Components-of-a-Lesson-Plan

ComponentsofaLessonPlanTheadvantageofaconcreteteachingplanisthatteacherscanfollowitintheclassandcheckwhattheyhavedone.Thisplanwillbethebasisofarecordofwhathasbeencoveredinclass,andwillmakeiteasiertomakeachievementtestslater.Theteachingplanswillbegoodrecordsfortheentirecourse.Sowhatdoesalessonplaninclude?Alanguageteachinglessonplanusuallyhasthefollowingcomponents:teachingaims,languagecontentsandskills,andteachingstagesandprocedures.TeachingaimsThefirstthingtodoinlessonplanningistodecidetheaimsofalesson,whichincludewhatlanguagecomponentstopresent,whatcommunicativeskillstopractise,whatactivitiestoconductandwhatmaterialsandteachingaidstobeused.Usuallytheteacher’smanualaccompanyingatextbookwillstateclearlywhattheaimsareforeachunitorlesson.However,classroomteachersareundernoobligationtoadoptthesameaims.Thewriter(s)didnotwritethetextbookspeciallyfortheirteachingcontext.Soteachersmaywishtomodifytheaimsandtheapproachrecommendedbytheteacher’smanual.LanguagecontentsandskillsInlanguageteaching,itisimportantfortheteachertoknowexactlywhatlanguagecontentswillbetaughtandwhatlanguageskillswillbepractisedinthelesson.Bylanguagecontents,wemeanstructures(grammar),vocabulary,functions,topicsandsoon.Bylanguageskills,wemeancommunicativeskillsinvolvedinlistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Amongthelanguagecontents,newvocabularyandstructuresoften(unjustifiably)receivemoreattentionfromboththeteachersandthestudents.However,teachersshouldbecarefulwhendecidingwhatvocabularyitemsandstructurestofocusonintheclass.Notallnewwordsinalessonareequallyimportant.Theteachershoulddecidewhichwordsneedtobepractisedandwhichonlyneedtobebrieflytouched.Similarly,notallstructureshavethesamestatusinthelesson.Newstructuresneedtobepresentedcarefullyandpractised.Theteachershouldalsobeawareofanystructureswhicharepractisedinthelesson,butwhichhavebeenintroducedinthepreviouslessons.TeachingstagesandproceduresTeachingstagesarethemajorstepsthatlanguageteachersgothroughintheclassroom.Proceduresarethedetailedstepsineachteachingstage.ThemostpopularlanguageteachingstagesarethethreeP’smodel,whichincludepresentation,practiceandproduction.Atthepresentationstage,theteacherintroducesnewvocabularyandgrammaticalstructureswithreferencetotheircontextualizeduse.Atthepracticestage,thelessonmovesfromcontrolledpracticetoguidedpracticeandfurthertotheexploitationofthetextswhennecessary.Attheproductionstage,thestudentsareencouragedtousewhattheyhavelearnedandpractisedtoperformcommunicativetasks.Atthislaststage,thefocusisonmeaningratherthanformalaccuracy.Althoughpopular,thethreeP’smodelisnotalwaysapplicableinvariouslanguageclasses,especiallytheskill-orientedlessons.Forexample,itisnotdesirabletoadoptthethreeP’smodelinareadinglessoninwhich,thefocusisnotonthepresentationandpracticeoflanguagepointsembeddedinthereadingtext.Rather,thefocusisondevelopingreadingskills.Inpractice,however,another3-stagemodelisfrequentlyadvisedandadoptedinreadinglessons,thatis,pre-reading,while-readingandpost-readingstages.Thismodelisalsooftenappliedinlisteninglessons,whichhavepre-listening,while-listeningandpost-listeningstages.Inthismodel,thepre-stageinvolvespreparationwork,suchassettingthescene,warmingup,orprovidingkeyinformation(suchaskeywords).Thewhile-stageinvolvesactivitiesortasksthatthestudentsmustperformwhiletheyarereadingorlistening.Thepost-stageprovidesachanceforstudentstoobtainfeedbackontheirperformanceatthewhile-stage.Thislaststagemayalsoinvolvesomefollow-upactivities,inwhichstudentsrelatewhattheyhavereadorheardtotheirownlifeandusethelanguagespontaneously.Afterdecidingontheteachingstages,thenextthingistodesignproceduresorstepsforeachstage.Someteachersdonotbothertowriteoutthedetailedprocedures.Itisnotalwaysnecessarytodoso,butallteachersshouldbeclearaboutthestepstheyaregoingtogothroughintheclass.Someteachers,especiallysomenoviceteachers,takeitforgrantedthatthestepswilltakecareofthemselvesaslongastheyhavesetupthemainstages.Thisassumptionoftenleadstochaosinclass.Whenateacherhasplannedtopresentanewstructure(presentationstage),heorsheneedstoconsiderthefollowing:1)whentofocusonthestructureandwhentostudyitincontext;2)whethertopresentthestructureorallyorinwrittenform;3)whentogiveoutinformationandwhentoelicitfromstudents:4)whenandhowtousevisualaidstohelpwiththepresentation;5)whattodoifstudentsfailtounderstand.(王蔷.2000.英语教学法教程.北京:高等教育出版社.)