LESSON PLANNING

OUTLINE I/ DEFINITION a) b) c) d) WHAT CONTENTS ? WHAT IS A SYLLABUS ? WHY A SYLLABUS ? IMPLICATIONS OF A SYLLABUS

II/ TYPES OF PLANNING III/ PRINCIPLES IV/ PRE-LESSON PLANNINGS V/ COMPONENTS VI/ FORMAT VII/ EXEMPLIFICATION VIII/ BIBLIOGRAPHY

I/ DEFINITION To plan a lesson is to set objectives that is, to decide what you want your learners to be able to do by the end of the lesson. It means to select or choose contents youre going to them according to the syllabus and design activities for students, set a timing for each activity, decide how youre going to proceed (manage to reach goals). You also need to select the modes of instructions. Selecting modes of interaction: teacher student/ teacher whole class/ student student

And decide on the grouping strategies: individual work, pair work, group work.

a) What contents? Grammar, vocabulary, cultural information, topics and themes, notional and functional contents for inter-personal communication, life skill language and function: every time we speak, we use it. That is the reason why, the purpose of using the language. We use notions to express functions. For example: notion of time it is quarter past seven. Contents are all specified in the syllabus. For each of them, we have to choose appropriate materials. b) What is a syllabus? Ideally, a syllabus is a guideline to make sure that the same contents are taught to all the students at the same level throughout the country. c) Why a syllabus? We need a syllabus to harmonize education because of national exams. But, we have to point out that it is up to teachers to choose their own materials. d) Implications of the syllabus With a syllabus, there is: No prescribed textbook: teachers are free to get the material from whatever source they like. The textbook is not sacred; it is a menu to choose from. It is not to follow blindly; to adopt but to adapt. It is not a recipe to follow step by step Materials development /productions: we can have teacher-made texts but must be careful because as non-native speakers, we need a second eye to correct before dispatching it to students.

II/ TYPES OF PLANNINGS We have two types of planning: 1 long term Yearly Semester Term Quarterly as well as 2 short term planning weekly daily lesson by lesson unit by unit

III/ PRINCIPLES There are three overriding principles: variety, flexibility and objectives. 1) Variety (of activities, procedures, contents, materials, strategies and techniques) As spice of life, variety is necessary to avoid monotony, boredom or routine work. It helps to avoid losing students concentration span which can lead to demotivation. With variety, we can boost, foster and encourage students interest. Curiosity + interest = motivation. 2) Flexibility It means to be ready to change, adapt to what is in the classroom. As a teacher, you must not be stubborn. There are prerequisites in teaching. Activity: whatever students are asked to do: learn or to be evaluated, assessed with the four language skills. For reading and listening we have: multiple choice questions, true or false and justification, matching, form type / content type questions, question word, wh questions, yes/no questions (they all begin with auxiliaries), choice/alternative questions with either/or

Content type questions: we have four types of questions Factual questions: the answer is explicit in the passage you read or listen to Inferential questions: the answer is implicit, meaning you have to read and use your mind to find out the answer General questions: the answer is true for everybody Personal questions: the answer is individual Synonyms antonyms referencing paraphrasing summarizing interpreting analyzing synthetizing. For speaking activities: Role playing acting out Simulation dramatization Story telling picture description Story completion Presentation Discussion Debate Problem solving Gap filling/ table filling Sentence completion Finding similarities Information/opinion gap for information transfer

For writing activities: Note taking Spelling Dictation Letter writing Essay writing Composition: creative writing (diary, novel, poem, drama)

 Write report (one side dialogue, skeleton dialogue), cv, cover letter, profile (physical, moral), characterization)

Variety of contents Vocabulary (hear, say, see and write technique), grammar, functions and notions, cultural element, themes/topics, life skills. Variety of materials Textbook Material Marker, chalk, board Reference books (dictionary, grammar) Pictures as visual aids, realias, photos, drawings, you and your students (body language) Audio aids: tape recorder, k7, laptop, CDs video projector + worksheet Newspaper cutouts, internet articles, magazine Variety of strategies Instructions, techniques, procedures (how you are going to do an activity) Variety of timing: actual/ real time estimated/ approximate (when you prepare the lesson: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25mns. Each activity has its specific timing. Variety is needed because we have different learners and learning styles for example: visual learners, aural/auditory learners, oral, olfactic and kinetic tactile. 3) Objectives When stating objectives, avoid using verbs which express cognitive processes like: to know, to be aware of, to understand, to learn. Use verbs which focus on behavioral, doable, feasible, observable, measurable facts.

They are three items to take into account when setting objectives: condition, behavior, criteria. Functional and life skill objectives: Ii can be identifying oneself, introducing oneself, giving personal data, writing a cv or a resume, answering a questionnaire, writing an application or giving an interview, describing oneself, talking about likes and dislikes, a letter of complaint to an authority, using a cellphone, listening to radio or watching TV. There are activities to teach and to assess. For assessment activities we have long term (delayed) or short time test (on the spot). Long term tests are usually formal, graded, written: semester, monthly and termly. Short term tests are on the spot and can take various forms. They are also informal, can be verbal (oral) or written with reinforcement feedbacks (very good, excellent). We delay the reinforcement until the class reacts e.g. do you agree with him? The beginning of your answer is good but, can you correct it yourself? You tried but i am afraid its not the answer I was expecting.

IV/ PRE-LESSON PLANNINGS Identify the contents you have and then select the ones youll focus on: vocabulary, grammar, notions and functions, topic and themes, culture.

V/ LESSON PLAN COMPONENTS 1. Date 2. Class description: 1st form, 6e A2 Grade level Proficiency level: how good they are?

Number of students/ envisaged or registered. 3. Type or nature of the lesson 4. Title and references of the lesson 5. Language skills practiced 6. Duration of the lesson 7. Period or time of the lesson 8. Materials used 9. Timing of each activity 10. Phases, stages, steps 11. Activities Procedures Interactions Learning modes 12. Evaluation/ assessment 13. Reminder for the teacher 14. Fillers 15. Follow up activities 16. Comments feedbacks on the lesson: evaluation of learners 17. Expectations

The teachers and learners performance - Lesson proper - The format

OBJECTIVES Proficiency: most of the time its a mixed ability class. In proficiency we refer also to EFL (English as a foreign language), ESL (English as a second language). Type or nature of the lesson: reading comprehension or listening comprehension Titles and references: GFE-NE 1st form unit 3: My family and my body Lesson 1 My family P 14

 Language skills practiced: you integrate all the skills meaning reading/speaking, listening and writing are integrated Duration of the lesson: 2 possibilities: Double period: 2h/ single period: 1h Period or time of the lesson: 8 10 a.m 1 3 p.m 10 12 a.m 3 5 p.m Materials used: realia (real life things), visual aids (pictures of) Timing: the maximum time you can spend on one activity is 20 mns: 15 mns for practice, 5 mns for correction Actual: the time you really used/ estimated: the time you expect to spend on one activity Phases stages: there are three stages: pre-phase, while-phase and post-phase. Pre-phase: pre-activities (pre-reading, pre-communicative: warm-up (socializing, chatting with students in a friendly way in English, to activate their schemata). For example: riddles, telling stories, songs, jokes, anecdotes, games (jumbled words or letters, crossword puzzle, ladder/stairs, hangman, odd one out, tongue twisters). And also: - Inquiring on the post events, current events, future events. - Revision of previous lesson if needed - Correction of homework/ test if any - Prediction: asking for gist (main ideas) - Pre-vocab - Pre-grammar - Mind mapping or networking Brainstorming: teacher-students/questions-answers to find out their background knowledge related to the topic. Conversely, warm-up is more general. Prediction: the making is pre (guesses of the text) and the checking is while (after the text reading).

Mind mapping is almost the same as clusters.

Education

GET

ill

schools

teachers

a sack

While phase While activities: read and answer, listen and fill in the gap Post phase All that activities you do without the text. For example: problem solving, discussion/debate, presentation, grammar. Activities (procedures, learning modes, interaction, strategies and expectations) Procedures: how you check comprehension Interaction: how you work it out: teacher student/ student student Learning modes: individual, pair, group Expectations: unpredictable (whenever the answer is personal, it is unpredictable), predictable (true or false, matching, etc) Reminders for teacher: something you dont want to forget, you write it down (visual aids, or other materials). Fillers: extra activities like songs or games. You have some minutes left and dont want to start a new lesson.

 Follow-up activities: homework, projects, research on the internet, interviewing people. Comments and feedbacks/ observations: did they learn well? What is successful? Did you face some problems? Do you have to repeat something? LESSON PLAN FORMAT/PROPER 1 Date 2 Class description 3 Type of the lesson 4 Title and references of the lesson 5 Language skills practiced 6 Duration 7 Period Objectives Timing Actual/Estimate --------------------Phases Activity Procedures learning modes PRE - PHASE Warm-up, Q/A work, T-WC, T-SS WHILE - PHASE Read the test and answer the following questions: individual work, pair work POST - PHASE expectations Unpredictable Predictable 1-b, 2-c, 3-a, 4-d 1-F, 2-T, 3-T, 4-F

NOTA BENE: when doing a reading comprehension activity, we should have all the pre-questions are on the board. And this, before the learners start the reading.