Sample format of a lesson plan for a KBSR class Class: Time: Topic: Main Skill: Integrated Skill (s):

Curriculum Specifications: Learning Outcomes / Objectives: Previous Knowledge: Language Focus: Instructional Material (s): Moral Value (s): Educational Emphasis / Thinking Skill (s):

Stage / Time Set induction

Content

Teaching / Learning Activities

Rationale

Remarks

Development

Closure

Learners' Profile and Lesson Details Normally the top of a lesson plan consists of some basic information such as your name, the date and time of the lesson, the duration of the lesson, the number of learners in the lass, the level of the learners, the topic, the focused language skill, the integrated language skills, the curriculum specifications, the lesson objectives, the previous knowledge of the learners, the moral values and the thinking skills. The above information would help you to plan your lesson outcomes and pitch the level of your teaching.

Learning Outcomes / Objectives

As you have learned in the previous topic on lesson objectives, they the aims of a lesson. They are statements to guide teachers in their teaching and they are related the objectives of the syllabus. They also state clearly the skills to be achieved by learners so that they can use simple language to talk to their friends and others, ask and answer questions, speak and express themselves clearly, read and extract information from a variety of sources, and write legibly to express their ideas. How would you write your learning outcomes / lesson objectives? They would begin as follows "By the end of the lesson, the learners should ... Examples : a. By the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to talk about animals to their friends from the stories that they have heard. b. By the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to ask questions politely to obtain information. These statements are clear and concise. They are written using the word 'should' to show what the learners should be able to achieve at the end of the lesson. How do you make sure that this will happen? Well, first you need to know what your learners can do. Then, select the suitable level of skills (I 3) from the Curriculum Specifications. Remember not to put too many objectives at one go. You should not be too ambitious and neither should your learners be made to leant too many skills in just one lesson.

Teaching Procedure (stages of a lesson) In carrying out a lesson, it is common to divide the lesson into three main phases. The lesson begins with a set induction / introduction leading on to the development of the lesson focus and ending with a closure. The following table provides a summary of various aspects of the first and last stage of a lesson. The Set Induction and the Closure Stages of a Lesson Set induction Purpose to change the mindset of students to prepare students Activity Students: sing a song Important features short & interesting activities

to focus on the subject to attract the interest of students. to introduce the theme/topic of the lesson

do some physical activities

stimulating thinking use Multiple Intelligences related to the topic based on students' experiences

Closure

to conclude or summarise the focus of the lesson

recall key words or phrases learned suggestions for follow-up activities

focused signals end of lesson functions as a reminder

Now, study the table above and try out the following exercises. Exercise 3 Suggest two other activities that you could carry out for set induction and two activities for closure in the table below. Set Induction 1. 2. 1. 2. Closure

Exercise 4 What would you do for set induction for the following situations based on the theme `Animals'? Describe a short activity. Situation A: The English period comes after Arts. The lesson focus is writing sentences. How would you help the students to change their focus from drawing to writing ? Situation B:

The English period is the last period on the time-table. The students are all restless and all ready to go home. How would you attract the interest of the students towards the lesson?

Next, let us take a look at the main body of the lesson Lesson Development Even though set induction and closure are quite standard in form, there may be different ways of lesson development. Different approaches in language learning and teaching may influence the way the lesson is developed. What you choose may also be determined by the lesson -content and the teaching-learning strategies. Have you heard of the PPP Procedure? Have you heard of another one called the pre-, while an post procedure ? First, let us take a look at the PPP Procedure.

The PPP Procedure According to Spratt cited in Matthews et al. (1985:5), the PPP procedure is most offer used to develop the students' speaking skills. ` An oral lesson which aims to teach new structures or functions is often divided into three stages, commonly known as the presentation stage, the practice or accuracy practice stage, and the production, freer or fluency practice stage.' What do you think PPP stand for? What it means here is that a lesson is developed according to the presentation, practice and production stages. Basically, the presentation stage is when the teacher presents new language items while using appropriate audio-visual aids to help learners' learning. The practice stage is meant to provide the learners with sufficient opportunities to practise the new items learnt, while in the production stage the students are allowed freer or more creative use of the language hems they have learnt. We shall examine each stage closely in the topic on stages of a lesson and you can find out how it is applied in the Teaching of Grammar, Vocabulary, Listening and Speaking.

Presentation, Practice and Production at a glance Presentation Purpose to give Ss the Practice to provide Production to provide the

opportunity to realize the usefulness and relevance of a new language item. to present the meaning and form to check understanding

maximum practice within controlled, but realistic and contextualised frameworks to build confidence in using new language

opportunity for Ss to use new language in freer, more creative ways to check how much has really been learnt to integrate new language with old. to practise dealing with the unpredictable to motivate Ss can be used for revision or diagnostic purposes purposeful tasks Ss work together at their own pace clear instructions allowance of possibility of making mistakes

Important Features

clear, motivating, natural and relevant context model (or marker) sentence(s) concept checking - grammatical explanation if necessary build-up of appropriate situational and linguistic contexts for new language. listening to and initial repetition of model sentences informant

framework provides guidance for utterances, reduces scope for errors clear and realistic prompts Student Talking Time maximised drills (choral and individual) 2, 3,4 line dialogues information and opinion gap etc.

Typical Activities

games, role plays, discourse chains, discussions, information and opinion gaps etc.

Role of Teacher

conductor

monitor, adviser,encourag

corrector

er, mistakehearer, consultant S S pairs groups mingles greater element of freedom

Type of Interaction

T Ss choral T Ss individual

T S S S (open pairs) S S (closed pairs) very controlled, Ss have limited choice

Degree of Control

highly controlled, T model

Correction

Length and Place in Lesson

important to correct so that Ss have correct grasp of form short usually at the beginning

T, other Ss or selfcorrection

generally noninterference by T depends on level of Ss and type of activity after presentation and practice within or across lessons

depends on Ss' needs and difficulty follows presentation, or at the beginning for revision

Read, C. (1985) cited in Matthews, A.. et al. (eds) At the Chalkface. Arnold.

Exercise 5 Try to answer all the following questions. 1. Where would you look for information on how to determine teacher's control over practice of new language items? 2. What is the teacher's role in presenting new language items? 3. How could the teacher group learners for freer production of language items learnt?

4. When does a teacher act as a mediator during learners' interactive use of language? 5. Which piece of information specifically tells you that learners should be given every opportunity to speak? You may quote directly from the table. After you have completed the above exercise, perhaps we could look in greater detail at the PPP procedure so that we are very clear as to what teachers should do in each of the three stages. After you have finished reading, try to summarise the PPP lesson stages in about 150 words.

The Presentation Stage This is the, stage when a teacher presents the new language item(s) he wishes to teach, and to give his learners the opportunity to realise the usefulness and relevance of the new item(s) presented. In order to do so, the teacher would have to take into account the ability level(s) of his learners so that he could tailor his presentation language accordingly, i.e. making sure the learners fully understand the input given. The meaning and form (e.g. pronunciation, spelling, structure) of the new language item need to be made very clear to the learners. For this purpose the teacher would need suitable audio-visual aids and of course, he would have to be a good model (e.g. modeling the correct pronunciation, intonation, etc.). In this stage, the use of teaching aids could be considered as essential in order to maximize learners' understanding. The principle of "teaching the known to the unknown" should be adhered to in this stage.

Basically therefore, the teacher's role is that of an informant/giver of information. While giving information he should be checking on the learners' understanding by asking questions and rephrasing 'complex' structures if necessary. Observing the learners' facial expressions and body language could tell also the teacher whether they understand what he is presenting or not.

The Practice Stage The purpose of this stage is to provide the learners with maximum practice in using the new language item(s). This should be done within controlled, but realistic and contextualised situations. In other words, 'though the teacher provides the words, structures or sentences to be practised, they should be practical and are not practised in isolation. For example, 'new' words are practised as parts in meaningful

sentences, and preferably the sentences themselves would explain I bring out the meaning of the new words. Once again the use of relevant audio-visual aids is important in this stage so that they provide guidance for example, for utterances and reduce scope for errors. Drills, short dialogues and information gap activities are examples of typical activities, and the teachers role is that of a conductor and connector. He ensures not only the correct pronunciation or intonation is practised, but alsn that there is connection between ideas and sentences. Therefore the main idea of the Practice stage is to build up the learners' confidence in using the new language items they have learnt. The Student Talking Time needs to be maximised here in order for them to get sufficient practice, and at the same time prepare them for the Production stage.

The Production Stage The main purpose of the Production stage is to provide the opportunity for the learners to use the new language learnt in freer and more creative ways. Other purposes would be to check how much they have really learnt, to motivate them to use the target language actively, and also to integrate the new language with language items they have learnt previously. As the learners use the language more freely, they learn to practise dealing with the unpredictable situations which surface in everyday language use. To achieve the purposes mentioned above, the teacher needs to set meaningful and purposeful tasks in which the learners can work together, for example to solve a problem given through discussions and role plays. The learners can be grouped in pairs, small groups or they can mingle with different partners/ groups. It is important to bear in mind that the instructions for learners' tasks need to be very clear so they know what their roles are. In this stage the teacher mainly functions as a consultant, mediator, monitor, or as an adviser and encourager. He would normally move around unobtrusively watching the learners as they go about their work, stepping in only when they really need his help. Perhaps some ground rules in the conduct of group activities need to be established in order to facilitate effective learning and also to maintain order.

Next, let us look at another way of developing the lesson.

The Pre, While and Post Procedure:

In a listening lesson, a teacher would begin with a set induction, then go on to the pre- listening stage, while-listening stage, post-listening stage and end with a closure. You might want to refer to Chitravelu, N. et al (1995) for examples of using this procedure in teaching reading and writing; and Underwood, M. (1989) for teaching of listening. In a pre-listening stage, the purpose is to prepare learners to achieve the most from a text. The while-listening stage is to challenge and guide the learners to handle the information and messages in the text. The post-listening stage is to integrate the language skills. Exercise 6 Reading Task: Read Chitravelu, N. et at (1995) and using the table below, make short notes and give two examples of what could be carried out in each of the three stages of teaching the listening skill. Stages of lesson development for a Writing lesson The Pre-writing Stage Purpose Activity

The While-writing Stage

The Post-writing Stage

Self Evaluation on the plan Other than a column for teacher remarks, most lesson plans include a small section at the bottom for you to add any comments or reflection after the lesson. In a reflection, a teacher may write a personal evaluation such as ' I started with an interesting set induction which attracted a lot of participation from the learners, but I didn't manage to explain my instructions dearly to them. ' You might notice that you can write about anything that went particularly well or something for you to improve upon. Such comments as these would be useful to remind you when or if you use that lesson plan again. Even for experienced teachers, it is a good idea to keep plans on file for future reference. During teaching practice your reflections would be very useful to judge your own performance before getting feedback from your college supervisor or others.

Conclusion This topic has looked at the lesson plan and several ways of planning a lesson but that afl bt-gins with a set induction and ends with a closure. You should conclude that the lesson plan is an important guide for the teacher. The aims of the lesson are clearly stated and the way the lesson is carried out is planned carefully. Many decisions are made about the activities, strategies, teaching aids and other considerations. The order and length of time for each part of the lesson will be determined by the needs, levels and interests of the learners, and especially the specific lesson objectives.