Нова українська школа: методика навчання англійської мови у 3-4 класах закладів загальної середньої освіти на засадах компетентнісного підходу - Крістіна Карпюк 2020

11. Planning Lessons and Preparation

Planning... Is it really that important to write it all down? Or, perhaps, just a few notes sticking to the notebook will be enough? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to understand the reasons for planning, what a lesson plan is and what it involves.

A lesson itself, first of all, is a kind of an organised ’social event’ which takes place in various cultures and countries. Even though they are different in topics, methods and materials, there are certain characteristics without which a lesson is just not a lesson - their objective is learning, they are attended by teachers and learners and they have a schedule. Therefore, a good lesson is always planned ahead. A lesson plan is an organised description of a lesson which also makes it a guide for the teacher. Scrivener (2011) notices that planning is a thinking skill because there are many things to consider - the students, the atmosphere, the main points and goals, the tasks, the management, the materials and the challenges.

Some educators believe that if you know your pupils well, nothing can go wrong. Plus, you usually have a coursebook to help you. Indeed, some lessons may go wonderfully. Yet, this does not always happen. When teachers do not plan their lessons, they get themselves into many risks. Many unexpected problems and challenges can occur at any time with anyone in the lesson. Since the students we are talking about are primary ones, this means that they are children who therefore are very energetic, impatient and unstable. They get bored rather quickly and there are often a lot of discipline issues with them. In addition, when they see that the lessons are often chaotic and their teacher just ’goes with the flow’, they start to consider him/ her as unserious, irresponsible and unprofessional. As a consequence, they stop listening to the teacher and may even just ignore him/her.

Thus, preparation plays a significant role in the teacher’s life: it makes him/her ready for many problems that can occur, organises his/her work and at the same time provides him/her with a good reputation. The first important step of it is creating a lesson plan. Besides the topic, what else goes into this piece of arrangement? A good lesson plan always has:

✵ the description of the class/group;

✵ the learning aims and outcomes;

✵ the procedure of the lesson;

✵ the timing;

✵ the possible problems and solutions to them;

✵ the lesson materials (books, audio tracks, computer programmes, etc);

✵ the reflection.

The significance of these parts lies in their reasons.

To begin with, we need to mention the number, age, level and some main characteristics of the students in order to remind us who we are working with and to create suitable tasks for the learners.

The following part is to determine what we want our students to develop and achieve (lesson aims). Additionally, it is a good idea to point out the purposes of each activity/task. That way we can see better whether our tasks will help us to get to the main goal(s) and put the activities in the correct order. Lesson aims also help us define the outcomes - the results we expect from our students.

Thirdly, it is necessary to create the sequence of all the activities so that they would come in the correct order according to their aims instead of being mixed up - warm-ups at first, revision of the previous material or introduction to the new one next and so on.

Fourth of all, we need to set the time for each activity in order to see whether the number of our tasks fits the 45 minutes of the lesson.

To continue with, very often lessons can have their own unexpected ’surprises’. Thus, we should predict and mention in our plan which difficulties may occur and think of the solutions to them.

Next, there should be a list of the materials which we intend to use in our lesson so that we could always check if we have not forgotten anything. Plus, it is a good idea to always keep some additional materials, since sometimes students can finish their tasks earlier than expected.

A point should be mentioned about coursebooks here, since they are the necessary material for any lesson. On one hand, they simplify the teacher’s work, help him/her stick to the curriculum and save his/her time because these books contain many already-made tasks that are organised in a certain way. However, if the educator only uses the coursebook and the additions to it (workbook, audio tracks) and strictly follows them, the lessons become predictable and, consequently, boring for the students. This is one of the issues we need to avoid with any pupils, especially if they are children because it usually brings us to the discipline rules being broken and the results being not as good as we would like them to be. Therefore, our materials should also include pieces of text or audios from other books, some videos, games and even self-made exercises, if possible. Otherwise speaking, the coursebook should be our basic but not single source of theory and practice.

The final part of a good lesson plan is reflection - the analysis of our hard work. The comparison between the expected and the received outcomes helps us to come to certain conclusions about what should be used again and what should be removed or changed. Reflection is necessary to be done because it makes us see what went wrong/right so that we would not repeat our mistakes, think of even better tasks/materials/ methods and further develop ourselves as teachers. After all, it is in the interest of any great educator to be competitive and to do their best. Remember: your students’ results are the results of your hard work. In other words, your students are your face as a teacher.

There is a common belief among educators that a lesson plan should be written only when the lesson itself is going to be presented to other people who will assess it. In the regular world, a few notes will be enough. However, it is practically impossible to keep everything only on your mind - teachers are people, not machines, and forgetting is a natural feature of any human being. Plus, it is easy to get lost in all those notes, especially if there are many of them. That is why creating an organised and clear lesson plan in a written form which includes all of the parts mentioned earlier is a way to avoid a great number of different problems.

As for planning lessons for primary students specifically, we need to remember that they should be fun. We should also:

✵ Make our students the centre of attention.

✵ Use different activities and games.

✵ Include activities which change the pace of the lesson (stirrers and settlers).

✵ Create a certain routine.

✵ Use activities which involve physical movement.

✵ Follow the PPP model (Presentation, Practice, Production).

✵ Repeat the previous material.

In addition, the teacher has to know his/her students’ needs and interests to make the lessons suitable for them. Apart from interviewing the learners, the teacher can also meet and ask their parents about these because they also care about their children’s happiness and development. It is necessary for the pupils to know each other and their teacher (that way they feel safer) and to follow a certain schedule in order to become more disciplined and organised. One of the things that motivate primary pupils are the classroom and the atmosphere in which they study as well as the notice about their achievements by the teacher. Esteves (2016) forms these necessities and peculiarities of young learners into 10 tips on how to set an exciting as well as purposeful learning environment for children:

✵ Get to know your children (communicate with them inside and outside the classroom).

✵ Let them get to know you as well as each other.

✵ Decorate the classroom.

✵ Involve the parents.

✵ Create a time-out area.

✵ Create a friendly classroom environment.

✵ Make learning relevant (let the activities meet your students’ needs and interests).

✵ Set targets and celebrate achieving them.

✵ Support children with special needs.

✵ Create attendance and punctuality needs.

*A friendly atmosphere is created when the students respect each other and when their teacher is their friend, not just a guide or controller.

SUMMARY

A good lesson is always planned ahead and a good lesson plan should always be well-organised, clear, logical and written down for the teacher not to lose or mix up anything. Its parts are:

✵ the class/group description;

✵ the learning aims and outcomes;

✵ the procedure of the lesson;

✵ the possible problems;

✵ the lesson materials;

✵ the reflection.

Since the learners we are talking about in this book are primary students, it is important to consider their attributes, needs and interests in order to make our lessons suitable specifically for them, including: creating a routine, verifying the materials and activities, involving games and physical movement, using the PPP model, revising the previous material and so on. Examples of some good lesson plans are shown in the Appendix.