A lesson plan acts as a road map for a class session. It identifies the destination (objective of the lesson) and marks out the route (activities for each stage of the lesson). It is an aid for both new and seasoned teachers. New teachers should write down the details of each activity—perhaps even script them. Experience will guide how detailed a lesson plan needs to be. Sharing the plan with learners (e.g., writing the objective and a brief description of activities on the board) keeps both the teacher and the learner focused on where they are going, how they are going to get there, and when they arrive.

Sample Lesson Plans

The lesson plans that follow are broken down into three categories.

  1. Lesson Plan Format
  2. Beginning Level Lesson Plan
  3. Intermediate Level Lesson Plan

References

Arlington Education and Employment Program. (1994). The REEP curriculum (3rd ed.). Retrieved May 27, 2004, from http://www.arlington.k12.va.us/instruct.ctae.adult_ed/REEP/reepcurriculum/

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Longman.

McMullin, M. (1992). ESL techniques: Lesson planning. Teacher training through video. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Schaffer, D. & Van Duzer, C. (1984). Competency-based teacher education workshops in CBE/ESL.Arlington, VA: Arlington County Public Schools.