Topic

Lesson
Planning

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1.

Create lesson plans based on levels of learners;

2.

Integrate language skills in lesson plans;

3.

Set appropriate aims and objectives;

4.

Develop and close lessons accordingly.

INTRODUCTION

Lesson planning is an integral step in teaching, and every teacher must be

equipped with the knowledge of how to prepare a lesson plan. In this section,
you will first learn about the principles of lesson planning, followed by how to
organise lessons. It is pertinent to mention here that the topic should serve as a
useful guide to you in constructing your lesson plan when you are ready to
teach, as every lesson plan is different and created with a specific group in mind.

8.1

PRINCIPLES IN LESSON PLANNING

How do you start to plan a lesson? What are the important considerations? What
is the purpose of planning a lesson? For whom is the lesson planned? For a
course in the English language, the topic proposes three major considerations of
lesson planning, as follows:
(a)

Knowledge of learners

(b)

Integrating language skills

(c)

Integrating language structures

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These factors are further discussed in the ensuing sections.

8.1.1

Knowledge of Learners

In planning a lesson, we must bear in mind that foremost, learners are the main
focus. Just like a mother preparing a meal to feed her children, milk for the baby;
soft, easily digestible food for the 2-year old and some solid chunks of meat for
the adults, teachers should also try to cater to the needs of the pupils. However,
for a big class of about 40 pupils, it is almost impossible to cater to each pupils
needs. So, the next best alternative is to group pupils according to similar levels
of ability, and then proceed to feed each group according to their need and their
ability to digest.
Students interests, learning styles, personalities should be taken into
consideration too. Just like the variety we like to have in our daily meals, pupils
would appreciate variation in the teaching and learning process as well. Thus a
lesson should take into account pupils multiple intelligences and activities to go
with the varying intelligences, and thinking skills to be trained.
Basically, the pupils should be taught facts starting from easy to difficult, known
to unknown, near to far, concrete to abstract. Make it easy at the beginning with
more things that are already known to them, so that they will not feel too scared
or threatened. When they have gained more confidence in learning and using
English, slowly add in more and more unknown and difficult things.
A simplistic graph to show how lessons should progress through time, as
indicated by the arrow, may appear as follows:
For Higher Level:

LISTENING

For Low Level:

Difficult

SPEAKING

Easy

Unknown

READING

Known

Far

WRITING

Near

Abstract

LANGUAGE
STRUCTURE

Concrete

However, the actual situation may be different, for example some pupils in the
Chinese-medium schools may be able to write in English quite well, but are not
proficient in speaking the language. So the actual graph may be broken for
separate considerations of the different skills, as shown below:

TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING W 177

For Higher Level:

LISTENING

For Low Level:

Difficult
SPEAKING

Easy

Unknown
READING

Known

Far
WRITING

Near

Abstract
LANGUAGE
STRUCTURE
Concrete

So the teacher could get the Chinese-medium pupils to write their ideas down
first before giving them more opportunities to practice listening and speaking in
English. They could tape themselves speaking in English, listen to correctly
spoken English so as to find their own weaknesses when speaking English,
before they can start to correct themselves.

8.1.2

Integrating Language Skills

It is important that the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and
writing are integrated as much as possible when planning a lesson, if not in a
single lesson, at least over a few lessons in a week.
The skills should not be practised in isolation but in a closely interwoven
series of activities because that is how language is used in the real world. In an
actual conversation, can one party simply listen while the other party talks? Not
likely, right? How many people would like to be involved in this kind of oneway communication? Is it communication if it is only one person talking?
Similarly. Listening and Speaking skills should be taught or practised together,
Reading and Writing skills should complement each other. As far as possible,
writing should be practised at the end of each lesson or given as homework to
consolidate whatever that has been taught during the lesson. Otherwise, they
may be easily forgotten. Without adequate practise, the time spent and effort put
in for the whole teaching and learning process would have been wasted.
However, pupils have to have enough input of the language structure and
be somewhat proficient in the four language skills before they can produce
appropriate and correct output. So, always supply the pupils with adequate
input through the receptive skills of Listening and Reading before demanding
appropriate production of Speaking and Writing from them. In fact, for second
language learners, it may be more considerate for the teacher to give them time
to work out in writing their ideas or thoughts before asking them to speak. They
may share or exchange ideas with their friends in small groups, as practice or
rehearsals, before they are asked to speak to the class or a bigger audience.

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While acquiring the input, pupils would need variety as stressed above to widen
their scope of knowledge and experience so that they can handle similar
situations in future. During these variations of practice, the language structures
are recycled and thus reinforced. Once reinforced and instilled, the pupils would
be much more confident in using the newly acquired language.
Therefore, it cannot be overstressed that variety with plenty of practice is
essential for language acquisition. Variety is also necessary to cater for the
different levels of proficiency that is often present in a single classroom and the
different multiple intelligences.
To reiterate, integration of the four language skills of Listening, Speaking,
Reading and Writing is necessary for the following reasons:
(a)

Realism

(b)

Input before output

(c)

Variety

(d)

Recycling

(e)

Confidence

Thus the lesson plan or at least the weekly scheme of work should include a
series of activities in any combination of the four language skills (L,S,R & W) in a
continuous and related sequence for learning to be effective.

8.1.3

Integrating Language Structures

The four language skills cannot be practised without the language content/
structure.
Consult the Curriculum Specifications (CS) to identify the Language Content
and language item(s) you want the pupils to focus on in the particular lessons.
The language items are listed at the back of the CS of each year. The list is merely
the minimum the teacher has to cover in a year. However, there may be pupils
who are not up to par, or some even above average, which means you may have
to refer to the language items for the earlier year and a later year for these
respective pupils.

TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING W 179

SELF-CHECK 8.1
1.

What is the most basic/important consideration in planning a

lesson?

2.

Why should the four

learned integratively?

8.2

language

skills

be

taught

or

ORGANISING LESSONS

After you have chosen the appropriate Language Skills and Structures, you may
find suitable theme(s) and topic(s) to use in the CS.

8.2.1

Setting Aims and Objectives

Aims are general but objectives are more specific. If you quote from the
Curriculum Specifications, the Language Skills under the Specifications column
are very specific. They are behavioural objectives, which are observable and
measurable.
To integrate at least two to three language skills in each daily lesson, you must
match them well. You must first do this in your yearly, monthly and weekly
schemes of work. They should be planned from being easy at the beginning to
difficult at the end, to ensure pupils progress.

8.2.2

Development of a Lesson

After you have identified your objectives, you may plan how you want to start
your lesson in a way that can attract your pupils attention and motivate them to
continue learning. This is your set induction.
Next, what are the new knowledge items you want to present/deliver to the
class? If they already know these items, what are the tasks or activities you might
plan to give them to practise/reinforce/consolidate this knowledge?
How would you know if the tasks or activities are good or not? Use the
evaluation criteria in Activity 8.1 to help you decide.

180 X TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING

ACTIVITY 8.1
Rank them from the most important 1 to the least important 13.
No.

Criteria

(a)

Give maximum exploitation/practice

(b)

Interactive/allow maximum learners

participation

(c)

Current

(d)

Relevant to topic/skill(s) to be taught

(e)

Interesting

(f)

Attractive

(g)

Could help learners learning

(h)

Suitable to learners level

(i)

Challenging/motivating

(j)

Purposeful/meaningful

(k)

Clear/audible

(l)

Give maximum language practice

(m)

Variety

Ranking

If enough practice has been given, then you can set tasks or even tests to assess
their level of mastery. If it is still low to average, then more practice with
variations should be given until they can use the target skill(s) or language at
will. This final stage is called production, where they are free to show what they
are capable of. This production may only happen after a week or a month of
input and practice.
At the end of the time allocated, you will have to close your lesson.

8.2.3

Lesson closure

It is important to close a lesson well, just like the way you would arrange the
contents of your closet well before you shut its doors, otherwise when you
reopen the closet, everything may just fall out, or you will not be able to find the

TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING W 181

things that you want in the mess that you have left earlier. If the contents are well
organised, others may also find the things easily.
So if you close your lesson well, the next lesson could be started easily by you or
another teacher.
You may close your lessons by:
(a)

Revising the things covered in the lesson; or summarising what you have
taught in this lesson.

(b)

Reminding the pupils to do the homework given, or things they would

need to bring for the next lesson.

Thus, when the next teacher comes to open/start a new lesson, everything is
ready and well organised for the upcoming lesson.
At each stage of a lesson, how you express yourself is very important, as it will
affect your pupils feelings, and subsequently learning  their attention,
perception, understanding and memory.
When you give explanations or instructions, you should:
(a)

Be well-prepared so that you can be clear to your pupils.

(b)

Substantiate/illustrate your points with examples that the pupils know.

(c)

Have the class full attention.

(d)

Be brief  precise and concise, using simple language

(e)

If the information is important, then you should repeat it more than once,
or even write it on the board.

(f)

Get observable/measurable feedback. It is not enough that pupils nodding

their heads during the lessons, as they do that even if they do not
understand.

SELF-CHECK 8.2
1.

What is the importance of (a) the set induction, (b) the closure?

2.

What are the three major parts involved

teaching/learning process of a lesson plan?

in

the

182 X TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING

Lets try to fill in one of the Lesson Plan format part by part. You will need to
refer to the Curriculum Specifications when you do the exercises that follow. One
example is given below based on Sample 2  a Year 5 Week 1 Scheme of Work.
Class : Year 5
Enrolment: 40
Time: 60 min. 10.0012.00noon

Date/Day: 9.3.06 Thurs.

Theme: World Self/Stories/Knowledge

Topic: Me & My Pets  My Happy Times with my Pets
Language Skills
L

Curriculum Specifications

Level

1.3.1 & 1.3.3 Listen to key words & phrases in

stories, recounts & descriptions heard.
1 . 3 . 2 Listen to & understand cardinal numbers
Scope: 4150

1.3.4

Scope: 5160...

1.1.1

Listen to & repeat words...

2.1.1

Repeat words

2.1.2

Pronounce compound words correctly.

2.1.3

Say aloud phrases, expressions & exclamations

with correct stress & intonation.

2.1.4

Ask questions with correct intonation.

3.1.1

Look at letters & say the sounds aloud.

3.1.2

Identify letter shapes by their sounds.

3.1.3

Read aloud words ...

3.1.4

Read and group words according to word

families

4.1.14.1.4 ...
4.2.14.2.3 ...
Language Content:
Vocabulary

(Grammar/Vocabulary/Sound System)
Cardinal numbers 4150, Verbs-Swimming, Cycling, Jogging, etc.

Wh-questions:

What, When, Where, How, Why

Sentence Structure:

What do you like to do?/What do you feel happy doing?

I like keeping my... / I am happy watching my pet fish.
33 of us like keeping pets.

TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING W 183

You can use any one of the two general formats of a lesson plan, as shown below:
(A)
Class:
Enrolment:
Time:

Date/Day: Theme:

Topic:
Language Skills

Curriculum Specifications

Level

Language Content: (Grammar/Vocabulary/Sound System)

Behavioural Objectives:
Previous Knowledge:
Teaching Aids/Materials(s):
Moral Values(s):
Educational Emphases/Thinking Skill(s):
Stage/Time
Set Induction
Development
Closure

Reflection:

Content

Teaching/Learning Activities

Remarks

184 X TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING

(B)
Class:
Enrolment:
Date/Day: Theme:

Time:
Topic:
Language Skills

Curriculum Specifications

Level

Language Content: (Grammar/Vocabulary/Sound System)

Behavioural Objectives:
Previous Knowledge:
Teaching Aids/Materials(s):
Moral Values(s):
Educational Emphases/Thinking Skill(s):
Stage/Time
Set Induction
Development

Presentation
Practice
Production

Closure
Reflection:

Content

Teaching/Learning Activities

Remarks

TOPIC 8 LESSON PLANNING W 185

In this topic we covered these aspects of lesson planning:



Knowledge of learners;

Integration of language skills and structures;

To set appropriate aims and objectives; and

To develop and close the lesson accordingly.

Lesson closure

Lesson planning

Chitravelu, N., Sithamparam, S., & Teh, S. C. (1995). ELT methodology principles
and practice. Kuala Lumpur: Fajar Bakti.