Lesson Planning

Adult English language learners generally have limited time to devote to participating in language classes. A good lesson plan is an important tool that focuses both the instructor and the learners on the purpose of the lesson and, if carefully constructed and followed, enables learners to efficiently meet their goals.

A lesson is a unified set of activities that focuses on one teaching objective at a time. A teaching objective states what the learners will be able to do at the end of the lesson. Teachers use the information learned through the needs assessment to develop the objectives (See Needs Assessment and Learner Self-Evaluation Activity Packet.) For example, if the learners identify "understand written communication from my children's teachers" as a goal, an objective might be "learners will be able to interpret a child's weekly homework form" or "learners will be able to read the notes that their children's teachers send from school."

What Are the Essential Components of a Lesson Plan?

A lesson plan identifies the enabling objectives necessary to meet the lesson objective, the materials and equipment needed, and the activities appropriate to accomplish the objective.

• Enabling objectives are the basic skills (language skills such as vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation) and the life skills (including cultural information) that are necessary to accomplish the objective.
• Materials and equipment should be identified and secured well before class time to ensure that activities can be carried out as planned. These may include realia (reallife materials like bus schedules and children's report cards), visual aids, teachermade handouts, textbooks, flip chart and markers, overhead projector, tape recorder, etc.
• Activities generally move from more controlled (e.g., repetition) to a less structured or free format (e.g., interviewing each other). They should be varied in type (e.g., whole group, paired, individual) and modality (e.g., speaking, listening, writing).

What Are the Stages of a Lesson?

Good lesson design begins with a review of previously learned material. New material is then introduced, followed by opportunities for learners to practice and be evaluated on what they are learning. In general, a lesson is composed of the following stages:

• Warm-up/Review—encourages learners to use what they have been taught in previous lessons
• Introduction to a new lesson—focuses the learners' attention on the objective of the new lesson and relates the objective to their lives