Ministerio de Educación

Programación Educativa

Lesson Planning
Aiding Learners and Instructors.

Wilmer Zambrana
Norlan Rodríguez
Managua, January 2021
 Lesson Planning Module

Content
Unit 1: Lesson Plan Basis........................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Definition ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 Planning a lesson. ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
a. Coherent: .............................................................................................................................................................................. 4

b. Varied: ................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

c. Flexible:.................................................................................................................................................................................. 4

1.4 Lesson planning for young learners. ............................................................................................................................... 5

1.5 Material Design. .................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Unit 2: Lesson Plan Components ............................................................................................................................................ 6
2.1 Goals .................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

2.3 Language Skills ................................................................................................................................................................. 6

2.4 Pacing. ................................................................................................................................................................................ 8

2.5 Activities. ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8

2.6 Stages of a lesson plan ....................................................................................................................................................... 9

Opening stage: ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Development stage: ............................................................................................................................................................... 9

Closure stage: .........................................................................................................................................................................10

Assessment: .............................................................................................................................................................................10

2.7 Mined Lesson format. ........................................................................................................................................................10

2.8 Monthly lesson planning ............................................................................................... ¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Unit 3: Lesson plan and Approaches .................................................................................................................................... 11
Annex ............................................................................................................................................................................................15
MINED- Lesson Plan Format ...................................................................................................................................................16

ELT 2
 Lesson Planning Module

Unit 1: Lesson Plan Basis

1.1 Definition
A lesson plan is an important component in the Education System and plays a key role in the
learning process. It is described such as a simple checklist of activities or as a detailed two-page
type lesson plan that follows a prescribe format. Additionally, a lesson plan serves as a combination
guide, resource, and historical document reflecting our teaching philosophy, student population,
textbooks and our goals for our students.

1.2 Planning a lesson.

Some years ago, a student teacher told a joke about planning. Teachers have four strategies for
planning lessons, she said. There are “staffroom planners” who plan their next lesson over a
quick cup of coffee in the break. Then, there are “corridor planners” who plan their lessons on
the way to the classroom, and “instant planners” who do not start planning until they are inside
the classroom. And then, you have “Glory Hallelujah” planners, who do not believe in planning
and put their faith in heavenly inspiration. (Munden, 2018) “We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” (Aristotle). A teacher is always facing new situations in
the classroom and students are always expecting something new. Keeping in mind the complexity
of teacher’s duty, it is necessary that he or she has a guide to carry out a class. So, regardless of
level, students’ age and so on; a teacher must have a lesson plan which aids him/her to lead
his/her pupils to learning day by day.

We plan a lesson because: It avoids off-task

behavior and
It is necessary for keeps students
substitude doing something
It records what we teachers, who is since the teacher
did in class and it expected to step does not
It serves as a map is valuable when in and teach what improvise tasks.
or checklist that planning had been planned
guides us in assessment. for the day.
knowing what to
do next.

ELT 3
 Lesson Planning Module

1.3 Lesson plan characteristics

The three main features stated by Jensen (in Celce-Murcia 2001: 406-7) are
coherence, variety, and flexibility.

a. Coherent:
A lesson plan is coherent when there are smooth transitions from one activity to the next and when
students can understand the rationale for each activity. Each activity should also connect the
learning goals of the lesson. For instance, after watching a video, the teacher can ask the students
to do a writing/speaking activity in which they have to use information from the previous activity.
This also mean, on a global level, that lesson plans should be related and connected over the days
and weeks of a unit or course.

b. Varied:
Lesson plans should exhibit some variety in terms of topics, types of activities, skills, pace, grouping
techniques, and materials. The following quote by Davies and Pearse (2000: 122-3) reinforces this
idea:

“Lesson plans need to vary according to the age and level of the learners, the objectives, the time of day,
and even the time of year. Young learners need more changes of activity and more physical activity. They
have much shorter attention spans than older learners, and can get very restless. Older learners at higher
levels can sometimes work enthusiastically at the same task for quite long periods of time. Lessons at the
end of a long morning, the end of a long day need to be lighter than other lessons”

c. Flexible:
Lesson plans are to help us shape the space, time, and learning we share with students, that is, a
lesson plan is mutable, not written in stone. Lesson plans have to be created taking into account
students’ proficiency level, their ages, and the goals to be achieved that day.

ELT 4
 Lesson Planning Module

1.4 Lesson planning for young learners.

Young learners often see teachers as a source of motivation; therefore, it is crucial to display a
positive and cheerful behavior as well as friendliness at all times. When planning a lesson, teachers
should take into consideration the learning strategies they will be promoting with their students.
First of all, consider affective strategies that develop social interactions, emotions, self-confidence
and self-esteem. For instance, peer talks, giving praise, positive feedback, listening to each other,
speaking in front of others and sharing works. Second, have in mind language learning awareness
strategies. That is, enjoying learning a new language, discussing why we all make mistakes and why
it is important to practice. Finally, include cognitive strategies that develop children´s ability to deal
with linguistic information. To do so, try with activities to help students remember words, guess
meaning, connect and associate information. (Pinter, 2006)

1.5 Material Design.

Primary Schools teachers use what we call “Topic-based planning” which means that a topic is
chosen from a term or unit and all the activities in most areas of the curriculum are related to that
one broad topic. ELT teachers have also the freedom to plan their own materials. Once the topic is
selected, teachers will typically brainstorm activities and games that can be used to introduce,
practice or assess the new language related to the topic.

Creating own authentic material provides the learners with many significant
advantages and promotes them with high motivation and interest in language
learning and lead to improving communicative competence (Akbari & Razavi, 2015).

One effective way to catch students´ attention is by facilitating them authentic materials which
means that they manipulate what they are familiar with. For example, we as teachers can bring
pictures, flashcards, charts, books, music and videos, real objects that students have at home so
they do not feel they are being taken to an unknown field.

ELT 5
 Lesson Planning Module

Unit 2: Lesson Plan Components

Lesson planning is often viewed as a key aspect of teaching a successful lesson, during the planning
phase, teacher makes decisions about goals, activities, resources, timing, grouping, and other
aspects of the lesson (Farrel, 2002). So, even when planning a lesson is seen as a whole process;
such process involves some steps that are connected and they work together to have an effective
result inside the classroom.

2.1 Goals
Everything in life is done with a purpose that helps us to work in order to achieve what it has been
planned previously. When planning, teachers need to bear in mind the aim of the class which
establish what students are supposed to be able to do at the end of the class or unit. Specifying
concrete goals for students´ learning will help you determine the kind of teaching and learning
activities you will use in class, while those activities will define how you will check whether the
learning goals have been accomplished or not (Milkova, 2012).

MINED Lesson planning establishes the usage of “performance/achievement

indicators” so as to check the learning outcomes of a specific lesson or unit.

Specifying our goals will give us clearer ideas to make more effective decisions on the activities.
What do I want students to learn? This is a question that gives us a concrete result at the end of the
class. What teaching and learning activities will I use? This question permits us to think of all the
activities, teaching strategies, and procedures we will use to achieve the previously stated
performance indicator. How will I check for understanding? In this part, we need to look for
evaluation materials, activities that aid us to check if students have achieved what is established in
the lesson objective.

2.3 Language Skills

Since English is a language subject, some basic skills come easily. After all, speaking, listening,
reading and writing are the bread and butter of learning English (Munden, 2018)

ELT 6
 Lesson Planning Module

A. Speaking: Speaking involves being able to produce language orally so that others can
understand us (Munden, 2018). The ability to speak a second or foreign language well is a very
complex task if we try to understand the nature of what appears to be involved. To begin with,
speaking is used for many different purposes, and each purpose involves different skills (Shuming,
2002). Speaking is the skill that permits us to show how much we can do when we want to
communicate so, we need to provide our students enough activities and opportunities to speak. As
we are working with children, all activities inside the classroom should meant to promote
communication meanwhile they are performing them.

B. Listening: When it comes to listening skill, it is thought that someone must be able to understand
what people say in order to communicate (Munden, 2018). See sample below:

Radio voice: Mayday, mayday, we German coastguard: I see, yes. So, what
are sinking! I repeat, are you sinking
we are sinking! about?

Listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learner. Without
understanding input at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin. Listening is thus
fundamental to speaking (Nunan, 2002). As it has been seen before, speaking and listening are
always connected, and learners must be able to understand the message so that communication
takes place. Teachers have to bring variety of activities that allow students to speak and listen. We
work with children, so we must bring activities that permit them to engage in short conversations
meanwhile they are having fun in the English class.

C. Reading: It is a significant source of language input for English learners; it is a receptive skill
which means that a language is taken in and processed, but not actively produced. Despite that, it
supports the development of various skills, including the growth of vocabulary, grammar, writing
and so on (Tishakov, 2018). Reading is not something we learn once and for all, but it a life-long
skill that we continue to develop throughout school and afterwards too (Munden, 2018). Children
enjoy reading, the fact that they are in first grade or second does not mean that they will not do it.
Teachers can bring simple stories with images that explain what it is happening.

ELT 7
 Lesson Planning Module

D. Writing: “When we speak, we continually adjust what we say depending on the response of the
listener. When we write, we do not usually get a response until afterwards” (Munden, 2018) There
is no doubt that writing is a difficult skill for L2 learners to master. The difficulty lies not only in
generating and organizing ideas, but also in translating these ideas into readable texts. The skills
involved in writing are highly complex. L2 writers must pay attention to higher level skills of
planning and organizing as well as lower level skills of spelling, punctuation, word choice, and so on
(Raimmes, 2002). That means that writing is always requiring a higher level of comprehension and
mastery of skills that are useful to understand and then, transmit a message. Writing requires skills
in grammar, spelling and vocabulary, as well as high-level skills such as the ability to organize
one’s thought and write in different genres (Munden, 2018). We work in primary education so
students of first and second grade cannot write long paragraphs, but it is necessary that we as
teachers begin to encourage them and offer space to write whatever they want to promote the
habit and thus, if they are getting better in knowledge, writing will be part of such learning process.

2.4 Pacing.
Knowing how much time to allocate to each part of the lesson is thus an important decision which
teachers must make while planning or teaching a lesson. It has been claimed that the problem of
pacing is almost entirely a matter of teachers covering material so rapidly that students frequently
do not have the opportunity to internalise it. It is not what is poured into a student that counts but
what is planted” (Conway, 2000) “. So, we need to be patient when planning, it is important to
think of how much time we are going to give to each activity so that students do not feel like they
are running out of time because that is not healthy for the learning process. Good teachers are not
the ones who finish the contents and monthly planning period in the right time but the ones who
manage to teach and accomplish the performance indicators, so that students learn.

2.5 Activities.
There is a need to be aware of innovative and powerful strategies for the improvement of learning
a foreign language in an academic setting (Avila, 2015) That is to say that a class is always based
on different learning activities that are designed to achieve a specific aim. To be fully prepared, and
confident in the classroom, teachers need to look for what is suitable in their educational context
(Avila, 2015). We work with children, so suggested learning activities are: games, songs, dances,
drawing and colouring.

ELT 8
 Lesson Planning Module

2.6 Stages of a lesson plan

An effective lesson plan starts with appropriate and clearly written goals. A goal is a description of a
learning outcome (Farrel, 2002). So, we cannot talk about stages of a lesson plan without talking
about the goals that such lesson plan is designed to achieve. As a matter of fact, children do not
realize if they have achieved or not a goal but is our duty to establish which are the parameters to
evaluate if they have done well or need improvement.

□ What do you want the students to learn and why?

□ Are all the tasks necessary – worth doing and at the right level? What materials, aids, and so
on, will you use and why?
□ What type of interaction will you encourage – pair work or group work – and why?
□ What instructions will you have to give and how will you give them (written, oral, etc.)? What
questions will you ask?
□ How will you monitor student´s understanding during the different stages of the lesson?
These questions are useful to think about all we want to do when performing the lesson plan and
they are useful to design every stage of the class. (Farrel, 2002).

Opening stage:
In this phase, we need to take into consideration three elements: The warm up, which is a 5-10
minute activity to increase motivation, prepare students to encounter the new language, or to wake
up students and let them know that something great is coming. The review of the last topic, which
plays an important role because students make connections with prior knowledge. And, the
presentation of the new target language, which helps students get familiar with the new language
and make associations. Activities like games, songs; or materials like pictures, charts, real objects
can be useful for this stage.

Development stage:
As the lesson goes on, some techniques are useful to make students practice what is being learned
in the class for example, drillings, group works, dynamics like games where each student has a role
and thus, he or she can clarify his/her doubts. The teacher presents the activity, checks for
students´ understanding, and encourages active student involvement. Teachers can get students to

ELT 9
 Lesson Planning Module

interact using pair work and/or group work (Farrel, 2002). Meanwhile students are performing the
activities, teacher observes and determines if they are doing good or if there are some problems
that need to be treated later on the class.

Closure stage:
In this stage, it is necessary to consolidate and internalize students´ learning by giving the
opportunity to show what they have learned. Here, short dialogues, group work, oral presentations
are useful. Moreover, some assessment activities like games, tasks or projects let students carry out
the activity while the teacher is circulating in the classroom monitoring their use of the language, to
examine students’ progress and achievement. We can use questions that requires students´ own
answers, or closures activities like saying the name of something represented on a picture or
reading a story where the learned knowledge is presented. For this phase the teacher checks what
the students have learned by asking questions such as “What did you learn?” and “How did you
feel about these activities? The teacher then gives a preview about the possibilities for future
lessons (Farrel, 2002).

Assessment:
This is the last part of the class. This stage is used to clarify students´ doubts keeping in mind their
self-esteem so, this can be done generally. Moreover, teacher can give some tips for further
learning at home. If possible, a brief explanation of the class would be perfect.

2.7 Mined Lesson format.

The Ministry of Nicaraguan Education, in its “Didactic planning manual and Evaluation of learning
in Secondary Education, suggested a model for lesson planning which includes as key components:
lesson plan information (subject, date, grade, unit), performance/achievement indicators, content,
learning strategies (opening, middle, closure activities) and the assessment (homework, reflections,
observations) (MINED, 2010).

ELT 10
 Lesson Planning Module

Unit 3: Lesson plan and Approaches

Planning a lesson may vary depending on the approach the teacher is using. We may choose the
approach of lesson planning according to the language focus, or intention in the lesson.
Traditionally, we have used the PPP approach, but modern approaches have emerged.

WIPPEA: The WIPPEA Model, an acronym that stands for Warm-up, Introduction, Presentation,
Practice, Evaluation, Application, is a lesson plan model that represents a continuous teaching cycle
in which each learning concept builds on the previous one, serving as an instructional roadmap for
instructors.

PPP: The PPP Model, stands for Presentation, Practice, and Production. This model is used
commonly to teach grammar or vocabulary. However, we can include other skills for producing
the language (speaking or writing)

In this sample, the lesson follows the

model PPP, it starts reviewing cloth
words, presenting the new target
language (material adjectives) through
visuals, and drills. Then, it is provided a
controlled activity where students
practice the words. Finally, it gives the
opportunity to internalize the target
language through a writing task.
Students produce the language when
writing about themselves and reading
the sentences aloud.

ELT 11
 Lesson Planning Module

PDP: The PDP Model is focused on two receptive skills Reading and Listening. The PDP, stands for
Pre- During and Post activities. The idea is to prepare students before reading or listening the text.
Then, provide them with main tasks while reading and finally giving the opportunity to go further
the text.

PRE Stage: Students become familiar with the topic , the language and essential vocabulary they will use
during the lesson

•Activate schema through use of visuals, topic related discussions or predicting

•Provide background and situation related to the text in an interactive way
•Present and Practice vocabulary and structures related to the text.

DURING- Stage: Studets interact directly with the text a number of times, each time with a specific
purpose that leads to gradually gain more detailed understanding of the text

•Provide multiple opportunities (at least three) for students to hear/read the text
•Each Listening/Reading has an interactive Task requiring some kind of response from students.
•Task move from general to specifc understanding. From getting the Gist to details.
•Allow time for students to check comprehension, ask questions, clarify vocabulary, and move to
deeper understanding.

POST- Stage: Students reinforce their understanding through expanding on the text or personalizing the
topic using other language skills (speaking or writing)

•Requires students to be creative and to expand on the text using other skilss
•Allow students reinforce new structures and vocabulary.

ELT 12
 Lesson Planning Module

ECRIF: ECRIF model equips teachers and learners with certain steps to follow. Each stage in ECRIF
contains hierarchic activities with different learning style that help promote meaningful learning. This
Framework stands for: Encounter → Clarify → Remember → Internalize → Fluency.

Lesson Students use passive voice in simple past tense to talk

When planning an Ecrif lesson it is
Aim: about general truth in a mingle activity
Content: Passive voice important to describe the essence
Activating Present some pictures about inventions, ask students to of the activity. What will the teacher
Schema: identify the images and in groups of 3 discuss a couple of
say/do? What will the students
questions. Then, mingle to report their answer
hopefully say and do? It is also
1) Point out images and ask “when was crucial to plan activities and assign
…..Invented/Created?” Who was …creator/ inventor? and
write the answer on the board
an appropriate time for their
2) Show structure cards of passive voice in simple past development. Are the activities
Encounter tense. E.g. The light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison.
logically planned?
Then, ask students to practice with a partner by completing
some sentence starters in pairs by using a dice. America/
 How can I help my students
discover, Harry potter/ write, etc.
encounter language they need?
Provide some pieces of sentences written on cards and ask
 How can I help my students
Clarify them to create a complete sentence. E.g. this book was _
- - by Ruben Dario. (write) clarify the meaning, form and
Give students a piece of paper with some Gap-filling
use of that language?
Remember exercises related to passive voice.
 How can I help my Students
Give students some pieces of information about some
current news and ask them to retell the story using passive remember/internalize that
Internalize
voice in simple past. language?

Place some verbs on the floor in present simple and make  How can I help my Students
Fluency a circle, then each student has to choose a verb to tell a fluently use that language?
short story about themselves.

ELT 13
 Lesson Planning Module

Bibliography

Akbari, O., & Razavi, A. (2015). Using Authentic Materials in the Foreign Language Classrooms: Teachers´ perspectives in
EFL Classes. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 105-116.

Allwright, R. (1994). The importance of interaction. Applied Linguistics, pp. 156-1171.

Avila, H. (2015). Creativity in the English Class: Activities to Promote EFL Learning. How Journal, 91-103.

Block, D., & Cameron, D. (2006). Globalization and Language Teaching. Foreign Language Teaching and Research.

Carrol, L. (1963). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland( p.59). New York: Macmillan.

Conway, L. (2000). Retrieved from Wise Old Sayings and quotes. Words to Live By.

Farrel, T. (2002). Lesson Planning and Classroom Management. In J. Richards, & W. Renandya, Methodology in Language
Teaching. An Anthology of Current Practice (pp. 30-35). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Jones, R. (2002). Teaching Pronunciation. In J. Richards, & W. Renandya, Methodology and Language Teaching. An
Anthology of Current Practice (pp. 175-188). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Milkova, S. (2012). Center for Research and Learning and Teaching. Academia edu.

Munden, J. (2018). Engelsk P mellomtrinnet. Oslo: GYLDENDAL AKADEMISK.

Nunan, D. (2002). Teaching Listening. In J. Richards, & W. Renandya, Methodology and Language Teaching (pp. 235-
241). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Raimmes, A. (2002). Teaching Writing. In J. Richards, & W. Renandya, Methodology in Language Teaching. An Anthology
of Current Practice (pp. 303-306). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Shaunnessey, M. (1982). Less ir More: Pacing in the ESL. ERIC, 1-6.

Shrum, L., & Glisan, E. (1994). Teacher’s handbook: Contextualized language instruction. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Shuming, K. (2002). Teaching Speaking. In J. Richards, & W. Renandya, Methodology in Language Teacher. An Anthology
of Current Practice (pp. 201-204). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Tishakov, T. (2018). Reading Skills and Strategies. In H. Bohn, M. Dypedahl, Myklevold, & Anita, Teaching and Learning
English (pp. 106-119). Oslo: CAPPELEN DAMM AKADEMISK.

Velandia, R. (2008, December 25). The Role of Warming Up Activities in Adolescent Students' Involvement during the
English Class. Profile Issues in Teachers` Professional Development, pp. 9-26.

Yinger, R. (1980). A Study of Teacher Planning. The Elementary School Journal, 107-127.

ELT 14
 Lesson Planning Module

Annex

ELT 15
 Lesson Planning Module

MINED- Lesson Plan Format

A. Lesson Plan Information Grade Dates:
Subject: _________________
School: _____________________________________________________________
Unit: _____________________________________________________________
Topic: □ ________________________________________ Time: ________
□ ________________________________________
□ ________________________________________
□ ________________________________________

B. Performance Indicators
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Learning strategies
Opening Activities
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Middle Activities
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Closing Activities
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. Homework:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
E. My reflections on the lesson / Observations
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ELT 16