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The Essential Steps For Creating The Perfect ESL Lesson Plan.

Lesson Planning - The Amazing World of Teaching

Planning a lesson before teaching is an essential part of giving an effective ESL lesson. Depending on the experience of the teacher and the type of information included, the planning process for a lesson plan can be quite varied. Experienced ESL teachers tend to make a mental plan of what they are going to teach compared with newer teachers who tend to create very detailed lesson plans.

An important reason to prepare a lesson plan is so you can develop the structure of the lesson as well as organize the content effectively.  This improves your ability to select ESL activities and materials that will best suit your students. A lesson plan functions to give the teacher a framework for the lesson. Furthermore, it helps the teacher to think about the process of teaching. This gives the teacher a feeling of security knowing that they are prepared to instruct the class. A lesson plan also helps the teacher with the timing of activities to ensure the students receive a well-balanced and time-managed lesson.

There are many factors that you need to consider when planning a lesson. For example, how the students prefer to learn, the level of the students, the class size and seating arrangements, etc.

Here is a list of questions to consider when planning a lesson:

 

The Objective: What is the objective of the lesson? How can I best achieve the objective?

ESL Teaching Activities: What ESL teaching activities will I need during the lesson to accomplish my objective? For example, speaking activities, role-plays, brainstorming, listening exercises, etc.

Beginning: What activity should I use to start the class? For instance, a warmer, a review, etc.

Timing: How much time will I spend on each activity?

Sequencing: What would be the best order for the activities?

Extra Materials: Will I need to use any other materials during the lesson? For example, worksheets, videos, etc.

Suitability: Will the students be interested and motivated by the activities provided? Are the ESL activities suitable for the students?

Level: Is the lesson pitched at the right level for the students? What problems might the students have understanding the content?

Groupings: In which activities will the students work alone, work in pairs, or groups? Why?

Transitions: How will I move from one activity to the next? How will the activities connect?

Language Focus: Is there enough language focus in the ESL activities? Will the students need more examples before doing the activities? For example, extra vocabulary, grammar examples, modelling, etc.

Below are 6 steps to follow when lesson planning.

Step 1: Decide on Your Lesson Plan Objectives

This is the daunting part, but it’s crucial that you know this from the start. Step one is the foundation of everything that follows.

As a suggestion, your focus could be:

song or a movie (be sure that your school permits this and that it won’t disturb neighboring classrooms). Remember that audio must be played loudly for students to understand it since it’s in a different language.

specific grammar point, such as forming questions or practicing the present progressive. Young or beginning learners might need to focus on the conjugation of only one specific verb such as “to be.” More advanced students could practice multiple irregular verb conjugations.

a general exercise such as understanding a short passage from a “Harry Potter” book.

a vocabulary group. For example, you might teach cooking, colors, medical terminology or animals.

Step 2: Outline Your Lesson Plan

Remember that every lesson plan should include individual work. To keep things organized, my outlines included the estimated time spent on each section. For example, a movie outline could be this:

1. Waiting for students to arrive and for the class to calm down (teenagers never arrive on time) — 1 minute

2. Welcome/quick review of previous week/

3. Pass out movie worksheets — 1 minute

4. Play preview of movie — 2 minutes

5. Introduce vocabulary needed to understand movie scene — 5 minutes

6. Individual practice of the vocabulary on student worksheets — 3 minutes

7. Giving answers to worksheets — 2 minutes

8. Listening exercises with the movie (includes playing the movie scenes several times, then going over the answers and letting the students watch the scenes a third time) — 20 minutes

9. Free watching of the movie (always a class favorite, but get permission from your head teacher first) — 6 minutes

10. Wrap up the class by asking vocabulary review questions — 2 minutes

It’s important to balance classroom organization vs. time for the unexpected. Be ready for the unanticipated questions that can throw off your timing.

Step 3: Choose ESL Activities to Accomplish Your Lesson Plan Objectives

Variety is the spice of the ESL classroom. Everyone learns differently. You need activities for visual and audio learners as well as doers.

Use games in the classroom. I believe in games in ESL classrooms. Used correctly, games let students test what they’ve learned in a relaxed, exciting way. The key is to make sure everyone participates. Without proper management, weaker or lazier students will quietly sit back and do nothing. In a 45 minute class, a game shouldn’t be longer than 12 minutes. Watch your motivations. There’s a big difference between playing Charades to review animal names vs. playing Hangman to let the teacher relax.

Consider the pros and cons of individual vs. group ESL work. No lesson is complete without individual work. Everyone needs time to practice material on their own. These activities also help shyer students, who can work quietly without the pressure of a spotlight. Group work, on the other hand, is useful too. Students can practice a dialogue with each other and learn from stronger partners. Team activities are often fun and give everyone a chance to relax a little. The drawback of group work, though, is that more advanced students tend to dominate the action. The right mix is essential.

Repeat recent ESL activities. You can repeat activities. How often depends on how popular the activity is. One of my classes insisted on reviewing vocabulary by playing Pictionary every week. For classes that meet once a week, it’s best to recycle activities once a month if you can. Otherwise, your students might start to lose interest – and perhaps you will as well.

Ignore bad advice from ESL teacher websites and chat rooms. There are some great ESL websites out there. Just as many offer very bad advice. Be careful who you listen to. Some teachers are only concerned with winning popularity contests and so play games at every opportunity. Be sure that you’re listening to teachers who take their jobs seriously. Ignore those who only want a party atmosphere in their classes. Focus on advice that helps you structure your classes more while leaving time for fun.

Step 4: Create ESL Materials and Worksheets

It’s true that the internet has a lot of free worksheets. By all means, use them. Time, however, is your greatest enemy. You first must know where to find quality ESL material. (The list above is a great place to start.) Until you have a few favorite sites, searching for worksheets on the internet will take a lot of your time. You’re not done there. You still have to tailor it to your class’s level.

Here are some tips that could make things go faster:

Reuse workbook materials. Photocopy exercises from a textbook, white-out the answers and let students complete the questions as a review.

If you do make your own materials, remember to include two sample questions with answers at the very beginning. Kids and low-level students always need a clear model to look at before doing individual work.

For each grammar point, include five to seven questions.

Include pictures on the worksheet. No one likes to look at straight, boring text.

Puzzles of any type are fun and can help to quiet down an energetic class. “Boggle,” word searches or riddles (make sure they aren’t too hard) are always a welcome challenge.

Hang onto your ESL materials for future classes.

Step 5: Create Stellar Visual Aids for Your ESL Classroom

You’ll need visual aids that add depth and interest to your class. It could be a PowerPoint presentation, a restaurant menu from home or things from your kitchen. Whatever you choose, make sure it enhances your lesson.

Decide:

Is a PowerPoint presentation necessary for this lesson? 

Weigh the pros and cons of using videos in ESL classes. 

Find creative ways to add visual aids to your ESL class. 

Look at your lesson’s target language and see if anything already in your home applies. Try not to buy too much. It’s not necessary to spend a lot of money on this.

Step 6: The Final Stages of Lesson Planning

You’ve made it. Believe me, I sincerely congratulate you. Before you head into class, do a few things first:


Get advice from other English teachers. Show your coworkers your ESL materials. Especially if you teach in a foreign country, their advice is invaluable. They understand your students better than you do and they’ll see gaps in logic, things that are too hard and cultural pitfalls.
Take their advice and change your materials.

Don’t stress about the outcome of the first class. Nobody’s perfect, and you won’t be either. On the first day, make copies for only that day. You’ll probably come back to your desk with a few things to change for tomorrow. Save trees by not making copies that’ll only go in the recycle bin.

 

After the Lesson

After your lesson has taken place, you should review how the lesson went. You should also review your lesson plans regularly to keep track of activities that worked well. Lesson plans should also be kept as a record of what has been covered.

Here are some questions that you can use to evaluate the lessons success:

Did the students enjoy the lesson? What problems were there during the lesson? Which ESL activities were successful and which were not? Did I manage to achieve the objective of the lesson? How do I know this? Will I teach this lesson again in the same way?

As a teacher, you may find a lesson that worked perfectly well with one class has different results in another. You should always be prepared to change the lesson plan as the class takes place and adapt to the needs of the students.

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