Example

For the presentation and practice of Why don't you...? a lesson of 35 minutes might be made up of the following stages:

Stage 1 (5 mins)

Introduce the structures. Context: giving advice to someone who has a headache, and the replies to the advice.

Stage 2 (5 mins)

Check students' understanding and practise saying the model sentences.

Stage 3 (lOmins)

Guided practice, using cue cards — in open then closed pairs.

Stage4(10mins)

Freer practice using a new context: giving advice about preparing for a test.

Stage 5 (5 mins)

Students make a record of the form and uses of the structure in their notebooks.

Some teachers with experience seem to have an ability to think on their feet, and this allows them to believe that lesson planning is unnecessary. However, most teachers do not share this view and prepare their lessons. The resulting lesson plans range from the very formal and elaborate to a few hurried notes. But even the notes are still a plan of a kind.

For students, evidence of a plan shows that the teacher has devoted time to thinking about the class. It strongly suggests a level of professionalism and a commitment to the kind of research they might reasonably expect. Lack of a plan may suggest the opposite of these teacher attributes, even if such a perception is unjustified.

For teachers, a plan gives the lesson a framework, an overall shape. It is true that they may end up departing from it at some stage of the lesson, but at the very least it will be something to fall back on. Of course, good teachers are flexible and respond creatively to what happens in the classroom, but they also need to have thought ahead, to have a destination which they want their students to reach, and some idea of how they are going to get there. In the classroom, a plan helps to remind teachers what they intended to do - especially if they get distracted or momentarily forget what they had proposed.

There is one particular situation in which planning is especially important, and that is when a teacher is to be observed as part of an assessment or performance review. Such plans are likely to be more elaborate than usual, not just for the sake of the teacher being observed, but also so that the observer can have a clear idea of what the teacher intends in order to judge how well that intention is carried through.

Information to be included in a lesson plan can be considered under the following headings: Aims; Procedure; Approach(es) and activities; Materials, aids and equipment; Information about the students; Anticipated problems.