Chapter 7

PLANNING FOR CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING

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Handout 1

Think about these comments from teachers. Which do you agree with and why?

Comments Agree Disagree

Help teacher to be more

1. Writing a lesson plan is an
organized and to prepare
important thing.
for the lesson carefully
before class, anticipate the
level of students -> to have
a more effective lesson

Lesson plan is as a map,

that shows teachers where
to start and to finish, take
step to reach the target

Not necessary. But

2. I always have a written plan, but
sometime, it help to
often I do look at it while I’m
Keep track of the
teaching.
outline of the lesson,
sometimes teacher
forget what to do
next, how many
minutes left…

teacher have to
3. Lessons plans don’t help me
explore student’s
teach because I always try to
need before class
respond to learners’ needs during
the lesson.

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Sometimes teacher
4. Lesson plans are helpful when
can make mistake
you first start teaching, but
during the lesson ->
experienced teachers don’t need
cannot reach
them.
teaching object

Lesson plan is
important thing, no
matter who you are.

Teacher can not

5. I plan all my lessons in my head.
remember everything
during teaching.
They surely will
forget some detail

 Not follow the

6. Lesson planning helps me much
in my on-going development as a
teacher
syllabus
- helps the teacher to know
whether he/she has
achieved his/her teaching
objectives
- enables the teacher to
judge his performance
- helps the teacher identify
which areas/parts did not go
well in his/her teaching

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Handout 2
WHAT IS A LESSON PLAN?

A lesson plan is a framework with a set of notes for a lesson. If you imagine that a
lesson is like a journey, then the lesson plan is the map. It shows you where you start, where
you finish and the route to take to get there.
Lesson plans are the product of a teacher’s thought about his or her classes, what
they are going to teach, how they are going to teach it. It also guides the teacher during and
after the lesson. When you first start TESOL teaching it is a good idea always to have your
lesson plans written down. In fact newly qualified TESOL teachers should consider writing
comprehensive lesson plans, as you gain more experience and confidence planning
becomes a much quicker and less comprehensive process.
Lessons can focus on grammar, listening, speaking, reading or writing. They may
contain listening and speaking activities and concentrate on introducing new language items
or on revision. They may contain reading or writing activities and concentrate on practicing
what has just been learned. As teachers, we have had a lot of experience of planning a
lesson. But sometimes when we have been doing something for many years, it becomes
rather automatic. We often stop thinking about the way we do something and why we are
doing it. So it may be helpful to re-examine the reason for lesson planning.

Outcomes
Teachers need to know what it is they hope to achieve in the lesson, that is, what the
students should be able to do at the end of the lesson that they couldn’t do before.

Professionalism
Put simply, if we don’t plan, we look unprofessional; and if we don’t look professional we will
lose the respect of our students and our fellow teachers. What is more, we will fail to give our
students the best possible opportunity to learn

Tailoring
Even if you are lucky enough to be teaching from excellent material, that material was
probably not designed specifically for your students. Planning gives you the chance to make
excellent material even better by considering how you can adapt and apply it to your
students’ needs.

Difficult questions

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Planning gives you the chance as a teacher to predict possible problems and difficult
questions that your students may ask, thus increasing your confidence.

Handout 3

REASONS FOR PLANNING LESSONS

a. helps the teacher to be more confident in teaching (Confident boosting)

b. provides a useful systematic outline/guide/reference for smooth efficient teaching
(practical)
c. helps the teacher to prepare for the lesson (practical)
d. helps to provide a useful basis for future planning (practical)
e. helps the teacher to be more organized (practical)
f. helps the teacher to plan practically lessons which cater for different people (practical)
g. helps the teacher to know whether he/she has achieved his/her teaching objectives
(professional development)
h. enables the teacher to judge his performance (professional development)
i. is proof that the teacher has taken a considerable amount of effort in his/her teaching
(public proof)
j. gives a sense of direction in relation to the syllabus (practical)
k. helps the teacher identify which areas/parts did not go well in his/her teaching
(professional development)
l. is an administrative requirement (public proof)
m. ………
n. ……..
o. …….

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Handout 4

Decisions Information to help decision making

Which functions, language structures, skills, -previous lesson plans in textbook
etc have pupils already learned? -lists of vocabulary and structures at the back
of the book and on the contents page
-pupils’ exercise books
Which content to include as the new items for -knowledge of pupils’ language level
the lesson? -grammar reference book to check on use of
Eg understand questions with have/has got, have/has got
produce answers with has/have got
Include all the vocabulary items or only
some?
What are my objectives for the lesson? -knowledge of pupils’ needs, levels,
Eg Pupils will be able to listen to the tape and previous learning
find out what Ben and Mary have got. -activities in the textbook
Do I want to use the activities as they are or -knowledge of pupils’ interests / how they
adapt or leave out some? seem to learn best
-my own lesson objectives
-time available for the lesson
What resources do I need for the lesson? Eg -check lesson plan in Teachers’ book
tape recorder, Pupil’s book, pictures of -check activities
pupils’ houses
How do I check their understanding? -listen to their responses. Watch and note
How do I check if I have achieved my their participation
objectives? -check actual against expected outcomes
-previous experience of what worked well.
Other ...

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Handout 5

Background Information Description

Age, Level and number of learners 8-9 years old, Grade 3 -4, 30-35 students

Time 35

Objectives - Revive the vocabulary about colour

- Use sentence structure to describe
the colour of the fish

Language Skills Listening and speaking

Functions This sentence structure is used to describe

a fish

Vocabulary

Language structures (receptive) (New language structures)

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His face is + a colour

His tail is black
Language structures (productive) Language structure that students learned at
previous lesson

Resources a picture of fish/ a real gold fish, flags of

different color, crayon, blank sheet, story
book/ cassette.
Handout 6

STORY: THE LITTLE FISH WHO WANTED TO BE BEAUTIFUL

Once upon a time there was a little fish. He lived in a big river with many other fish. But he
was not happy. All the other fish were very beautiful. Their bodies were of many different
colours, red, blue, green and so on. His body was white. He felt very sad. “I want to have
a beautiful body like those other fish,’ he said.
So one day he went to see the king of the river, a big black eel who lived in a big black
hole at the bottom of the river. He swam down and down and down to the bottom.
‘Who’s there?’ said a loud voice.
‘It’s me, little fish,’ said the little fish.
‘What do you want, little fish?’ said the big black eel.
‘Please, sir,’ said the little fish, ‘make me beautiful like the other fish.’
‘Hmm, hmm,’ said the big black eel. ‘Alright. What colours do you want?’
‘Please make my body red,’ said the little fish.
And his body became red.
‘Please make my tail yellow,’ said the little fish.
And his tail became yellow.
‘Please make my fin green,’ said the little fish
And his fin became green.

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‘Please make my face orange,’ said the little fish.
And his face became orange.
‘And make my lips red,’ said the little fish.
‘You rude little fish. You did not say please, said the big black eel. ‘I won’t give you any
more colours.’
And so the little fish had white lips. But he was very happy because his body had many
colours.
And he was very beautiful.

Handout 7
LESSON PROCEDURES
Time Teacher’s activity Pupil’s activity
5-10 1.Warm-up Pupils stand in lines behind flags of
mins
Brief revision of colours, using a team different colours. As teacher says a colour,
game (preparation) pupils behind the flag of that colour crouch
down.
10 2. Bring in gold fish or picture of fish to Pupils gather round tank and contribute
mins
introduce topic to pupils. what they know about fish. They tell about
(preparation/presentation) their own fish.
Discuss fish – what it looks like, its colour,
its parts. Pupils try to guess what will be in story.
3. Tell pupils you are going to tell them a
story. Get them to predict what will be in
the story. (presentation) Group leaders / monitors give out crayons
4. Explain the activity, i.e. pupils have to and blank sheets.
color their fish as the little fish in the story
requests. Give out colors and blanks of fish
drawings. (presentation) Pupils colour in fish following instructions.
10
mins 5. Tell the first part of the story with actions

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and pictures. Continue story with
5
instructions for colouring. (practice) Pupils compare to see if they have the
mins
6. Get pupils to compare drawings. same.
5
(practice) Some pupils say the colour of the fish, eg.
mins
His face is ……….
7. Go around class getting different pupils
5 to describe the colours of the little fish. Use Pupils give their opinions
mins
sentence prompts, eg. His face is…
(practice)
8. Ask pupils what they thought about the
story in L1, if necessary. Ask whether the
big black eel was right not to give the little
fish colour for his lips.
(production)

Handout 8

LESSON PLAN OUTLINE: CONTENT – WHAT TO TEACH

Age: Time:

No of pupils:

Objectives

Language Focus

Resources

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Lesson Procedures:

Time Teacher’s activity Pupil’s activity

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Handout 9

SEQUENCING ACTIVITIES

Below are three possible activities, all related to the little fish story. Decide what the sequence of
those activities should be.

A. Fishy names
Pupils use the picture they coloured in for the previous lesson. They each
have to think of a name and an age for their fish. They write this
information on the back of the drawing. In pairs, they then ask each other
questions to find out the information, eg What’s the name of your fish?
(Charlie). How old is he? (9). They must also decide on the fish’s favourite
colour (or food/drink) and their partners have to guess within three tries,
eg Does he like blue? The information could be collated on a large chart.

B. Read and colour

Pupils are divided into five groups. Each group receives a simple written description of a fish, eg
The fish has a blue body.
It has a green face and a red mouth.
It has a yellow tail. Its fins are blue.

Each group’s description is different. Pupils read and colour in their pictures.
Pupils
C. Read and spot the difference
The teacher builds up on the board a written description of the little fish from the story with pupils’
help. Children give it a name, help to draw and colour in a picture which matches the description,
eg

The name of the fish is Goggle Eyes.

He has a red body and a purple face.
He has an orange tail and green fins. His lips are white.

Then she reads the description aloud while children listen and she makes deliberate mistakes, eg
The name of the fish is Charlie. He has a yellow body and a purple face. Pupils have to raise their
hands when they spot a mistake. Individual pupils then take turn to come out and do the same.

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Handout 10

WRITING OBJECTIVES OF THE LESSON

 Some Ts find it easier to write objectives of the lesson once they know what activities
they want to do and are clear what language skills the activity is practicing. Some Ts
prefer to write the objectives first and then find or design activities to carry out their
objectives. Either way is helpful. Writing objectives can help Ts to be explicit about
what they want pupils to achieve in the lesson.
 Objectives help Ts to be explicit about what they want pupils to achieve in the lesson
 Objectives written from the learners’ points of view ensure that Ts take the pupils their
main focus. They also help Ts focus on what pupils are actually learning and what they
will be able to do by the end of the lesson

Practise writing objectives of the lesson

The following are three objectives for Activities A, B & C from Handout 5.
A: Pupils will be able to practise their speaking skills.
B: Pupils will be able to develop their reading skills.
C: Pupils will be able to spot the differences between what the teacher says & what is
written in the passage.
- Which of the objectives provides the clearest information about what pupils will do?
- Rewrite the other two objectives to make them clearer so that even another teacher would
understand what pupils have to do.
SMART goals

Answer:
 C is the clearest as it tells us precisely what pupils are expected to do in the activity. It
is informative, specific, measurable, and achievable.
 A & B are very vague as it does not indicate what pupils will actually do
Suggestion:
 A: Pupils will be able to ask & answer questions (Wh- and Yes/No questions) about
their fish in pairs
 B: Pupils will be able to colour a fish correctly using information from a written
description
- In groups, practise writing down the objectives of the lesson, beginning like “By the end of
the lesson, pupils will be able to….”
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Materials: Tieng Anh 3 – Unit 16 : The Weather – Lesson 1, Part 1& 2, p.42

By the end of the activity, pupils will be able to

- Look, listen and repeat: Get familiar and identify with the way how to ask and answer
about weather
- Look and say:
+ Use some words to describe the weather
+ Ask and answer the question about the weather by using the sentence pattern
“What’s the weather like? It’s sunny.
By the end of the lesson, pupils will be able to
- Identify food and drink: chicken, fruit juice, …
- Ask and answer the question about favorite food and drink using model sentence
- Ask and answer the question about their favorite food and drink

By the end of the lesson, pupils will be able to

- Get familiar with the sound /b/, /sm/, for example: small big
- Identify big or small school items using information from the recording and
pictures

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Handout 11

ANALYSING PROBLEMS WITH A LESSON PLAN

Unit 7: Places in My School.

Period: Lesson 2. (parts 1,2)

I. Objectives:
-Students will be able to describe school rooms.
II. Language:
 Phonic: small, big.
 Vocabulary: big, book, pen, small, together.
 Patterns: This / That is my school.
It is small / big.
III. Methods: PPP (Listen and repeat, dialogue, drills)
IV. Skills: Listening, reading, speaking.
V. Teaching aids: Pictures, posters, cassette, mime.
VI. Time: 35 minutes
VII. Procedure:

Contents Teacher’s activities Students’ activities

I. Warm up: - T asks ss to recite the chant on Page Your School

49, Lesson 1 in the student book. Is this your school?
Is this your school?
Yes, it is.
Yes, it is.
Is that your school?
Is that your school?
No, it isn’t.
II. New material: - T asks ss to look at the words small No, it isn’t.
Introduction and big.
- Tell them to distinguish and produce - Look at the words: small, big.
Activity 1: (Listen the sounds sm in small and that of b in - The differences when produce
and repeat) big. the sounds sm and b.
- Produce the sounds the letters sm
and b a few time, and ask ss to say - Say what they think.
what they think about when they hear - Repeat new words.
these sounds.
- Teach the words: + pen: cây bút
+ pen: cây bút + book: quyển sách
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+ book: quyển sách + big: lớn
+ big: lớn + small: nhỏ
+ small: nhỏ
- Say the words in focus a few times.
- Have ss to repeat.
- Play the recording. - Repeat.
- Have ss repeat each line. - Listen.
- Call on some groups to recite the - Recite.
chant, the rest of the class clap the
focused words.
- Group works: Ss practise and saying
and clapping the chant in group. - Practise in groups.
- Monitor the activity and offer the help.Small and big
- Correct pronunciation. Look. Look.
A big look
Look. Look
A small look
- Have ss to look at the picture. Big, small
- Elicit them to identify the objects in the Big, small
Activity 2: (Listen picture. Big and small together.
and number) - Tell them what they are going to listen - Look at the pictures.
to the recording and number the - Identify the pictures.
pictures according to the sequence of
the information they hear. - Listen.
- Play the recording as they look closely - Listen and number the
at the pictures in their books. pictures.
- Play the recording again fo ss to do
the task.
- Play the recording for ss to check their - Listen the recording.
answers.
- Ask ss to trade answers in pairs or - Do the task.
groups for corrections.
- Check their answers.
-Prepare lesson 2 (cont’d) - Trade their answers in pairs
or groups for corrections.
* Answer: 1b, 2d, 3c, 4a.
IV. Homework

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Handout 12

CHECKLIST FOR LESSON PLANS

1. Does each activity focus on the skills which the lesson is primarily intended to develop?
2. Is the range of activities appropriate to the class you are teaching?
3. Do the pupils work in a variety of arrangements/groupings throughout the class?
4. Does the plan contain changes of pace to process the language (slow – excited or fast-
moving)?
5. Do the activities draw primarily on to develop the intelligences that should be addressed
in the lesson?
6. Is there a transition between the activities? or Does it seem like an unconnected
collection of activities?
7. Do the activities range in level of difficulty?
8. Does the plan include activities to get the pupils actively involved through much of the
class?
9. Does the lesson end with something that pulls the day’s activities together or provides a
general conclusion?
10. Does the plan contain enough information for the intended reader (supervisor, another
teacher) to understand the activities and carry them out if necessary?

Checklist adapted from Martha Lengelin & Emily Thrush, “A Lesson in Lesson
Planning”.
The Teacher Trainer, Vol.16, No.3 Autumn, 2002.

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