LESSON PLAN EXAMPLE TO BE USED FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDY AND PRACTICE

I Info about the learners

Class / Age:
Level: A2
School status: examination / non-examination class, common core / elective, 1st language / 2nd language etc., no. of hours
per week, vocational / professional / primary / highschool / after school etc.
Learner profile: class structure (gender, age), background (social, ethnic, religious – where relevant), ability, type of
intelligence, motivation, preferences, special needs, special considerations etc. – whatever you feel is necessary and/or
relevant, but enough to inform the choice of technique/activity in the Procedure section.
II Info about the lesson
Title:
Topic: - give a very specific topic and a list of (max. 10) key words/vocabulary structures related to the topic. You can take
them from the textbook (see the annex at the end of the book for help), but you must include them in the activities.
[Type of lesson]: teaching (as in teaching something new), revision, consolidation / practice, assessment, culture and
civilization, project work etc. – Pick one.
Aims: [Practising something new? or revising / consolidating / assessment of something – what?] [Which skill? Which
subskill? What aspect of communication? On what topic? What communicative function (See Programa scolara)? What
aspect of culture and civilization? What grammar structure? What items of vocabulary? – give a list!] – be very specific! It’s
only the aims for this lesson (not general aims) because they are measurable by the end of 45 minutes. The aims must be
learner-centred, NOT teacher-centred (see J. Harmer). Example: “to teach/introduce Past Tense” – is wrong; “to practise
Past Tense in order to express wishes and regrets” is correct because it describes what the learners do, not the teacher. See
the remarks in the Observations column of the Free Practice stage.
Teaching aids and materials: Which coursebook? Which movie? Which song? Which CD / DVD etc.? Blackboard /
whiteboard / smartboard? Chalk / markers / (colour) crayons / highlighters? Which stationery? Computer / laptop /
concordancers / software, internet connection, website / any other technology? Handouts / worksheets [slips of paper,
photocopiables – make sure you give them titles and order numbers for later reference]? Realia, toys, other objects?
Pictures, maps, albums? Dictionaries, phrase books? Exercise books? Literature books? Costumes, masks, business cards,
name cards, personal info cards etc.?
III Procedure:
Stage Activity Interaction Time Observations (backup plan, possible
difficulties)
Warm-up Ex. 1 p. 37 Picture: family shot (Ss guess S-T, 2’ -
 family members) – Warm-up is a stage brainstorming
of the lesson, not an administrative stage.
It does not mean calling the attendance,
checking the homework etc. If you need
2 minutes for admin stuff, it’s the 2
minutes BEFORE Warm-up. Warm-up is
PART OF today’s lesson on today’s
topic, not outside it.
Pre-reading Handout no. 2 “Family”, ex.4: Ss match Pair work 2’ Handout no. 2 “Family”, ex. 2. Make sure
holidays with the correct month of the you allot time for pairing up, pick a
year (New Year, Children’s Day, technique for that.
Mother’s Day, Father’s Day)
While- Ss read the text “Mother’s Day” (see individual 5’
reading Annex) silently [say how] and answer
the first 5 comprehension questions in
Handout 1 ex.1 [always give the reading
text + task attached, not just the text].
Then they check the answers with T
 [feedback is part of the same stage, not a
different activity].
Post-reading Ss propose a different ending (Ex. 6 p.
38) – card-filling.
Presentation a) Listening + Comprehension
questions: Ss hear a short dialogue
between a man and a shop assistant
about choosing the right gift for his old
mother. As they listen, they note down
the possible gifts.
b) Ss write down the numbers in the
recording. T shows Ss a chart with
numbers to 100 in words and digits,
which also indicates how numbers are
formed (colour code). In turn, Ss look at
the chart and say random numbers that T
indicates.
Controlled T dictates ten numbers that Ss write in
Group work 7’
a) Individual, 10’ This stage is about setting a precedent. It
then b) shows Ss how the final product (speaking
lockstep in this lesson, a conversation with certain
features/structures/fixed formulas/key
words etc.) should look/sound. A coherent
Lesson Plan shows a connection between
the declared aim (See above, Information
about the lesson), this stage and the Free
Practice.
Pairs 5’ Think of a different technique of pairing
practice words on cards (Ss practice the spelling
of numbers up to 100) – whole numbers
and fractions (e.g., 33, 45, 52.6, 92.43
etc.). Then, Ss hold up their cards to
check the spelling.
up.
All practice (also below) is planned by
the teacher. It is the teacher’s job to think
of situations of communication (no matter
the skill). You never ask Ss to invent them,
they only execute speaking/writing in a
situation given by you, within a
framework of given
parameters/features/constraints. So you
think of a context in real life where a
certain structure/word is used, declare it in
the Aims, put it in a script and give it to
your Ss to practice. You should know that
you can use numbers and fractions to tell
the price, for example, it’s not the Ss’ job
to muster up motivation to learn numerals.
If it’s not in the book (and ALL books

Semi- Ss practice a short scripted dialogue
controlled based on picture cues (item and price,
practice polite questions, affirmative/negative
reply):
A: Do you think we could get her a CD?
How much is it?
B: I think we could, it’s £8.80./ No, I
don’t think we can afford it, it’s £10.
Free Role-play: gift-shopping for family
practice members. T leaves the cues from the
previous task in sight so Ss can use them
seem to be at fault in this respect), you
come up with supplementary materials,
take them from somewhere or write them
yourself (handouts, slips of paper, cards
etc.). This is a special area of expertise
where no machine can replace a human
teacher.
Pairs 5’ Change pairs.
Could this activity be merged with the
next one and increase the interaction time?
You can make such choices.
Pairs 12’ Maybe this can work in small groups of
three too? Whatever the choice, keep in
mind that you want your students to
freely (polite questions, replies). Student
A is the shop-assistant, student B is the
customer. They receive cards with
suggestions of gifts for family members
(student B) and the price for each item
(student A). The script is as follows:
A: Hello, … [are you looking for a gift]?
B: Yes, I’d like to buy a … for ….
A: Certainly, it’s £….
B: Oh, that’s …! I’ll take it/I think I’ll
get her/him something else then.
For the third S and so on, T begins to
remove some parts of the script so as to
give the Ss some room to speak
autonomously/improvise.
produce language (vocabulary, grammar
structures, phonological features,
discourse etc.) independently. The way
you plan the practice for each lesson
should have this course – from controlled
work to independent work. The very
purpose of this stage is to validate the
attainment of your declared aim (See
above, Information about the lesson).
When your Ss can use what you
announced as your aim, it means you’ve
done your bit. That is why the aims should
always be specific and for short term (this
lesson) – because they are attainable and
measurable by the end of 45-50 minutes.
T giving feedback is not a separate activity in the Lesson Plan as it is not learner-centred. If you invite Ss to give feedback
about activities, then you can consider it an activity provided they do it using certain words/structures – as a kind of
practice. If not, it’s just admin time at the end of the lesson.

I have not provided a stage/ separate time for the Romanian practice of “ascultare”. This practice is in fact discouraged as it
stands in the way of a good rapport (based on the principles of predictable behaviour, fairness and equal opportunity, among
other things), and because it is the worst type of assessment under the current circumstances. Since, as a rule, teachers in
Romanian state schools are expected to “produce” an established number of marks at a certain rate (I’ve heard some stories
about giving 3 marks per week at one class!!), many teachers do “ascultare” to keep their superiors happy. However, all
marking should be based on a thorough system of assessment for all four skills and all content that is taught over a certain
period of time (as, in fact, Programa scolara indicates). Each mark should be the result of an assessment based on a number
of criteria and, always, an assessment scale. Each marked assessment should be announced and prepared. If you only get to
give two marks per semester for each student, then those two marks should represent an accurate assessment of all four
skills and the content that is taught in that semester. (So not “Read this paragraph and translate…thank you, you’ve got an
8.”) Taking all this into consideration, formal assessment in view of marking should be planned as Assessment (See Type
of lesson in Information about the lesson), whether as part of a mixed lesson of Practice and Assessment, or just a lesson of
Assessment. And the same goes for any subject, not just English.