This series – Professional practice pathways for remote
teaching – focuses on providing content and resources
that are useful for teachers wanting to continue to
develop their knowledge and skills while working from
home. It covers all 12 of the practices on the British
Council’s Continuing Professional Development
framework: https://bit.ly/PPPCPD
How can you use this series?
For each professional practice, we’ve given you six
shorter options and a ‘deep dive’. Why not set aside
some time each day to look at one of the links and
spend a week focusing on each professional practice
you’d like to study?
You can use these documents on your own or with
colleagues who are also interested in the same areas.
Try working through these guides together to share
ideas and compare notes.
Introduction to planning lessons and
courses
Planning single lessons and longer courses involves defining aims and learning outcomes
that meet learners’ needs and the course objectives and selecting and developing
engaging activities, resources and materials which correspond to the aims of the lesson. It
also involves dividing lessons into stages, planning board work, selecting and describing
interaction patterns for different activities during the lesson and planning for differentiated
learning.
Planning lessons and courses includes thinking about problems that might happen during
the lesson and planning how to respond to these. It also involves describing how learners’
understanding will be checked or assessed and describing when and how feedback will be
provided. It is important to be able to describe how a lesson is linked to the ones before
and after it, plan a broad outline for a sequence of lessons (including the recycling of
learning content) and reflect on the approach and effectiveness of lesson planning.
Where are you now?
Reflecting on how well you plan your lessons and courses at the moment is an important
starting point. The way that you plan the different stages, materials you will use and
assessment might be different depending on whether you are teaching face-to-face or
remotely and according to the type of technology you have available.
Read the introduction to planning lessons and courses paragraph again. Which of the areas
that it mentions do you think are your strengths? Which areas do you need to develop
further? Make some notes and, if possible, discuss your answers with a colleague.
Resources to explore
Now choose which of the resources you would like to have a look at from the list on the
next page. We’ve included estimates of how long it will take to work through each resource.
As you read, think carefully about how what you are learning applies to your own context.
Write down specific ideas that you will try.
Using your coursebook and breakout rooms online
This webinar by Lindsay Clandfield and Carol Rainbow offers lots of ideas for planning
lessons that you will deliver online.
https://bit.ly/PPPPLC1
Teaching online: structuring lessons and what to do if the tech fails
This webinar with Helen Strong and Anne Fox covers ideas for planning online lessons
as well as lots of tips for alternative arrangements in case things don’t go to plan!
https://bit.ly/PPPPLC2
Using constraints creatively in teacher development
This talk by Rose Aylett explores how teachers can make the most of situations where
there are fewer resources or less time or language available.
https://bit.ly/PPPPLC3
What makes a good remote teacher?
This webinar by Gabriela Kaplan and Graham Stanley shows how remote online teaching
works in Uruguay and shares ideas for developing the necessary skills.
https://bit.ly/PPPPLC4
Lesson planning for online teaching
This document shares a variety of ideas to help you plan lessons that need to be
delivered online.
https://bit.ly/PPPLC5
Simple teaching ideas for online lessons with primary-age children
Lesley Keast provides support to help you navigate your way through the world of
online teaching.
https://bit.ly/PPPPLC6
The deep dive
Hungry for more? These two resources will give you a lot more information about this
important area, with opportunities to reflect, useful theory and concepts, and lots of practical
ideas for you to try.
• Teaching for Success Self-Study Guide: Planning Lessons and Courses
https://bit.ly/PPPPLC7
• Blended learning in English language teaching: course design and implementation
https://bit.ly/PPPPLC8
