Planning beyond the lesson

Now that you have taught the lesson, reflect on and analyse it.

a) Briefly comment on what worked and what needs improving regarding the
sequence of the lesson, the materials and the class management. (50-60 words)
During this language-focused lesson, classroom management was handled efficiently
since all the students were highly participative and engaged with the topic being
discussed. Regarding the sequence of the lesson, timing was a problem; hence there was
not a proper closure to the class that provided some clarification to some L1
interferences to some subtle vocabulary meanings.

b) Write the main aim of the lesson (this should have been a language-based aim
and as stated in the lesson plan).
For the students to review and extend vocabulary words related to food, tastes and
textures, via controlled and semi-controlled exercises.

c) Reflect on the lesson taught and decide how far you and your learners met the
lesson aim. . Give reasons for this. (50-60 words)
The review was achieved, as the students were able to activate their previous knowledge
on the topic. Nevertheless, the students were not able to extend their vocabulary as they
had difficulties to understand the underlying differences in meaning between some false
cognates, which are common to their mother tongue. In conclusion, we only got to
review some vocabulary words related to food but we did not get to the point of
clarifying meanings that was the objective of the class.

d) What problems did your learners have with the target language? List as many
as you consider relevant and explain the reasons for these. Remember these are
not problems with the activities or materials. These are problems with the
target language. (100 words)
The main problem when teaching these vocabulary words was L1 interference. Students
were able to provide accurate examples of the words being revised, but when they were
asked to work on a more complex exercise, they could not convey appropriate meaning
into synonyms and antonyms. For instance, they misunderstood the word ‘bland’, which
means ‘tasteless’ with a word in Spanish that means ‘soft’. They also had problems with
the word ‘strong’, which is related to how food tastes and they confused it with food
texture, i.e. thinking the synonym was ‘hard’. There was also some confusion between the
differences in meaning of hot and spicy.

e) What linguistic and skill work is needed to help learners internalise the
target language? (50-60 words)
Learners should work with dictionary-based activities, so they can make decisions about
the words being studied. For example, they should look up into the word’s spelling, its
pronunciation and its meaning. Furthermore, learners will be asked to make
personalised sentences about likes and dislikes regarding food made at home or at
restaurants; in this way meaning will be relevant for them. Secondly, they could have a
 Planning beyond the lesson

debate and decide which is the best seafood restaurant in the city; in this way they will
be practicing decision-taking skills, negotiation skills and they will be actively using the
vocabulary words.

f) Once learners have internalised the target language, what other language or
skill area (s) could they work on next? (30-50)
Learners could work on the grammar, collocations and phrasal verbs of the vocabulary
words. This could be divided into lexical sets, i.e. food, textures and tastes and each team
will do a research and find examples of each of the items mentioned; make sentences
using them and share them with the rest of the group.