Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan

Planning a lesson its one of the most important and difficult things a teacher has to do. The teacher has to considers many things when planning a class like the level of the students, what they need to achieve, what is going to be more difficult for the students, what materials the teacher will need, what sitting arrangement to use, etc.

Formal Lesson Plan:

For a formal lesson plan the teacher has to make a chart for the background information of the class and another for the actual lesson plan.

For the background information the teacher needs to include:

• Teacher's name
• Class name
• Room
• Date
• Lesson start time
• Length of lesson
• Teaching point (what language items/skills you'll be working on)
• Target language items
• Main lesson aims (what the students need to achieve)
• Evidence (how to know the main lesson aim has been achieve)
• Personal goals ( what you wish to improve)
• Class profile
• Timetable fit (how the lesson fits with what the students have been doing and what they will do)
• Assumptions (what the students should know)
• Predicted problems
• Context
• Materials used

For the actual lesson plan the teacher will need to include:

• Stage
• Procedure (what the teacher will do)
• Tasks (what the students will do)
• Interaction
• Aims
• Time

There are also some more experienced teachers that choose not to do a formal lesson plan and do an alternative. Some of these include:

• A brief 'running order'- Basically a 'running order' of the activities you plan on doing.
• Flow Chart- Helps to take different routes if what you planned didn't work out.
• Dream through the lesson- Think of different scenarios for the class.
• Focus on the 'critical learning moments'- Decide what its the most important thing that the students need to learn and make sure it makes an impact.
• Half-plan- Work on language issues in class as they come.
• Where's the meat?- Focus on the challenge of the activities.
• Plan the 'critical teaching moments'- The parts of the lesson that will be a 'critical moment'.
• Lesson images- Draw pictures at key moments.
• The jungle path- Don't plan anything, just go with the flow.

In conclusion, as I said before planing a lesson is one of the most important things a teacher has to do, specially a new teacher, some more experienced teacher choose to use one of the alternatives but it is not recommended for new teachers, they should make a formal lesson plan.

Giving Instructions

Giving Instructions

Some of the activities in class are very hard to explain to the students, especially when they're still at early levels so the teacher must learn to give clear and good instructions.

Teachers should practice the way they give instructions before the class so that when they come in they know what they're going to do.

Here are some steps to give better instructions:

1. The teacher has to know how well he or she gives instructions, he/she should get feedback from a friend who watches them give instructions.
2. Plan ahead: Look at the instructions before class and include only the important parts using simple, clear language. Use short sentences and don't state the obvious or unnecessary things.
3. Make sure the students are listening before start giving the instructions, make eye contact with them, use a good voice projection, use gestures to help clarify the instruction. 
4. If possible demonstrate rather than explain.
5.  Check comprehension: Make sure the students know what they are supposed to do, getting students to tell you is a simple way of achieving this.

A very important part of giving instructions is making the students listen to what you're saying, after that you can worry about if the students understood or not. Some useful tips for this are:

• Make eye contact with as many students as possible.
• Use gestures to let the students know you're going to speak.
•  Wait until the students settle down.
• Don't get impatient, keep looking from person to person patently.
• If the students are taking too long to settle down get their attention with a single word.

In conclusion, you need to use a voice of authority and speak clearly. Make sure the students are listening and that the instructions are simple enough for the them to understand.