How to Plan lessons Before we start to make a lesson plan we need to consider a number of factors: The language level of our students. Their education and cultural background. Their level of motivation. Their different learning styles. We also need acknowledge of the content and organization of the syllabus or curriculum we are working with. Main planning elements are: Activities Skills Language Content

How to Plan lessons Activities - It is vital to consider what students will be doing in the classroom. The way the students might be grouped ( move round the class, work together side-by-side, searching on the internet or involved in a group- writing activity. We should make decisions about activities almost independently of what language or skills we have to teach. We should consider what kind of activity would be best for a particular group of students at a particular point of lesson, or a particular day. The best lesson offer a variety of action within a class period. The same lesson may end with a whole class discussion or with pairs writing dialogues to practice a language function or grammar point.

How to Plan lessons Skills - We need to make a decision which language skills we wish our students to develop. The choice is sometimes determined by the syllabus or the course book. But we still need to plan exactly how students are going to work with the skill and what sub-skills we wish to practice. Planning decisions about language skills on sub-skills are co-dependant with the content of the lesson and with activities which the teacher will get students to take part in. Language – We need to decide what language to introduce, and have the students: learn, practice, research or use ( Present Continuous, Past Simple). Content – Lesson planners have to select content which has a good chance of provoking interest and involvement. Even where the choice of subject and content is to some extent dependant on a course book, we can still judge when and if to use course book topics or whether to replace them with something else.

How to Plan lessons The plan The planning continuum The way the teachers plan lesson depends upon the circumstances in which the lesson is to take place and on the teacher’s experience. Teacher may do all the pre-planning in their head and make actual decisions about what to include in the lesson as they hurry along the corridor. Teachers may follow a course book and they do exactly what the book says (this is attractive for the teachers under extreme time pressure). Another way is to follow a ‘jungle path’ where teachers walk into a class with no real ides of what they are going to do. They might start with a question” What did you do last weekend?” or they might ask students what they want to do that day. ( in this case the teacher is like a doctor, basing treatment upon accurate diagnosis).

How to Plan lessons 4. Experienced teachers may well be able to run effective lessons without making a plan at all. 5. The vast majority of lesson planning probably takes place b/w two extremes ( teachers may scribble things in their notebooks, sometimes only noting the page of the book or the name of an activity) 6. Other teachers may write something more complex ( perhaps they list words they are going to need/use, write down questions they wish to ask or they may make list of web sites). Written plans have a secondary questions as a record about the materials, time, pair work, students groupings or individual work etc.

How to Plan lessons Making a Plan Pre-planning background: Level of the students Number of students in the class Students’ age if they are enthusiastic, if they participate well or If they are tired. if the student are prepared to ‘have a go’ with creative activities. if students’ need a ‘wake up’ at the beginning activities. Classroom equipped with a whiteboard, overhead projector etc. If the topic the student are going to use is interesting and motivating. If the grammar syllabus fits with the topic and other activities and exercises. What skills do the students need Speaking, reading , listening or writing?

How to Plan lessons Pre-planning decisions: The lesson should include oral fluency activity The lesson should include the introduction of the part of grammar ( Modal auxiliary verbs: should have done) It would be nice to have some reading in the lasson. The lesson should continue with the transport theme – but make if different in some way.

How to Plan lessons The plan- is made in the basis of our Pre-planning decisions. The teacher has taken the decision to have students read the text about transport. The text does not come from their textbook, but is one the teacher has used before. The sequence will be: An oral fluency activity with ‘changing groups’ in which student will decide what they will take with them when they travel. Reading for prediction, questions for predictions before reading to check their predictions and then reading again for detailed understanding. Ending the story, in which the students devise an ending for the story. New language introduction in which the teacher prompts ‘should have’ sentences and makes the students say them successfully. Language practice in which students talk about thing they did or did not do and which they should not or should have done. A job interview in which students plan and role-play an interview for a job in traveling.

How to Plan lessons The formal Plan Class description and timetable fit. Who the students are What can be expected from them How to group Record of knowledge of individual students gained through observation, homework and tests. Include information about the students’ feelings and kind of activities they have been involved ( communicative, controlled, pair work, group work). Lesson aims. Specific and directed towards an outcome which can be measured. A lesson will often have more then one aim.’ Overall objective is to improve students’ reading ability.

How to Plan lessons Activities, Procedures, timing. The main body of a formal plan lists the activities and procedures in that lesson, together with the times we expect each different interactions which will take place in the class. When detailing procedure ‘symbol’ shorthand is an efficient tool to describe the interaction that are taking place. T- teacher; S- an individual student; T-C teacher working with the whole class; S,S,S- students working on their own; S←→S- students working in pairs; SS ←→SS- pairs of students in discussion with other pairs; GG- students working in groups. Activity/ Aids Interactions Procedure Time 1 Group decision-making Pen and paper a T→C b S,S,S c S←→S d SS←→SS (GG) T tells students to list five things they would take in the journey. SS make their lists individually. In pairs students have to negotiate their items to come up with a shared list. Pairs join with other pairs. New groups have to negotiate to come up only with five items 1’ 2’ 3’ 4’

How to Plan lessons Problems and Possibilities A good teacher tries to predict pitfalls and suggests ways of dealing with them. It also includes alternative activities in case we find it necessary to divert from the lesson sequence we have hoped to follow. Anticipated problems Students may not be able to think of items to take to a journey with them.(exercise 1) Students may have trouble contracting with each other using; Shouldn't have (exercise 4) Possible solutions I will keep my eyes open and go to prompt any individuals who look ‘ vacant’ or puzzled with questions about what music, books, pictures etc, they might want to take I will do some isolation and distortion work until students can say: Shouldn’t have.

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