Teaching English: Six Step Lesson Plan

Planning your lessons before you step into the classroom is really important.

It will give you more confidence and it will ensure that your students are learning everything they need to. So how do you plan an effective lesson? We've put together six easy steps to get you planning like a pro...

Remember: student talk time should be significantly higher than teacher talk time and getting students talking should be one of your main priorities!

Step 1: Accuracy

This is needed where students are required to use exact forms. One technique would be to repeat a difficult structure that really needs practice (e.g. "If I had gone to the party, I would have...") or to improvise a dialogue from the text or a situation with set phrases (e.g. ordering food in a restaurant). However, even though you aim for accuracy, beware of overcorrecting them as it may intimidate them from speaking out.

Step 2: Fluency

Help develop your students confidence by putting their new skills into practice. It's important that you remember that their enthusiasm with stop them from constantly checking their grammar and this will give you an opportunity to identify and areas which may need to be worked on. Again it's important not to over-correct because this will stunt their development.

Step 3: Activities

Whether for accuracy or fluency (and all the stages in between), you need to decide on an activity that fits your aims. Choose from:

(a) Role-plays: they have pre-determined roles and can be used to practise certain phrases. Functions include: complaining, explaining and apologising. E.g. In a restaurant, imagine that the waiter has overcharged you - try complaining or your customer is complaining that you have overcharged him - have you? - try explaining.

(b) Simulations of imaginary situations (airports, parties). Put students in imaginative scenarios; this will lead to more conversation.

(c) Interviews: students can prepare the questions, but not the answers.

(d) Debates: the students will need phrases to express opinions rather than grammar. For example, People shouldn't smoke; I firmly disagree, etc.

(e) Panels and Chat shows: pick a topic and allow students to freely voice their opinions.

(f) Conversation: encourage it at every opportunity.

Step 4: Preparation

Most speaking activities require groundwork, rehearsal and trial runs so that students know what is expected of them. This also applies to instructions. Be precise and clear. Repeat and demonstrate if necessary.

Step 5: Elicitation (effective ways of helping students to respond.)

There are lots of ways to draw answers from your students. Asking questions, subtly encouraging them and using pictures or resources are all effective ways to do it, and you'll want to use a variety of techniques throughout the lesson.

When asking questions you will need to consider the responses which you are encouraging, for example:

• "Do you like rap?" This is a closed questions with only "yes" or "no" as a possible response.
• "Tell us about rap." Open, but you'll get a vague response.
• "Why do you like rap?" More open, but it means that the student is obliged to have an instant opinion.
• "What does your dad say about your rap collection?" This might just open the floodgates.
• Or you may choose to be provocative: "I really think that rap singers would make great presidents", or "They should send rappers to jail." This is provocative and gets a reaction. However, don't risk being insensitive or offensive!

How you respond to students is as important as how you elicit their responses, for example:

• Continue the conversation; ask another question.
• Check understanding by asking a more specific question.
• Praise and repeat: "Good. Yes, there is a pig in the garden."
• Correct and ask again: "No, we say 'pig' not 'a pork' - so, what's in the garden?"

Step 6: Motivation and involvement

Students will generally respond more fully when the subject interests them. Search for keys to motivation. Does competition or co-operation work better for your class? Look for differences of opinion. Create enjoyable tension.

Always:

• Decide on your aims: Do you want to provide practice on a particular topic? Simulate a situation?
• Draw out opinions.
• Decide how you are going to run the activity.
• Rehearse.
• Give precise and clear instructions.
• Motivate by selecting interesting topics.
• Encourage less talkative students to participate.
• Let the students do it. The teacher's input should be minimal.
• Keep most speaking activities short. Don't wait until they fizzle out for lack of anything else to say.

Never:

• Let yourself become the star. Your role is that of a facilitator, keeping the activity focused, placing suggestions at key moments and, as necessary, acting as a walking dictionary and reference library.
• Jump in either to correct or give your own opinions. That will just stop the flow.
• Forget to review later with the students. Take notes of common errors and go over them at the end of the activity.
• Treat pronunciation as a separate issue. You should blend it in with whatever activity you're doing.