Parts and stages of a lesson

PART 1 LESSON PLANNING

LESSON PLANS AND HOLIDAYS

Lesson plans and lesson planning worry teachers a lot. Some even have lesson planning dreams, where they leave their plan on the bus or it flies out of the window….. But lesson planning is not as scary as it seems.

Think for a moment about going on holiday. When we are about to go on holiday here are some questions we ask ourselves:

How long do I have?

Where is my holiday going to be and what do I want to do when I get there?

How am I going to travel around and what do I need to take?

Can you see already how a holiday is like a course of lessons? Then, having made a plan, when we arrive in the place we have chosen for our holiday we find:

That something is more interesting than we thought or not as interesting

That we cannot get somewhere because there is no transport

That the weather is better or worse than we had expected.

But if we plan well and have a guidebook, we are able to make changes without panicking or getting confused.

SELF-CHECK 4:2 1

Which parts of a holiday are like which parts of lesson planning?

Write the lesson planning point next to the holiday point it resembles.

1. Sometimes you cannot do what you planned to do because of equipment problems.
2. Timing of the course and each lesson.
3. Questions about planning language and materials.
4. Questions about long term planning of overall aims.
5. Students can be unpredictable so we have to be able to adapt.

LONG TERM PLANNING (OVER A TERM OR YEAR)

Study the book you are using and check that you have the basic materials that you need and if materials are already prepared.

Find out the aims of your school for this level of student

Are you supposed to concentrate on speaking more than reading? Is there a special exam?

Think about timing - how long do you have? (including missed lessons for holidays, etc.)

Divide your course up into sections in some way and give a period of time to each one. This often goes with course book chapters. Try to stick to it and not race ahead or get behind.

Units 1 and 2 The future

Units 3 and 4 Past tenses and storytelling

Units 5 and 6 Likes and dislikes

Units 7 and 8 Descriptions

PLANNING WITHIN A SECTION OF WORK

Sections of work are sometimes called Schemes of Work or Units. There are a number of aims for a Unit of work and these may be in your course book, so read it!

Some teachers just pick up the book and go on from where they left off last lesson without thinking about the overall plan for the section. Here’s why that is not a good idea:

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It’s boring for you and the students.

Pages in the text book do not fit exactly into lessons and you will often have unfinished exercises.

The lessons may not have interesting and personalised materials to make links with real life.

Students do not understand why they are studying certain things - just ‘it’s in the book.’

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A spidergram could help you understand what is going on in a unit. Make one together when your class starts a new topic. Here’s one on sport:

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Remember also to consult the beginning of your course book. You often find a double page spread with a clear idea of what is going on in each unit. And there should be a teacher’s book to go with your course to give you more help and advice.