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Teacher Development Course

Lesson Plan Template
Assessed Lesson 1

Name: Jane Atkinson Level: A2 Number of learners: 10

Length of lesson: 60m Topic / theme: Grandparents Date: September 2020
Learning Aims (what your learners will have done or achieved by the end of the lesson):
Learners will be better about to ask and answer questions about their grandparents (or other old family members) by
using the past simple of the verb TO BE in affirmative, negative and interrogative
Personal aims:
I will make sure my instructions are clear. This is especially important before they go to breakout rooms as I cannot
check on them all at the same time. I will ICQ when necessary. I will project and also chatbox questions so they remain
in the breakout groups. I will demo the freer practice.

Materials to be used: (cite author’s name, book title, date and publisher / website link and date consulted where relevant)

Powerpoint – self-generated
Handout – self-generated
Both with materials from pp.60-61
Adrian Doff, Craig Thaine, Herbert Puchta, Jeff Stanks, Peter Lewis-Jones, Empower, A2, Cambridge English 2015
Track 47.
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Class Profile
The class consists of 10 Mexican adult learners aged 20 years old to early 40s. Their level is low to mid A2. Their backgrounds
range from university students to professionals in a variety of fields such as IT to Sales. They take free General English classes on
Saturday mornings as a volunteer practice group for the CELTA course at The Anglo. The classes are based on the Communicative
Approach and focus on developing systems for communication and a focus on developing the four skills of reading, listening,
writing, and speaking.
They are interested in learning English for better job opportunities, travelling to different countries and to enjoy films, social media,
music, articles, and TV series in English and talking to friends in person and online. Most have had English lessons before though
this was at school and at university. They commented that their classes were traditional and teacher fronted with a focus on structure.
They have remarked that they prefer more collaborative learning where the teacher still focuses on helping them with grammar and
lexis and phonology, but they have the opportunities to speak and write as well as developing other skills (reading and listening) to
help them use English more confidently outside of class whether this is in the workplace, with friends, while travelling or enjoying
media in English.
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For LANGUAGE, complete the analysis below:

Circle your focus: LEXIS, FUNCTIONS or GRAMMAR
What is the target language?
Past simple verb TO BE
Was/were in affirmative, negative, questions, and short answers for he/she and they.
e.g. She
was a doctor…
…when was she born?
Was he a doctor too?
Yes, he was.
Were they in the same class?
No, they weren’t.
They weren’t even friends at school.

Meaning / Use:

Used to talk about a state/action in the past that has finished.

e.g. She was a doctor. = She is not a doctor now.

Form:

He / She They

Affirmative
(+)
Subj + was Subj + were

Negative (-)

Subj + wasn’t Subj + weren’t

Question (?)
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Was he/she…? Were they…?

Short answers Yes, he was. Yes, they were.

No, she wasn’t. No, they weren’t.

Phonology:

Affirmatives and questions – the verb TO BE is NOT stressed.

e.g. She was a doctor.

/ʃəwəzə'dɒktə/

e.g. Was he a doctor too?

/wəzhɪ:ə'dɒktətu:/

Was has its weak form with a schwah.

e.g. Were they in the same class?

/wəðeɪɪnðə'seɪmklæs/

Were has its weak form with a schwah.

Negatives and short answers – the verb TO BE is stressed.

e.g.They weren’t even friends at school.

/ðeɪ'wɜ:ntɪ:vənfrendzətsku:l/

- Were has its strong sound with /ɜ:/

e.g. Yes, he was.

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/jeshɪ:'wɒz/

Was has its strong sound with /ɒ/

Questions need a rising intonation to show they are questions.

e.g. Was he a doctor too?

LANGUAGE CLARIFICATION
How will you establish / convey meaning?
Using the listening text of a conversation about grandparents. This is clearly past about when they were younger. There will be a fill
the blank noticing activity to draw attention to the sentences with the TL.

How will you check meaning?

CCQs.
- When are all these examples happening? PAST or NOW?
- E.g. She was a doctor. Is she a doctor now? NO

How will you focus on form?

With the table (shown in analysis). Ls will complete it in groups using the marker sentences.

How will you focus on phonology?

I will drill a range of marker sentences and I will ask if TO BE is stressed. After that, I will elicit the answers to the rules.

ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT CLASS / LANGUAGE (e.g. what do they know about the topic of the lesson? What schematic
knowledge do your learners have of the target language / sub-skill(s)?):
 Learners have grandparents or older relatives and enjoy sharing personal information about them
 Learners know about their grandparents or an older relative’s life history
 Learners are aware of asking and answering questions in a conversation
 Learners can listen to a simple conversation and follow the main points.
 Learners how some basic vocab about family and life events and dates.
 Learners are A2 and can communicate on familiar topics like family.
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 Learners will know some basics of grammar such as verbs, subjects, negatives.
 Learners will have seen was/were before but are still unsure and make mistakes with form and pron.

Anticipated language problems for learners (meaning, form and phonology):

 Learners will form questions with the structure of affirmatives (subj+was/were).

 Learners will use strong forms of verb TO BE in affirmatives and questions.

Possible solutions:

 Controlled practice scaffolded with answers before freely making own Qs. T provides on the spot error correction in the
more controlled practices. Re-project the table for form if necessary.

 Drill the marker sentences and elicit rules. Use on the spot correction of this in controlled practices and delayed error
correction after the freer practice.

TASKS AND CLASS MANAGEMENT

Possible Problems
 It is the first class and learners do not know each other. They may not be very open or chatty.

 Learners may be mixed level and find the class easy/difficult.

 There will be problems with Zoom. Learners won’t know what to do. E.g. breakout rooms.

 Learners may struggle with learner centred techniques for language clarification and expect explanations

 Learners may have recently lost an older relative and will find it upsetting to discuss in class

Possible solutions:

 I will start with a quick ice breaker moving learners around breakout groups.
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 I will make a lot of breakout groups so learners can help each other. I will also have a lot of self-check activities so that the
weaker students are not ‘exposed’.

 All the materials will be a powerpoint and a doc that I will send in the chat. I will limit the use of zoom features to breakout
rooms.

 I will ensure that my CCQs are clear and use the visuals and sentences as support. I will give them processing time to
answer. I will make sure that the learners do the first one together for the Guided Discovery task for form to build confidence
and will be flexible if learners are solving the task using Spanish

 I will be clear that this can be about a relative or a family friend who can be alive by using an elderly aunt as an example
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STAGE NAME STAGE AIM PROCEDURES TIME INTER

(What is the purpose of
this stage?)
Lead-in To generate interest and (Task 1)
activate schemata
(Who does what?) mins (L->L, T-
>Ls etc)
 T shows learners the powerpoint with 2 questions 1 T-Ls
(copy into chatbox). T says that they will discuss
them for 3 minutes in groups.
 T creates breakout groups and monitors them for 3 L-L
interesting comments.
 T conducts brief feedback eliciting some interesting
points. 1 T-Ls

(4)
To get a general idea of (Task 2)
the situation and topic  T shows the 3 possible photos. T asks for a couple of 2 T-Ls
Text Stage of the conversation. key words to describe each photo. T says to listen for
To contextualise the key word and to get a general idea.
language  T plays audio. L listen. 2 Ind
 Ls compare answers in breakout rooms. 2 L-L
 T confirms answer. (A) 1 T-Ls
(11)
To notice the target (Task 3)
Noticing language in context.  T tells learners they are going to listen again to focus 1 T-Ls
on some specific phrases.
 Show the gapped text.
 Ls listen and fill the gaps. 3 Ind
 Ls check with the answer key. 1 T-Ls
(16)
To clarify meaning, (Task 4)
Language form and pronunciation  T shows examples sentences. 2 T-Ls
Clarification of the target language.  T asks CCQs
- When are all these examples happening? PAST or
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NOW?
- E.g. She was a doctor. Is she a doctor now? NO

 T shows the table. T creates breakout groups to 1 T-Ls

complete the table together. 3 L-Ls
 Ls complete table.
 Ls check answers. 1 T-Ls

 T drills some examples and asks PCQs about stress.

 Ls look at slide and T elicits answers. 5 T-Ls

(27)
Controlled To provide controlled (Task 5)
Practice practice of the target  T shows slide. Set context about my grandparents. 1 T-Ls
language (question  T tells learners to re-order the words to make
form). questions. ICQ – questions.
 Ls complete task in pairs. 3 L-L
 T checks answers on slide. 2 T-Ls

(33)
Controlled To provide spoken (Task 6)
Practice controlled practice of  T tell Ls that they will find out about my 2 T-Ls
the target language. grandparents. Frank and Betty.
 T divides into As and Bs. As read Frank and Bs read
Betty. ICQ this. 2
 Ls read and underline the answers in groups.
 T regroups an A and a B. T tells learners to ask and 3 L-Ls
answer the questions.
 Ls ask and answer questions about Frank and Betty. 2 L-Ls
 T conducts feedback on the questions, eliciting T-Ls
answers. (42)
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Less controlled To allow learners to (Task 7)

practice make their own  T tells learners to write 2-3 more questions about 1 T-Ls
questions using the Frank and Betty. Show them the ‘starters’.
language and to  Ls write questions in groups. 3 L-Ls
scaffold the freer  Ls ask the questions to T. T answers. 2 T-Ls
practice.
(50)
Freer practice To provide opportunity (Task 8)
for learners to practice  T tells Ls to think about a grandparent etc and gives 1 L
the TL in a personalised them one minutes to make notes or think.
way.  T tells learners they will be in groups asking and
answering questions about their grandparents just 1 T-Ls
like we did with Frank and Betty.
T has 2 Ls demo a question and answer and
encourages follow-up Qs.
 Ls discuss in groups. (If time regroup). 6 L-Ls
 T monitors and makes notes of errors and good use. minutes

(58)
Feedback To provide overall  T provides content feedback about interesting older 1 T-Ls
feedback on the task relatives.
and upgrade the  T provides examples of and praises good use. T 1 T-Ls
language. provides error correction.

(60)