CELTA

LESSON PLAN

CANDIDATE: Sal Tatrainee COURSE DAY: LEVEL: LENGTH:

8 Elementary 60 mins

LESSON AIM(S): To present and practice present continuous to describe actions happening around
now through the context of people standing at a bus stop.

SUBSIDIARY AIM(S): To practice listening for specific information in the context of a couple talking on
the phone about what they are doing.

PERSONAL AIM(S):
 To experiment with different ways of making tasks clear (exemplification, demonstration, etc.)
 To reduce unnecessary teacher talking – especially during feedback stages (avoid echoing)
 To monitor appropriately for the task (don’t engage when it’s not necessary)

MATERIAL (including specific reference to c/book, page, exercise if appropriate):

Cutting Edge Elementary – Pearson Education Ltd – Module 10

ASSUMPTIONS / RATIONALE:
This can be open prose or bullet points. Say what you think the students already know (relevant to the
lesson) and give the reasons behind choices you’ve made (e.g. about materials, order or activities, etc.)

 The students are likely to have been exposed to present continuous before (movies, travel,
previous studies) and are likely to have no problems with the meaning.

 They are likely to still make mistakes when forming it – particularly in relation to auxiliary verbs so
I will focus on providing practice – particularly, oral practice.

 I did the grammar box before Language focus exercise 2 because this is the main written practice
and to consolidate their knowledge before practicing (testing immediately could demotivate
these Ss). I adapted the grammar box to have the full form and the contracted form (to highlight
it) and I have not ‘given’ the negative form (most of the Ss are likely to know it).

 Language focus exercise 2 – I had to retype – there is an error in sentence c. (She’s writing an
envelope.) I changed it so it’s ‘She’s writing on an envelope.’ Note: She’s addressing an envelope
would also be correct but I wouldn’t introduce ‘addressing’.

 I removed practice activity 1 as it is focusing on the written form of –ing verbs but the Ss are then
not necessarily required to use these verbs. I modified practice 2 so the Ss write the –ing form
first.

 Final practice activity – I changed the question to – ‘What am I doing?’ The other person guesses.
This is because of the question form focus so far.

Cambridge CELTA course, Teacher Training Dept., Bítovská 3, 140 00 Praha 4, Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 261 638 Fax: +420 261 261 880 E-mail: ttraining@akcent.cz Website: www.akcent.cz
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ANALYSING & CONVEYING TARGET LANGUAGE

Please attach this sheet to your lesson plan if you are planning to teach any
Grammar, Vocabulary or Function.

1) State what you see as the most important features of the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target
language. These points should be relevant to the lesson you are teaching; you do not need to provide a
comprehensive “grammar book” analysis of the TL.

2) Unless this is very clear from your procedure, include HOW you will convey the information and how you
plan to check the students’ understanding (time-lines, CCQs, etc.).

3) Anticipate any areas of meaning, form, or pronunciation for your target language that may be difficult for
your students, and say how you will address these problems should they arise.

This lesson will focus on positive and negative forms of present continuous for activities happening
around now. Question form will not be included) apart from the question – What’s …. doing? / What
are …. doing?

Meaning

Present continuous can be used to talk about:

 an event or activity that
o is ‘happening’ around now
o started before now (i.e. in the past)
o may continue after now (i.e. into the future)

past future
now

He’s waiting for the bus.

Form

Positive

Subject + am/is/are + verb + ing (e.g. Dan is waiting for a bus. / Dan’s waiting for a bus)

I am I’m I’m waiting for a bus.

is
She She’s She’s waiting for a bus.
He He’s He’s waiting for a bus.
It It’s verb + ing It’s waiting for a bus.

We are We’re We’re waiting for a bus.

You You’re You’re waiting for a bus.
They They’re They’re waiting for a bus.

Note: The subject and auxiliary verb (am, is, are) are usually contracted.

Cambridge CELTA course, Teacher Training Dept., Bítovská 3, 140 00 Praha 4, Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 261 638 Fax: +420 261 261 880 E-mail: ttraining@akcent.cz Website: www.akcent.cz
 CELTA

Negative

Subject + am/is/are + not + verb + ing

There are two different ways of contracting the negative for 2nd and 3rd person

I am not I’m not

She She’s not She isn’t

He is not He’s not He isn’t
It It’s not It isn’t verb + ing

We We’re not We aren’t

You are not You’re not You aren’t
They They’re not They aren’t

Pronunciation

1) The main verb (lexical verb) is stressed.

E.g. She’s eating lunch. – eating is stressed.

2) Pronunciation of the pronouns and the ‘s

I’m /aɪm/
She’s /ʃi:z/
He’s /hi:z/
It’s /ɪts/
We’re /weə/
You’re /jɔ:/
They’re /ðeə/

3) The ‘ing’ form of the verb – the final part is /ɪŋ/

Anticipated Problems and possible solutions with the TL

Anticipated problem Possible Solution

Meaning
1) Students that have travelled quite a bit may 1) If a student brings it up – acknowledge their
have been exposed to present continuous for example and say that today we will do just
planned future events and be confused. this meaning.
Form
1) Using the wrong auxiliary verb (e.g. She are 1) If this happens after the form has been
having lunch) clarified see if the student can self-correct or
board it for group error correction (group

Cambridge CELTA course, Teacher Training Dept., Bítovská 3, 140 00 Praha 4, Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 261 638 Fax: +420 261 261 880 E-mail: ttraining@akcent.cz Website: www.akcent.cz
 CELTA

correction if a number of Ss are doing it).

2) Students will possibly have problems with 2) This could come up with ‘swimming’. When
spelling some of the –ing forms of the verbs doing feedback – clarify the spelling quickly
(i.e. recognizing when to double the final highlight the rule but don’t spend too long
consonant) on it (get Ss to notice the pattern C-V-C…)

3) Negatives – students might try the 2nd
contraction pattern with I (e.g. I amn’t eating
lunch Vs I’m not eating lunch.)
Pronunciation
1) Ss are likely to struggle with some of the
contracted forms.
3) Refer students back to the table and that ‘I’
is an exception. Perhaps prompt and see if
the student can self-correct first.
1) Drilling the pronouns and contraction is
included in the plan. After this if students
make mistakes consider correcting and
having them say it again (or prompting). If
the student that made the mistake is
particularly shy, perhaps do delayed
correction.

Cambridge CELTA course, Teacher Training Dept., Bítovská 3, 140 00 Praha 4, Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 261 638 Fax: +420 261 261 880 E-mail: ttraining@akcent.cz Website: www.akcent.cz