Main Principles of Communicative Teaching

Interactive
Suitable Meaningful
material

Mistakes / Communicative Enjoyable

Natural Teaching

Use of target
Language Involving
Positive
reinforcement
 Answer the 4 questions. Discuss your answers
with your peer. Report to the group

• Why is lesson planning important?

• How is lesson planning important for
the teacher? For the learners?
• What do you take into account when
you design a lesson plan?
• What constant components are
there in your lesson plan?
 Why is lesson planning important?

• Being clear on what you want to teach.

• Being ready to cope with whatever
happens.
• Give your teaching a framework, an
overall shape.
• A reminder for the teacher when they get
distracted.
• It suggests a level of professionalism and
real commitment.
 How is lesson planning important for the
teacher and the learners?
For the teacher For the learner
 They don’t have to think  They realize that the
on their feet. teacher cares for their
 They don’t lose face in learning.
front of their learners.  They attend a structured
 They are clear on the lesson: easier to
procedure to follow. assimilate
 They build on previous  They appreciate their
teaching and prepare teacher’s work as a
for coming lessons model of well-organized
work to imitate.
 What do you take into account when you
design a lesson plan?
Five guiding principles:
• Variety Coherence Balance

• Coherence

• Balance
Challenge Flexibility
• Flexibility
• Challenge
Variety
 Variety
Why vary?
• a- to meet different learning styles: theorist –
Activist – Pragmatic – Reflector
• b- to consider different intelligence types.
• c- to keep them interested and avoid monotony.
What to vary?
• Contents – Activities – Interaction modes – Materials
– Aids …
How to vary?
• VAK Approach
 Ways of Varying the s e
diffe re nt compone nts
 Tempo/Pace : Activities may be brisk and fast-
moving, such as guessing games; or slow and
reflective, such as reading or responding in writing.

 Organization : The learners may work on their own

at individualized tasks, or in pairs or groups, or as a
full class in interaction with the teacher.

 Mode and Skill : Activities may be based on the

written or the spoken language; and within these,
they may vary as to whether the learners are asked to
produce (speak/ write) or receive (listen / read ).
 Difficulty : Activities may be seen as easy and non demanding;
or difficult , requiring concentration and effort.
 Mood : Activities vary also in mood: light and fun -based versus
serious and profound; happy versus sad; tense versus relaxed.
 Stir - Settle : Some activities enliven and excite learners ( such
as controversial discussions for advanced levels), or activities
which involve physical movement (such as the race dictation)
for the lower levels. Others, like dictation, have the effect of
calming them down
 Active - Passive : Learners may be activated in a way that
encourages their own initiative ; or they may only be required
to do as they are told
 Coherence
• Observe a logical pattern to the lesson: there
has to be connection between the different
activities in the lesson.
• Smooth transition is one of the pillars that
ensures success of the lesson plan during
implementation in the classroom.
• An activity in a lesson builds on a previous one
and prepares for the next.
 Challenge
 Learners are intelligent human beings and come
to class with knowledge previously acquired.
 The new lesson should add to that knowledge
without excess.
 The lesson that does not challenge is a lesson
that does not motivate.
 No learning happens if the lesson doesn’t
present new items beyond students’ prior
knowledge.
 Flexibility
• Two dimensions:
a- ability to use a number of different
techniques and not be a slave to one
methodology – Principled eclecticism.
b- ability to change the plan if it shows
inappropriacy to the classroom real
situation for one reason or the other.
 Balance
The lesson is a mixture of a number of
ingredients: techniques, activities,
contents …. The successful teacher is the
one who is able to observe the right
dosage and makes the learners enjoy a
savoury lesson.
 What do you take into account when you
design a lesson plan?
• Objectives set out to be achieved.
• Prior knowledge of learners.
• Materials and didactic auxiliaries to be
used.
• Tasks and activities to select and
stts’grouping patterns.
• Interaction modes.
• Timing and time management
 COMPONENTS OF A LESSON PLAN

• 1- Information about
the learners:

Who?

How old?
How
many?
Students

Cooperative? Quiet/
Agitated?
 COMPONENTS OF A LESSON PLAN

• 2- OBJECTIVES:
Official
« Enable learners to… » Program

Students’ Objectives
Module
needs
map

Textbook
 COMPONENTS OF A LESSON PLAN

• 3- Procedure

What to
do?

Logical
sequencing How to
do?
Procedure

How
Who does much
what? time?
 COMPONENTS OF A LESSON PLAN

• 4- Aids Textbook
+
Worksheets

Board
Realia Wall paper
Aids Maps

OHP
Audio-visual
Lap top
aids
Data show
Anticipated difficulties and reserve
tasks

What might go wrong?

How to deal with it?
 HINTSFOR LESSON
MANAGEMENT
I. Prepare more than you need : It is advisable to have
an easily presented, light “reserve” activity ready in
case of extra time .
II. Similarly , note in advance which component(s) of
the lesson you will sacrifice if you find yourself with
too little time to do everything you have planned.
III. Keep an eye on your time, make sure you are aware
during the lesson how time is going relative to your
plan. Include timing in the plan itself. It is difficult
to judge intuitively how time is going when you are
busy, and the smooth running of your lesson
depends to some extent on proper timing .
 Do not leave the giving of homework to the last minute!
At the end of the lesson learners' attention is at a low ebb, and
you may run out of time before you finish explaining .
V. If you are doing group work, give instructions and make
sure these are understood before dividing the class into
groups and even, if practicable, before handing out
materials.
If you do it the other way around , people will be looking
at each other and at the materials you have given them,
and they are less likely to attend to what you have to say
 Suggested format of a lesson plan
 Goals: A unifying theme, an overall general purpose to
accomplish by the end of the lesson period.
 e.g. Students will increase their familiarity with the
conventions of telephone conversations
 Objectives : Explicitly state what you want students to gain
from the lesson.
What students will do:
a. Be sure you know what it is you want to accomplish
b. Preserve the unity of your lesson
c. Predetermine whether or not you are trying to accomplish
too much
d. Evaluate students' success at the end of, or after,
OBJECTIVES:
Final learning outcomes that you will need to
measure and evaluate
• e.g. [ 1 ] Students will develop inner expectancy
rules that enable them to predict and anticipate
what someone else will say on the telephone.
• [ 2 ] Students will solicit and receive information
by requesting it over the phone
Materials & Equipment : Tape / tape recorder / poster /
map / handouts / OHP
Procedures : There is so much variation here that it is
hard to give any "set recipes", but make sure your plan
includes :
 a. An Oral Test
 b. An opening statement or activity as warm-up for the
lesson itself
 c. A set of activities and techniques in which you have
considered appropriate proportions of time for :
-- Whole class work
-- Group and / or pair work
-- Teacher Talk
-- Student Talk
-- Teacher / student Talk
d. Closure
e. Homework
 f. Evaluation