Lesson Plan Template: Talking about the Past and Present

Context: What kind of teaching situation/school setting is the lesson based on?

Class profile: Group of 20 adult immigrant ESL students from Washington D.C., Age: Mid 20s

to 50s, Level: Intermediate, Curriculum: Open: Design authentic materials

Learner Needs: What do the learners need/want to learn?

Learners want to learn to express themselves and understand English better through learning

and practicing grammar, idioms, listening (accents, fast speakers, phone calls, television),

reading, slang, speaking, study skills, verbs, vocabulary, and writing.

Objectives/Aims: What will your students know or be able to do as a result of this lesson?

Students will organize ideas using diagrams. Students will identify tenses. Students will use

simple past, past perfect, past continuous, simple present, and present perfect continuous tenses

to have conversations about their lives in 2007 and their lives now.

Assumptions: What are you assuming in terms of student background knowledge?

This lesson assumes students have a basic understanding of tenses, particularly past simple and

present simple tenses, and how they can be used to identify when something happened.

Language Analysis: What new grammar and vocabulary will this lesson target?

This lesson will provide an overview of and an opportunity to practice use of past and present

verb tenses (simple past, past perfect, past continuous, simple present, and present perfect

continuous). Vocabulary will be related to people, places, and things that are important or

different in students’ lives.

Anticipated Problems and Solutions: What could go wrong? What backup plans do you

have?

Some students might need more prompting or assisting with language in starting conversations

sharing their diagrams. While I am circulating noting common mistakes/challenges and one

word from each student, I will make accommodations as needed.

Materials: What materials will you use? How will you adapt them?

This lesson is adapted from one online at

http://esl.about.com/od/conversationlessonplans/a/l_thennow.htm. PowerPoint. Students will

receive a packet and a page-sized sentence.

Timing/Sequencing: How much time will you need?

Length of class is 60 minutes.

Assessment: How will you measure what your students can do?

Students will be assessed through developing their diagrams, the sentence activity, participating

in conversations about their diagrams, and their exit statement regarding their ‘2007’ or ‘Now’

words.

Stage Aim Procedure Mats. Focus Time

Warm up

Administrative/Greetings T-S 1-2

Activation/

Focusing

Activity

Question of the Day on the board:

define (verb)- to be a feature or quality that

shows exactly what someone or something

is like. President Obama is defined by his

love for his wife and two daughters and his

love of basketball.

What are the things that define you?

Board

,

Power

Point

T-S, S 5

Lesson activities/assessments

Feedback Selected students will share their responses

to the QOD.

S-T 5

Activity #1 Two circles will be up on the board, 2007

and Now. Students will review the words

in the circles. These some of the things that

defined President Obama in 2007 and Now.

(currently based on President Obama, but

can be any famous figure). Students will

then review who/what these names/things

represent.

Board

,

Power

Point

T-S,

S-T

5

Activity #2 Students will use this model to create their

own circles that represent the things that

were true of their life in 2007 and are true

of their life now.

Power

Point,

hando

ut

S 5

Feedback Students will read one word from each

circle.

S-T 2

Activity #3 We’ve looked at words that were or are important in

your lives and President Obama’s life, but how do

we talk about what happened then and what is

happening now? PowerPoint Presentation on Past

Simple, Past Perfect, Past Continuous, Present

Simple, Present Continuous.

Power

Point,

hando

ut

T-S 5

Activity #4 Let’s practice what we’ve learned by

talking about President Obama’s life. In

pairs, students will receive a sentence about

the President’s Life. They will need to

determine what tense it is (past or present)

and underline the words/clues that tell them

the tense.

Power

Point,

hando

ut

5

Feedback Students will bring their sentence to the

board putting it under either 2007 or Now.

Students will mark their sentence

worksheet accordingly based on the

hando

ut

S-T 10

presentation/response.

Activity #5 Students will use their circles to talk about

their lives in 2007 and Now with their

partner using the past simple, past perfect,

past continuous, present simple, and present

continuous tenses.

Power

Point,

hando

ut

S-S 15

Feedback Teacher will circulate during conversations

and note any problems or difficulties.

Conclusion

Review Address common errors, questions from the

activity.

T-S 2-5

Exit Students will be asked to give two

sentences (past and present).

S-T 2-5