UNIT 10: LESSON PLANNING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Unit 10 · PDF fileUNIT 10: LESSON PLANNING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Unit 10 Lesson Planning and Classroom Management Look at the

UNIT 10: LESSON PLANNING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Unit 10

Lesson Planning and

Classroom Management

Look at the cartoon. Does a good lesson need exact preplanning? What do teachers need to consider when planning a lesson? What would be a generic structure of a good lesson?

STUDY QUESTION 1: BOOK PAGE 220

Sample Student Answers

A good lesson does not always need exact pre-planning

Sometimes, exact planning can lead to problems if something goes wrong

It can be better to have a general plan and to be flexible to adapt the lesson to students' responses and needs

Flexibility prevents lessons from becoming lifeless

Preplanning needs to consider: Lesson objectives - what they want to achieve. Age and ability of the students to be taught,

compatibility of the group, problematic children

Possible alternatives, in case of problems/technical issues/interruptions/ confusion

Generic structure: Introduction to the topic, outline of goals and activities of the lesson

Beginning the day’s topic, using examples Practicing skills, deciding when students work

alone/together/in groups/in the plenum Evaluation of the day’s topic and work done Expansion on the topic - extra exercises to be

done/homework, a few words about the next lesson


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Think about the metaphors for a lesson (Fig. 10.1 p.221) and discuss which of them seem closest to your vision of an ideal lesson. Then compare with the concepts presented on p. 221.



An ideal lesson should be like a guided tour of an exhibition

Students should go there with an idea of what they are about to see/learn (from previous lesson)

Students should be faced with both completely new information and information to help consolidate previous knowledge

Students should be taken through information step by step, in a comprehensible way, with room for questions where necessary

Lessons should be made interesting and enjoyable to keep students' minds active

Students should leave the lesson with more knowledge and experience than upon arrival

Lesson should have opened students' minds to different possibilities and questions they want to look further into themselves


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Consult the homepages of textbook publishers (e. g., www.klett.de, www.cornelsen.de, www.diesterweg.de). Look for supplementary material to the EFL textbooks offered by these publishers. Consider the following questions: - Is the material provided appealing and comprehensive? - How much is free of charge? - How is it related to the textbook? - How motivating and useful do you consider the material?



Klett.de (Thuringia): material is very comprehensive, covers a huge range of topics, large variety of supplementary material both audio, visual and text

After a quick look on the website, very little material (for Thuringia) is free of charge - e.g. a vocabulary training App

Much of the material is related to the EFL textbooks, with workbooks expanding on the activities and exercises in the textbook and extra reading materials/audio materials to expand on the topics covered in the textbooks

Much of the material looks visually appealing and helpful - does not simply look like boring textbooks

Could be very motivating to have the extra help on difficult topics, especially with native audio and visual files


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Discuss the statement below and rephrase it so that it reflects your own attitudes: “Good teachers plan their classes minutely so that everything they do is prearranged. Once they are in the classroom, they follow their plan without deviation, always watching out for irrelevances which the students may bring up and which would disrupt the plan.” (Harmer 2000: 138)



Good teachers plan their classes well so that there is always room for adaptation and flexibility. Once they are in the classroom, they follow their plan when possible, but are not scared or worried about allowing the lesson to take a new and unexpected course. They go with the flow, incorporating deviations and new, useful ideas into the lesson, also including ideas and suggestions from students themselves, but all the while heading in the direction of the original lesson aims.


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Look at the lesson plan (p 233): - Where would you find the phases of the PPP and ESA models? - Consider a typical EFL lesson for beginners, introducing new vocabulary, or for advanced learners, tackling a cultural issue. How would you modify the plan below?

STUDY QUESTION: BOOK PAGE 232


PPP: in the perspective (1) and stimulation phase (2) , the PPP phase 1 (presentation) can be found

In the instruction/ participation phase (3), the PPP phase 2 (practice) can be found

In the Closure (4) and the follow-up phase (5), the PPP phase 3 (production) can be found

ESA: in the stimulation phase (2) , the ESA phase 1 (engage) can be found

In the instruction/ participation phase (3), the ESA phase 2 (study) can be found

In the follow-up phase (5), the ESA phase 3 (activate) can be found

Advanced learners: Cultural issue - phase 1 would remain the same, review last lesson, preview new lesson

Phase 2 - use real newspaper articles/short video clips related to topic

Phase 3 - group discussions and brainstorming about the topic and how to possibly tackle the issue

Phase 4 - students present their results to the class, summarize the main points

Phase 5 – students are asked to transfer skills to deal with related topic in different media; teacher gives homework and preview of next lesson, concludes the lesson


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Consider the following scenario and discuss how teachers should respond to it: “[T]he teacher has planned that the students should prepare a dialogue and then act it out, after which there is a reading test and some exercises for them to get through. The teacher has allowed twenty minutes for dialogue preparation and acting out. But when the students start working on the activity, it is obvious they need more time. The teacher then discovers that they would like to spend at least half the lesson on just the acting-out phase which they find helpful and enjoyable. At that moment, he or she has to decide whether to abandon the original plan and go along with the students’ wishes or whether it is better to press ahead regardless.” (Harmer 2000: 5)



In this situation, teachers need to decide what would be best to still accomplish the main aims of the lesson

Teachers should first judge whether the students truly need more time and using half the lesson for the dialogues would benefit them, or if it is just for the sake of having more fun

If beneficial, then teachers can adapt the lesson plan to meet the students wishes, but still allow enough time to conclude the lesson fully

Teachers can then provide the remaining exercises for homework and move the reading test to the beginning of the following lesson


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Put the criteria (p 234-235) in an order of priority. Put the most important first, the least important last.



What did the students actually learn?

Were the learners attentive and active?

Did the teacher respond to students individually?

What tasks were most successful? Least successful? Why?

Was English used communicatively throughout?

Was there a phase of consolidating knowledge?

Did the lesson follow a certain trajectory? Was it finished on time?

What changes (if any) will have to be made in the future in one’s teaching and why?


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Compare each characteristic of verbal interaction in everyday conversation (p. 235-236) with how language is used in the classroom. Why is language in the classroom different? Could it use characteristics of verbal interaction as a benchmark?



Using language to express and pursue relationships - in the classroom, students’ may not be interested in relating to the teacher or certain peers they are expected to talk to

Talk is used to bind people together - in the classroom, more teacher talk than student talk; mostly one-sided; student talk is mostly directed by teachers with the aim of practicing language forms rather than negotiating relationships

Intonation and body language significantly convey and inflect meaning - in the classroom, students are mostly confined to their seats, leaving little room for using natural body language; often, short, standardized sentences do not call for meaningful intonation

Language in the classroom is different because many students find it difficult or prefer not to speak in class

Repeating phrases/reading out loud/answering random questions is not authentic

Elements of authentic communication could be integrated more into lessons to produce and encourage better interaction, e.g. allowing friends to talk to each other (relationship through speech), encouraging topics of interest to the students, allowing students to move around and express themselves fully (body language)


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


When regarding the teacher’s physical presence in class, one would also need to consider how this affects different learner groups – with regard to age, gender, ethnicity, cultural background, group set-up, etc. How, for example, would a teacher’s physical presence and interaction with students differ when (1) she or he is teaching grammar in grade 6 to (2) her or him teaching Shakespeare in grade 12?



1 (grade 6): teacher is stricter, more formal in order to keep the students in check

Grammar as a subject is quite strict, in that it has set rules which need to be learned and followed

Body language can help to visualize grammar, such as prepositions

A lot of teacher-talk time may be needed to explain grammar rules if learners cannot deduce the rules from the language offered to them

2 (Grade 12): Teacher is a little more relaxed because students should be more mature and able to control themselves

Shakespeare provides opportunities to move around, to act out scenes, to be creative, to use different teaching methods

Teacher can change from the sage on the stage to the guide on the side, reducing teacher-talk time and allowing students to take a more active role

The teacher-student relation is less formal; lessons can be interesting and adapted as required


Unit 10

Lesson Planning and


Look at figure 10.7, and consider the following statistics (Lindner 2011: 49): A teacher asks a question every 37 seconds. A class of students asks the teacher 2.2 questions a lesson. A student asks a question every 3 days. A teacher asks more than 800 questions in the course of

three days. Suggest ways to improve communication in EFL classes.



Teachers appear to ask far too many questions, leaving very little chance for students to ask questions: students are discouraged from asking questions

Possible improvements: reduce number of questions from teachers

Allow more opportunities for questions, encourage students to ask (“stupid”) questions when needed

Teach subject matter in a way that allows students to ask questions and answer these on their own

Allowing for more student-talk-time, more participation in activities, self-evaluation of progress to generate a greater sense of achievement

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UNIT 10: LESSON PLANNING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Unit 10 · PDF fileUNIT 10: LESSON PLANNING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Unit 10 Lesson Planning and Classroom Management Look at the