
the target item.
• Activate: communicative use of language in as free a manner
as possible. Usage of whatever language resources they have
to complete a task (not necessarily the restricted practice of
specific grammar or vocabulary item)

These stages may be present more than once in a lesson. They could also
come in any order – there are no hard and fast rules.

Another formula for staging a lesson plan is the so-called PPP –

Presentation, Practice and Production.
• Presentation – introducing the target language in a natural context
• Practice – giving the students the opportunity to use it in a limited
framework
• Production – providing the opportunity for the students to use the
language in a freer way.

According to the Oxbridge English Teaching System, each session has to

include one or more activities from one of the three main categories:
• Structures
• Vocabulary
• Topics

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This mix of activities assures a higher hit rate with your students.

Children in particular need to have different tasks and activities in quick

succession as they generally can’t concentrate on one thing for long time. But
we can extend that to adults as well. Think of people who attend classes
during their lunch break or after a hard working day! The last thing they want
to do is to be bored to death with gap fill activities or to write an essay!

The amount of each of these types of activity is dependant on the level of the
syllabus and therefore the class.

The order of elements is also established according to the level of the class,
although the teacher can change that order depending on each particular
group.

This is an example of a possible order and timing for a 90 minutes

intermediate level (P3) class:

Quick questions 5 min.

Structure activity 1 15 min.
Vocabulary activity 1 10 min.
Topic activity 1 20 min.
Structure activity 2 10 min.
Vocabulary activity 2 15 min.
Topic activity 2 10 min.
Conclusion and analysis 5 min.

The activity and its categories

The minimum unit of a class is the activity. There are several different types
of activities including:

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These provide learners with the required grammar patterns for learning the
English language and using it correctly. Structures are a very important part
and it’s often thought that they aren’t taught enough because of the subtle
way they are presented. For example, we would never introduce a structure
activity by saying:

“The structure we are going to study today is the present continuous tense”

Instead, our introduction will guide the learner to the usage and function of the
structure and its practice after that.

e.g.
“Every day I go to work. Today I am working in a new project. Now, I am
thinking of my next activity. In that moment I am writing my ideas. What are
you doing right now?”

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After that, a brief explanation (if necessary) we will ask some concept check
questions. This will be followed by active practice of the tense with visual
support being offered to the learners.

Although we never introduce a grammar point directly, we do reinforce its

usage and provide explanations and a summary at the end of the class.
Guidance and stimulus is the key factor to performing the structure activities
correctly.

There are often more structure activities in the Oxbridge model than other
types, although the teacher is always prompted to focus on oral practice. That
doesn’t mean that for Oxbridge the structures activities are the most important
ones, but definitely the most necessary along with the vocabulary activities.

We should mention here that sometimes oral activities are confused with
activities to develop speaking skills solely through topics (and vice versa).
Developing speaking skills can be achieved through any activity category:
students develop speaking skills through actively speaking in the topic
activities, but also the vocabulary and the structures ones. Oral activities also
develop other skills directly or indirectly. They directly develop listening and
understanding skills (speaking is a consequence of a stimulus, often an
auditory one). In lower levels the latter skills are developed even more than
the speaking ones. Indirectly they develop writing and reading skills, as some
of the activities include them in some of their phases.

Structure activities are organised by their function and meaning (issue and
sub-issue). Again, the level of difficulty of the structure activities increases
with the stages of production of the students (speaking level, grammar level).
Lower levels’ goals are to give the students the basic and most commonly
used structures for a successful communication. The higher the level, the
richer the structures and grammar patterns we expose the students to.

Example of a structure activity order:

Issue: Expressing actions in present

Sub-issue: The present simple tense
Sub-issue: The present continuous tense
Sub-issue: The present perfect tense

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These are targeted at improving students’ pronunciation and providing

students with the necessary lexicon for the purposes of full communication.

They are organised by semantic fields (issue and sub-issue) and the
vocabulary activities are planned out to give the necessary vocabulary for the
objectives of each level. They go from items related to the immediate
surrounding for beginners (the house, the world of work, travels, hobbies,
family, etc.) to the widest diversification in terms of terminology of particular
professions, phrasal verbs, idioms, proverbs and lesser-known sayings for

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higher levels. The higher the level the more the vocabulary for each semantic
field is broadened.

An example of vocabulary order could be:

Issue: The world of work

Sub-issue: The career ladder
Sub-issue: Work injuries
Sub-issue: Jobs and professions

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Topic activities could be considered as the cherry on the cake for a teaching
method, as they are the ones that will allow the learner to improve their
fluency and give them the chance to use whatever language resource they
choose to complete the task. This relates to the ‘Activate stage’ defined by
Jeremy Harmer.

Topic activities are engaging, stimulating and fresh. The idea is that they are
something to remember and talk about after the class. If that result is
achieved, you can relax, as you’ll have happy learners, successful learners.

It is important to not limit topic activities solely to activities developing

speaking skills. As the structure and the vocab ones, topic activities are
performed orally, but they develop different skills directly and indirectly
according to the level.

Unlike vocabulary and structures activities, topics aren’t usually classified or

organised into issues and sub-issues. There are exceptions though with some
topics for specific purposes, such as Business English, when we want the
students to be acquainted with particular cases with a business focus.

An example of a possible topic order is:

Issue: Entrepreneurs and leaders

Sub-issue: Richard Branson and the Virgin empire
Sub-issue: Apple vs Samsung

In these cases we provide a case study, often a SWOT analysis, role-plays,

video clips and facts etc.

Quick questions:

Quick questions are a particular aspect of the Oxbridge English Teaching

System that are essentially a warm up activity which are used in each and
every class, level and course. They are one of the trademarks of Oxbridge
and definitely one of its main identities.

Quick questions fill the first 5 minutes of the class with something meaningful
and different rather than just making small talk and asking about how the
students are. That way no single minute from the class is lost and we change

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students’ linguistic chip into English.

Conclusion / Wrap Up:

Usually this is not prepared as a separate activity, however in the last 3-5
minutes of the class the teacher should revise the target language or tasks
performed in class and analyse some of the common mistakes. That practice
gives the students a feeling of a closure and they can leave the class with the
clear idea of what they’ve learnt and practiced in class.

As new language (vocabulary and structures) is usually presented in a subtle

way, the students may have the feeling that they haven’t learnt or practiced
enough grammar or vocabulary. This definitely won’t be the case if the
teacher gives a summary of the class as a conclusion or wrap up.

Timing of Activities

When planning your class it is important to think of chunks of time for each
activity.

The balance between the elements of the class according to the level of the
students (how much time to spend on what element of the session and why)
is one of the key factors for a successful class. This balance in Oxbridge is
referred to as the ‘rhythm’ or ‘pace’ of the class.

Timing is crucial, both for one particular activity and for the whole class. The
correct timing will ensure a successful learning process. If the timing allows
too much or too little time for an activity it can seriously affect the ability of
students’ to learn.

It’s also important to remember that correct timing is closely related to the
teacher’s preparation.

Oral Activities

Why do we need activities that make students speak all the time?

We chose to perform all the activities in an oral way. This decision wasn’t an
arbitrary one. No matter what activity category you are dealing with, if the
learner is exposed and stimulated to answer orally all the time, the learning
time is dramatically reduced.

The students lose their fear of speaking and they are not afraid of making
mistakes; they are not intimidated by giving their opinion. After some sessions
with Oxbridge, the students understand that the more they talk, the more they
learn. Understanding and speaking skills are therefore quickly improved.

That’s why it is important to discard activities that don’t accomplish the

function of actively inviting the students to use the language, such as gap fills,
matching columns, odd one out or multiple choice. These, in our opinion, are
not communicative activities. Even though they can be useful and students

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can learn some points with them (everything can work if we haven’t got a
communicative activity to hand), we consider them to be activities from the old
school of language learning (for example, the grammar translation method
and its approaches).

Staging of activities

Sequences and how to link activities

It is up to each teacher to decide how they are going to plan each class. They
can choose a different order from that proposed in the printed class if they feel
it will be more suitable or would enable them to give a better class.

A very important issue to consider when making the selection and order of
these elements is the staging of activities, or the sequence in which we are
going to present the activities and how we are going to link them.

A good smooth link between activities is crucial for the natural flow of the
class.

On the contrary, apparently unlinked elements can give the impression of a

chaotic and unplanned class even though the activities may appear good
enough.

The essence of the class therefore, will be the result of well-linked elements.

Remember: no matter how carefully a session is planned, it can still go wrong!

Remember to watch the students and their reactions. Remember: change the
activity if their faces show boredom, struggle, or frustration. Move on! Shake
them up. You can even choose an activity that makes them stand up and act.
This is why it is so important to maintain eye contact and look at your
students, to allow you to interpret their reactions correctly. If something goes
wrong, don’t be afraid to change the activity!

Anticipating problems

All schools and TEFL programmes guide you to learn to anticipate what the
problems of your students may be in order to prepare a “counter attack”.
Experience, good knowledge of the target language but also knowledge of
students’ L1 will tell you when to expect possible difficulties. Interference and
translating from L1 will be the most common problem. Active practice is the
only remedy, along with preventing by providing a meaningful explanation of
the possible problem.

CONCEPT CHECK QUESTIONS

1. What is the best definition of a syllabus?

An outline and summary of topics to be covered
One of the most detailed specific parts of a course
An amount of teaching given at one time

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 2. What does ESA stand for?
Engage, Study, Activate
Enter, Start, Action
Explore, Structure, Attain
3. What does PPP stand for?
Presentation, Practice and Production
Product, Principle, Proposal
Pronounce, Provoke, Predicate
4. How should an Oxbridge class start?
With Quick Questions
With a vocabulary activity
With the grammar issues that are going to be covered.
5. Which of these is NOT a suitable sub-issue for a vocabulary activity?
The past continuous tense
The career ladder
Fruit and veg

Sample P2 topic

The rules are clear, says LAWYER: no kissing in Dubai

EXPATRIATES have been PROSECUTED for kissing in public. This has created
polemics about what is acceptable in the UAE.! But K!K Sarachandra Bose, a
lawyer, says there is no excuse: the rules are very clear.
Two British were JAILED for a month after an Emirati woman COMPLAINED
they had kissed in public in Dubai.

The code says showing affection between couples – married or not – in public
places does not FIT local culture.

"Holding hands for a married couple is ok but kissing is considered an offence

to public DECENCY".

TARGET LANGUAGE

LAWYER EXPATRIATES PROSECUTE

JAILED COMPLAIN FIT
DECENCY

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Is ….............. in public ok?

wearing mini skirts being topless at the beach

drinking being naked

breastfeeding swearing

SPAIN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNITED STATES

UNITED KINGDOM GERMANY ISRAEL

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Sample P4 topic

Woman painting nails DETAINED after flight

A passenger onboard a Southwest Airlines flight was detained by police after
arguing with a flight attendant over nail polish.

Jeanie Daniels reportedly was painting her fingernails on Feb. 26 during a

flight from Los Angeles to Houston, where her boyfriend lives, when a flight
attendant asked her to stop because of the smell.

"I said, 'OK, I'm sorry,' and I put it away," Daniels told the TV station. "Then
about 20 minutes into the flight, I discovered I only had two nails left to paint
and if I went to the bathroom and did it, it wouldn't offend anyone."

However, another flight attendant confronted her when she exited the
restroom and they began arguing.

"She was getting so loud, while I was sitting in my seat, and I was just like,
'Will you stop! Stop BITCHING at me,' because she wouldn't end the
conversation," Daniels said.

When Flight 1536 touched down, two Houston police officers were waiting for
Daniels.

Daniels was released after more than 10 hours in jail, the TV station reported.

Would you mind…

Could you please…

Would you be so kind as to…

I´d really appreciate it if…

I'd be grateful if you could

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The man sitting in the aisle across from Behind you are seated a mother and a
you is playing his music so loud that you child. The 4 year old keeps kicking your
can hear it. You don´t like the music seat and the mother has told him to stop
and your flight is 5 hours long. but he continues. Your flight is 2 hours
long.

The person next to you keeps trying to The person next you has taken off
talk to you and you want to read your his/her shoes and has smelly feet. Your
book. Your flight is 3 hours long. flight is 4 hours long.

LESSON 2. PREPARATION OF TOPIC ACTIVITIES

Topics Creation

Topic Activities or activities for fluency are the ones through which we
encourage students to express their opinion and talk about facts. They are the
perfect excuse for the students to express their thoughts in a non-guided way.

Topic activities are not to be confused with speaking activities. Any activity, no
matter if it is a structure, vocabulary or topic activity can be done in a spoken
or written way. Topic activities refer to the type of communicative activity that
is not based on a close and guided practice but offers stimuli to students to
work on their fluency by referring to facts or expressing opinions and ideas.

Topic activities suggest expressing ideas in a meaningful way and therefore

are more present with higher levels. Still, their first introduction is in the
elementary level, once the students have learnt basic vocabulary and
structures. It is very important to introduce from basic levels of learning these
kind of activities as they bring variety and are the fun part of the class.

Not because our students have low level of English they lack opinions too.
Topic activities help them learn to express complex ideas in a simple way
from a linguistic point of view with economy of communicative resources.

The higher the level of the learners, the more topic activities are present in the
classes. The proportion increases with the level.

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 Thus, S1 students have only structures and vocabulary activities that deal
with basic functions, while P2 students have one topic based on current news
which we presuppose interesting for them and easy to stimulate talking.
Structures activities are higher in number, there are 3 of them in each class.

In P3 we reduce structures activity to two, and we increase topics to two too.

Vocabulary in all levels is represented by two activities for different issue and
subissue.

In P4 and P5 level we plan three topic activities, one of which being based on
a current event or news and the other two about different purposes: one of
them can be dedicated to a specific purpose, the one based on something of
a general interest.

No matter what the level of your learners is, don’t forget the Golden Rule of
topic activities: let students do the talking. Read slowly. Ask one question at
a time.

A topic activity should last 10-15 minutes, so make the activity engaging.
Make sure that there’s a good flow in the class. Think of a topic activity that
will be suitable for different companies and different interests. Make the tasks
progressively harder. A simple reading exercise is not enough to test students
understanding. You need something to get students involved.

Don’t assume that what is in your mind will be interpreted in the same way by
all the teachers you share your material with. That’s why your activities have
to be teacher-friendly. They have to be concise but include all the relevant
information and key for the teacher and students too.

The format is extremely important if we want our activities to be teacher-

friendly. As in a supermarket, you expect to find the same products in the
same place, ordered by concepts. Therefore, when creating a topic activity,
please remember to order it by concepts:

- Have a clear objective

- Make and engaging introduction questions or sentences

- Provide clear instructions for the target language practice

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- Always include concept check questions

- Select carefully your target language, and grade the explanations to it.
Provide examples in context and images. Record the audio

- Format your attachment as well. Clear tables, font and layout is imperative
for a successful activity.

We always stress the importance of good activity format, but even the
greatest format is not enough if your topic selection or approach is weak.
Engaging topics are ones that bring information, but also knowledge. Students
enjoy talking and learning at the same time, so any extra content that brings
cultural, linguistic, ethical or human knowledge is an additional asset that your
students will appreciate immensely.

Many topic activities start with a text, but what else would you add apart from
a text? Here are some ideas for good and fun topic activities.

Ideas for creating topic activities

You can use the following sources to get inspiration

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• News websites
• Personal experience
• Ted.com

What can you write topics on? Anything, as long as the students do the
talking. Make sure the topic is interesting for everyone (doctors, lawyers,
secretaries, warehouse workers, accountants, sales people etc.)

• Personal experience
• Games
• TV quiz shows
• Word games
• Grammar practice
• Phrasal verbs
• IDIOMS – Works very well with higher levels!

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Talking time

Apart from asking students questions about the topic, what else can you do to
make it more communicative?

• Opinion Cards

• Role-plays

• Discussions

• Debates

Ideas for activating topics

• Discussions and Debates

• Description of a picture/ situation
• Surveys and questionnaires
• Competition Games
• Role plays
• Physical games
• Craft games
• Card games (labels/ situation cards)
• Other games:
• Snakes and ladders
• Bingo
• Board Games
• Charades

Activities based on current events and news

These are one of the most engaging activities, as they bring trending topics in
the classroom. Students love to discuss them and always seem to have
something to say about them. Even though it is easy to engage students in
discussions based on current events and news, they have to be well written
and presented, so that teachers don’t have to improvise questions.

Have in mind that not all the students will be familiar with the news or event,
so make sure you provide good information about the news or the event.

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 In order to introduce the news, avoid copying and pasting it directly from your
news resource. It is much better to summarise it or select the parts which
provide relevant information, without overwhelming the students with too
much unnecessary information.

It is always recommendable to provide a picture of the event or news in order

to set the context of the activity.

Objective
State the learning goals, the means to achieve them and the communicative
learning outcomes we expect from students.

Introduction
Start with something engaging to grasp your students’ interest. Avoid general
question (e.g. Do you like music?) and go for more specific question that sets
the scenario for the topic.

E.g. When was the last time you heard someone sing in the metro?

What if I told you that there has been a contest for metro singers?

Activity
It is not necessary to base your activity always on a text. If facts are
necessary, go for bullet points, easier to understand and remember. Bullet
points are chunks of information and you can stop after each of them and ask
comprehension or opinion questions easily.

Below are some tips for you to consider when writing topic activities:

- Include some comprehension questions. Teachers will be able to check

understanding after the information that you provide.

- Propose debate questions. Teachers will stimulate discussions that way.

- Go for communicative activities, that is, the ones that actively practice the
target language, not only gaps of it.

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- Provide at least two parts for your activity: a more guided practice of the TL
and a freer practice of the TL. Teachers will use the first part to activate the
target language and the second part to focus on learners’ fluency.

- For the second part, consider a communicative game: parlour games, word
games, board games, role play, labels, situation cards, etc.

- Simplify the instructions. Get used to write only the relevant part of them, as
economy of words translates into economy of preparation.

- Provide examples whenever necessary and a key for the teacher, especially
whenever you include facts, graphs, charts and other data.

- Don’t forget about include fun elements. Students love them and this will
make the activity more entertaining.

Checking for understanding

Golden Rule – The teacher should always do the reading. You may read the
text and check for understanding as you finish reading each paragraph (if it is
a long text). If the text is short, you can read the text (at the same time you
should read students reactions – check if they understand). After reading the
text go through the target language (TL) make sure students can use them in
other situations (once they have done this, it means you can go on to the
second part of the activity….discussions, debates, role-plays etc).

Elicit answers from the students. Don’t panic and jump in. Allow students to
take it all in. If you see that the student is struggling guide them to the answer.

How would you elicit understating of the TL? – Usually we ask students to
provide an example of the target language in context. You can also make
them say the opposite (antonym), give a definition or mimic the target item.

Through Concept Checking you make sure your students use correctly the
target item. Questions such as “Do you understand?” should be substituted by
concrete examples that show that the students have understood and know
how to use properly the TL.

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 Wrap up

Create a wrap up so that it meets two purposes:

- The first purpose is to review the target language. In order to achieve it,
include some questions that require using TL items in the reply. That way the
teachers will check the acquired concepts.

- The second purpose is to conclude and finish the topic. In order to achieve it,
provide more general questions and make a brief recap at the end.

- Write a logical end of the activity.

Target language

Think of what is the new vocabulary or structures that this activity provides.
Remember that it is all about activating Target Language (TL), so the first
consideration when creating a topic activity is what this TL should be.

Select TL carefully according to the level you are targeting. Not because
words are long, they are necessarily unknown.

Also consider the relevancy of the TL. The TL has to be relevant for the level
but also for the topic and for the practice that you have planned for this
activity.

You need to think well the number of TL items you will include. We know from
experience that 6-8 items are a good target for one activity. Too many TL
items are not necessarily productive. Long lists are difficult to remember. Be
selective.

Pay a special attention to the definitions that you provide. Dictionary

definitions can be quite technical and long sometimes and also require good
knowledge of English which the learners have not got yet. So try to define the
TL using your own words. Use examples in context, usually the most
commonly used context helps students remember the TL item. If you have to
use a dictionary for help then try using the one from this webpage:
http://www.wordsmyth.net/. You can select the ‘Beginner Dictionary’ or the

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‘Children’s Dictionary’ from the menu on the left and it will give easy to
understand definitions.

If you want students to get the best from your TL, record an audio example.
You will be helping their pronunciation a lot! There are many free audio
recording programmes but we recommend you to download Audacity for
recording from: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. You can also use a very
useful website that saves you having to download a program:
http://www.recordmp3.org/

Whenever your TL is a concrete object, go for an image instead of a

definition. It is much simpler to provide a picture of a table than to define
“table”. This principle is even more necessary when your activity is for low
levels or young learners. You can also use pictures or images for more
abstract concepts, as long as you find an image that suggests that concept.
Use it for items that refer to feelings or states such as love, sadness,
happiness, etc.

Finally, revise your spelling and punctuation. This part will be visible by the
students and you don’t want them to detect mistakes in spelling or
punctuation.

Attachments

Your attachment is the part that you will be using with learners to activate the
TL, therefore its presentation and layout has to be perfect!

Of course, make sure that if text is included, spelling and punctuation are
immaculate.

Speaking of the text, choose a bigger font so that learners don’t struggle to
read it.

Highlight the TL either in bold or in CAPITAL letters.

If you are including images, charts, graphs, we recommend using a table with
the same size of the images.

As they are going to be printed in black and white, the images don’t have to
be dark.

Last, but not least, provide a header which contains the type of activity and its
title, e.g. TOPIC_TITLE.

! ")!
CONCEPT CHECK QUESTIONS

1. We introduce topic activities in:

P3 level. We need fluency for them.
High levels only. Low level students are not expected to say
anything.
P2 level. They are necessary and work well if the approach is
adequate to the level.

2. The proportion between student talking time and teacher talking time is as
follows:
STT should be more than TTT. The aim of topic activities is to
make students talk, activate their fluency.
STT and TTT should be equal. It is a question of balance and
equal dialogue between students and teachers.
STT should be less than TTT. The teachers is the guide, after
all and has to direct the talking, therefore their participation is
more important.

3. The Introduction of the topic is:

Very important, as it is determines the rest of the activity. It has
to be engaging and interesting.
Is just a necessary part of the activity, but less relevant than the
main part.
Is irrelevant. All the students need to do is in the activity anyway.

4. The activity part should always contain:

A text. It is the most important part of the activity.
A proposal for activating TL in an interesting and fun way.
Something shocking. It is the only way to make students talk.

5. The wrap up is aimed at:

Explaining unknown target language
Recapping and concept checking
Explaining what the activity is about.

6. Target Language is:

What the students will activate through the activity.
A list of words to remember
An additional element of the activity made if time allows.

Assessment criteria

Is your topic activity good enough? Answer yourself by analysing your activity
and making sure the following checklist is present in your creation.

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If, once the activity is ready, it includes the above elements, be sure you will
have created a good and teacher-friendly activity which your students will love
doing.

Topic Activity checklist

Objective:

• Corresponds to the title or to the issue and subissue (applicable for

business topics, for instance)
• Refers to what the student will know and/or will be able to do after
completing the activity

Intro:

• Questions are relevant for the topic and are ordered in such a way in which
conversation could logically progress.
• Introduces the activity arguing its relevance; is engaging.
• No yes/no questions.

Activity:

• Instructions are simple

• Has markers which use is consistent and teacher-friendly (e.g. numbers for
instructions and hyphens for questions directed to students)
• Has examples to clarify instructions (key for teacher if relevant)
• Includes study & practice of target language: is divided in at least two parts
that are progressively harder and at least one aims at the students
practicing the target language in a free form
• Has enough questions/stimuli for 10 students to participate
• Include engaging and fun part.

• No yes/no questions
• No offensive content
• If it includes text:
o Text is also included in teacher’s Activity box and is exactly
the same as for the students

o In teacher’s text target language is in capital letters

o Maximum 10 lines

o Better if the text is fragmented in bullet points

o No more than 1 target language word in a sentence

! #+!
Wrap up:

• Refers to target language (what was taught in the activity)

• Doesn’t introduce new info; only extra practice and concept checking
questions

Target language:

• Maximum 8 words
• Includes all words in the activity that are relevant for the level
• Definitions are simple and clear
• Examples help students deduct meaning by context
• Audio
• Image if relevant for word
• Spelling and punctuation: spell check to avoid typos and wrong spelling and
punctuation.

Attachments:

• Top-left header: Topic_Title

• Pictures and word lists are included in tables (pictures are centered,
maximum 2 columns wide; lists maximum 4 columns)
• Pictures are good quality and are clear enough in black and white
• Font is at least 16pt and preferably serif (easier to read)
• If matching activity: rows are distributed equally
• Target language in bold

! #"!