Creating engaging ESL lesson plans and materials is not only a way to motivate your students, but also a way to showcase your skills and professionalism as a teacher. Whether you are teaching online or in person, you need to consider some best practices or tips to make your lessons effective, fun, and relevant. Here are some of them.
Before you design your lesson plans and materials, you need to know who your learners are, what their goals are, and what their needs and preferences are. This will help you tailor your content, activities, and feedback to their level, interests, and learning styles. You can use surveys, interviews, or diagnostic tests to gather information about your learners, and use it to create learner profiles or personas.
This is something I aim for, not just every time I meet a new student, but after every other lesson too. Life happens to everyone, students included. They may need vocab or speaking practice for an interview one week, then they need presentation tips and practice the following week. We are here to serve our students and help them reach their goals and potentials. We need to be ready to adapt to our students' needs at all times. At least, I try to.
This includes becoming well acquainted with various cultural backgrounds and differences. It has helped me with classroom management and finding appropriate ways to motivate individual students.
In addition to conducting a thorough needs analysis to gauge with the learners' ability and current knowledge / level, it's paramount to select universal topics that are not only culturally sensitive, but also current and relevant - bringing the real world into the classroom. Doing this will enable meaningful engagement and discussions, permit ample opportunities for practice especially in the outcome of set objectives, and a healthy amount of diverse interactions patterns amongst students in the class promoting student led activities. ??
While this is great in theory, in day-to-day practice, it is not easy to achieve from day 1. Teaching ESL at college level, where curriculum requirements are state-mandated and class time is limited, for instance, requires some sort of cookie-cutter approach in the first few weeks at least. However, cookie-cutter activities can be geared towards getting to know students. It has also been shown by research that expressions of broad regard and positive expectations can foster student success at this level (see Jonathan Smith's thesis, published in 2021 by Stanford.)
When making material, make sure the level is appropriate for your students and that it will not cause frustration. Moreover, make sure it is something that they can connect with. If you don’t know your students have 10 hours of class before yours, and that they may be tired, how will you know when to add energy boosters? Knowing your learners is key!
Every lesson plan and material should have a clear and specific objective that aligns with the curriculum, the course, and the learner's goals. The objective should state what the learner will be able to do by the end of the lesson, and how it will be measured. You can use the SMART criteria (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) to write your objectives, and share them with your learners at the beginning of the lesson.
Depending on your objective, you need to choose the most appropriate methods to teach and practice the language skills or content. You can use a variety of methods, such as direct instruction, guided discovery, task-based learning, cooperative learning, or flipped classroom, to suit different purposes and contexts. You should also balance the teacher's role and the learner's role, and provide opportunities for interaction, feedback, and reflection.
Understanding the different styles of education around the world can both guide and inform the set up of predictable routines. I also try to vary activities that allow for student preparation with others that allow for spontaneity and creativity. For an intermediate or advanced class for example, posting a “question of the day” creates a balance between routine (expecting a daily/weekly prompt) and on the spot creativity (not knowing the question beforehand).
Routines are so important but also planning your lessons around your different learners in your class. I like to plan at least 5 activities for a 75 min class that will reach my visual, auditory, kinaesthetic learners. But most importantly I make it relevant.
While diversity of methods has the benefit of countering learner boredom, there is also virtue in the maintenance of certain rituals. Routines and predictability help with the management of language anxiety and foster an environment prone to risk-taking and meaning negotiation.
Every method can work if you know your audience and have clear objectives. I’m a fan of the TBA but it is not always the most effective one with low levels; where PPP or TTT may be better. I would say that choosing the best method depends strongly on the previous points: knowing your learners and your objectives.
The materials you use in your lesson should be engaging, authentic, and relevant to your learners. You can use texts, videos, audio, images, games, or simulations that relate to the topic, the language, or the culture you are teaching. You can also use materials that are created by your learners, such as presentations, projects, or portfolios. You should also consider the accessibility, quality, and appropriateness of the materials you use.
One thing I consider crucial is asking yourself if the tasks you chose are really engaging or they're here just to practise certain language material. For instance: is there a variety or are 90% of exercises just 'complete the gaps'? Is the video we're going to watch relevant for these particular students? Is this speaking task going to spark genuine interest or is it a set of cliché questions?
No matter how well you plan and prepare your lesson plans and materials, you may need to adapt and differentiate them according to the situation, the feedback, or the learner's needs. You can modify the content, the activities, the instructions, the support, or the assessment to suit different levels, abilities, or preferences of your learners. You can also use scaffolding, extension, or enrichment strategies to challenge or support your learners.
Adaptive teaching becomes a great tool in the classroom, where students are likely to learn at different rates and require different levels and support to succeed. Adaptive teaching helps teachers in teaching a topic with same learning objectives?to all students mainly providing scaffolds to support all students in making progress.
The last step in creating engaging ESL lesson plans and materials is to evaluate and improve them based on the outcomes, the feedback, or the reflection. You can use formative or summative assessment tools, such as quizzes, rubrics, checklists, or self-evaluation, to measure the learner's progress and achievement. You can also use surveys, interviews, or observation to collect feedback from your learners or peers. You can then use this information to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your lesson plans and materials, and make changes or improvements accordingly.
Besides these great tips, I'd like to add that it's part of our responsibility to prepare our learners for lifelong self-learning. As we're at the age of AI, it's easy for learners to take their learning responsibility and keep going as they live their regular lives.
Never underestimate the power of modeling. It often gets overlooked in the classroom; however, it is one of the most effective ways to help all students. Whether it is modeling appropriate behaviors or modeling the directions for a task, allowing students to see and/or follow along in real-time can make a big difference in their understanding and retention.