Top tips on writing lesson plans

When you suddenly start teaching a number of classes, a week’s worth of lesson planning can become a daunting and time-consuming task. Some teachers might avoid lesson planning altogether and try winging their classes on the day, but that can be even more stressful! (Not to mention, a not very effective way of teaching…)

We believe the best way to plan your lessons is to start by asking yourself a few questions about your classes…

Who am I teaching?

Who you are teaching is likely to affect your approach to the lesson and the activities that you will carry out. The fundamental aspects you need to take into consideration are your students’ levels, ages and learning styles.

If you’ve been teaching your students for a little while already, you’ll likely have a good idea what the answer to this question is. If you’re planning lessons for a brand new class, you’ll need to do a bit of research before you can answer this question. That may involve asking a teacher at school who has already taught this particular class or it may just mean researching lesson plans and activities for the same age group as your class.

What am I teaching?

The next thing to think about is what topic, subject or grammar point you are teaching. If you’re following a coursebook, you’ll know the next language point or skill you’ll be teaching or practising. If you’re not following a coursebook, make sure you know what you want to teach before you start planning the lesson.

How will I teach it?

Now you know what you want to teach, you need to think about how you will teach it. What approach or method will you use? For example, will it have a PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) structure or maybe a task-based plan would be suitable for the skill or language being practised. In addition, think about how you could present the language clearly and what practice activities would be appropriate for the language and the learners you have. Also, it’s a good idea to think about how you could make the lesson engaging.

How will I know if the students understand?

You will need to check if the learners have understood the new language that you have taught them. You could do this by using CCQs (Concept Checking Questions) or you could use your practice and production activities to help you to see if they have understood. Don’t forget to factor in providing feedback and error correction into your lesson plan!

Now you know who, what and how you are teaching, you can now put more meat onto the bones of your plan. The first things you should think about are the main lesson aim and lesson outcome. What do you want the learners to achieve by the end of the lesson and what do want the learners to be able to do before they leave the class? You also might have your own personal aim for the lesson, such as improving how you break down your instructions for activities.

Talking of instructions, consider how you’ll deliver the instructions to the activities and tasks you’re going to create and allow enough time within your lesson plan to deliver these thoroughly and check you students’ understanding. Be well prepared, have examples of what to do where possible, and write your instructions clearly and concisely.

Now you have all the information you need to create your lesson plan! We recommend creating a simple table like the one below to plan your lesson.

A few more questions to ask yourself

Although the questions above should help set the foundation for writing a strong lesson plan, it’s not all about what you write down. Where and when you write your lesson plans can all affect how successful your lesson planning is.

Ask yourself the following questions: Does lesson planning make you feel relaxed or stressed? How long does it take you to write a lesson plan? When and where do you plan your classes? When planning, do the ideas come to you easily or do you find it difficult? Think about your answers whilst you’re lesson planning and try to make changes that have a positive affect on this.

Top tips for the writing stage of your lesson plan

• Always write the plan before making supporting materials so as not to waste time.
• Imagine another teacher has to pick up your plan and be able to teach the class from your procedure. This will help you to write a clear procedure that you can follow again and again should you want to reuse your lesson.
• Use the table above on a word document so that you can move the order of your sections around if you think of a better way to do them.
• Where possible, use a mix of approaches to suit different learning styles.
• Use a specific book or notepad to keep all your lesson plans in order. This will make it easier to refer back to old lesson plans when you need some inspiration. You may even reuse the same lesson plans for different classes fro time to time.
• Make plans interesting for you as well as your learners. If you’re bored and unmotivated about the lesson, don’t expect your students to feel any differently!
• Always over plan your classes. More likely than not your activities won’t take as long as you think – and it’s better to have too much planned than to have too little planned.
• Planning two classes at once can sometimes help you to understand the flow of your lesson and how the next one will follow on.
• Include flexible stages or sections in your lesson plans just in case some of your activities don’t go to plan or you need an activity to fill time.
• Set a time and place to plan when you know you work best. It might be in the mornings at home before class or it might be in the evenings at a local cafe.
• Don’t spend an hour planning an hour and a half class! You don’t want to spend just as much time planning the class as delivering it. (But don’t worry if lesson plans take you a while at first – you’ll get faster over time!)

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Now you are armed with some top tips, try putting them into practice while planning your classes!

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