Coming to grips with PLANNING:

1. What do you know about planning? How important is it? Why?

2. Does planning affect the “quality” of teaching/learning? Why?
3. What different kinds of planning are you familiar with?
4. In class many things happen spontaneously, does it imply that planning is useless? How
can you explain certain teachers’ overt reluctance to plan their lessons carefully on the
basis that “it is just a waste of time” or that “it is a too time-consuming issue”?
5. New teachers may end up distressed if they cannot find enough quality materials to fill
up a lesson. How can they solve this feeling of frustration?
6. Is lesson planning more important for new teachers than it may be for experienced
teachers? Why/why not?
7. Lesson plans can be pretty intimidating at first: can teachers learn to plan their lessons
in an effective way?
8. What useful tips do you think EFL/ESF teachers need to know in order to plan their
lessons effectively? What things should be included in every lesson plan?
9. Any language class needs to contain a variety of materials and activities focusing on all
necessary skills. By encouraging students to practice not only one skill but all, the class
will become more challenging and effective. How can teachers bear this idea in mind
when planning a lesson?
10. Classes are rarely homogenous. How does this fact affect lesson planning? Why should
teachers identify diversity in their classrooms before planning? Is “differentiated
instruction” feasible?
11. How important is scaffolding in creating contexts in which learners can integrate
meaningful contents? Can scaffolding be planned?
12. What happens if a teacher, who has invested great effort in designing his/her class
carefully, gets little response from students? Does it necessarily imply that that lesson
planning was ineffective?
13. Should reinforcement be given proper consideration when planning a lesson?
Why/why not?
14. Can successful grouping strategies be chosen at the lesson planning (before
implementation) stage? Why/why not?
15. Learners will increase their autonomy as their skills and confidence increase. What
decisions should teachers make when planning so as to promote these?
16. Upon realizing their improvement and achievement, students always gain the feeling
of success. How can planning address students’ engagement?
17. Languages cannot be learned merely in classrooms: “what occurs in the language
classrooms must be extended beyond the walls of the classroom so that a link is
created between what is learned in the classrooms with what occurs outside of the
classrooms” (2001). How can this be anticipated when planning?
18. Can decisions regarding roles to be played by the teacher during a lesson be taken at
the planning stage? Why/why not?
19. What differences can you state among “lesson planning”, “sequence planning” and
“syllabus planning”?
20. Are there different approaches to planning?