General Principles and Practice Module - Universidade Pedagogica de Mocambique (UP)

MODULE
Teaching Practice Module
Universidade Pedagógica
Centro de Educação Aberta e a Distância - CEAD
Copyright
This module cannot be printed for commercial purposes. In case of photocopying, references should
be made to Universidade Pedagógica and to Authors of the module.
Universidade Pedagógica
Rua Comandante Augusto Cardoso N° 135

Acknowledgements
The Universidade Pedagógica: Centro de Educação Aberta e a Distância - CEAD wishes to thank
those below for their contribution to this Module:
To COMMONWEALTH of LEARNING (COL) for providing the template used for the productions
designing the module
To Instituto Nacional de Educação a Distância (INED) for the Support and guidance provided
To the Magnificent Rector, Dean of Faculty, Heads of Department for the support provided during the
whole process
Technical Assistance
Author: Aberto Manjate
Instructional Designing: Lurdes Nakala
Graphic Designing: Aurélio Armando Pires Ribeiro
Edition: Valdinácio Florêncio Paulo

Contents
About this MODULE 1
How this MODULE is structured ..................................................................................... 1
Course overview 3
Welcome to Teaching Practice Module ............................................................................ 3
Teaching Practice Module- is this course for you?........................................................... 5
Course outcomes ............................................................................................................... 5
Timeframe ......................................................................................................................... 6
Study skills........................................................................................................................ 6
Need help? ........................................................................................................................ 8
Assignments ...................................................................................................................... 8
Assessments ...................................................................................................................... 9
Getting around this MODULE 10

Margin icons ................................................................................................................... 10
Unit 1 11
REFLECTIVE TEACHING ........................................................................................... 11
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 11
Lesson 1 .......................................................................................................................... 12
Approach to Classroom Investigation in Language .............................................. 12
Lesson 2 .......................................................................................................................... 16
Classroom Investigations Tools ............................................................................ 16
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 22
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 23
Feedback ......................................................................................................................... 23
Unit 2 24
LESSON PLANNING .................................................................................................... 24
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 24
Lesson 1: ......................................................................................................................... 25
The principles of lesson planning .......................................................................... 25
Lesson 2 .......................................................................................................................... 29
Action verbs as opposed to non action verbs ........................................................ 29
Lesson 3 .......................................................................................................................... 33
Components of learning objectives ....................................................................... 33
Lesson 4 .......................................................................................................................... 43
The Stages of a Lesson .......................................................................................... 43
ii Contents
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 48

Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 48
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 49
Unit 3 50
The nature of learning activities ..................................................................................... 50
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 50
Lesson 1 .......................................................................................................................... 51
Exercise sequence in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) ....................... 51
Lesson 2 .......................................................................................................................... 55
Features and Types of Communicative activities.................................................. 55
Activities that can enhance communicative practice ............................................ 55
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 60
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 61
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 62
Unit 4 63
Teaching Practice Report ................................................................................................ 63
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 63
Lesson 1 .......................................................................................................................... 64
The different components of the teaching practice report ..................................... 64
Lesson 2 .......................................................................................................................... 69
The main part of the Teaching Practice Report ..................................................... 69
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 71
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 72
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 72
About this MODULE

The Teaching Practice Module has been produced by Universidade
Pedagógica. All Modules produced by Universidade Pedagógica are
structured in the same way, as outlined below.
How this MODULE is structured

The course overview
The course overview gives you a general introduction to the course.
Information contained in the course overview will help you determine:
If the course is suitable for you.
What you will already need to know.
What you can expect from the course.
How much time you will need to invest to complete the course.
The overview also provides guidance on:
Study skills.
Where to get help.
Course assignments and assessments.
Activity icons.
Units.
We strongly recommend that you read the overview carefully before

starting your study.
The course content

The course is broken down into units. Each unit comprises:
An introduction to the unit content.
Unit outcomes.
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About this MODULE
New terminology.
Core content of the unit with a variety of learning activities.
A unit summary.
Assignments and/or assessments, as applicable.
Resources
For those interested in learning more on this subject, we provide you with
a list of additional resources at the end of this MODULE; these may be
books, articles or web sites.
Your comments
After completing the Teaching Practice Modules we would appreciate it
if you took a few moments to give us your feedback on any aspect of this
course. Your feedback might include comments on:
Course content and structure.
Course reading materials and resources.
Course assignments.
Course assessments.
Course duration.
Course support (assigned tutors, technical help, etc.)
Your constructive feedback will help us to improve and enhance this

course.
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Course overview
Welcome to Teaching Practice

Module
Welcome to Teaching Practice course, via distance learning, which will
be delivered in a single module. We hope that you will enjoy this module
and it will help you to develop and improve your knowledge and skills
related to English Language Teaching and, therefore, improve your
present classroom practices so that you can help your students to achieve
their learning goals. It is also hoped that in this module you will have the
opportunity to put into practice all the knowledge and skills
acquired/learned in the ELT/PP (English Language Teaching: Principles
and Practices) module and be encouraged to engage in reflective teaching
practice and become even more critical to your own teaching and become
an autonomous teacher. We would like to congratulate you on your
choice and decision to commit yourself, over the next few months, to
serious study and putting into practice your newly acquired experience,
knowledge and attitudes towards improvement of your teaching skills.
It is also hoped that this Teaching Practice module will encourage you to
develop the necessary professionalism that is expected of a teacher of
English and trigger your desire to learn even more. Eventually, all this
exercise will enable you to write the Teaching practice report, which is a
requirement for the completion of the Bachelors Degree at Universidade
Pedagógica.
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Course overview
Teaching Practice has the following main objectives:
1. To provide the prospective teachers with an opportunity to

develop personal relationship with others: administrators,
teachers, parents and students.
2. To provide the future teacher with practical experience in school

to overcome the problems of discipline and enable him / her to
develop method of control.
3. To provide with an opportunity to put theories into practice and

to develop a deeper understanding of educational principles and
their implication for learning.
4. To enable the student teachers effectively to plan and prepare

lessons.
5. To develop skill in the use of fundamental procedures, techniques

and methods of teaching.
6. To develop desirable professional interests, attitudes and ideas

relative to teaching profession.
7. To enable student teachers to acquire desirable characteristics /

traits of a teacher and to display appropriate behaviour.
8. To provide student teachers with an opportunity to have teaching

evaluated and to gain from the benefits of constructive criticism.
9. To provide an opportunity for self evaluation and to discover

own strengths and weaknesses.
10. To develop skills in future teachers related to teaching like fluent

speaking, meaningful reading, using blackboard and other
teaching material.
11. To provide an opportunity to liaise with school environment, its

functioning and with community and its resources.
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Teaching Practice Module- is this

course for you?
This course is intended for people who are training to be teachers of
English as a Foreign Language in Mozambique. The course may also be
useful to those practicing teacher who wish to gain more insight and
experience in the area of Teaching English as a Foreign Language so that
their knowledge, skills and attitudes can be improved by encouraging
them to take up reflective teaching and critical analysis of their own
teaching.
This course is modular based and the sequence of each unit can be used
independently. The course is designed to be used actively by you working
in the field.
Pre-requisite
It expected that all students have completed all ELT/PP Modules for them
to be able to do the Teaching Practice Module
Course outcomes
This course is outcome based. The term “outcome based” means you that
there are clear indications of what you are expected to know and do when
you have successfully completed each unit and each module. One of the
expected outcomes of the course as a whole is that will have begun to
apply within work and community the knowledge, skills and attitude you
have developed.
Upon completion of the Teaching Practice Module Teaching Practice

Module (which is equivalent to Práticas Pedagógicas III) you will be
able to:
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Course overview
Establish the importance of reflective teaching
Analyse your own lesson critically.
Change you present classroom practices

Outcomes
Bring about change at the classroom level and school level
Develop autonomy and ability to try out new techniques
Timeframe
The length of time spent in each unit will depend on your own speed and
how well you are organised. However, you are recommended to take at
least two hours a day on self-study.
How long?
Study skills
As an adult learner your approach to learning will be different to that
from your school days: you will choose what you want to study, you will
have professional and/or personal motivation for doing so and you will
most likely be fitting your study activities around other professional or
domestic responsibilities.
Essentially you will be taking control of your learning environment. As a

consequence, you will need to consider performance issues related to
time management, goal setting, stress management, etc. Perhaps you will
also need to reacquaint yourself in areas such as essay planning, coping
with exams and using the web as a learning resource.
Your most significant considerations will be time and space i.e. the time
you dedicate to your learning and the environment in which you engage
in that learning.
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We recommend that you take time now—before starting your self-

study—to familiarize yourself with these issues. There are a number of
excellent resources on the web. A few suggested links are:
http://www.how-to-study.com/
The “How to study” web site is dedicated to study skills resources.

You will find links to study preparation (a list of nine essentials for a
good study place), taking notes, strategies for reading text books,
using reference sources, test anxiety.
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
This is the web site of the Virginia Tech, Division of Student Affairs.
You will find links to time scheduling (including a “where does time
go?” link), a study skill checklist, basic concentration techniques,
control of the study environment, note taking, how to read essays for
analysis, memory skills (“remembering”).
http://www.howtostudy.org/resources.php
Another “How to study” web site with useful links to time

management, efficient reading, questioning/listening/observing skills,
getting the most out of doing (“hands-on” learning), memory building,
tips for staying motivated, developing a learning plan.
The above links are our suggestions to start you on your way. At the time
of writing these web links were active. If you want to look for more go to
www.google.com and type “self-study basics”, “self-study tips”, “self-
study skills” or similar.
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Course overview
Need help?
In case of difficulty, please contact the following:
In Maputo:
Help Alberto Mandjate
Faculty of Languages: English Department
Rua: João Carlos Raposo Beirão no 135 Maputo
Telephone: 21 420860/2
Monday to Friday: 9:00 – 14:00
Mobile phone: 84 399 5490 or 82 399 5490
Email: albertomandjate@hotmail.com
In each province there is a resource centre available and a local provincial

English Advisor to help you.
For any assistance related to academic issues the Provincial English

Advisor will be able to help. Do not hesitate to contact him or her.
Assignments
Throughout each unit, you will have to carry out a number of activities
that will help you consolidate the matters reviewed.
We urge you to go through all exercises indicated without resorting to the

Assignments key answers/correction guide
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Assessments
In this subject, you will have to write two tests. The first test will be done
after Unit 2 and the second will done after Unit 4. Further, in order to
complete this module, you will be required to do the teaching practice
Assessments
after which you will be expected to write the teaching practice report. For
you teaching practice you will be observed three times by three different
tutors. Your report will be evaluated by a jury of three teachers.
For the purpose of formative and continuous assessment you are advised
to do all the exercises at the end of each lesson which you may check
with other students or read the lesson again or even check with the tutor
during the tutorial.
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Getting around this MODULE
Getting around this MODULE
Margin icons
While working through this Module you will notice the frequent use of
margin icons. These icons serve to “signpost” a particular piece of text, a
new task or change in activity; they have been included to help you to
find your way around this module.
A complete icon set is shown below. We suggest that you familiarize

yourself with the icons and their meaning before starting your study.
Activity Assessment Assignment Case study
Discussion Group activity Help Note it!
Outcomes Reading Reflection Study skills
Summary Terminology Time Tip
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Unit 1
REFLECTIVE TEACHING
Introduction
The improvement of teaching practices requires teachers to engage in
critical analysis of the work they do, how and why they do it and, most
importantly, to think if it actually works or not. Reflective teaching
involves critical self-examination and reflection that will result in
knowledgeable decision making, and planning of adequate action to be
taken. So, in this unit you are going to learn the basic approach to
classroom investigation, which is key component of reflective teaching.
In addition, you are going to see the relevance of the follow up.
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:
Explain the concept of reflective teaching and its importance.
Explain the approach to classroom investigation.
Change classroom practices in order to improve your teaching.

Outcomes
Gain more confidence in trying out new ideas.
Develop your critical analysis capacity.
Develop self observation capacity
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Unit 1 REFLECTIVE TEACHING
Lesson 1
Approach to Classroom Investigation in Language
By the end of lesson you will able to:
- Define the concept of reflective teaching
- Outline the different aspects involved in reflecting teaching

Outcomes
- Establish the importance of reflecting on your teaching
It is advised to spend 1 hour on this lesson
Time
Start this lesson by taking some time to think about the following:
Have you ever stopped to think about or discuss with a colleague a lesson
Reflection you have just taught?
Was it because there was a problem that occurred during the lesson?
Did you do anything after the reflection or discussion?
Well, you most probably have done this and most likely this may have
happened unconsciously. So, the main objective of these questions is to
take you into the spirit of the key issues of this lesson, and hopefully,
bring about the idea of investigating your classroom and reflecting about
the lessons you teach. According to Richards (1996) “much can be
learned about teaching through self-enquiry (...) rather drawing (...) an
external source of knowledge as an impetus for change or development”.
In the very case of Mozambican teachers it is sometimes quite difficult to
have an opinion about you teaching from an outsider because most you
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are you own in their schools with no other teacher you resort to in case of
uncertainty or difficulty and the other people within the school can be of
very little help or no help at all because they are informed about English
Language Teaching. Therefore, it is essential for your professional
development to gain self-observation capability through critical reflection
of your teaching.
Many years of teaching on their own may not bring any tangible changes
in the classroom. Change in classroom practices and teacher development
as well as the improvement of the quality of teaching is very likely to
occur when teachers think about what happens in the language classroom.
This thinking exercise has to be done in a systematic and cyclical manner.
In This way you will be starting to investigate the classroom and
engaging in reflective teaching.
Can you spent 20 minutes discussing what you think is meant by

systematic, cyclical and reflective teaching.
Discussion
Feedback
That’s very good!
You probably have said that Systematic means methodical or organised;

for Cyclical you may have said it means reoccurring or repeated; and
finally, for reflective teaching you may have said that it means thinking
about or analysing your teaching, including everything that happens in
the lesson.
As you can see, the thinking that is being talked about here is not
supposed to be done randomly. Instead, it supposed to be done in an
organised, consistent and continuous way with the only objective of
changing classroom practices and, therefore, improving the quality of
teaching and assistance that is provided to students. This improvement of
the standards will enable the students to achieve their learning goals. In
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addition, this thinking can be regarded as an essential tool for

professional development that begins in the classroom.
As has been said in the previous paragraphs this investigation process

needs to be done in an organised manner so that significant results can be
achieved. For this to happen, you may need to start the process by asking
yourself specific questions regarding issues that arise in your classroom
during the teaching/learning process. These questions will give your
enquiry some kind of consistency and a direction.
Work in groups write down specific questions that you can ask
yourself about you teaching, as the starting point of your reflection or
investigation process?
Group activity
Feedback
You may have come up with an extensive set of questions, which perhaps
include the following key questions:
What am I teaching?
What was the main goal of my lesson?
What teaching procedures did I use?
Was my teaching effective? Why
What problems did I encounter and how did I deal with them?
How can I do it better?
The attempts to find answers to these questions will be the starting point
of the investigation process and it is very likely that it will trigger a
deeper understanding of your teaching. Therefore, teachers who engage
in this kind of reflection about their own teaching will be in a better
position to evaluate the degree of their professional development
accurately and they will definitely be able to find out what aspects of
their teaching need improvement.
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If this inquiry process is seen as an on going process and a routine part of

teaching, it will empower teachers and make them feel more confident in
trying out different teaching alternatives as well as enable them to make
precise evaluation of the impact on teaching. In other words, this critical
refection will help teachers to make a clear and accurate picture of what
really happens in the classroom and be able to measure the gap between
what has been taught and what learners have actually learned.
As Cross in Richards (1996) asserts the process of reflection can be

regarded as ‘…the study by class teachers of the impact of their teaching
on students in their classrooms. The basic premise of classroom research
is that teachers should use their classroom as laboratories to study the
learning process as it applies to particular disciplines; teachers should
become skilful, systematic observers of how the students in their
classrooms learn.”
Lesson summary
We have seen that continuous improvement in language teaching can be

Summary possible only if teachers engage in a systematic and cyclical critical
reflection of their teaching so that they can measure the impact of their
teaching on the students. Teachers can do this by asking a few simple
questions about what they are teaching and how they are doing it as well
as its effectiveness. The attempt to answer such questions will allow
teachers to gather valuable information regarding the strengths
weaknesses of their teaching and, as a result, work towards the
improvement of the quality of their teaching and, eventually, help
students to achieve the established learning goals.
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Lesson 2
Classroom Investigations Tools
By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
- Explain what is involved in the different classroom investigation

tools
Outcomes
- Carry out classroom investigation
- It is advised to spend 1 hour and a half on this lesson
As has been said at the beginning of the unit, the reflection process has to
be done methodically. So, this will require the use of specific tools to find
Time out the causes of what may have occurred in your classroom. As a
practising teacher, it can be assumed that you have attempted to reflect on
issues or concerns regarding certain classroom phenomena.
Work in groups of 4 students each and think about any classroom

phenomenon that was a problem in your classroom and tell each
other about it and say what you did in order to understand it even
Group activity more deeply so that you could devise remedial work.
Feed back.
You probably found it difficult to do this exercise because you very often
do this routinely, without being aware of doing it. However, after a
detailed analysis of each of the relevant investigation tools for the
purpose of this module you will certainly improve your strategies and
become more systematic and effective.
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Let us now analyse the investigation tools according to Richards (1996)

in his book Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms, which
are: teaching journals, lesson reports, observation, and action research.
Teaching journals
These are written or recorded accounts of teaching experiences, which

serve two main purposes:
- Record ideas or events for later reflection
- Trigger insights about teaching since writing can also be seen as a

discovery process
What would normally happen in a teaching journal is that the teacher

would provide a detailed description of the teaching activity or event,
including the concerns that were noticed during the lesson. In addition,
the teacher would also outline alternative procedures for future reference.
Lesson reports
These are written accounts of the relevant features of the lessons, which
would allow the teacher to monitor what happened during a lesson in
terms of time spent on different parts of the lesson as well as the
effectiveness of the lesson as whole.
What distinguishes a lesson report from a lesson plan is that while a

lesson plan gives a description of what the teacher intends to do in a
given lesson, a lesson report gives a description of what actually
happened during the lesson from teacher’s perspective.
Another possible way of lesson reporting is through responding to

questions that would draw teachers’ attention to the main features of the
lesson.
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Work in groups of four and come up with a list of seven questions

that would focus on the main aspects of the lesson.
Group activity
Feedback
You probably have the following questions on your list:
- What were the mains goals of lesson?
- What did learners actually learn in the lesson?
- What teaching methodology/techniques did I use? Were they

effective? Why?
- What problems was I confronted with and how did I deal with them?
- What were the most effective parts of my lesson? Why?
- What were the least effective parts? Why?
- What would I have to do differently if I taught the lesson again?
As can be seen, the question above can yield relevant information about
the main features of the lesson that can help you to monitor your
teaching.
Let us now turn to another classroom investigation tool.
Surveys or Questionnaires
These are generally based on questionnaires or surveys administered to

students or any other relevant people in order to gather as much
information as possible regarding particular aspects of teaching or
learning. Surveys and questionnaires seem to be effective ways of
gathering information about affective dimension of teaching and learning,
which includes beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and preferences. So,
students would for example be asked to indicate how useful they find
group work activities; and what they think they learn from them.
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Observation
This is about observing a cooperating teacher’s class or peer observation:

this can be done by a teacher visiting a colleague’s class in order to
observe different aspects of teaching and share experiences.
Unfortunately, there is generalised bias about observation with the result
that not many teachers do seem to be very comfortable with it because
they usually associate it with evaluation rather than an occasion for
sharing experiences. Therefore, in order to minimize this kind of bias,
observation should be limited to being an information gathering tool, a
single moment for sharing classroom experiences, rather than being used
as an evaluation instruments for teacher.
In order for the observation to yield desirable results it should not be done
for its own sake or randomly. Instead, it should be organized with a
specific focus so that the observer knows exactly what to look for.
Work in groups and brainstorm what you think should be the main
focus of observation?
Group activity
Feedback
That’s correct!
In fact, when we observe a lesson we are interested in all teaching and

learning events that occur during the lesson such as classroom
management, time management, and delivery, the suitability of the
activities, students’ engagement and performance, teacher/students
rapport and so on. Generally, the observer should have an observation
sheet containing specific aspects of the lesson or teaching to focus his/her
attention on.
After the observation has taken place there should be a post-observation

session, where both teachers meet and the observer reports on the
information he collected during the lesson and discusses it with the class
19
teacher. One important aspect here is that both teachers should think of
possible alternatives to improve the weaknesses.
Actions research
Action research can be defined as teacher-initiated classroom

investigation with the main purpose of deepening teachers’ perception of
many aspects inherent to teaching and learning process. It this deep
understanding that may help the teacher to bring about innovation
regarding classroom practices.
Action plan comprise four main steps:
- Planning;
- Action;
- Observation; and
- Reflection.
Considering the steps above, discuss in groups what you think could
actually be done in each of them.
Discussion
Feedback
That’s very good! You generally have come up with the main idea of
what is involved in an action research.
Let us now make a brief summary of what would actually be done in

action research. The first thing that needs to be done is the selection of an
issue or a concern noticed in the classroom so that it can be examined in
detail. The next step is the selection of a suitable data collecting tool,
which is followed by the actually collection of information, analysis of
the information, and then decision on where and what kind of changes
need to be operated. After changes have been operated it is necessary to
device an action plan so that the problem can be solved. Once the action
plan has been implemented, the last step is the evaluation of the effects
that result from the introduced changes. Since this is a cyclical activity
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the teacher may start from the first step again, if necessary. The other
thing to consider here is that each group of students or class is a different,
such that what may seem to be effective in one class may prove to be
ineffective with a different group. Therefore, you as a teacher you need to
keep an eye to all classroom occurrences.
As it seems, if the teacher is equipped with all that has been said in this
unit he or she will be in a better position to do self-observation and grow
professionally. As Richards and Nunan (1990) argue that experience
needs to be blended with critical reflection to give more impetus for
professional growth, because experience on its own is not enough for
teacher to develop professionally. As has been said before, the idea of
reflective teacher implies not only asking a question like “How to?” but
also, asking questions like “What?” and “Why?”
Lesson summary
Reflective teaching requires teachers to always carryout classroom

Summary investigation. Since this is supposed to be a systematic activity, specific
data collection tools are generally used to have a deeper understanding of
the classroom phenomena. In this lesson we considered a few data
collection tools, namely: teaching journals, lesson reports, observation,
and action research. The teacher may choose to use one of the tools or
two or more. The important aspect to consider here is that teachers need
to decide on the tool they think is more appropriate in their situation.
After all, these data collection tolls will help the teacher to deepen the
understanding of the classroom and, therefore, they will be able to answer
question about their classroom, not only How to? but also, what….? and
Why…?
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Unit summary
In this unit you have learned that reflective teaching is the key for
professional development of teachers and improvement of the quality of
teaching so that they effectively help students to achieve their learning
Summary
goals.
When teachers reflect on their teaching, in a way, they are investigating

their classroom. Therefore, this reflection needs to be systematic and
cyclical should be aimed at the bringing about change in our classroom
practices. In this activity teachers may use specific data collecting tools:
teaching journals, lesson reports, observation, and action research. It is
worth saying that this investigation should go beyond the identification of
concern. It should also attempt to identify the causes of problems and
device possible alternatives to solve the problem.
Further reading
1. Harmer J. (1983) The Practice of English Language

Teaching New York. Longman
2. Hubbard et al (1983) A Training Course for TELF OUP
3. Underwood A (1987) Effective Class Management
Longman
22
Assignment
1. Write 2 lesson reports. One should be on what you considered as
the most effective lesson you have ever taught; the other should
be on what you considered as the least effective lesson.
Assignment If you are not sure about what exactly you are supposed to write
you advised to go back to the beginning of unit and read again.
2. Plan an observation with a peer teacher. Remember to have a

specific focus of the observation. After the discussion of the
lesson with observed teacher, write a report.
Feedback
Your reports should answer the following questions:
- What were the mains goals of lesson?
- What did learners actually learn in the lesson?
- What teaching methodology/techniques did I use? Were they

effective? Why?
- What problems was I confronted with and how did I mange to deal
with them?
- What were the most effective parts of my lesson? Why?
- What were the least effective parts? Why?
- What would I have to do differently if I taught the lesson again?
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Unit 2 LESSON PLANNING
Unit 2
LESSON PLANNING
Introduction
Lesson planning is one of the crucial tasks that every professional teacher
ought to perform for success of the teaching and learning process. The
term lesson can be regarded as a set of unified activities that are expected
to be done during a period of classroom time, which usually last for forty-
five to ninety minutes, depending whether it is a double or a single
lesson. So, knowledgeable and professional teachers will always need
to think about what they are going to do in the classroom beforehand. On
the light of the knowledge that the teacher has about the students, he/she
necessarily has to think about the objectives of the lesson, the activities,
language skills, language type, subject and content of the lesson.
Therefore, it is hoped that upon completion of this unit you will be able
to:
Define learning objectives and the content of a lesson
Distinguish the different stages of different kinds of lessons.
Establish the relationship of the different stages of a lesson

Outcomes
Plan effective lesson plans
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Lesson 1:
The principles of lesson planning

By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
- Explain the concepts of variety and flexibility
Outcomes - Establish the importance of variety and flexibility in language teaching
Time
A lesson plan is a description of the course of action regarding classroom

activities and procedures that are organised in a coherent manner in order
to help students to achieve the expected learning outcomes. In Layman’s
terms a lesson plan can be described as a map that gives detailed
information about the route that students /teacher will take to get to the
intended destination. It is important to point out that a lesson plan is a
proposal of a course instruction of an individual lesson ‘rather than a
script that has to be followed slavishly’ (Harmer, 2001)
Now spend 10 minutes discussing with other students why should a

lesson plan not be followed slavishly?
Discussion
Feedback
Excellent! Your ideas are right.
25
For a better understanding of the idea, let’s go back to the comparison of

a lesson plan with a map that provides a detailed route to be taken to get
to a certain destination. Let’s assume you are on your way to certain
destination. However, along the way, before you get to final destination,
you come to a point where the road is blocked because some construction
works are taking place.
What would be the most logical thing to do in this situation?

Reflection
Of course, the most obvious thing one would immediately think of would
be to find an effective alternative way that can take him/her to the same
destination. Likewise, if some hiccups occur during the lesson you should
be able to react immediately and think of effective alternatives that can
lead your students to attainment of the established learning goals.
In your daily activities unpredicted problems will always creep in. For
example, an activity may take less or more time than you had expected it
to take; or an activity that you thought would be at the students’ level of
ability would prove to be too difficult for them or they may find the
activity incredibly boring and not as interesting as had realised when you
were planning. Another source of problem can be technology. You may
plan a lesson where equipment like DVD player or cassette/CD player is
to be used. However, when you come to the lesson you find that for some
reasons the equipment is not working or somebody else is using it. In all
these situations it would be unwise to carry on. Even though you may
have planned in advance what to do in a given lesson, it will be a total
waste of time and effort to keep insisting on something that does not
work at all.
Let’s now analyse the key principles for good lesson planning. Harmer
(1983) suggested two principles for good lesson planning, variety and
flexibility, which are in some way intertwined.
26
Now spend 15 minutes discussing what each of these terms mean:

Variety and Flexibility?
Discussion
Feedback
Well done. All you have said is in fact about variety and flexibility in
lesson planning. Let’s now look at each concept in detail.
1. Variety
What should be understood by the term variety is that a lesson plan

should be designed in such a way that it always keeps learning interesting
and never monotonous. Therefore, a lesson should include different sorts
of activities as well as bring to the classroom a wide range of different
materials and it should resort to different methods or techniques so that
lessons can be kept interesting cater to all different preferences and
learning styles.
2. Flexibility
Flexibility has got to do with the ability to change from one thing to
another in smooth manner and, in terms of language teaching, we are
talking about the ability to use a set of teaching approaches and
techniques rather than being stuck to a single one. Another aspect that is
implied in the term flexibility regards the capacity for the teacher to think
on his feet and change activities if they turn to ineffective. For example,
during a lesson if you feel that the activities you had planned are not
producing the desired results, there is no point in continuing with the
activity. What would be expected of a flexible teacher is to change the
plan in such situation.
In a way, what we are talking about here will take us back to what we
dealt with in the first unit, reflective teaching. For a teacher to be flexible
he needs to do self-observation with a critical eye so that hiccups can be
detected timely and take appropriate action.
27
Now discuss this question that follow with another student. Spend 10
minutes
Discussion What do you think can be the danger of monotony in your lessons?
That’s very good.
In fact, monotony and routine are generally some of the main causes of
de-motivation and boredom in students if they are provided with the same
type of class every day. However, this constraint can be avoided if you
always make learning experience stimulating and interesting by varying
the types of activities they take to classroom as well as your
methodology. Indeed, if you continually present your students with
different types of activities, you are far more likely to continually engage
your students’ interests and motivations for learning. However, it would
be very unlikely in the otherwise situation.
Another good reason for variety in lessons is the likelihood of being able
to cater for more students in one class with respect to their preferences
and preferred learning styles. In addition, monotony concerns not only
repetition of the same type of exercises or activities, but it also includes
the repetition of the same teaching methods and/or techniques.
Lesson summary
In this lesson you have learned that a lesson plan is an essential teaching
Summary tool that should be prepared prior to any lesson. Generally, a lesson plan
should contain a detailed description of what is going to be done in class,
including the activities themselves. Nevertheless, this should never be
understood that a lesson plan has to be followed literally. This is because
sometimes what teachers take to classroom may turn out to be ineffective
when it comes to implementing the plan. Lesson plans need to be flexible
with the result that when something does not work well the teacher can
28
immediately come up with something else that can still help students to
attain of the learning goals, rather than sticking to something that has
proved to be ineffective.
Another important feature of lesson plans that you learned in this lesson
is variety so that students’ motivation can be maintained by varying the
types of exercises as well as the techniques and methods. In addition,
variety may enable teachers to cater for all students with regard to their
learning styles and preferences.
Lesson 2
Action verbs as opposed to non action verbs

By the end of the lesson you should be able to:
- Distinguish action verbs from non action verbs
Outcomes
- Set lesson objectives accurately
Time
Establishing lesson objectives
The success of a lesson partly depends on the clarity of the learning

objectives that the teacher establishes during the preparation stage of the
lesson where the teacher needs to state precisely what learners will be
able to do by the lesson or training program. If the learning objectives
have not been well constructed neither you nor the students will have a
clear idea of their target. So, learning objectives can be defined as the
statement of what learners are expected to be able to do at completion of
a specific course of instruction. In other words, a learning objective is a
29
statement of instructional intent which attempts to change knowledge,

skills or attitudes as a direct result of the learning experience.
Learning objectives serve different purposes in the learning/teaching:
- They clarify what is supposed to be learned during the lesson and

how learners will demonstrate what they have learned.
- They can assist learners in the selection of appropriate

experiences that are suited to their own learning styles and in
evaluation of their programs toward the completions of each
learning objective.
- They provide a basis for determining the specific content and

activities to be developed during a lesson.
- They allow for the effective evaluation of instructional

methodology and material.
Learning objectives should contain the following:
- A statement of performance(s) that students will demonstrate at

the completion of the learning event.
- The conditions/circumstances under which the performance will

be carried out.
- The standard/ criteria to be reached in relation to performance.
All learning objectives must have clear expression and clear

interpretation. Therefore, they must be observable and measurable and for
this to happen, action verbs should be used so that the performance to be
achieved can be illustrated. For example:
- The learners should be able to measure...
- Learners should be able to write.....
- Learners should be able to list....
30
Teacher trainees and beginning teachers usually miss the target because
they often give unclear or non observable statements are expressed like
the following:
- Learners should know about...
- Learners should learn...
- Learners should understand...
- Learners will be familiar with...
A learning objective stating that learners should learn about a car could
be quite confusing because the statement is not precise. Learners can
hardly have an exact picture of what they actually have to do. Should
they be able to drive the car, clean the car, repair the engine or change a
tyre?
Take some time to do the following exercise.
Read through the following verbs. Some of them are clear and some are
open to interpretation in relation to learning objectives.
Activity
Identify by circling those that you think are clear and would be suitable to
use in a learning objective.
1. To know 7. To be familiar with
2. To identify 8. To create
3. To understand 9. To carve
4. To appreciate 10. To fully appreciate
5. To solve 11. To consider
6. To write 12. To select
31
Feedback
You should have circled 2 3 6 8 9 &12
If you have different answers return to the beginning of the lesson and
read the information again and when you have done that proceed to the
next lesson.
Tip
Lesson summary
It became clear in this lesson that one of the crucial elements that lesson
Summary plans need for their success is a clear statement of the learning goals. For
the learning to be clearly stated action verbs must be used. Action verbs
usually denote observable behaviours such that teachers can then see if
their students can demonstrate such behaviours as a direct result of their
teaching. Verbs such as write, compare and distinguish, just to name
only a few, are examples of action verbs, as opposed to verbs such as
think or know, which are not action verbs because they do not denote any
observable behaviour.
32
Lesson 3
Components of learning objectives
- Define the different components of a learning objective
Outcomes
- Write lesson objectives correctly
- It is advised to spend 1 hour and a half on this lesson
Time
Components of learning objectives
In order to construct clear and precise learning objectives it is wise for

you to ask yourself the following three questions:
1. What do I want the learners to be able to do?
2. What I am going to give them so that they can do it?
3. How well do I want them to be able to do it?
The answers to these three questions provide you with three components
of a learning objective, which are:
- Performance(s)
- Condition(s)
- Standard(s)
33
Let us now see what each of these constituents entails.
Performance:
When constructing learning objectives it must be clearly stated what

exactly learners are expected to be able to do by the end of the lesson or
learning event. It should be explicit in the description of demonstration of
the skills or application of knowledge.
Conditions:
On the basis of this second component, it is expected that a clear and

complete description of the conditions under which the performance is to
be demonstrated is provided. The condition should include what
equipment, tools, reference material learners will be given, what
assistance they will be proved with, what supervision will be done and
the physical environment in which they will perform the new learning.
Standard/s
A learning objective must describe how well the performance is to be

demonstrated, that is to say, the quality of the work produced.
Now you will be presented each of these three components in detail.
You have already read about verbs that the performance statement
identifies what students will be doing when demonstrating their
achievement of the learning objective. So the performance must be
expressed by means of an action verb.
Here are some examples of performances.
¾ Learners should be able to read the column of figures.
¾ Learners should be able to write an interview question.
¾ Learners should be able to paint the box with a 4 cm brush.
34
¾ Learners should be able to list the major causes of accidents in

the workshop.
¾ Learners should be able to name a popular author on the subject

of distance learning.
¾ Learners should be able to write a learner of application.
Test your knowledge by doing the following exercise
Tick the statements that include a performance.
Activity Learners should be able to:
1. _______ understand the principles of management.
2. _______ State three principles of good management.
3. _______ Appreciate the music of Mozart.
4. _______ Play “marabenta” on the piano.
5. _______ Describe the public transport facilities in Mozambique.
6. _______ Appreciate the need for safety in the workshop.
7. _______ understand exactly what is meant by the term

“motivation”.
8. _______ List three major components of training/ learning

outcome.
9. _______ be familiar with the difference between primary and

secondary colours.
10. _______ Discuss the benefits of advantages of advertising in the

yellow pages.
35
Feedback
1. NO The verb “Understand” does not describe an observable

action that can be assessed. A performance needs to be
observed and, therefore, measurable.
2. YES This qualifies as a performance because of the use state

as the will actually have to speak or write.
3. No what does appreciate actually mean? What behaviour

will the learners display – will they clap at the end of
music or tap their feed during the music?
4. Yes You can hear it when somebody is playing the piano.
5. Yes Describing is a performance. You can hear or read a

description.
6. No Same as for number 3 above
7. No same as for number 1 above
8. Yes Listing the three major components is a performance, it

is seen or heard.
9. No For the same reasons as number 1 above.
10. Yes Discussing the benefits is a performance as it can be

heard.
In case of difficulty we would like to recommend you to read through

again and try the exercise.
Tip
Conditions
The conditions component of the learning objective outlines the

circumstances under which learners will be required to perform the
activity. Consider the following examples:
36
1. What equipment, supplies or materials will students be given to

work with?
- A set of drawings
- Access to all references in the library
- Safety equipment
- A personal computer and an Excel power tools.
2. Materials which students are not permitted to have:
- Without any references; using only those materials provided.
- Without any access to any power tolls
3. The setting or the environment in which the performance must be

demonstrated:
- In a simulated situation
- In a training room equipped with a gas stove and gas hot system
- In a workshop equipped with appropriate machinery
4. Whether the students will work independently, under the

supervision or as a member of a team
Standards
The standard component of the learning objective describes the level of

mastery or degree of proficiency that the learner must reach in carrying
out the performance. The standard tells the learner and teacher what level
of performance is required in order for the learning objective to be
achieved. This part of the learning objective is probably the most difficult
to write, but once it is finished, it provides the information necessary for
planning how to assess learner performance.
37
This standard can be established in many different ways, including the

following:
Accuracy within a tolerance limit
- Within 1 degree as compared with the teacher’s reading
- With a tolerance of 1mm as measured with a micrometer
Speed
- Complete within 5 minutes
Percentage or number to achieved
- With 80% correct responses
- At the rate of 5 per hour.
Reference to other material which identifies a standards
- As compared to manufacturer’s specification
- Within the parameters of the department’s learning

objectives
- According to the standard outlined in the textbook.
Minimum number of permissible errors
- With no more than two errors
A combination of any of the above
Having had a detailed look at the standards, let’s see how much you have
understood. Now complete the following exercise.
38
Read the statements bellow and put a tick in the appropriate Column if
the statement includes a performance, the conditions under which the
performance is to occur and a standard by which successful performance
Activity of the performance can be or measured.
P C S
1 Given the principles of traffic movement and

control, students should be able to use these
principles to alter traffic patterns at specified
intersection so that increased safe traffic flow is
made possible.
2 Without access to any notes or textbook, students

should able to write without error the words for
numbers 1 to 10 in the Japanese language
3 Students should be able to measure the work room

and draw it without error to a scale of 1:10
4 Given a keyboard and a standard typing exercise,

students should be able to type the standard exercise
paragraph within 1minute
5 Given four engineering drills and micrometer screw

gauge, the learners should be able to measure and
list the size of the drills within 1mm of the
manufacturers stated size
39
Feedback
1. Performances alter.
Condition/s given the principle of traffic movement control.
Standard/s so that increased traffic flow is made possible.
2. Performance write.
Condition/s without access to any notes or textbook.
Standard/s without error.
3. Performance measure and draw.
Condition/s no condition(s) are apparent.
Standard/s without error.
4. Performance type.
Condition/s given a keyboard and a standard typing exercise.
Standard/s no real standard is present here.
5. Performance measure and list.
Condition/s given 4 engineering drills and micrometer screw

gauge.
Standard/s within 1mm of the manufacturer’s stated size.
At this point you should be able to attempt to write a learning objective.

So, think of some lessons or units you will be teaching and:
- Identify the performance required. This is the kind of

Activity
skill or knowledge which students will develop during or
by the end of a sequence of instruction and which can be
seen and measured.
- State the condition under which the desired performance
40
must be demonstrated. Conditions generally include the

physical surrounding as well as tools, references, guides
and the degree of supervision or assistance allowed.
- State the standard acceptable performance. The standard

consists of words that describe minimum acceptable
performance, sets a time limit where appropriate and
defines quality requirements.
The following questions may help you to check your first draft.
• Does the statement clearly and completely describe the

conditions under which students are expected to demonstrate the
required behaviour?
• Does the statement identify what students will be given to do

(tools, equipment, job aids, and materials)?
• Does the statement clearly identify the tools, equipment, job aids,
materials that students will be given (where appropriate)?
• Does the statement describe the physical environment, space,

climatic condition in which the job must be done (where
appropriate)?
• Does the statement describe the assistance (if any) that students
will receive?
• Does it describe the amount and kind of supervision (if any) that
learners will receive during task performance?
• Does the statement describe how well students must perform?
• Is the minimum level of acceptable performance clearly defined?
41
Lesson summary
As you could see this lesson the components of learning objectives is in

Summary way linked to the previous one, since we break the lesson objective into
three main constituents: performance, condition and standard.
What is meant by constituents is that an objective should clearly

determine what teachers expect their students to be able to do by the end
of the lesson. This should be expressed by means of verbs that spell out a
specific performance that students are expected to demonstrate that is
action verbs. In addition to that, a lesson objective should also indicate
the condition under which students are expected to demonstrate the
performance. The final constituent is standard, which means that and
should indicate the degree of accuracy students should demonstrate the
performance.
If lesson objectives are expressed this way it becomes clear to assess the
success of failure lesson because teachers can right at the spot if students
can or cannot demonstrate the performance at the stated conditions and
degree.
42
Lesson 4
The Stages of a Lesson
By the end of the lesson students should be able to:
- Establish differences between the different stages of a

lesson.
Outcomes
- Establish the relationship between the different stages of

a lesson
- Plan a complete lesson
It is advised to spend 1 hour and a half on this lesson
Time
As a practicing teacher, there is no doubt that one of the things that are
part of your everyday job is planning lessons. In fact, and this is what you
expected to do if you are a real professional.
So let’s start by discussing the following questions, which should take

you about 15 minutes:
Discussion a. What are the stages of a typical lesson?
b. Do you think all lessons fall into the same pattern?
Congratulation! You have raised the key aspects related to the questions
in discussion. Well done!
We are now going to look at the answers in a more systematic way.
43
As you may have said in your group discussions it may be quite difficult
to think of a prototype lesson plan because the different stages entirely
depend on the kind of lesson that a given teacher is going to teach. This
means that each lesson will obviously have different stages, depending on
what the teacher is intending to do. For example, a lesson where structure
is present will definitely have different stages from a reading lesson or
writing lesson or listening lesson or a lesson where the teacher intends to
review previous materials. Therefore, not all lessons can fit into the same
pattern.
Before looking at question a. it seems crucial to discuss the stages of

different kinds of lessons. However, since you have dealt with lesson
planning in the ELT/PP modules, we are only going to have a few
examples here in order to raise you awareness and deepen your
understanding about the logical relationships between the different stages
of lessons.
Let’s start by considering the stages of a lesson in which structure is

presented and practiced. Apart from motivation and review, which are
generally common in all lessons, a lesson where structure is presented is
composed of three main stages, namely Presentation Practice and
Production. In fact, the PPP pattern seems to be the general lesson plan
model because it appears to be “the pattern that struck into many teacher
trainees’ mind when they hear the “the stages of a lesson”, which
unfortunately is NOT the case. As has been said in the paragraphs above
the stages of a lesson entirely depend on the kind of lesson that is being
talked about.
A reading lesson, however, is made of different main stages, which are

pre reading stage (pre-teaching vocabulary stage, introduction of the text,
setting signpost questions), Reading (first reading, for gist, and second
reading, for detailed information) and the final stage is follow up.
Similarly, other types of lessons like listening, writing, speaking will

actually follow different patterns even though, in some cases, they
44
overlap in some way. For more reading you may refer to ELT/PP
modules.
Spend about 15 minutes discussing the following question:
How are the different stages of a lesson related to one another?

Group activity
Feedback
You are right! In fact the stages of a lesson are logically and coherently
matched to make one whole in pretty much the same way different
sounds and voices are matched to make enjoyable pieces of music. For
example, in a reading lesson the different stages are related to each other
in that each stage leads to the subsequent one and it serves as preparation
phase for the following one.
Pre-reading stage
The pre-reading stage is sued for scaffolding, that is, it prepares students
for the while-reading and, eventually, to the post reading stage. The types
of activities that are generally done in this stage are supposed to build
confidence and create security among students before they actually tackle
the reading task. Activities such as describing a picture or predicting the
story from a picture related to the text; brainstorming around the topic of
the text; or even writing a list of words on the board and get students to
build up the story based on a picture(s) related to the text. These are just a
few examples of different types of activities that generally help to
activate students’ background or schema in regard to the target text.
In addition, the above activities are supposed to get students ready for the
reading by familiarizing them with the topic of the text as well as create
expectation and trigger students’ interest in the subject matter of the text,
which is very likely to increase their motivation to read. As Harmer
(1991) asserts for students to engage in the reading eagerly their desire
needs to be triggered somehow, since subject matter of some text may not
sound appealing to them.
45
Another important activity for the pre-reading stage is the pre-teaching of

key vocabulary, which should be understood as the new vocabulary items
without which students may not understand the gist of the target text. So
if the pre-reading stage has been effective students will find the
subsequent stage easier.
While-reading stage
This stage is approached in two ways. First, students are provided with
guiding questions, which have in mind in their first reading. These
questions serve for two purposes: to give students a reason for reading
and lead them to the main points of the target text. This first reading is
supposed to be fast. Secondly, students are given more questions
(comprehension questions) that will require students to read the text again
and extract detailed information, which will allow detailed understanding
of text.
Post-reading stage
This stage should not be confused with comprehension check because

that is done in the second sub-stage of the while reading stage. What
students actually do here are just the kinds of activities that are related to
the reading passage. For instance, after the while-reading stage students
may be given a discussion tasks where they talk about any of the relevant
issues in the text; prepare a role play based on the text; discuss the
attitude or behaviour of the characters in the story, to mention only a few.
As you can see, each stage of a lesson builds on top of the preceding one.
So, each stage lays down the necessary foundation for the subsequent
one. Therefore, if the preceding stage has been ineffective it is very
unlikely that the following stages will succeed. For instance, if the
presentation of content has not been effective there is no probability for
the production to successful.
Now let’s analyse a typical listening lesson. What first spend 10

minutes discussing the following question?
How do the stages of a listening lesson differ from or resemble those

Group activity of a reading lesson?
46
Feedback
That is excellent!
In fact, the stages of the two types of lessons overlap. If you think
attentively about listening and reading you will conclude that both are
receptive skills and, therefore, the teaching of these skills follows quite
the same pattern. In a listening lesson we start by presenting key
vocabulary, which is followed by presentation of the topic of the listening
text that can be done through similar activities as in reading. The next
stage is while-listening and, finally the follow up stage. All these stages
serve the same purposes as in a reading lesson.
If you wish to read more about lesson planning we can refer you to the
ELT/PP modules or the readings recommended in the modules.
Lesson summary
It has been pointed out in this lesson that a lesson is composed of

Summary logically sequenced stages, which generally build onto the other. This
means that each stage lays foundations for subsequent one. For example
in a reading lesson the pre- teaching of the vocabulary and introduction of
the text creates the necessary conditions for a successful reading because
students are taught the key words without which they may not understand
the gist of the text. Further, the introduction serves as a means to
familiarise students with the main theme of the text so that when they
actually start reading they are familiar with the topic.
One important aspect to consider here is that not all lessons fit into the
same template, that is, not all lessons have the same stages. For example a
reading lesson and grammar do not have the same stages. So it important
for teachers to be conscious of the kind of lesson they are planning so that
they use the correct template in terms of stages.
47
Unit summary
In this unit you learned value of lesson planning and good lesson
planning entails. One of the aspects to be considered in good lesson
planning is clarity and precision in our objectives which can only be
Summary
possible if action verbs are used.
Another important aspect to consider in lesson planning is that different

lessons follow different patterns. For instance, unlike a structure lesson
that follows the pattern with Presentation- Practice- Production, a reading
lesson fits into a different pattern, pre- reading- reading- follow up.
Further reading

3. Underwood A (1987) Effective Class Management
Longman
Assignment
1- Choose five lessons you have just taught study the lesson
objectives.
- Have the lesson objectives been correctly established?

Why? Why not?
Assignment
- How can they be improved?
48
Feedback
It is important to exam the verbs that have been used to set the lesson
objectives. One simple question can help to check if the objectives are
somehow okay:
Do the verbs denote an action?
If the answer is NO, that is an indication that you lesson objectives are
vague and need to be improved so that whatever is said in the lesson
objective can be something observable and measurable.
Assessment
Choose a unit that will teach soon and plan 5 consecutive lessons. Make
sure that you plan different kinds of lessons.
Assessment
In this activity there is no one correct answer. What is important here is to

see if you have used action verbs to set the objective of the lesson.
Another important aspect to be considered here are stages of the lesson.
Have you divided your lesson into correct stages according to the type of
a lesson that you decided to plan. By now you should that lesson stages
vary depending on the type of lesson that you are planning. What is
important is to establish a link between the different stages.
49
50 Unit 3 The nature of learning activities
Unit 3
The nature of learning activities
Introduction
The effectiveness of language learning partly depends on the kind of
activities that students are provided with for the purpose of language
practice. So, if they are not given the right activities for them to develop
language fluency, students will not manage to use the target language in
real life communication situations. For example, many people wonder
why many secondary students do not seem to be able to communicate in
English even after 5 years of learning English. One of the main
constraints here appears to be the type of activities that teachers take to
the classroom, which do not resemble real life communication situations
in any way, in other words the activities are not communicative and,
therefore, it does not seem there is possibility for students do develop
communicative competence.
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:
Distinguish communicative activities from non-communicative

activities.
List the features of both communicative and non-communicative

activities.
Outcomes
Design communicative practice activities.
Describe the sequence practice activities.
50
Lesson 1
Exercise sequence in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
- Explain the importance of communicative activities in

the classroom
Outcomes
- Distinguish communicative activities from non-

communicative activities
- Determine the importance of information gap activities in

classroom
- Establish a correct sequence of activities in a lesson
Time
A language lesson can be compared to a situation where people go to

restaurant for a meal. What would happen there is that people would have
the starter first and then the main course. Lastly they would have the
desert. Likewise, in a language lesson students would normally be
provided with mechanical and meaningful practise, which compare to
starter. The main course in a language lesson is the communicative
practice. We probably consider the evaluation as the desert. So, it seems
clear from the analogy above that practice would start with small things
and finish with bigger things.
51
Let us now have a thorough look at these three concepts: Mechanical

Practice, Meaning Practice and Communicative Practice. Spend about
15 minutes defining and discussing the differences between the concepts
Discussion and give examples of activities for each type practice.
Feedback
Well done! You managed to come up with the main ideas.
Mechanical Practice
This term refers to that kind of controlled practice that students do very
well without necessarily having to understanding what they are
practicing. In fact, in this kind of practice students do not even have to
think about what to say. Repetition drills and substitution drills are
typical examples of this kind of practise, which are generally used to get
students practice particular grammar points.
Meaningful practice
Unlike mechanical practice, in meaningful practice students are required

to make meaningful choices of the language during the activities, even
though it is still controlled because students do not have much choice in
terms of what language to use or how to say things. However, there is
some degree of thinking involved.
The following example can illustrate what has just been said. Let us
assume that a given teacher has just taught preposition of place to say
where things/people are. The teacher may provide students with a picture
of children playing the game hide and seek in which the children are
hiding in different places. They can also be given a list of prepositions
that they can use.
It seems obvious that in this activity students will not have much to say.
However, for a student to come with a sentence like “Maria is hiding
52
under the table” they will need to think about what is the correct
preposition that can be used to describe that picture and they will have
thought how to frame the sentence correctly.
Communicative Practice
The distinctive feature of this kind of practice is that they require genuine
need for communication in it.
What do you understand by genuine need for communication? (Spend 10

minutes discussing the question?)
Discussion
Feedback
Well done! You are right!
In fact, in communicative practice students engage in the activity not

because the teacher, who is the person in charge in the classroom, orders
them, like what would happen in repetition drills. Conversely, in this kind
of practice students do the task because they want to achieve a specific
communication goal and it is not likely that one can precisely predict the
language to be used. Apart from that, in communicative practice students
interact because they want to exchange some king of information that the
other interlocutor does not have, likewise in real life communication
situation. So, information gap is the key aspect here. The term
information gap refers to situation where one person has got some
information that the other person does not have and needs it. For him/her
to get the information they have to interact.
Hence, more authentic communication is likely to occur in the classroom

if student are provided with the kind of practice activities that will
compel them to go beyond practice of language grammar points for their
own sake. Instead, they need to be given opportunities to make use of
their linguistic and communicative resources in order to obtain the
information that they need. Through this kind of practice students will
53
definitely be forced to make use of all their available vocabulary and

grammar repertoire as well as communication strategies in order to
complete a given task.
So, the unpredictability of the language to be used and the information

gap between/among the speakers are the key features of communicative
practice, which makes it likely to prepare students to use language in
different communication situations outside the classroom in order to
achieve their communication needs. Similarly, in real life situation you
speak to someone because you want to find out about something that you
do not know but the other person may know; or you want to give the
other some information that he/se does not have. Otherwise there would
be no point in asking a person about something that you already know or
you can see yourself, like what would happen in mechanical practice.
Now going back the example that was given at beginning of the lesson,
about having a complete meal, we would like to ask you if you serve
student a complete meal of half a meal. In other words, do you start your
practice by giving students a mechanical practice and then move on the
meaningful practice and finish up with communicative practice? If the
answer is no, then there is something that needs to be reviewed.
Lesson summary
In this lesson you have been presented with the different kinds of
Summary activities that you can take to classroom for language practice. We have
also discussed the importance of each type activity. It has been
demonstrated here that meaningful and communicative practise activities
are crucial for students’ language development. This is because, with
communicative activities for instance, students will be provided with real
life situation for language practise where students will feel the need to
speak in order to achieve a communication goal, and not simply because
the teacher has told them to. Having said, it should not be inferred that
mechanical activities are of no valid use in language teaching. We are
intending to suggest here is that mechanical practise should be kept to
minimum and ample for meaningful and communicative activities.
54
Lesson 2
Features and Types of Communicative activities
- Outline the distinctive features of both communicative and non-

communicative activities
Outcomes
- Select activities that can enhance genuine communication
Design effective communicative activities
Time
Activities that can enhance communicative practice
In order for classroom activities to provide communicative practice to

students they necessarily need to trigger their desire to communicate
something. So, in such activities students should have some kind of
communication purpose to achieve, for example, to book a hotel room, to
buy a flight ticket, to write a letter to complain about electricity bill that is
inaccurate, etc. In this kind of practice students should not worry about
any particular grammatical aspects of language. Instead, students should
be focussed on content of what they want o say or write. In addition,
students are expected to use a variety of language and not a single
structure. Further, the activities should not be interrupted by teacher’s
intervention and neither the teacher nor the material being used should
dictate the language forms that students are expected to use during
55
practice. This should resemble real life communication situation where

the different participants in a conversation are free to choose what to say
and how to say.
For a better understanding of communicative practice let us now recap

the main features of Non- communicative activities and communicative
activities.
Work in groups and discuss the following questions.
1- Write down six characteristics of non-communicative activities?
Activity a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2- Write down six characteristics of communicative activities?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
56
Feedback
That is good!
I suppose you may have come up different sentences from the one that
are given here but you certainly came up with the similar ideas.
1. Non-communicative activities
- There is no communicative need
- There is communicative purpose
- The main concern here is form rather than content
- Only one language item is focused on
- There is always teachers intervention
- The materials is strictly controlled by the teacher
2. Communicative activities
- Students have a desire to communicate
- Students communicate to achieve a specific communication

purpose
- Content is emphasised over form
- A variety of language forms are used
- There is hardly teachers intervention
- There no control on the materials.
After looking at main features of non-communicative and communicative

activities, let us now concentrate different types of communicative
activities that you can take to the classroom. May be it is a good idea to
start by taking on a journey back
57
On the basis of features of communicative tasks presented above, think

about your own teaching regarding the kind of practice tasks that you
give to your students. Do they conform to the description above or not?
Reflection
How are they different or similar?
You probably do not always give your students the kind of practice
exercises that match the features of communicative tasks above.
However, it is necessary to make sure that students are provided with the
kind of activities that look like real life communication situation, the
reason being that a classroom compares a stage where students rehearse
language that they may outside classroom. Otherwise they will not be
able to act in real life communication setting. This means students can
only manage to use the target language communicatively outside the
classroom provided that the kind of practice activities they do in
classroom replicate real life communication situation outside the
classroom.
Types Of Communicative Activities
There are different types of communicative activities, but for the purpose
of this lesson we will only concentrate on the following:
- Information-gap activities (including simulation and role play);
- Reaching a consensus
- Interpersonal exchange
- Problem solving
- Jigsaw activities
As a practicing teacher it can be assumed that you are somehow

familiar with those names. So spend about 15 minutes to discussing
each kind of communicative practice and give one example for each.
Group activity
58
Feedback
Well done!
You seem to have the main idea of what each of those activities is. For a
better understanding of each type of communicative practice, brief
description of each type of activity is summarised bellow.
1- INFORMATION-GAP ACTIVITIES
As explained earlier, the expression above refers to the kind of practice

activities where students have to communicate in order to get the
information that they do not possess. This is what would naturally happen
in a communication situation outside the classroom. The following
examples demonstrate what information-gap activities are:
A- Students are divided into pairs (A&B). The teacher hands out copies
two sets of pictures of people with slight differences (one for student
A and the other for student B). Students ask questions to each other in
order to find out the differences between them. So, students are
supposed to asks questions in to find out how many differences there
are between the two pictures without showing the pictures to each
other.
B- Students role-play in pairs. Student A is given the information that

he/she needs to play the part of the travel agent and has all the
information about the hotel. On the other hand, student B is a
customer who wants to book a holiday in a hotel and insists on a
number of qualities that the hotel should have.
2- Problem solving (Desert Dilemma, which, in a way, looks like

reaching consensus)
Students are given a considerable amount of information and told to make

a decision. In task students will generally left on their own to complete
the task.
59
3- Interpersonal exchange
Students may be given a task where they have to find out things about
their partners and for that they have to conduct and interview or a survey.
Students may be given a task where they have to write each other’s
biography and for them to be able to do that they need to gather the
relevant information.
These are just a few examples of practice activities that can be taken to
the classroom in order to provide students with real life like
communication situation. Hence, students will be given the opportunity to
rehearse the language that is very likely to use outside the classroom in
different real life communication situation. For further reading you are
recommended to read your ELT/PP Modules, Harmer, J. 1983 and 2001.
Lesson summary
In this lesson we analysed the distinctive features of communicative

Summary activities. For an activity to be communicative it needs to trigger students
need to communicate by providing them with a specific communication
purpose to be achieved. Activities like information- gap exercises are
typical examples of communicative activities. These types of activities
can enhance communication because they resemble real life
communication.
Unit summary
In this unit you learned that the kinds of activities that teachers take to the
classroom are vitally important to prepare students to use language in the
classroom. Some of the activities that are likely to provide students with
Summary
communication skills include information-gap exercise, interpersonal
exchange and problem solving, only to name a few.
60
Further reading
1. Weir C (1990) Communicative Language Testing

Prentice Hall
3. Golebioswska A (1990) Getting Students to Talk
Prentince Hall
Assignment
1- Examine four of your lessons you have just taught.
To what extent are the activities communicative?
Is there anything you would change if you had to teach the same lessons
Assignment again? Why? Why not?
Feedback
For this assignment there is one correct answer. However the following
question may help you to analyse your lesson and the activity
Does the activity give students a communication need?
Do the students have a communication purpose achieve?
Is there nay kind of information gap?
Is the language to be used controlled by the teacher?
If you have answered YES to any of the question it means that there is
something wrong with the activity and you need to review it
61
Assessment
1- Choose a unit that will teach soon.
Design 5 different lessons with the practice activities following the

sequence that has been suggested here (from mechanical to
Assessment Communicative)
In this activity there is no one correct answer as people will be analysing

different lesson plans. What is important here is to check if the different
activities designed for the lessons conform to description provided in the
module for mechanical, meaningful and communicative activities, as
described in Unit 3 lessons 1 & 2.
62
Unit 4
Teaching Practice Report
Introduction
One of the main requirements for you to be awarded the Bachelors
Degree at Universidade Pedagógica is the practice teaching, for which a
report must be written and submitted to the English Department by all
students. Teaching practice is the highest and a crucial moment in the
training program, where students are expected to put all the acquired
skills and knowledge into practice.
Teaching practice includes class observation, analysis and evaluations of

lessons, identification of pedagogic issues or concerns, researching the
problem, planning lessons and adopting new strategies or techniques to
get round resolve the identified problems, assessing the innovations and
writing about it.
The teaching practice report is a kind of scientific work with an academic

purpose with very practical and clear objectives. Therefore, upon
completion of this unit you will be able to:
Demonstrate the capacity to integrate knowledge from different subject

areas.
Articulate specific scientific knowledge, pedagogical and didactical.

Outcomes
Describe teaching practice experiences in a scientific, coherent and
integrated manner.
Analyse educational issues in a scientific and critical manner.
Identify and describe the different parts of the teaching practice report.
Write the teaching practice report.
63
64 Unit 4 Teaching Practice Report
Lesson 1
The different components of the teaching practice report
By end of the lesson you will be able to:
- Identify different parts of the report
- Describe the presentation and organisation of the report

Outcomes
- Define a well written abstract and establish its importance.
Time
It is probably the first time that are being asked to produce this kind of
academic paper and it is true that it sounds challenging. However, you
should not take it as something from another planet. The essential thing
you need here is capability to integrate knowledge from other subject
areas, including, ELT/PP, Study Skills, Research Methods, Didactics of
Literature, to name only a few.
Spend about five minutes to think about what makes the teaching practice
report different from any other kinds of academic papers you may have
been asked to write during your studies?
Activity
64
Feedback
Well done! You have attempted to think of some good points.
In fact, what distinguishes the report with other kinds of academic papers
you have written so far is that it is strictly governed by specific regulation
mandated by the University. The Current UP regulation spells out
specification related to presentation and organisation of the report and its
content. In this lesson more time will be spent on the analysis of aspects
regarding the content of the report. With respect to aspects regarding the
organisation and presentation of the report you can simply refer to the
academic regulation since they are technical straight forward aspects.
Let us now look at the outline of the organisation of the report.
As may know, all Year III teaching practice reports must be framed
according to University regulations, just like in the outline that follow:
I. A COVER PAGE
- Candidate’s name
- Title or topic of the proposed report work
- The course
- Name of institution
- Academic year.
The second page is quite similar to the cover page and must have the
following items:
- Candidate’s name
- Title or topic of the proposed report work
- The nature of the academic work, the department, the city

and the degree sought
- The supervisor/tutor
- Name of institution
- The City and Academic year.
II. Table of contents
65
III. List of abbreviation
IV. Content
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Review of literature
- Discussion
- Conclusion
V. Bibliography
VI. Appendices/annexes
As has been said in the paragraph above, number I, II, V and VI of the
outline are technical and straight forward and you can simply be referred
to in the relevant parts of the academic regulation. More time will be
spent in the analysis of four parts that comprise the content: abstract,
introduction, discussion and conclusion.
Based on your experience from the readings you may have done in your
academic life, work in groups and discuss the kind of information you
would generally expect to find in an abstract and introduction. Spend 20
Activity minutes.
Feedback
You are quite right! You seem to have a basic idea of what is generally
included in an abstract and introduction. Let us now summarise the main
ideas.
An abstract is a succinct summary of a completed research/academic

paper. A very well written abstract would generally tell the reader main
focus of the paper and make the reader want to learn more about your
research. So, an abstract can be compared to a window shop display
which may attract the window shopper or not. Likewise, an abstract
should enable the reader to decide whether or not to read the full text. It
should contain the main ideas presented in the simplest way possible the
66
purpose/objectives, methods and findings. It is usually the last part of an

academic paper to be written.
The next point is the introduction
The main purpose of an introduction in a paper is to justify the reasons

for writing about your topic and what the writer wants to achieve with the
paper, introduce the topic to the reader by providing an generally
overview/ background information of the research topic. In the very case
of the teaching practice report, what you are expected to include in the
introduction are the following things:
- The objective of the report
- Statement of the problem
- Methodology
- An outline of the report
It is worth saying that the problem that needs to be sated here is an

educational issue or concern you must have caused some intrigue or need
to be dealt with in order to maximize students learning. You may have
notice such an issue or concern during your own lesson or even when you
were observing a class of your peer teacher.
Review of literature:
After the identification of the problem, of course you need to consult

relevant literature so that you get more informed about the problem and
become an informed teacher. As Richards (1996) argues ‘an informed
teacher has more extensive knowledge and deeper awareness about
different components and dimensions of teaching and is better prepared
to make appropriate judgement and decision in teaching’.
67
Lesson summary
In this lesson we have seen that an academic paper has to abide by certain
Summary principles, which are outlined in “Regulamento Académico” in this very
case of Universidade Pedagógica.
With regard to the text, the report should have a beginning, middle and an
end, which can be referred to as abstract, introduction, development and
conclusion. All these need not to stand as independent entities. Instead,
they need stand separate parts of a whole. Therefore they need to be
cohesive and flow smoothly.
68
Lesson 2
The main part of the Teaching Practice Report
Let us now analyse the Discussion, which constitute the main scope of
the teaching practice report.
Work in groups and discuss what you think should be part of the
discussion. Spend 30 minutes in activity.
Discussion
Feedback
You are quite right! You seem to have a clear idea of what Discussion
should contain. Let us summarise the main ideas.
The discussion should at least be exhaustive as to include the following

points:
a) Brief school description (setting, location, main compartments and

particular impression felt in the place, such as the students behaviour
and aptitude for learning)
b) Lesson observation and Lesson planning into practice: You have

observed lessons in order to gather enough critical knowledge so that
you can assess the approach and techniques used by the class/peer
teacher, the interaction among students and the teacher, or any other
issues or concerns related to learning and teaching process. So, at this
stage of your training you should have had enough opportunities to
conduct lessons on your own, either with or without the supervision
in order to gather enough knowledge and experience that would
enable you to become more autonomous and more critical teacher.
69
The report should explicitly and thoroughly discuss your lessons

addressing the identified issues or concerns while interacting with
students. Most important, is the knowledge of the content of a lesson
plan, the structure and the activities within each stage. Needless to
mention that it is extremely relevant for you to be able to comment
on the success or drawbacks of each lessons discussed in the report.
The evaluation of your attempts to address the issues or concerns

detected during the observation phase ought to go beyond the
analysis of successes or weaknesses. The evaluation should go deeper
and explain what you believe to be the main reasons for success or
failure of your teaching.
As has been mentioned in unit 1, the reflection process is cyclical.

Therefore, you should also say how you could do things better if you
were to teach your lesson again. This reflection exercise will help you
to get more insight about different aspects related to the teaching and
learning of English. In addition, this activity will allow you grow
professionally and become an autonomous teacher to an extent that
even if you are on your own you will manage to do self observation.
This will enable you to bring about change in your classroom
practices and enable your students to achieve their learning goals in a
more effective manner.
The last part of the report to be discussed here is the conclusion.
Spend 10 minutes discussing in group what is generally included

in a conclusion.
Excellent! It seems that your previous readings have showed you

what a conclusion should contain.
Activity
Feedback
A very well written conclusion is supposed to be the restatement of

the main points discussed in the whole report. This means you should
never include anything new other than what you have discussed in
70
the report. Finally, it is expected that you make useful remarks about
language teaching and learning as felt during your teaching practice.
Lesson summary
It has been shown in the lesson that Discussion is the main part of the
Summary report that should discuss the trainee’s experience on Teaching Practice
on the light or information gathered in the review of literature. In fact
what is expected here is a description of the pedagogical concern you are
trying to solve as well as your attempt to solve it. This should be followed
by an evaluation in which you should said if your attempt to resolve the
concern had been effective or not and why. The reflection about the
experience should be such that the trainee states how things should be
done better next time.
Unit summary
In this unit you learned that the Teaching Practice Report should mainly
focus on the identification of an educational issues or concern that you
need to deal with. In your report you should present the readings you did
Summary
in order to understand the problem deeply. Also, you need to give a
detailed description of your attempt to tackle the problem and evaluate its
impact. You are expected to finish with some ideas how you could do
things better.
Further reading
1. Larsen- Freeman, D& Long, H.M.(1991). An

Introduction to 2 language Research. London.
Longman
2. Elliott, J,(1991). Action Research for educational

Change. Philadelphia: OUP
3. Brown, J.D (1988). Understanding research in

second language learning. Cambridge: CUP
71
Assignment
1. Identify an educational issue or concern. This could be from your
own classes or an observed class.
2. Read relevant books that address the issue or concern and write
summaries
Assignment
Feedback
What is important here is you should research and find out more about
the problem that you are interested in. In this research you should try to
find a deep understanding of the problem and alternative ways of doing
things in order to overcome the problem.
Assessment
1. Device an action plan to deal with the concern
2. Plan lessons with innovation and teach

Assessment 3. Evaluate your lessons
4. Put all those bits together to write your teaching practice report
This is a practical work for which there is no one correct answer as

people will be focussing on different pedagogical concerns. However,
after put the different parts together, the following question may help to
see if you are on the right track or not:
• Has a description of the school environment been provided?
• Does the report present a relevant pedagogical problem?
• Has relevant literature been consulted?
• Have alternative solutions been presented?
72
• Has a description of the attempt to resolve the identified problem

been presented?
• Has the evaluation been presented?
• Have any lesson plans been attached to support whatever has

been said in the report?
• Have the reason(s) for success or failure been presented?
• Have any suggestions for improvement been presented?
Now, if you have answered NO to any of the question, that is an

indication that something is wrong and you need to review you report till
you can answer YES to all question presented here
Congratulations!
You have successfully completed the module.
73

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MODULE

Teaching Practice Module

Rua Comandante Augusto Cardoso N° 135

Author: Aberto Manjate

Instructional Designing: Lurdes Nakala

Graphic Designing: Aurélio Armando Pires Ribeiro

Edition: Valdinácio Florêncio Paulo

Getting around this MODULE 10

Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 48

About this MODULE

How this MODULE is structured

 If the course is suitable for you.

 What you will already need to know.

 What you can expect from the course.

The overview also provides guidance on:

 Where to get help.

 Course assignments and assessments.

We strongly recommend that you read the overview carefully before

The course content

 An introduction to the unit content.

 Core content of the unit with a variety of learning activities.

 Assignments and/or assessments, as applicable.

 Course content and structure.

 Course reading materials and resources.

 Course support (assigned tutors, technical help, etc.)

Your constructive feedback will help us to improve and enhance this

Welcome to Teaching Practice

related to English Language Teaching and, therefore, improve your

opportunity to put into practice all the knowledge and skills

acquired/learned in the ELT/PP (English Language Teaching: Principles

and Practices) module and be encouraged to engage in reflective teaching

an autonomous teacher. We would like to congratulate you on your

knowledge and attitudes towards improvement of your teaching skills.

develop the necessary professionalism that is expected of a teacher of

requirement for the completion of the Bachelors Degree at Universidade

Teaching Practice has the following main objectives:

1. To provide the prospective teachers with an opportunity to

2. To provide the future teacher with practical experience in school

3. To provide with an opportunity to put theories into practice and

4. To enable the student teachers effectively to plan and prepare

5. To develop skill in the use of fundamental procedures, techniques

6. To develop desirable professional interests, attitudes and ideas

7. To enable student teachers to acquire desirable characteristics /

8. To provide student teachers with an opportunity to have teaching

9. To provide an opportunity for self evaluation and to discover

10. To develop skills in future teachers related to teaching like fluent

11. To provide an opportunity to liaise with school environment, its

Teaching Practice Module- is this

Upon completion of the Teaching Practice Module Teaching Practice

 Establish the importance of reflective teaching

 Analyse your own lesson critically.

 Change you present classroom practices

 Develop autonomy and ability to try out new techniques

Essentially you will be taking control of your learning environment. As a

We recommend that you take time now—before starting your self-

The “How to study” web site is dedicated to study skills resources.

Another “How to study” web site with useful links to time

Help Alberto Mandjate

Faculty of Languages: English Department

Rua: João Carlos Raposo Beirão no 135 Maputo

Monday to Friday: 9:00 – 14:00

Mobile phone: 84 399 5490 or 82 399 5490

In each province there is a resource centre available and a local provincial

For any assistance related to academic issues the Provincial English

If the course is suitable for you.

What you will already need to know.

What you can expect from the course.

Where to get help.

Course assignments and assessments.

An introduction to the unit content.

Core content of the unit with a variety of learning activities.

Assignments and/or assessments, as applicable.

Course content and structure.

Course reading materials and resources.

Course support (assigned tutors, technical help, etc.)

Establish the importance of reflective teaching

Analyse your own lesson critically.

Change you present classroom practices

Develop autonomy and ability to try out new techniques

Explain the concept of reflective teaching and its importance.

Explain the approach to classroom investigation.

Change classroom practices in order to improve your teaching.

Develop your critical analysis capacity.

Develop self observation capacity

Define learning objectives and the content of a lesson