LESSON PLANNING

LESSON PLANNINGRATIONALE BEHIND GOOD LESSON PLANNING:

Art of mixing techniques, activities & materials in such

a way that ideal balance is created for the class

(Harmer, 1991:259)

A GOOD LESSON PLAN

provides learning

makes students use the language communicatively

is realistic

is appropriate to students needs, levels and interests

is well-planned

includes a variety of activities, techniques and materials

involves various interaction patterns

is well-timed

includes specific objectives

is enjoyable and motivating

makes students active and engaged in activities

provides flexibility for the teacher

(Harmer, 1991 and Ur, 1996)

WRITING OBJECTIVES

Ignorance of purpose leads to mediocrity.

Confucious

Good Objectives

Clear (contains a description of a learning outcome)

Achievable

Action verbs (observable)

Match with tasks

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

1. SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE: (defining behavior to be learnt)

(action verbs) write, practise, match, discuss, scan, skim, discuss, etc.

2. PRODUCT: (learning outcome - showing successful accomplishment of the objective)

an essay, dialogue, poem, sentences, etc.

3. CONDITION: the condition under which the behaviour is to be performed

by reading the text, by matching the sentences,

given ten incomplete sentences, given a

paragraph containing five linkers, etc.

4. CRITERION: the standard used to determine successful achievement of objectives

with no errors, 100 percent accurately, with no more than two errors, in ten minutes, list three examples, state two differences, four out of five correct, given ten incomplete sentences, etc.

(Celce-Murcia1979 and Cruickshank and et al. 1995)

EXAMPLES for PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES:

Given a marker and OHT, the students will be able to write a short poem to express their feelings about spring by using at least five adjectives.

Given ten incomplete sentences containing both comparative and superlative adjectives, the students will be able to circle at least eight of the adjectives.

Given a paragraph containing 10 adjectives, the students will be able to underline at least nine of the adjectives of quality.

The students will be able to write a 50-word essay on a given family topic with no sentence fragments and no more than two errors in conjunctions.

In a group work, the students will be able to ask for and give opinion about the disadvantages of computers by using a and d structures fluently.

In a pair work, the students will be able to describe the physical appearance of a friend orally by using present simple and continuous tenses with no more than two grammatical errors.

Given eight prompts containing ( and sounds on a tape, the students will be able to discriminate both sounds with fewer than four errors.

Given ten sentences containing twenty misspelt words, the students will be able to underline at least fifteen of the misspellings.

Given certain roles, the students will be able to give advice in pairs by using should structure with no errors in form.

COMMONLY FOUND INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCES

( PRE-, IN-, POST- STAGES FOR RECEPTIVE SKILLS

( PPP (PRESENTATION, PRACTICE, PRODUCT)

( TASK-BASED LEARNING (TBL)

(Woodward, 2001)

References

Cruickshank, D. R., Bainer, D., and Metcalf, K. (1995). The act of teaching. USA:

McGraw-Hill Inc.

Harmer, J. (1991). The practice of English language teaching. New York:

Longman.

Ur, P. (1996). A Course in language teaching: Practice and theory. United

Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Woodward, T. (2001). Planning lessons and courses: Designing sequences of

work for the language classroom. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Lesson Planning Guidelines

A) Pre-planningSome factors affecting choice of materials, context and type of activities: the students. What age? Nationalities? Male/Female balance? Personalities? Interests? When the lesson takes place. Duration of the lesson?, Friday afternoon? 2nd January? Where the lesson take place. What classroom characteristics could affect my choices?

B) Planning

1. AIMS: What are the main points to be isolated?

Eg. Grammatical structure:- What form is to be introduced/revised?

-What use(s)? Language functions? Skills (sub-skills)

2. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

Specific achievable objectives (see the handout)

2. PLACE IN SCHEME OF WORK

How does the lesson connect with the last and next lessons? With recent and coming work? How much is revision and how much next input?

3. ASSUMPTIONS

What language, relevant to the lesson, can I assume does not need to be introduced or revised?

4. ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS

What language difficulties are likely to occur? How can I best deal with

them? What other difficulties are likely to happen? (classroom management-

desks screwed to floor, learner training- pair work is silly.)

5. AIDS

What audio/visual aids will best motivate the students and serve the teaching aims of the lesson? How much preparation will I need to do? How practical will it be to use the chosen aids?

6. MATERIALS

What is the name of the textbook? Which unit is planned for the lesson?

To what extent do I need to adapt the course book? What can I omit? What do I need to supplement? Do I need the book at all? Do I need to prepare supplementary material for the weaker/better students?

7. PROCEDURE

Presentation: what context can I use that will motivate the class and be practical vehicle for this teaching item?

Sequence: What sequence should I present the different elements/ items?

Practice: How much controlled practice of this item will the class need? Can I expect the class to be ready to move on to freer practice in this lesson? Do the practice activities chosen stimulate meaningful use of the language item?

Is there a balance of interactive types? Are my timings realistic?

8. HOMEWORK

What aim do I want the homework to have?

9. BOARD PLAN

How will I organize the b/b? How do I want the board to look?

10. PLANS FOR SLOW/FAST LEARNERS

Which areas of the lesson could be too easy/difficult for better/weaker ss? How can I meet their needs without interfering with the flow of the lesson? (Supplement their materials/adapt their tasks)

11. CONTINGENCY PLAN

What Alternatives should I have up my sleeves in case the lesson is too long/short? In case activities prove inappropriate? Etc. Have I thought everything?

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

STUDENT TEACHER:

COOPERATING TEACHER/SUPERVISOR:

DATE:

TIME:

CLASS/ROOM:

PERIOD: -----mins

LEVEL:

SKILL:

TEACHING POINT:

SAMPLE LESSON PLAN

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

STUDENT TEACHER: Burcu GLER

COOPERATING TEACHER/SUPERVISOR: Nur GNDE

DATE: 24 February 2004

TIME: 8:05 8:45CLASS/ROOM: 1APERIOD: 50 minsLEVEL: ElementarySKILL: Grammar and SpeakingTEACHING POINT: to be+like, vocabulary

4) WRITING (5 mins) T ( Ss

Stimulus

T takes an unfamiliar fruit and cuts it.

T asks Ss to describe it.

T does the same with two others.

T asks Ss to write a description of the fruit using the blackboard model.

(Better Ss to describe all 3, weaker Ss to complete at least one)

5) PRACTICE (Pair work) (8 mins) S ( S

T holds up a peach and an apricot, then a peach and a banana

T asks: Is a peach like an apricot? - Yes, it is.

Is a peach like a banana? - No, it isnt

T asks: Is a peach smaller than an apricot?

Elicit: No, it is bigger.

T writes on board: A peach is like an apricot but its smaller.

Ss are given pictures of fruit (see Appendix) and asked to order them into similar types and agree on sentences as above.

T walks round checking and correcting as necessary.

PRODUCT (8 mins) Ss ( Ss

6) FREER PRACTICE (Group work) T tells Ss to invent The perfect Fruit by combining the best characteristics of two or more kinds.

e.g. watermelon-banana. It is very big (7 kilos) and juicy like a watermelon, but its easy to eat and has no seeds like a banana.

T walks round encouraging, checking and reporting back.

Groups with most imaginative results win fruit cut up previously.

CLOSURE (2 mins) T ( Ss T asks various students and elicits what they learned in this lesson

HOMEWORK Worksheet with 4 descriptions of fruit as in 2 , but including the structure

like as in 5. Ss must name the fruit in the first two and complete blanks

in 2nd two. (see Appendix)

BOARD PLAN

WatermelonColour outside - green

Colour inside - red

Size - (very) big

Shape - round (or egg-shaped)

Sweet/Sour - sweet

Juicy/not juicy - (very) juicy

Seeds How many? - a lot

Size - small

Colour - black

A watermelon is green outside and red inside. It is big and round. It is sweet and juicy. It has a lot of small black seeds.

A peach is like an apricot, but its smaller.

PLAN FOR SLOW/FAST LEARNERS (See 3 and 4)CONTINGENCY PLANS

a- To contrast is like and like

T writes two columns on board, one of nouns e.g. music, dancing etc. the other adjectives - tall, beautiful, etc.

T asks Ss to choose answers from one of the two columns as appropriate to the following questions:

What is she like?/ What does she like? (listening comprehension/

differentiation exercise)

b- If extra time

Groupwork guessing game. One Student thinks of a fruit. The other members try to guess what it is by asking simple questions.

e.g. Is it juicy? - Yes, it is / No it isnt.

PLANNING

AIMS:

To..

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES: By the end of the lesson,

Ss will be able .

PLACE IN SCHEME OF WORK:

ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE:

ANTICIPATED PROBLEM(S):

AIDS (Audio/Visual):

MATERIALS:

PROCEDURE:

WARM-UP (mins):

PRE - ---- / PRESENTATION

1: ( ------mins) (Ss T) Number of tasks

The teacher asks students..... depends on what

you planned to

do.

2: ( ------mins) (Ss - Ss)

The teacher sticks the wall paper.......

WHILE - -------- / PRACTICE

Number of tasks

3: ( ------mins) (Ss Ss) depends on what

The teacher gives students..... you planned to do.

4: ( ----mins) (Ss Ss)

POST - ---- / PRODUCT

5: (-----mins) (Ss Ss)

CLOSURE (mins):

HOMEWORK:

BOARD PLAN:

PLAN FOR SLOW/FAST LEARNERS:

CONTINGENCY PLAN & TIME-FILLER(S):

PLANNING

AIMS: To describe something (a fruit) orally and in writing

To introduce and practice be+like

To revise and extend vocabulary of colour, shape, size and texture

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES: By the end of the lesson,

Shown some fruits, the students will be able to describe the shape and colour of all fruits orally.

Given four pictures of fruits, the students will be able to describe all of them by using to be+like structure.

The students will be able to describe the Perfect Fruit by combining the best characteristics of fruits with no errors in structure.

PLACE IN SCHEME OF WORK:

-Continues from last lesson on colours and shapes; comparative/superlative

of adjectives.

-Leads to more detailed descriptive writing; contrast of similarities/differences.

-Next lesson introduces verbs of perception/sensation + like (looks like, feels like, etc.)

ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE:

Comparative of adjectives is known; names of some common fruit are known.

ANTICIPATED PROBLEM(S):

Students may confuse verb like with preposition like in meaning and form.

Contrastive excercise as necessary at step 2.

AIDS (Audio/Visual):

Any available fruits, including some which are less familiar e.g. avocado, kiwi

fruit etc. or pictures of these.

MATERIALS: Homework, worksheet; No textbook

PROCEDURE:

WARM-UP: (2 mins) T( Ss

T greets the students and takes attendance

T asks if Ss could do the assignment

PRESENTATION (5 mins) T ( Ss

1) CONTEXTUALIZATION AND VOCABULARY PRESENTATION

T takes a fruit Ss know well (e.g. a watermelon)

T elicits name watermelon and writes as heading on board

T asks the following series of questions building up information on the board under the heading (see Board Plan)

a) What colour is it? Elicit - Green

Cut melon open

b) What colour is it inside? Elicit - Red

c) How big is it? Elicit - (very) big

d) What shape is it? Elicit - Round

and teach egg-shape if necessary

e) Is it sweet or sour? (mime sour)

Elicit - Sweet

f) Is it juicy or not? (show juicy)

Elicit - (very) Juicy

Write sub-heading seeds on board. Show seeds and ask:

g) How many seeds are there? Elicit - A lot

h) How big are they? Elicit - Small

I) What colour are they? Elicit - Black

2) PRESENTATION OF STRUCTURE FORM AND MEANING (5 mins) T ( Ss

T writes on board, under information from step 1,

What is a watermelon like?

T builds up by guided elicitation the following description

A watermelon is green outside and red inside

It is big and round (very big and egg-shaped).

It is sweet and juicy. It has a lot of small, black seeds.

PRACTICE (5 mins) T ( Ss

3) PRACTICE

T asks: What is (an orange) like?

Students describe one or two fruits orally

(Better students describe new fruits, weaker students copy)