Přednášky - topic 4, 5, 6

Lesson Planning

• The art of combining a number of different elements (classroom activities) into a coherent whole, so that a lesson has an identity which the students can recognise, work within and react to ´ (Harmer, 2001: 308).

The 4 main planning elements:

1. Activities

• The teacher must decide about the activities to be best for a particular group of students at a particular point in a lesson (on a particular day) and then try to balance the variety of activities/exercises to offer the best possible chance of engaging and motivating the class.

• Activities should be coherent – we shouldn’t jump from travelling to sports to mathematics…

1. Skills

• The teacher needs to make a decision about the language skills he wishes his students to develop (sometimes given by the syllabus /course-book)

• How to work towards the skill, which sub-skill to practise.

1. Language

• The teacher must decide what language (the ´systems´ – e.g. grammar, vocabulary/lexis) we want the students to learn, practise, research, use.

1. Content

• The teacher needs to make a decision about the ´language material´/topic which is likely to provoke interest and involvement.

• Rule – to create balance between variety and coherence → pass the thoughts through the filter of practical reality (our knowledge of the classroom, the equipment available, the time, the attitude of the institution).

Formal plan

• The Formal Plan – should contain the following elements:

1. Class description and timetable fit

• level of students, age, boys/girls, time of the day, preferences and interests, usual level of enthusiasm, etc. – detailed/individual descriptions appropriate with smaller groups – to meet individual needs

• timetable fit - where the lesson fits in a sequence of classes (the before and after, including the types of activities the students have been involved in);

1. Lesson aims

• The best classroom aims:

  • specific + directed towards an outcome which can be measured (My aim is that my students should/can … by the end of the class)

It is important to decide:

• What material you will use

• What activities will be done

• The teaching point (the language skills and systems that you will work on)

• Topics or contexts that will be used

• Aims of the lesson

example:

• to allow the students to practise speaking spontaneously + provoke them to use recently presented vocabulary

• to enable the students to talk about what people have done wrong in the past (using the chosen structure)

• to have students think of the interview genre + list related questions

1. Activities, procedures and timing

• The actual ´body´ of a plan – a list of activities and procedures to be realised in class

• + the times we expect each of them to take

• + the aids and different interactions in class.

• (see the template for the teaching practicum)

Suitable abbreviations

• T = the teacher

• S = a student, C = the whole class

• T – C = teacher working with the whole class

• S,S,S = students working on their own

• S – S = students working in pairs

• SS – SS = pairs of students in discussion with other pairs

• GG = students working in groups

• (IW – individual work, GW – group work, PW – pair work) etc.