unit3LessonPlanning
Lesson Planning
Subjects: the fourth year students of English majors
Time duration: two hours
Aims of the unit
●The importance of lesson planning
●The principles and guidelines for good lesson planning
●Macro planning and micro planning
●The components of a lesson plan
●Sample lesson plans
◆Why is lesson planning important?
1. A clear lesson plan makes the teacher aware of the aims and language contents of the lesson. Teachers need to know what they expect their students to be able to do at the end of the lesson and they can plan the activities and choo the techniques accordingly.
2. It helps teachers distinguish the different stages of a lesson so that the teacher can have an appropriate arrangement of teaching and the lesson can move smoothly from one stage to another.
3. Proper lesson planning gives teachers the opportunity to anticipate potential problems that may ari in class so that they can be prepared with some possible solutions.
4. When planning the lesson, the teacher can also think about how the students can be fully engaged in the lesson.
5. When planning the lesson, the teacher also becomes aware of the teaching aids that are needed for the lesson.
6. Lesson planning helps teachers to think about the relative value of different activities a
nd how much time should be spent on them. By comparing the estimated time with the actual time taken for different types of activities, the teacher soon learn to judge lesson stages and phras with greater accuracy.
7. Have something to refer to in the lesson helps teachers to keep on target, and feel confident and organized.
8. Planning is a good practice and a sign of professionalism. Teachers can u the plan as record of what they did in the class. It can also provide the administrators with uful information and suggestions to work out more demanding and more beneficial teaching materials.
9. Lesson plans are also an aid to continuing development. After the lesson, the teacher can add a reflection of the lesson to the original plan.
◆Principles and guidelines for lesson planning
1. Aim
It means the realistic goals for the lesson. The teacher needs to have a clear idea of what he/she would like to achieve for the lesson or what outcomes are expected from the lesson. One lesson may have a number of aims. Aims are not the things teachers intend to do during the lesson, but the things that students are able to do by the end of the lesson. With clear aims in mind, the rest of the lesson planning will be bad on how such aims are going to be achieved.
2. Timing
Considering the number of minutes in the class hour, the lesson should be appropriately timed. This is one of the most difficult aspects of lesson planning to control. It is not unusual for new
teachers to plan a lesson so tightly that they actually complete their lesson plan early, or so looly that they sometimes are not able to complete their lesson within the planned time allotment. Therefore timing is an element that you should build into a lesson plan.
3. Heuristic
Focus on learning. Only heuristic questions and syllabus modification can lead to an effective and deep understanding. That may also involve some classroom activities.
4. Learnability
Learnability means that the contents and tasks planned for the lesson should be within the learner’s abili ties. At least the designed contents must be relatively and mostly learnable.
5. Variety
Different types of activities and a wide available lective materials, along with more interesting and pleasant styles for both teacher and students, are more likely for a wider range of learning styles and strategies.
6. Flexibility
Flexibility provides the various teaching methods and technologies to aid different teachin
g materials and purpos. For any number of reasons, what the teacher has planned may not be appropriate for the class on a particular day. The flexible teacher will be able to change the plan according to the specific situation. Thus it will cure the effective teaching process.
7. Linkage
The stages and steps within each stage are planned in such a natural and transitional way that they are somehow linked with one another. Thus recycling and reinforcement can be achieved in language learning. It can make the teaching process move more smoothly.
8. Adaptability
Adaptability means the lesson plan should be able to be adjusted as lesson goes on in the actual class. The students could be different from tho from other class and the students may behave in an unexpected way in the teacher’s class. So the teacher should be alert to the changes in the class and be ready to change the plan.
