Planning Lessons and
Courses
1 Planning is a thinking skill
2 How do people learn languages?
3 Sequencing lesson components
4 Formal lesson planning
5. Lesson Aims
1 Planning is a thinking skill
Prepare thoroughly (the
possible content and
problems), but in class,
teach the learners, not
the plan
1 Planning is a thinking skill
Atmosphere The learners The aims Materials
There are a number of general areas to think about:
The teaching
point
The tasks and teaching Classroom
The challenge
procedures management
Act. 1:
Important considerations when planning
What are the aims
What is my
of the lessons?
procedure?
Give it a try
How to teach The Present Simple Tense
Elicit some common action verbs from your
students
it’s time to introduce the present simple tense
with the first person singular.
For example, “I read. I write. I eat. I run.”, etc.
Some example present simple sentences
you can elicit are:
● I wake up at 7.
● I eat breakfast at 8.
● I go to school at 8:30.
● I study English at 10.
2 How do People Learn Languages?
Students’
progress when
learning a new
item
Match the labels to
the numbered
stages
2 How do people learn languages?
1. Ignorance
2. Exposure
3. Noticing
4. Understanding
5. Practicing
6. Active use
The Process of
Learning
'Restricted' and 'Authentic' Exposure
Exposure to language may come through texts that are specially prepared
and simplified for students (restricted) or are unadapted, authentic texts
from non-specialist sources (authentic).
From a teaching perspective, the distinction between authentic and
restricted exposure is important, as we may need to adopt different
approaches to a text that is not specifically learner-friendly to achieve
specific teaching purposes.
'Authentic' Exposure
❖ This is exposure to language when it is being used fairly naturally.
❖ For example:
+ Reading magazines, books, articles, product labels, etc
+ Listening to small talk and listening to recordings, radio, etc
+ Watching English films or television channels (eg Cartoon Network)
+ Living in a place where the language is used
+ Hearing incidental language used in class
+ Reading pieces of language on notices, posters, etc around the classroom
Output
❖ Authentic output: Speaking or writing using the full range of language
learners have at their disposal.
❖ For example:
+ Discussions
+ Meetings
+ Small talk in a café
+ Writing a postcard
+ Negotiations
+ Chatting in class
Restricted Exposure
❖ Exposure to texts specifically designed to be accessible to learners - and
probably to draw attention to specific language points.
❖ The texts will often:
+ be specially designed for learners, providing clear examples of target
language items being used in context;
+ be simplified through use of graded language;
+ have unusually high quantities of specific target language items.
Output
❖ Restricted output: Speaking or writing that requires learners to use less than the full
quantity of language they know. Learners get a chance to practise using language in
ways that are controlled or deliberately simplified (maybe by a teacher instruction or by
the nature of a particular task) in a way that makes the load on the learner less
demanding.
❖ For example:
+ Drills
+ Written gap-fill exercises
+ Grammar practice activities
+ 'Repeat what I say'
+ Simple games based on saying very similar sentences (eg 'Simon says')
Authentic and Restricted are end points on continuum, rather
than all-excluding categories
3 Sequencing lesson components
PRESENT – PRACTICE
4 Formal lesson planning
Formal plans often divide into three distinct sections:
+ background information about the class, the teacher, the materials and the overall aims of
the lesson;
+ language analysis of items that will be worked on in class;
+ a detailed chronological stage-by-stage description of the intended procedure for the
lesson.
In most formal lesson plans, the following are required:
+ a clear statement of appropriate aims for the whole lesson;
+ a clear list of stages in the lesson, with a description of activities, their aims and estimated
timing;
+ a list of specific target language items.
Writing a Lesson-Plan Procedure
★ You need a plan that simply and clearly outlines the intended stages - in enough detail to
be 'imaginable' by someone else.
★ Include:
○ give a name to each stage (e.g., Presentation, Practice, Feedback OR Pre-, While-,
Post-)
○ the essential steps of each stage;
○ classroom management information, such as what sort of groupings you'll use,
who will talk, etc;
○ things that may be particular problems or hiccups (eg a note about making sure
seating is in a particular position, the text of a particularly tricky instruction).
Writing a Lesson-Plan Procedure
For the most part, do not use:
❖ long prose descriptions of everything that will happen;
❖ detailed descriptions of routine actions that any competent teacher
would do
❖ naturally on the spot in class, eg 'stand up';
❖ shorthand notes that may be too cryptic for a reader to unravel;
❖ word-for-word texts of all your instructions and explanations, etc.
5. Lesson Aims
★ For every lesson you teach, and for every activity within that lesson, it is
useful to be able to state what the aims are, i.e., what's the point of doing it?
What will the students get out of it?
★ It is important to separate mentally:
○ the material you use;
○ the activities that will be done;
○ the teaching point (i.e., the language skills or systems that you will work
on);
○ the topics or contexts that will be used;
○ the aims of the lesson.
The 'Main Aim' of a Lesson.
The most important aim usually concerns intended student achievements:
things that they will have learned, skills they will have improved, points they
will have reached by the end of the lesson.
→ This is often called the 'main aim' of a lesson.
Procedure Aims and Achievement Aims
● Some teachers write aims that are only statements of procedure (ie what
students will do during the class) rather than stating what the teacher
hopes the students will achieve by doing them.
Procedure Aims and Achievement Aims
In the following aims, decide which are procedure aims (P) and which are achievement aims
(A).
1 Students will be better able to ask and answer simple informal questions about a
person's life, likes and dislikes.
2 Students will have done a role play about meeting new clients.
3 Students will be better able to use the phone to order food, call a taxi, etc.
4 Present and practise comparatives.
5 Listen to coursebook recording 16.4.
6 Students will be better able to assess different people's attitudes when listening to phone-in
discussion on the radio.
Procedure Aims and Achievement Aims
In the following aims, decide which are procedure aims (P) and which are achievement aims
(A).
1 Students will be better able to ask and answer simple informal questions about a
person's life, likes and dislikes. A
2 Students will have done a role play about meeting new clients.
3 Students will be better able to use the phone to order food, call a taxi, etc. A
4 Present and practise comparatives.
5 Listen to coursebook recording 16.4.
6 Students will be better able to assess different people's attitudes when listening to phone-in
discussion on the radio. A
Achievement Aims
- Considerably more useful for teachers
- Helpful to start with a phrase like”
- “By the end of the lesson, the learners will have……………..”
- “By the end of the lesson, the learners will be (better) able to………..”
Refer to the example (page 138)
Act. Same Material, Different Aims
The example in page 138 used the leaflet for two quite different aims. Bearing in mind that
the text could be used in many different ways in class, in different activities, with different
aims, which of the following aims could it be an appropriate piece of material for?
1 By the end of the lesson, the learners will have a clearer understanding of the use of
imperative verb forms.
2 By the end of the lesson, the learners will have had practice in listening to and giving
instructions.
3 By the end of the lesson, the learners will be better able to understand and use the past
perfect tense.
If you have a clear aim for a lesson, you can bear this in mind all the way through the class.
Knowing where you are going enables you to make moment-by-moment decisions about different
paths or options to take en route, while keeping the main aim always clearly in front of you.
Lesson Aims and Content
Look at Figure 6.10 (page 140), showing a sample of a staged procedure for a 50-
minute lesson.
Give IT a TRY
Design a lesson plan
