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Learning in a traditional classroom in California we were given the task of making lesson plans, and that was the instructions we had. Quickly I found myself trying to plan every moment and this wasn't working. I would run out of time every day, which means the fun or Activate activities were cut short. So I turned to a very loose plan, I would have four to five bullet points for a two-hour lesson. This was a mess. Soon I would lose control of how the direction class would go or Activate stage would take up most of the class time. It took time to learn with no guidance the balance that this course teaches in lesson plans. When making a plan it is essential to know what is going into the plan which is a topic talked about twice so far in my course; in the Main course's Unit 3 and the Young Learners course's Unit 4. This young learners course does imply the students that are being taught are five to thirteen years old. This factor does help define what topic the teacher can use, as well as what activities to do during procedures. The next factor that helps determine what a teacher can and shouldn't do in there lesson plan is the language level of their students. It's important to know what the current lesson plan is on because the topic determines what activities to use during the procedures and what form of the lesson plan is needed: straight arrow, boomerang or patchwork. Some topics work well with different forms of lesson plans, so knowing what your going to teach is key. There are many reasons why the procedure is necessary. Including making sure, you the teacher does not forget a critical or minor step in the activity. This can cause many issues with completing the activity, and it can prevent the student from gaining and sustaining the information that's being taught. This information also helps the substitute that has to teach the lesson, repeat the teaching methods and patterns of the teacher helping the students learn. Often when creating a lesson plan you already know the age and language level of your students, so the first step is deciding the lesson topic. The topic of the lesson plan when teaching English is often the vocabulary list that often went with a grammar point, as discussed in the main courses Unit 3. Vocabulary should be involved in every lesson plan, though it does not necessarily have to be the aim of the lesson for the students memorize the vocabulary but for the students to use it in the lesson. Vocabulary is a great tool to teach kind about pronunciation and phonic sounds. Vocabulary is a necessary part of learning about English as you can't practice the grammar points without it. Grammar is essential with any lesson plan, or the vocabulary loses some if not all of their meaning. Grammar is the most common aim of a lesson because if a student has a good understanding of grammar they can use the vocabulary they have to grow upon it, to speak and learn outside of the classroom. Though the present continuous tense may not be appropriate for students age five, it would be better for students age twelve or thirteen. To understand what lessons the teacher should be teaching, they must understand what is appropriate for the age to be doing and what activities it will be most effective for their language level, as we discuss in the Young Learns Course Unit 4. Age though doesn't prevent a student from learning, it can make what the teacher is saying hard to comprehend and hold on to. This instead of dissecting the parts of speech with a group of five-year-olds, give them a few sentences to practice with so eventually they could begin building their own. Age also helps determine what activities are developmentally appropriate. Thirteen-year-olds shouldn't be running around to pretending to be pigs, cats, and ducks to learn their names, they should be reading the names and associating them with the images. Even though age is a large factor in deciding learning point, so is the language level of the students. Even if a student is age thirteen but they only began learning English a month ago they will not be learning about prepositional phrases, but rather the simple sentences. For example, I am sitting. Making sure the activities in the procedure are appropriate to the class and to the topic starts to shape the lesson. The procedure of the lesson plan is the instructions of what is expected for the students to do as well as the teacher. At times this may include a reminder of what teachers shouldn't do, such as "do not correct their pronunciation" at certain activities. This is considered in both the Main Course and the Young Learners Course. Once it been decided on the learning point or points that are appropriate for the class, the next thing is to design. By this I mean, will you go from teaching or engage, to use or study and end on practice or activate. The procedure is often decided by the topic and class information. This means students at the novice level won't be trying to read the actual newspaper, and students at an advanced level won't be singing songs about Old McDonald's farm. When writing the procedures one wants to write out descriptions of what the teacher is doing, what the students are doing, the activities intentions, and the learning points without writing out every movement in the classroom. Writing a lesson plan is a balancing act between defining what you're doing and letting the class move in a fairly natural way. As mentioned previously, the lesson plans have to be made well enough for a substitute to follow. Finally, the materials should never be forgotten, whether they are puppets, word searches or any other materials needed for the lessons.
