Lesson Planning in Language Teaching

Leonardo David Sanchez

Cod.1049619195

Group: 551026_30

Angie Carolina Rojas

Tutor

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia (Unad)

School of Education

Didactics of English

May 2019
WHAT IS A LESSON PLAN?

It is a map carried out by the teacher whose main goal is to set up what is to be worked

during a period of time. Upon developing some specific objectives, the teacher can take

students to fulfill some goals.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO PLAN A LESSON?

Mapping out a plan enables a teacher to blend theory with practice. It would be essential that

educators reflect upon those learning strategies which has had both a positive and negative

effect. In doing so, teachers could create an interesting lesson plan that meets student’s

needs.

If one does not ponder on what the activities will be done, students could find the class

aimless and disorganized, since they will not know what the main purposes are for them to

study.

As I said above, learners must know what are the steps they have to follow and how are they

are going to be evaluated. Having said that, teachers ought to plan as a prior model but not

as an obligation required by a coordinator. It is true that although a teacher has a clear plan,

it has sometimes to be changed due to student’s level. However, it does not necessarily mean

that the plan is not convenient. The ideal thing is to modify it by analyzing the social context

teachers’ work. Richards(1998) points out that lesson plans help the teacher think of the

lesson in advance to solve problems and difficulties to provide a structure for a lesson, to

create a follow –up regarding what will be taught " (p 103)

This leads to bolster teacher’s confidence, rather, if they are novice and do not have enough

experience to cope with difficult situations.

Another pivotal aspect is concerning the goals that teachers set out to do. If teachers give a

chronology of the activities, they will mentally prepare themselves to do so, and students will
see that there is no improvisation. To sum up, it is worth considering that the need of planning

lies in what kinds of aims educators want students to attain.

WHAT ARE THE STAGES OR STEPS IN A LESSON PLAN DEVELOPMENT?

First and foremost, writing clear and concise objectives is an essential fact as learners need

to know what they are expected to do in order to achieve a specific goal. Therefore, the

teacher must use active verbs when writing the objectives which will give students an insight

as to what they will have to do. Some of which are: to present, to identity, to describe, to

explain, or to demonstrate.

Secondly, the teacher has to design the shape of a lesson. Shrum and Gisan s (1994)

adaptation of the Hunter and Russell (1977) have elaborated a plan that has been widely

accepted, and it comprises of five phases: Perspective, opening, instruction or participation,

closure, follow-up.

Moreover, the teacher could shift the focus of the plan, since there could be some topics

which must go into detail. It is essential that the educator ask himself as to what he wants

students to learn or if it will be worth doing the class in a specific way or not.

The teacher has to take into account that although there is a written plan with clear objective,

sometimes it result in changes. For that reason, he must be aware of making adjustments as

soon as those arise.

As for lesson variety and lesson pacing, if the same topic is used in many classes or has the

same level or difficulty, it can lead to monotony; consequently, students will lose interest and

consider the class dull. That being said, the way students perform the activities is crucial, and

the teacher must often change the way they work. Sometimes, they should work individually,

or in pairs, or simply in big groups.

On the other hand, pacing is crucial since if students always spend a great deal of time in an

activity, it can wear them out. Brown (1994) suggests activities should not be too long or too

short.

Finally, the teacher must evaluate whether the lesson was significant for the students or not.

Ur (1996) says it is important to think after teaching a lesson and ask “whether it was a good

one or not, and why (p, 219). If a professor do not reflect on this issue, he will not know what

kind of adjustments must be changed for the next class.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS THAT MUST BE INCLUDED IN

LESSON PLAN?

When planning a lesson, one must take into consideration some steps as follows:

1. Perspective or opening: Students are asked what they have learned in previous lessons.

Then they are given a preview of the upcoming lessons.

instance, by using the new topic, students are asked about experiences related to their lives.

It functions as a grabber, so they are wholly immersed in the content.

3. Instruction/participation. The educator puts forth the activity and tries the students to

get involved by working in groups. Likewise. The teacher oversees their process and

encourage them if necessary.

4. Closure. The teacher asked students what kind of things they learn, thus will give him an

insight of what has to be worked intensively. Moreover, the teacher will inform students

topics of the upcoming lessons.

5. Follow-up. Teachers provide students other activities to reinforce what they learn. A

way to do so is by putting them some homework. Furthermore, after reflecting on the

lesson, the teacher must decide it is necessary to modify something in the plan so that

students can attain the goals.

Step Time Task Teacher Task Students Interaction Purpose
1 4 min The teacher employess the game To participate T-Ss -To grab students
“HANGOVER” as a grabber. Only Students attention.
The sentence is “HOW TO
DESCRIBE A PLACE”
-To create expectations.
2 10 min The teacher introduces some new -To listen and to T- Ss - To further
vocabulary focused on the features of draw on their prior communication
a place and the weather. Some of the knowledge in order between the
words are: that they can guess teacher and
Mild, cold, hot, seedy, dodgy, shabby, the meaning of the learners.
bustling, lively,secluded, peaceful, words. -Exchange ideas
cosmopolitan, - To engage
quaint, touristy, touristic. students in the
topic by drawing
-The teacher elicits information from on the enviroment
the students regarding what could be they live.
the meaning of these words. - It is believed that
- The teacher explain in depth those by using
definitions by showing images in a technology.
screen. Knowledge can
- The teacher asks them to locate linger on students
some of these places in the city where mind
they live.

3 10 min The teacher ask students to make a -To try to use some T-Ss -To Absorb
comparison between the place where of this vocabulary. Ss-Ss knowledge by
they live with cities like Bogota. making
-To reflect upon the comparison.
They can think of both similarities place where they
and differences all of which have. live.
-To use repetition
Moreover, In order for learners to -To exchange ideas in order for
employ this new vocabulary, the students to embed
teacher can ask them other types of information.
questions. -To relate the new
information to the
 -To ask why a city is more peaceful, enviroment they
lively, touristic, or bustling than live.
others.

-To ask students to recognize where

those shabby, seedy, dodgy places are
located in the place which they live.

-To describe a place students have

visited and point out the possitive and
negative aspects.

-What makes or why is a city dodgy,

peaceful and so forth?

4 7 min Students are given some worksheets Students exchange Ss-Ss Work
in which according to the images they ideas as to what collaboratively
see, those must be crossed out with they have discussed
the definition of the words during the class.

-The teacher tells them to work in

groups of three
5 7 min The teacher tells the students to Students share their T-Ss Socialization
socialize the work. ideas Ss-Ss

6 10 min Students write a short story Students work Ss – T Independent work

concerning a city they thoroughly individually, try to The teacher is
like. So, it is necessary to employ the employ the monitoring
conectors they have studied vocabulary of the students to help
previously. topic and deepen in them out in
the explanation. terms of
vocabulary.
7 10 min The teacher asks some students to Students express Ss- Ss To learn from
socialize what they wrote. At the overtly their ideas Ss-T mistakes
same time, he draws some
conclusions.
8 -Before finishing the class, the teacher Students work both
tells them to write another short story Independently and
regarding other places they like, but collaboratively for
as a homework. next class.
Also, students will make an
exposition by working in groups of
three and will describe some cities in
Colombia by putting forth possitive
and negative aspects.

-Students need to type and send it

through email, since some of which
 will be shown on the screen next
class.

The ideal thing is to analyze mistakes

in the sentences.

If teachers arrive at the conclusión

that after doing a feedback students
are facing problems both to write and
to express their ideas, they could do a
review of some functions of language
concerning how to express opinions
and reasons for the upcoming class.

Students can practice some templates

like:

1 What i like about Tunja is

the weather
because/as/since/ it …..

2 The reason why Bogota is a

seedy place... is because /
.......
3 The main reason why ... is
because / is that ...
4 One reason why ... is because
/ is that …….
5 Another reason is because.
……..
6 I think that……….. is
peaceful, /shabby,/ dull/,
lively/ is because …….

Topic: How to describe a place Class: Eleventh grade Level: Intermediate

General objective: Students are able to describe places.
Specific objetives: Students know how to express an opinion both in writing and speaking by using
complex sentences, since they are using some linking words as follows: because, although,
however.
- They are able to use cleft sentences to expand their opinión.
- They employ descrptive vocabulary.
Materials: Computer, worksheet.
Prior Knowledge: Students know some language functions concerning giving reasons and opinion
which enables them to express clear ideas. Also they employ some connectors in order to express
addition, concession and contrast such as: also, although or however,
Time: One hour Number of students: 30
REFERENCES
 Murphy, R. S. (2018). The Concept of Syllabus Design and Curriculum Development.
In Faravani, A., Zeraatpishe, M., Azarnoosh, M., & Reza, H. Issues in Syllabus Design.
Sense publisher. The Netherlands. Available in:
https://www.sensepublishers.com/media/3359-issues-in-syllabus-design.pdf

 Farrell, T. (2002). Lesson Planning. In J. Richards & W. Renandya (Eds.),

Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice (Approaches
and Methods in Language Teaching, pp. 30-39). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. Available in:
https://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co:2444/10.1017/CBO9780511667190.006