MODULE 1: AN OVERVIEW OF LESSON PLANNING

MODULE OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module, students will be able to

● Define what a lesson plan means in their own words

● Explain the reasons for lesson planning in different teaching contexts and for different
people
● Identify different approaches to lesson planning
● Identify the most basic components of a lesson plan

CONTENTS

● Definitions of a lesson plan

● Reasons for lesson planning
● Models of lesson planning
● Components of a lesson plan

REFERENCES

Farrell, T. S. (2002). Lesson planning. Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current

practice, 30-39. Retrieved at
[Link]
age=40
Thaine, C. (2011). Teacher training essentials: workshops for professional development. Ernst Klett
Sprachen.
Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching: Practice and theory. Ernst Klett Sprachen.

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I. WHAT IS A LESSON PLAN?

1. Work in groups. Discuss which of the metaphors below best express the importance of a lesson
plan. Explain why.

A lesson can be generally compared to:

a musical performance a wedding visiting a doctor

doing the shopping climbing a mountain a menu

a football game eating a meal a conversation

2. Work in groups. Which of the metaphors above emphasizes?

- teacher-centred approach?

- learner-centredness?

- the ‘steps’ of the lesson?

- problem solving?

- competition?

- natural communication?

(Adapted from Ur, 1996, p. 213)

3. Here is a list of definitions of a lesson plan. Read the definitions and write your own definition
of a lesson plan in the context of English teaching in Vietnam.

- “A lesson plan is a written description of how students will move toward attaining specific
objectives. It describes the teaching behavior that will result in student learning" (Yinger, 1980 as
cited in Farrell, 2002, p.30).

- A lesson plan is a written document which helps the teacher to know what to do in a class (prepared
by themselves) with quite specific activities (EFL Teachers Jargon).

-“Lesson plans are systematic records of a teacher’s thoughts about what will be covered during a
lesson” (Farrell, 2002, p.31).

- A lesson plan is a writing noting the method of delivery, and the specific goals and timelines
associated to the delivery of lesson content. (MSDN Academic Alliance Developer Centre).

- A lesson plan is a written document used in planning a presentation.

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Your own definition:

- A lesson plan is

4. Read the short text below and distinguish between a lesson plan and a unit plan, a term plan
or a year plan.

Teachers may wonder “which way they ought to go” before they enter a classroom. This usually
means that teachers need to plan what they want to do in their classrooms. Most teachers engage in
yearly, term, unit, weekly, and daily lesson planning (Yinger, 1980). Yearly and term planning usually
involve listing the objectives for a particular program. A unit plan is a series of related lessons around
a specific theme such as “The Family.” Planning daily lessons is the ending result of a complex
planning process that includes the yearly, term, and unit plans. A daily lesson plan is a written
description of how students will move toward attaining specific objectives. It describes the teaching
behavior that will result in student learning.

(Adapted from Farrell, 2002)

II. REASONS FOR LESSON PLANNING

Read the text below and answer the following questions.

Language teachers may ask themselves why they should bother writing plans for every lesson. Some
teachers write down elaborate daily plans; others do the planning inside their heads. Pre-service
teachers say they write daily lesson plans only because a supervisor, cooperating teacher, or school
administrator requires them to do so. After they graduate, many teachers give up writing lesson plans.
However, not many teachers enter a classroom without some kind of plan. Lesson plans are systematic
records of a teacher’s thoughts about what will be covered during a lesson. Richards (1998) suggests
that lesson plans help the teacher think about the lesson in advance to “resolve problems and
difficulties, to provide a structure for a lesson, to provide a ‘map’ for the teacher to follow, and to
provide a record of what has been taught” (p. 103).

There are also internal and external reasons for planning lessons (McCutcheon, 1980). Teachers plan
for internal reasons in order to feel more confident, to learn the subject matter better, to enable lessons
to run more smoothly, and to anticipate problems before they happen. Teachers plan for external
reasons in order to satisfy the expectations of the principal or supervisor and to guide a substitute
teacher in case the class needs one. Lesson planning is especially important for preservice teachers
because they may feel more of a need to be in control before the lesson begins.

Daily lesson planning can benefit English teachers in the following ways:

● A plan can help the teacher think about content, materials, sequencing, timing, and activities.

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 ● A plan provides security (in the form of a map) in the sometimes unpredictable atmosphere of
a classroom.
● A plan is a log of what has been taught.
● A plan can help a substitute to smoothly take over a class when the teacher cannot teach.
(Purgason, 1991)

Daily planning of lessons also benefits students because it takes into account the different
backgrounds, interests, learning styles, and abilities of the students in one class.

(Adapted from Farrell, 2002)

Work in pairs. Answer the following questions.

a. Is it always necessary to write a lesson plan?

b. How can lesson planning benefit English teachers?
c. Who else in the institution does lesson planning benefit? And how?
d. Why is it useful to write formal lesson plans when you are learning to be a teacher?

III. MODELS OF LESSON PLANNING

Read the text and do the tasks that follow.

There are a number of approaches to lesson planning. The dominant model of lesson planning is
Tyler’s (1949) rational-linear framework. Tyler’s model has four steps that run sequentially: (1)
specify objectives; (2) select learning activities; (3) organize learning activities; and (4) specify
methods of evaluation. Tyler’s model is still used widely in spite of evidence that suggests that
teachers rarely follow the sequential, linear process outlined in the steps (Borko & Niles, 1987). For
example, Taylor (1970) studied what teachers actually did when they planned their lessons and found
that they focused mostly on the interests and needs of their students. More importantly, he found that
teachers were not well prepared in teacher-education programs for lesson planning.

In response to these findings, Yinger (1980) developed an alternative model in which planning takes
place in stages. The first stage consists of “problem conception” in which planning starts with a
discovery cycle of the integration of the teacher’s goals, knowledge, and experience. The second stage
sees the problem formulated and a solution achieved. The third stage involves implementing the plan
along with its evaluation. Yinger sees this process as becoming routine, whereby each planning event
is influenced by what went on before and what may happen in the future. He also sees a place for
considering each teacher’s experiences as influencing this ongoing process of planning.

Research on what English language teachers actually do when planning lessons has shown that many
teachers, when they do write lesson plans (Richards & Lockhart, 1994), tend to deviate from the
original plan. English language teachers, especially more experienced teachers, are more likely to plan
their lessons as sequences of activities (Freeman, 1996), teaching routines, or to focus on the needs of
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particular students (Richards & Lockhart, 1994).

Bailey’s (1996, p. 38) study of six experienced English language teachers came up with the following
interesting reasons (stated as principles) why teachers deviate from the original lesson plan:

(1) “Serve the common good.” Here teachers are willing to deviate from the original lesson plan
because one student raised an issue that the teacher perceives to be relevant for the other students.

(2) “Teach to the moment.” Sometimes, teachers may completely abandon the lesson plan to discuss
some unplanned event because the teacher thinks it is timely for the class.

(3) “Further the lesson.” Teachers make a procedural change during the lesson as a means of
promoting the progress of the lesson.

(4) “Accommodate students’ learning styles.” Teachers may sometimes depart from their lesson plans
in order to accommodate their students’ learning styles if the original plan has not accounted for them.

(5) “Promote students’ involvement.” Teachers sometimes eliminate some steps in their lesson plans
in order to have more student involvement, especially if the students are not responding.

(6) “Distribute wealth.” This last principle has teachers changing lesson plans to encourage quiet
students to participate more and to keep the more active students from dominating the class time.
These findings show that teacher decision making is a dynamic process involving teachers making
choices before, during, and after each lesson.

(adapted from Farrell, 2002)

Work in groups. Discuss:

What are the advantages of each model of lesson planning discussed above?

List three reasons why teachers tend to deviate from the original lesson plan?

IV. COMPONENTS OF A LESSON PLAN

Read the following text and do the tasks that follow.

An effective lesson plan starts with appropriate and clearly written objectives. An objective is a
description of a learning outcome. Objectives describe the destination (not the journey) we want our
students to reach. Clear, well-written objectives are the first step in daily lesson planning. These
objectives help state precisely what we want our students to learn, help guide the selection of
appropriate activities, and help provide overall lesson focus and direction. They also give teachers a
way to evaluate what their students have learned at the end of the lesson. Clearly written objectives
can also be used to focus the students (they know what is expected from them).

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After writing the lesson objectives, teachers must decide the activities and procedures they will use to
ensure the successful attainment of these objectives. Planning at this stage means thinking through the
purposes and structures of the activities. This step involves planning the shape of the lesson. The
following questions may be useful for language teachers to answer before planning their lessons:

●
What do you want the students to learn and why? Are all the tasks necessary – worth doing
and at the right level?
●
What materials, aids, and so on, will you use and why?
● What type of interaction will you encourage – pair work or group work – and why?
● What instructions will you have to give and how will you give them (written, oral, etc.)? What
questions will you ask?
● How will you monitor student understanding during the different stages of the lesson?
An example of an authentic lesson plan for an English reading class is given in Appendix A. The
lesson plan should not be seen as a prescription or “how to,” because each teaching context will be
different. After writing the plan, the next step is to implement it by teaching the class.

(adapted from Farrell, 2002)

1. According to the text, what might be components of a lesson plan?

2. Ben is a teacher –student who has just begun a teacher training course. Look at his notes
below. Has he noted everything down correctly? Suggest any changes to his notes.

1. Decide whether the learners will be working alone, in pairs or in groups for each task.
2. Estimate how long each task will take.
3. Be clear about what you want to achieve.
4. There’s nothing you can do about things going wrong in the lesson.
5. Think about what learners have done in previous lessons and what they’ll do in future ones.
6. Getting tasks in a logical order is really important.
7. Research and make notes on the vocabulary and grammar I plan to teach.
8. Just start teaching from wherever the learners are in the coursebook. There’s no need for other
teaching aids.
9. Indicate key information on learners – age, nationality, strengths and weaknesses.
(Thaine, 2011)

3. Each of Ben’s notes relates to a component in a formal lesson plan. Match the notes from A
with the components below.

A. Aims and subsidiary lesson aims …………….

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 B. Time table fit …………….

C. Anticipated problems and solutions …………….

D. Materials and resources …………….

E. Language analysis …………….

F. Class profile …………….

G. Procedure …………….

H. Interaction …………….

I. Timing …………….

(Thaine, 2011)

4. Identify the components in the following extract of a lesson plan devised by a student in a
previous teacher training course. Do you want to add in other components?

Theme: Hobbies

UNIT …..: SPEAKING LESSON (PPP)

Expressing Likes/Dislikes
1. Class description: 1st mainstream students of ISP, VNU
2. Time: 45 minutes
3. Objectives

By the end of the lesson Ss will be able to:

● Identify useful expressions of likes or dislikes commonly used to talk about their hobbies

● Apply these structures in talking about their hobbies

4. Assumed knowledge

● Ss are familiar with working in groups.

● Ss have known some words related to the topic.

5. Anticipated problems

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 ● Ss chat to each other while listening.
● The facilities: projectors, may be out of order or the electricity is cut off.
6. Teaching aids
- handouts, chalks, board, etc.
7. Teaching procedure

Stage and aims Time Teacher’s Activities Students’ Board

Activities display

Presentation 10’ - Introduce the topic “Hobbies” by asking the

question: What do you usually do in your free time?
To help students link to their Expected answer: I go swimming, I play tennis, etc.
previous knowledge about - Introduce the language function “likes / dislikes” - Listen and
the topic By asking students question: answer
+ What will you say if you want to express what
To present useful structures you like and what you don’t like?
used to express likes and Expected answers: I like……., I hate………, I
dislikes dislike…….., I am interested in……. etc. - Ss pay
- T tells Ss the context using expression attention and
Likes/Dislikes add more
- T elicits some useful expressions of Likes and information
Dislikes. T writes students’ answers on the board:
Interest Disinterest
I like ………….. I dislike …………
I enjoy ……….. I hate ……………
I love …………. I am not interested - Ss suggests
I am interested in …… in ……… their own
I am fond of …………. …… is boring expressions
I am keen on ………….. I feel bored with ..
My hobby is ……… ……….. is time-
One of my hobbies is … consuming
I find ……… interesting ………….is boring
… is fun I can’t stand …