What are the principles of planning?
Aims
One of the main principles of planning is establishing a clear aim for your lesson. It is important that aims are realistic. If
the subject is too difficult for the students, then they can become frustrated and lose motivation. However, if the subject is
too easy, the students may become bored. Bored and frustrated students can often cause discipline problems. So it is
important when planning to think about your particular class. You may find it useful to bear these points in mind:
• What do the students know already? If you are planning to introduce completely new language items allow
more time than if you are revising or extending a topic the class are already familiar with.
• What do the students need to know? If the students are studying for an exam, for example, then you may
need to focus on different skills and language than for a General English class. Do your aims suit that
need?
• What did you do with the students in their previous class?
Disadvantages
• The course book may not be suitable for your particular class – perhaps it is not appropriate for your age group,
nationality or culture. For example, the topics may be too adult or childish.
• Many course books are very predictable. They follow the same pattern unit after unit. This can become boring for
both the students and the teacher if the book is followed too strictly.
• Course books can encourage teachers to be less creative and imaginative – preferring to use ideas in the book
rather than their own.
Advantages
• A course book gives the students a sense of security. As the class moves through it, the students can see the
progress they are making and what they have achieved.
• Course books are good resources for teachers, providing material and ideas which saves time when planning.
• A good course book can give a structure for a series of lessons, providing continuity and consistency for the
class. There is usually a logical progression of language items including built-in revision as well as a good
balance of skills work, with listening, reading and writing practice as well as activities for speaking.
• Most course books are written by experienced teachers of English. That knowledge and experience is invaluable,
particularly for inexperienced teachers.
• How well do the class work together?
• How motivated are the students?
All these factors are important when deciding realistic aims for your class.
Variety
As we have seen, it is important to try and keep the students engaged and interested. Providing variety in a lesson and a
series of lessons is a way of achieving this. Repeating the same kinds of exercises can become monotonous and
demotivating for students. Where possible it’s a good idea to try and vary the kinds of activities, materials and interactions.
When the teacher sits down to plan what they’re going to be doing, one of the things they need to have in their heads
is, how can I vary the pace of the class? How can I vary the kind of thing that’s going to happen so that sometimes
maybe the students will be silent, sometimes they’ll be loud, sometimes they’ll be talking to me, sometimes they’ll be
talking to others, sometimes I’ll do a bit of writing, sometimes they’ll do a bit of reading. If you vary the patterns of
student to student interaction, if you vary the kind of activity the students are involved in, if you vary the kind of
material they’re looking at … there’s a good chance that most of the students will remain engaged and involved. If you
don’t build variety into your plan the danger is that they’ll switch off at some stage.
Jeremy Harmer - Lesson Plan, Programme 1
Flexibility
However well you plan you never actually know exactly what’s going to happen in a class until it happens! Exercises may
take longer or shorter than anticipated, the students may be more or less interested in a topic than you imagined,
something unexpected may happen during the lesson. In these cases if the teacher sticks rigidly to their plan the careful
preparation may actually have a negative effect. Imagine our journey again. If the road ahead becomes bloc ked, it’s no good
trying to car ry on, you have to find a different route.
Careful planning is very important but teachers need to be able to adapt their plan during the lesson to suit the circumstances.
This is something that becomes easier with experience, but in the planning stage it is often a good idea to consider
extra optional or alternative exercises. Then, if your material runs short or you think the class might not respond well to a
particular activity, you have something to fall back on.
Similarly, teachers need to be aware of what is happening in and around the class. Students may raise interesting points
and discussions could provide unexpected opportunities for language work and practice. The teacher needs to be flexible
enough to be able to leave the plan if such opportunities arise.
Aims
One of the main principles of planning is establishing a clear aim for your lesson. It is important that aims are realistic. If
the subject is too difficult for the students, then they can become frustrated and lose motivation. However, if the subject is
too easy, the students may become bored. Bored and frustrated students can often cause discipline problems. So it is
important when planning to think about your particular class. You may find it useful to bear these points in mind:
• What do the students know already? If you are planning to introduce completely new language items allow
more time than if you are revising or extending a topic the class are already familiar with.
• What do the students need to know? If the students are studying for an exam, for example, then you may
need to focus on different skills and language than for a General English class. Do your aims suit that
need?
• What did you do with the students in their previous class?
Disadvantages
• The course book may not be suitable for your particular class – perhaps it is not appropriate for your age group,
nationality or culture. For example, the topics may be too adult or childish.
• Many course books are very predictable. They follow the same pattern unit after unit. This can become boring for
both the students and the teacher if the book is followed too strictly.
• Course books can encourage teachers to be less creative and imaginative – preferring to use ideas in the book
rather than their own.
Advantages
• A course book gives the students a sense of security. As the class moves through it, the students can see the
progress they are making and what they have achieved.
• Course books are good resources for teachers, providing material and ideas which saves time when planning.
• A good course book can give a structure for a series of lessons, providing continuity and consistency for the
class. There is usually a logical progression of language items including built-in revision as well as a good
balance of skills work, with listening, reading and writing practice as well as activities for speaking.
• Most course books are written by experienced teachers of English. That knowledge and experience is invaluable,
particularly for inexperienced teachers.
• How well do the class work together?
• How motivated are the students?
All these factors are important when deciding realistic aims for your class.
Variety
As we have seen, it is important to try and keep the students engaged and interested. Providing variety in a lesson and a
series of lessons is a way of achieving this. Repeating the same kinds of exercises can become monotonous and
demotivating for students. Where possible it’s a good idea to try and vary the kinds of activities, materials and interactions.
When the teacher sits down to plan what they’re going to be doing, one of the things they need to have in their heads
is, how can I vary the pace of the class? How can I vary the kind of thing that’s going to happen so that sometimes
maybe the students will be silent, sometimes they’ll be loud, sometimes they’ll be talking to me, sometimes they’ll be
talking to others, sometimes I’ll do a bit of writing, sometimes they’ll do a bit of reading. If you vary the patterns of
student to student interaction, if you vary the kind of activity the students are involved in, if you vary the kind of
material they’re looking at … there’s a good chance that most of the students will remain engaged and involved. If you
don’t build variety into your plan the danger is that they’ll switch off at some stage.
Jeremy Harmer - Lesson Plan, Programme 1
Flexibility
However well you plan you never actually know exactly what’s going to happen in a class until it happens! Exercises may
take longer or shorter than anticipated, the students may be more or less interested in a topic than you imagined,
something unexpected may happen during the lesson. In these cases if the teacher sticks rigidly to their plan the careful
preparation may actually have a negative effect. Imagine our journey again. If the road ahead becomes bloc ked, it’s no good
trying to car ry on, you have to find a different route.
Careful planning is very important but teachers need to be able to adapt their plan during the lesson to suit the circumstances.
This is something that becomes easier with experience, but in the planning stage it is often a good idea to consider
extra optional or alternative exercises. Then, if your material runs short or you think the class might not respond well to a
particular activity, you have something to fall back on.
Similarly, teachers need to be aware of what is happening in and around the class. Students may raise interesting points
and discussions could provide unexpected opportunities for language work and practice. The teacher needs to be flexible
enough to be able to leave the plan if such opportunities arise.
Post a Comment