LESSON PLAN

COURSE: GENERAL ENGLISH, EFL

LEVEL: PRE-INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

ROOM: D169 SESSION LENGTH: 90MIN NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 10-12

NAME OF TEACHER: MARIUS JACKSON

MAIN AIMS OF SESSION

By the end of the lesson students will have developed their reading sub-skills of reading for gist and reading for
detail and developed their writing skills in the context of reading and writing short biographies.

SUB AIMS

Students will have also developed their speaking skills through several speaking activities.
Students will have practiced question forms through several interviewing activities.
Students will be better able to use the past simple tense in the context of writing biographies.
Students will have developed a rapport with the teacher and each other by asking each other for personal
information

GROUP PROFILE

The class is predominantly Arabic speaking with the majority of learners coming from Saudi Arabia. There are also
2 Italian speakers. All the students are aged between 20 -30. The Arabic speaking students are all studying with the
hope of going to an English university. The Italian speakers are currently living and looking for work in the UK.
The class are generally well motivated and work well together. One exception is Student A who refuses to work
with male students.

MATERIALS

Photo copies of edited text. Dictionaries/phones. Projector. White board and markers.

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS WITH SOLUTIONS

Students should have a grasp of how to use the past Encourage learners to notice how the past tense is used
tense, but still make mistakes with it. in the example text, before they write their own text.

Students often make errors with question forms Point students to their own mistakes and encourage self
correction.

Student A doesnt like working with males. Encourage her to work with an Italian male student for
one short activity (less cultural pressure?), before letting
her return to a female partner for other activities.

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 Timing
/ Procedure
Aims and rationale for each stage.
Interac
tion
Lead in and warm up:
15-20min
Ask students what type of information Set context for the rest of the lesson. Links to final
T > Class they might like to know when they meet a writing activity.
new class/work mate. Elicit things like
family, hobbies, interests, achievements,
etc.

Tell students for 5minutes they can ask Builds rapport with group. Students get to know
you anything they like (within reason!). their teacher.

Pair work Nominate a secretary for each pair (the
weaker student). Give them 5 minutes to
prepare questions for you.
Monitor and support. Take note of some
common errors.
Question forms are often a problem for learners at
this level. Give them time to prepare rather than
asking them to spontaneously producing them.
Working in pairs allows students to support and
learn from each other.

Class>T Give the class 5 minutes to interview you.

Pair work Students form new pairs and interview Speaking practice. Builds rapport within group.
each other with their questions from Students get to know each other.
previous activity.
Monitor and support. Take note of some
common errors.

Whole class Quick class feedback: what did they learn Clearly mark end of activity
about each other?

Groups Write on the board some common errors Trains learners to become more independent
overheard during the last stages. In learners and self-correct. Stronger students can
groups students work together to correct support weaker ones.
these errors.
Whole class Check as whole class
Prepare for reading:
10-15min
Project pictures of Oprah on the board. Raise interest in topic before reading.
Groups In groups students discuss what they
know about this person. If they dont know
her, what can they guess about her?

Tell students that they will read an article Give clear reason for learning following set of
about this woman, but first they will need vocabulary.
to study some vocabulary.

Solo work Write 6-8 tricky words from the text on the Encourage independent learning.
board. Split class into As and Bs. As look
up the first 2-3 words in their
dictionary/phones. Bs do the same for last
2-3.
Pair up As and Bs. Students teach each Students share and learn from each other.
Pairs other their words.

Quickly ask CCQs (Concept Checking Check that learning has taken place/students are
Whole class Questions) for the vocabulary. using correct definitions.

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15-20min Reading tasks:

Write the 3 bold headings from the text on Students develop the skill of reading for gist.
Solo the board.
Handout copies of the text with the 3
headings blanked out. Students read text
and match headings with paragraphs.
(Time limit of 3minutes).

Groups/Whole Students check answers together, before Students have opportunity to share and learn from
class quick class feedback. each other.

Solo Students read text again and complete Students develop the skill of reading for detail.
timeline dates for Oprahs life. (Time limit
of 5 minutes)

Any fast finishers can check any new

vocab/copy into notebooks

Groups/Whole Students check answers together, before Students have opportunity to share and learn from
class quick class feedback. each other.
5-10min (If time) Grammar review: (Optional Task If time allows)
Students highlight all the past simple
Solo verbs in the text. Highlight regular verbs in Students will need to use the past simple to
one colour and irregular in another. complete later writing task. Students should be
able to use this tense, but still make errors with it.
Groups/Whole Students check answers together, before They may benefit from a reminder of irregular
class quick class feedback. forms.
15min Post reading task: Speaking
Draw 5 pointed star on board. At each
T>Class point write an important date/year from Builds rapport with group. Students get to know
your life. their teacher.
Explain to students that these are all Practice of question forms.
important dates from your life. Students
can guess/ask you about these dates, but
you will only answer yes or no. Elicit
some examples of questions.
Class>T Give the class 5 minutes to interview you
about the dates.

Pair work Students now write their own date star.
Students swap stars with a partner. (The
same partner that they interviewed at the
start of the lesson).
Students then interview each other with
yes/no questions. Monitor and support.
Builds rapport within group. Students get to know
each other.
Speaking practice. Further practice of question
forms.

Whole class Quick class feedback: what else did they

learn about each other?
20min Post reading task: Writing
Students write a short text about their
Solo partner, using the Oprah text as a model. Writing practice.
Set time limit of 10 minutes. Monitor and By setting time limit rather than word count,
support. students are able to input according to their own
Whole class level.
Collect the texts. Read some of the texts
aloud to the class, without mentioning the Listening practice.
names. Can the class guess who you are Builds rapport within group. Students get to know
talking about? each other.
10min (If time) Linguistic feedback:
Write some common errors from the
writing on the board. In groups students Trains learners to become more independent
work together to correct these errors. learners and self-correct. Stronger students can
Check as whole class support weaker ones.

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Self evaluation (Post lesson)

(After the lesson, think of a few points that went well and one or two points that you would like to work on
in future lessons? Try not to be overly self-critical! Remember; we need to build on our strengths as much
as we need to work on our weaknesses!)

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