Teacher trainer shares insights on lesson planning

Do you ever start making a lesson from scratch but instead keep staring at a blank page not knowing how to approach it? Or do you ever look at a lesson in the Community and wonder how it was made? Today we asked one of our Amazy Angels and a teacher trainer to share her thoughts and insights on lesson planning.?

You will learn how to:?

?– analyse students' needs;

?– plan for the long term;

?– define lesson aims;

?– find the right material;?

?– time your lesson;?

?and more!?

Hi! My name is Elena Roi. I am a methodologist, teacher trainer, mentor and Amazy Angel.?

Since 2019 I have observed more than 100 lessons and provided feedback on more than 600 lesson plans (not only English language). Based on my experience and analysis of all of these lessons I already know the main issues that may come in the way of writing a lesson plan that will fulfil your student’s needs.?

In this article, I would like to share my ideas and my own approach to writing lesson plans. There are seven main points I would like to address. They are not listed in the matter of importance. I have just put them this way because it felt logical.?

The first insight

The very first one is that there is?no perfect lesson. There can be criteria for a lesson that should be included but there is no ideal framework, no ideal timing, and no ideal template. What is ideal for one person may be something not suitable for another. An ideal lesson is a lesson that fulfils your student’s needs. And this varies all the time.?

Students' needs?

This point leads to the second one –?students’ needs. This might be obvious to the majority of teachers and some of them might say that children have basic needs in language learning but a needs analysis should be conducted.?

And it might be repeated when needed because goals and needs might change due to change of a workplace, place of living or geopolitical issues, etc. There is one thing I would like to emphasise in need analysis is that “I need to speak” or “I want to read in English” is not enough of a goal.?

A teacher should dig deeper: “Do you need to speak at work, conferences, with online friends, clients?”, “What would you like to talk about?”, “What kind of literature would you like to read about? Is it for work, studying, or pleasure?”. I am sure you might agree on this one with me, depending on the answer preparation and materials the teacher uses for the lesson differ.

Long-term planning

The next step I always consider is?long-term planning. I share my ideas about a course book I plan on using with my student. If it is an adult, I always ask about the topics from the book.?

Maybe some topics are not relevant for a student or they would like to add other topics based on their interests. I take notes and try to figure out which units cover these topics better.?

My advice for a teacher is to look through the course book in advance and take notes on where extra material might be useful, which topics could be discussed from a different perspective based on their students' needs, and which topics are outdated, irrelevant, or not very interesting. Believe me, that might happen with some course books.?

Also, if a teacher has worked with a certain book for a while, they already know its flaws.?

Aims of the lesson

The fourth issue to cover is the?aim of the lesson. It might not be the easiest task, to be honest, but once a teacher knows how to write it, a lesson plan is very simple to create.?

My main observation from studying teachers’ lesson plans is that quite often they get carried away and the aim of the lesson is out of focus and not achieved.?

This does not necessarily happen because a teacher is underqualified, it might be simply because the topic is extremely engaging, because a teacher wanted to share valuable knowledge with students, or any other reason.?

So, when creating a lesson plan keep in mind the aim of the lesson and when you are conducting it you should keep it in mind as well because sometimes a teacher should think on their feet and tailor a lesson on the go.?

Material

One more important point to be mentioned is the?material, which you use in a lesson. These are course books, authentic materials, grammar books, self-designed worksheets, or workbooks based on TV series or films, etc.?

I know that there are teachers who don’t like using coursebooks. It is okay with me; everybody can choose how they want to teach. The only questions I have are: Does this teacher possess knowledge of course creation? Do they include revision and recycling in their self-designed courses? Will this course fulfil their student’s needs and cover all the skills needed??

You might wonder if I use coursebooks or work without them. I do, I use coursebooks and always add authentic material and self-designed worksheets based on my student’s needs.?

One of the latest examples, there is a topic in Roadmap about studying abroad and modal verbs of permission. The coursebook suggests listening about studying in London but my student is going to apply to a New York film academy. You might have already guessed that I substituted that listening with a short video about the academy. And the grammar topic fits here as well.?

So, as you see there is no need to cut out the unit completely or add extremely engaging material but it is remotely connected to the content of the coursebook. Keep in mind that you will need to revise and recycle those words and grammar. Choose wisely and expand your main educational course.

Timing and group work

The sixth issue to discuss is?timing and group work. Sometimes I look at the plan and see that it is amazing, everything is logically planned, the variety of exercises is incredible, the material is engaging, but there is not enough time to cover it all.?

Of course, not always there is the possibility to guess how much time a certain activity might take. That is why you anticipate, see how it actually goes, take notes and consider them when planning your next lesson. Remember, when you write approximate timing you need to include time for instructions, feedback, and online connection when joining breakout rooms.?

Students' autonomy

And last, but not least in its importance is students’ autonomy. Some teachers are used to being the main person in the class because they provide all the knowledge. I understand that but who should be shining and boasting of their grammar, sharing their thoughts and being proud of themselves for finally mastering that skill of gist reading? A student.?

And we as teachers can help them do that by guiding, monitoring, supporting, and promoting their autonomy as well. Try to remember the way teachers usually work with one-to-one students: they go through the exercise of filling the gap one by one with a student.?

What if a teacher set a time limit of 5 minutes and let a student work alone? This could benefit both: a student has time to think, their brain is working and they are using thier prior knowledge, and a teacher is keeping silent, taking care of their voice and taking notes of correct and wrong answers.?

The same is about a group of students: let your students explore the language, let them be responsible for their learning, let them feel the freedom of using the language under your almost invisible guidance.?

Afterword

While writing this article, many thoughts crossed my mind. What if I am stating the obvious? What if my ideas are too difficult to unpack? What if I am wrong? And I have answered myself with the words I always tell teachers I work with.?

“There is no black and white in teaching. Read, learn, listen to ideas, implement them, reflect on them, and then decide whether they need adjustment or they don't work. You might need different tools for the same issue with different students because we are all unique”. Keep on learning and asking yourself why, this will keep you on your toes.?