2012InServiceTraining

TheImportanceofLessonPlanning

Whyplan?
Lessonplanningisavitalcomponentoftheteachinglearningprocess.Properclassroom
planningwillkeepteachersorganizedandontrackwhileteaching,thusallowingthemtoteach
more,helpstudentsreachobjectivesmoreeasilyandmanageless.Thebetterpreparedthe
teacheris,themorelikelyshe/hewillbeabletohandlewhateverunexpectedlyhappensinthe
lesson.
Lessonplanning:
p
rovidesacoherentframeworkforsmoothefficientteaching.
h
elpstheteachertobemoreorganized.
g
ivesasenseofdirectioninrelationtothesyllabus.
h
elpstheteachertobemoreconfidentwhendeliveringthelesson.
p
rovidesausefulbasisforfutureplanning.
h
elpstheteachertoplanlessonswhichcaterfordifferentstudents.
I saproofthattheteacherhastakenaconsiderableamountofeffortinhis/herteaching.

Decisionsinvolvedinplanninglessons:
Planningisimaginingthelessonbeforeithappens.Thisinvolvesprediction,anticipation,
sequencing,organisingandsimplifying.Whenteachersplanalesson,theyhavetomake
differenttypesofdecisionswhicharerelatedtothefollowingitems:
theaimstobeachieved
thecontenttobetaught
thegrouptobetaught:theirbackground,previousknowledge,age,interests,etc.
thelessonsinthebooktobeincludedorskipped
thetaskstobepresented
theresourcesneeded,etc.

Thedecisionsandfinalresultsdependontheteachingsituation,thelearnerslevel,needs,
interestsandtheteachersunderstandingofhowlearnerslearnbest,thetimeandresources
available.

LessonPlanPart1Whattoteach(refertogrouptaskinsession)

Backgroundinfo(stsagenoofststimelimit)
Objectives
Languageskills
LanguageContent:(structures,vocabulary,functions,etc)
Resources
Attitude

LessonPlanPart2LessonProcedures(howwearegoingtoteach)
W
armup
C
orelesson:teachingnewlanguage,recycling,projectwork,writtenandoralproduction.
T
asks(whichsequencetofollow)
R
oundingoff.

Hintsforeffectivelessonplanning:
W
henplanning,thinkaboutyourstudentsandyourteachingcontextfirst.
P
reparemorethanyoumayneed:Itisadvisabletohaveaneasilypresented,lightreserve
activityreadyincaseofextratime.Similarly,itisimportanttothinkinadvancewhich
component(s)ofthelessonmaybeskipped.ifyoufindyourselfwithtoolittletimetodo
everythingyouhaveplanned.
K
eepaneyeonyourtime.Includetimingintheplanitself.Thesmoothrunningofyourlesson
dependstosomeextentonpropertiming.
T
hinkabouttransitions(fromspeakingtowritingorfromaslowtasktoamoreactiveone).
I ncludevarietyifthingsarenotworkingthewayyouhaveplanned.
P
ulltheclasstogetheratthebeginningandattheend.
E
ndyourlessonsonapositivenote.

Planningenablesyoutothinkaboutyourteachinginasystematicwaybeforeyouenterthe
classroom.Theoutcomeofyourplanningisacoherentframeworkwhichcontainsalogical
sequenceoftaskstopreparethefieldformoreeffectiveteachingandlearning.
Plansonlyexpressyourintentions.Plansareprojectswhichneedtobeimplementedina
realclassroomwithrealstudents.Manythingsmayhappenwhichyouhadnotanticipated.
Intheendyouneedtoadaptyourplansinordertorespondtoyourpupilsactualneeds.Itis
importanttobearinmindJimScrivenerswords:P
reparethoroughly.Butinclass,teach
thelearnersnottheplan.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

M
oon,J.(2005)ChildrenLearningEnglish.Macmillan.
S
crivener,J.(2011)LearningTeaching.Macmillan
U
r,P.(1996)ACourseinLanguageTeaching.Cambridge:CUP