LESSON PLANNING
Lesson Types/Shapes/Stages/Aims
When you start out planning a lesson, try and think about each lesson you teach in the following
way; use the flow chart to help you determine which suggested lesson type and staging to follow:
Is the main focus of your
lesson language (i.e.
grammar or
vocabulary/lexis or
functional language)?
Yes or No
YES NO
Is the main aim of your Is the main focus of the
lesson to practice the lesson either listening or
language OR clarify it? reading?
Clarify or Practice Yes or No
CLARIFY PRACTICE NO YES
Are Ss tested on their See Lesson Shape B Is the main focus either See Lesson Shape D
knowledge of that speaking or writing?
language before they (Language Practice) (Receptive Skills)
have clarification of it? Yes or No
Yes or No
YES YES
See Lesson Shape C See Lesson Shape E
(Test-Teach-Test (Productive Skills)
Clarification of
Language)
NO NO
See Lesson Shape A 1) Check again
2) Ask your tutor!
(Text-Based Clarification
of Language)
1
Lesson shape (A) – Text Based Presentation of Language
The language is introduced using a reading or listening briefly first (but this is not the main aim) and then
language from the text is clarified (checking meaning, form and pronunciation) before doing further
practice. The main aim here will usually be: To clarify and provide controlled practice of_____ .
The normal stages here are:
Lead in/ Building context To generate interest in the topic/theme/context of the text or listening
Reading or Listening task To practise reading or listening for______ / To introduce the target
language via a text or listening
Highlighting target language To highlight the target language by use of eliciting/a guiding task/an
underlining activity
Clarifying target language To :
▪ Clarify meaning of target language
▪ Model and provide controlled practice of pronunciation
▪ Highlight form
Language practice To provide controlled/less controlled/freer oral/written practice of
_______________
Feedback To establish correct answers/ to deal with results of the task
You may need to pre-teach some vocab before the reading task.
Lesson shape (B) - Language Practice
This is connected to/follows on from lesson shape A or C. If the aim of the lesson is ‘To provide
controlled/freer practice of_______’ i.e. language that another teacher has taught, then your lesson will
follow on from the previous teacher who would have clarified the language. It will involve different
practice stages, e.g. controlled written practice, controlled oral practice, less controlled written/speaking
practice, freer written/oral practice.
You may not need a lead-in, but if you do, remember that this lesson is the second part of the previous
lesson and if possible, keep the same context. This type of lesson may need some student preparation,
e.g. pre-teaching, controlled practice, group discussion, role preparation. Feedback stages are also
important.
Lead in (optional) (See notes above)
Set up To introduce/set up the practice activity
To highlight the (target) language to be used in the activity
Practice activity To provide controlled/less controlled written/oral practice of _____
To provide less controlled/freer oral/written practice
of________________
Teacher monitors as Ss do the activity
Feedback To establish correct answers and/or to deal with results of the task
To provide feedback on use of target language – dealing with errors and
problems
The above is repeated with each practice activity. You may need to pre-teach some items.
2
Lesson shape (C) – Test-Teach-Test Presentation of Language
The students do an exercise at the start using the target language with no help from the teacher
(diagnostic test). The teacher monitors the task very carefully to see what problems the students have
and then clarifies (checking meaning, form and pronunciation) as necessary – i.e. any new language or
items the students had problems with. For example, if there are 15 pieces of vocabulary in the test, the
teacher would not clarify every item. This followed by further practice (test). The main aim here will
usually be: To clarify and provide controlled practice of_____. The usual stages here are:
Lead in To generate interest in the topic/theme of the lesson
First Test (diagnostic) To test Ss’ current understanding and identify gaps in vocabulary
related to_________
Teach (clarifying) To deal with meaning, pronunciation and form of vocabulary related to
________ - with emphasis on items Ss did not know or were confused
about
Second Test To provide controlled/less controlled written/oral practice of ______
(Controlled practice) To provide less controlled/freer oral/written practice
(Freer practice) of________________
Feedback To establish correct answers and/or deal with results of the task
To provide feedback on use of target language – dealing with errors
and problems
There might not be time to do the second test stage in a 40 min lesson. In the this case, the next teacher
will be doing this as their lesson (i.e language practice as per lesson shape B)
Lesson shape (D) Receptive Skills – listening or reading lesson
The lesson can be divided into pre, while and post reading/listening stages. The main aim here will
usually be…..For Ss to practice reading/listening for gist and detail comprehension (for example).Possible
stages here are (choose as necessary):
Pre-reading / listening tasks
Lead in To activate Ss’ existing knowledge of the topic; to encourage Ss to think
about content of the text; To develop oral fluency
(Prediction task) To encourage Ss to predict/ think about content of the text
Pre teach vocabulary To pre-teach/unblock key vocab needed to help students complete the
_______ task
While reading / listening tasks
Reading/listening for gist To encourage Ss to listen/skim for gist/general understanding and get an
overview of the text
Reading/listening for detail To practise reading for detailed comprehension and understanding the
text in depth
Reading/listening for specific To practise scanning for specific information
info
Post reading / listening tasks To develop oral/written fluency by providing an opportunity to react to
the text;
To (further) personalise the topic
3
Lesson shape (E) Productive Skills – speaking or writing
The lesson can usually be divided into preparation for speaking/ writing and speaking/writing stages. The
main aim here will usually be…..To practise oral/written fluency in relation to______(topic).
Possible stages here are (choose as necessary):
Lead in To activate Ss’ existing knowledge of the topic; to generate interest in
the topic/theme of the lesson
Preparing to write/speak To generate/provide ideas; To provide an opportunity for Ss to
brainstorm ideas/prepare notes/think about what they will say in the
subsequent task. (This may involve Ss reading or listening to something
similar to what they themselves will be producing – i.e. To provide Ss
with a model for the task)
(Useful language???) To provide and clarify language which Ss may find useful for completing
the writing/speaking task NB: This is NOT target language. It’s there to
HELP them perform the speaking/writing task, that’s all (i.e. Ss don’t
HAVE TO use it)
Speaking/writing task To develop oral fluency through a ________ task; to develop writing skills
in relation to writing _____________
Feedback/error correction To provide quick feedback on contents/results/outcomes and then to
on oral/ written task deal with generic errors
It might be necessary to have a pre-teaching stage during this lesson.
