CertTESOL

Trinity CertTESOL
Study Resource 6: Lesson Planning for CertTESOL

When teaching, whether using a course book or designing a lesson from scratch, we
need a thorough plan of where we want to go and how we want to get there. It’s a
little bit like planning a journey: you need to determine what to pack, which route
to take, as well as anticipating some of the problems you may encounter along the
way. Effective lesson planning is one of the most important elements in successful
teaching.

On the CertTESOL course, you will be required to write detailed lesson plans, which
will be assessed on their quality and on their implementation. The detail required
enables you to think carefully through every step, considering the timing, balance
of activities, along with many other important factors.

This Study Resource for the CertTESOL will take a closer look at lesson planning for
the Teaching Skills component of the course:

 What is a lesson plan?

 Why do we need to write lesson plans?
 What is the key to lesson planning?
 What are the main stages of a lesson?
 What are some questions to ask myself when planning?
 How can we anticipate problems and solutions?

For each Reflection Task, take a moment to think and make notes mentally or in
writing before you continue to read.

Reflection Task 1

You’re going to read about what goes into a lesson plan over this resource.
Before you read, spend a few minutes noting down what information you think
would need to go into a typical lesson plan, e.g. how long each task lasts, what
you’ll write on the board, etc.

When you’ve finished reading this resource, look back at your notes. How many
of your ideas were written about? Were there any you didn’t think of? Do you
understand why it’s important to include it in your plan?

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WHAT IS A LESSON PLAN?

A lesson plan sets out what language and/or skills you intend to cover with your
learners during the lesson (i.e. the objectives of the lesson) and how you intend to
do this (i.e. the activities that the learners will be engaged in to help them achieve
these objectives). In many ways, the lesson plan represents a mental picture of the
thought and preparation that you have put into the lesson, and how you envisage it
unfolding in reality.

Your plan should include details about:

 learners
 learning objectives
 context
 anticipated problems and solutions
 materials and aids
 procedure

The Procedure page may be laid out something like this:

Stage Aim Teacher Activity Student Activity Interaction Timing

Reflection Task 2

Look at the information below. Which section of the Procedure page (above)
would you put this in? You can check your answers at the end of this resource.

a. 9.00am-9.10 am
b. Students talk about what they think is happening in the picture.
c. S-S
d. Lead in
e. Teacher makes sure all students are talking without getting too involved
in any of the chats.

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WHY DO WE NEED TO WRITE LESSON PLANS?

One of the most important reasons is for you to identify your objectives for the
lesson. You need to be able to pinpoint exactly what language items and skills you
want your learners to be able to use better by the end of the lesson, and how to
gauge your success. You also need to make sure your objectives are realistic,
focussed and achievable.

Careful planning and preparation will also:

 help you to think logically through the stages in relation to the time available
 keep you on target
 give you confidence
 give your learners confidence in you
 make sure that lesson is balanced and appropriate for class
 help you focus on teaching areas you need to improve in
 provide you with a useful record

WHAT IS THE KEY TO LESSON PLANNING?

Your learners
Think about their language level, age, educational and cultural background,
motivation, strengths and weaknesses, learning styles, etc. Try to base your
activities and materials around the needs and interests of your group to make
learning relevant. The better you know your learners, the more you can personalize
your lesson content and make it suit your group.

Objectives
One of the main principles of planning is establishing clear and realistic objectives
that are achievable and meet the learners’ needs. Your objectives specify language
items that they will have learned and skills they will have improved by the end of
the lesson. Objectives are stated from the learners’ perspective, rather than
focused on what the teacher is going to do.
Some examples are:
 for learners to be able to use functional language to express opinions when
talking about current events
 for learners to be able to read a news article for gist
Clearly stated objectives, and achieving them, are key indicators of good plans and
good teaching.

Context
To make it meaningful to our learners, it is important that language is always
encountered in context. Consider how the language naturally occurs, who uses it,

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about what, where, when, why, and how. Try to keep the situation relevant to your
learners.

Variety
Variety keeps the learners motivated, and also helps you cater for different learning
styles within your class. Plan to vary your teaching techniques, activities, materials
and interactions to keep everyone in the group as engaged as possible.

Learner involvement
Try to engage the learners as much as possible: include plenty of student-centered
activities and maximum student talking time, elicit language and concepts from the
learners rather than tell them, and personalize language work so they can use
English for describing their own lives.

Flexibility
It is never possible to predict exactly what will happen in the classroom and you will
sometimes need to adapt your plan to suit the circumstances. Consider optional
activities that you may do if time allows or that you can skip if necessary.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN STAGES IN A LESSON?

For learners to benefit from classroom language learning they need to be

motivated, exposed to the language, and given opportunities to use it. There are
different ways of approaching and describing the staging of lessons. One such way
called C.A.P. is set out in the CertTESOL Companion (Delta Publishing, 2017),
where Jason Anderson suggests the three stages of Context, Analysis and
Practice.

Context: The context for the new language is established. This may involve the
use of a text (e.g. listening, reading, video), a situation (in the classroom, on the
board using pictures, etc.), or the learners (e.g. through a conversation).

Analysis: Learners notice the new language in the context and they analyse its
features (e.g. meaning, form, pronunciation, use, text structure). This may involve
teacher-led elicitation, guided discovery, text reconstruction, etc.

Practice: Learners practise using the new language. This may include controlled
(e.g. a drill or a gap-fill) and free practice (e.g. a role play, letter or discussion) of
the new language, using either speaking or writing activities.

Further information on CAP can be found in the CertTESOL

Companion and online at:
www.jasonanderson.org.uk/resources.htm.

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The role of the teacher

Before we go any further, it’s worthwhile to consider teaching roles and what the
teacher actually does in the classroom. Common styles include:
 Authority (lecture style)
 Demonstrator (coach style)
 Facilitator (activity style)
 Delegator (group style)
 Hybrid (blended style)

You can read more about the pros and cons of each of the above, and also about
Grasha’s five teaching styles on this website.

Reflection Task 3

1. Think of some of the teachers you have had in the past. Which roles do
they match?
2. In what role(s) do you think you’ll be most comfortable in the classroom?

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN PLANNING YOUR LESSON

1. What is the teaching point?

a. specific language (grammar, lexis, and pronunciation)?
b. specific skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing)?
Think about what you expect the learners to be able to do by the end of the
lesson (your objectives).

2. What is a good way to set the context for the language? This can be done by
using a dialogue, a description, realia, pictures, mime, a story, questions, a
reading text, etc. Consider when and how we use this language naturally.

3. How are you going to highlight the language to the learners? Tell the learners
directly? Help them to discover it themselves?

4. What activities are you going to use? What order will they come in? How much
time will each stage take? Suppose your learners take more, or less, time to
carry out each activity? How could that affect the whole timing of the lesson?

5. What materials are you going to use: texts, pictures, CD, tasks? Are they
relevant to your learners? Do they relate back to your aim?

6. What opportunities are you going to give learners to practise the language and
use it in a meaningful way?

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7. Consider your class management. How are you going to give your
instructions? Are your learners going to work in pairs, groups, mingle? How can
you give them a good variety of listening and talking to you, and working with
each other?

8. How can you engage the learners at the beginning of the lesson? A good way of
doing this is often through images, a warmer or an icebreaker.

ANTICIPATING PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Even with the best preparation, unexpected difficulties and situations may arise.
These may relate to both language and classroom management. As part of your
planning, you need to predict pitfalls and suggest ways of dealing with them.

Reflection Task 5

a) Look at the list of anticipated difficulties below. Think about what you could
do in each case. Try to think of at least one solution for each point. When
you’ve finished, compare your ideas with some suggested solutions at the
end of this resource.

Anticipated difficulties Suggested solutions

Language: Confusion about the use of
use the present perfect simple
and the past simple for
completed past actions
(I have arrived last week.)
Language: Students may not remember
pronunciation to use rising intonation in
polite requests and sound
rude (Can I have a coffee
please?)
Language: Students may leave out the
form auxiliary verb in passive
sentences when describing a
process (The flour mixed with
the water.)
Class management: Some learners may not be
instructions clear on how to complete
activity 2

Class management: There may be an uneven

interactions number for pair work

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As a trainee on a CertTESOL course, you will be required to produce very detailed

plans, as careful planning will help you process every aspect of your upcoming
lesson. After teaching, you will reflect on your plan, and receive feedback from your
tutor.

You will learn how to plan individual lessons that normally extend over 40 to 60
minutes. However, as you become a more experienced teacher, you will need
to take into account what your learners have done in previous lessons and how
your class fits into their whole syllabus or learning program.

Useful links

 Watch a YouTube clip by Jack C. Richards and read an article by Scott

Thornbury, two experts in the field.
 TeachingEnglish and onestopenglish are some of the sites that have good
ready-made lesson plans to adapt for your learners.
 For definitions of some of the terms used in this Study Resource, see Elt
World Wiki.

We hope you have enjoyed this introduction to lesson planning for the Trinity
CertTESOL course and found it useful.

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Answers Reflective task 2

Stage Aim Teacher Student Activity Interaction Timing

Activity
Teacher makes Students S-S 9.00am-
Lead in sure all students talk about 9.10 am
are talking what they
without getting think is
too involved in happening in
any of the chats. the picture.

Answers Reflective task 5

Anticipated difficulties Suggested solutions

Language: Confusion about the use of Draw a timeline, prepare and
use the present perfect simple ask concept check questions,
and the past simple for monitor and prompt,
completed past actions encourage peer correction
(I have arrived last week.)
Language: Students may not remember Drill, draw arrows on the
pronunciation to use rising intonation in board, monitor and prompt
polite requests and sound
rude (Can I have a coffee
please?)
Language: Students may leave out the Drill, leave model sentences
form auxiliary verb in passive on the board, monitor and
sentences when describing a prompt, encourage peer
process (The flour mixed with correction
the water.)
Class management: Some learners may not be Script and practice the
instructions clear on how to complete instructions, demonstrate, ask
activity 2 questions to check
understanding
Class management: There may be an uneven Have one group of 3 (including
interactions number for pair work one weaker learner)

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