Standard Lesson Plan Format Guide for ESL Teachers

Teaching English, like teaching any subject, requires lesson plans. Many books
and curricula provide advice on teaching English learning materials. However,
most ESL teachers like to mix up their classes by providing their own lesson
plans and activities.

Sometimes, teachers are required to create their own lesson plans when
teaching ESL or EFL at international institutions that are scattered throughout
the world.

Here's a basic template you can follow to help develop your own lesson plans
and activities.

Standard Lesson Plan

Generally speaking, a lesson plan has four specific parts. These can be repeated
throughout the lesson, but it's important to follow the outline:

1. Warm-up
2. Present
3. Practice focusing on specifics
4. Practice usage in wider context

Warm-Up

Use a warm up to get the brain thinking in the right direction. The warm-up
should include the target grammar/function for the lesson. Here are a few ideas:

 Ask small talk questions about the weekend for a lesson on the simple
past
 Discuss a hypothetical situation for a lesson focusing on conditionals
 Challenge students to describe others in class when working towards
building descriptive vocabulary.

Presentation
The presentation focus on the learning objectives for the lesson. This is the
teacher guided section of the lesson. You might:

 Explain grammar at the whiteboard

 Show a short video to introduce a topic of discussion

 Present new vocabulary making sure to provide lots of context
 Present written work for a class discussion of structure

Controlled Practice

Controlled practice allows for close observation that the learning objectives are
understood. Controlled practice activities include:

 Gap-fill exercises on tense conjugation

 Complete the sentence exercises to encourage specifically written
formulas
 Reading and listening comprehension activities
 Language function practice on specific activities such as apologizing,
negotiating, and thanking

Free Practice

Free practice allows students to "take control" of their own language learning.
These activities should encourage students to explore language with activities
such as:

 Class debates
 Creating role-plays and acting them out for others
 Games focusing on communication skills
 Essay writing

Note: During the free practice section, take note of common mistakes. Use
feedback to help everyone, rather than focus on individual students.

This lesson plan format is popular for many reasons including:

  Students have a number of chances to learn a concept through various
means
 Students have plenty of time to practice
 Teachers can give detailed instruction, or students can deduce structures
and learning points through practice
 The standard lesson plan format provides structure
 It provides for variation over the course of 60 to 90 minutes
 This lesson plan format moves from teacher centered to student-centered
learning

Variations on the Lesson Plan Format Theme

In order to keep this standard lesson plan format from becoming boring, it is
important to remember that there are a number of variations that can be
applied to the various segments of the lesson plan format.

Warm-up: Students might arrive late, tired, stressed or otherwise distracted to

class. In order to get their attention, it's best to open with a warm-up activity.
The warm-up can be as simple as telling a short story or asking students
questions. The warm-up can also be a more thought-out activity such as playing
a song in the background or drawing an elaborate picture on the board. While
it's fine to start a lesson with a simple "How are you", it's much better to tie your
warm-up into the theme of the lesson.

Presentation: The presentation can take a variety of forms. Your presentation

should be clear and straightforward to help students understand new grammar
and forms. Here are a few suggestions on how to present new materials to class.

 Reading selection
 Soliciting students' knowledge about a specific point

 Teacher-centered explanation
 Listening selection
 Short video
 Student presentation
The presentation should include the main "meat" of the lesson. For example: If
you are working on phrasal verbs, make the presentation by providing a short
reading extract peppered with phrasal verbs.

Controlled practice: This section of the lesson provides students direct

feedback on their comprehension of the task at hand. Generally, controlled
practice involves some type of exercise. Controlled practice should help the
student focus on the main task and provide them with feedback -- either by the
teacher or other students.

Free practice: This integrates the focus structure/vocabulary / functional

language into students' overall language use. Free practice exercises often
encourage students to use the target language structures in:

 Small group discussions

 Written work (paragraphs and essays)
 Longer listening comprehension practice
 Games

The most important aspect of free practice is that students should be

encouraged to integrate language learned into larger structures. This requires
more of a "stand-off" approach to teaching. It's often useful to circulate around
the room and take notes on common mistakes. In other words, students should
be allowed to make more mistakes during this part of the lesson.

Utilizing Feedback

Feedback allows students to check their understanding of the lesson's topic and
can be done quickly at the end of class by asking students questions about the
target structures. Another approach is to have students discuss the target
structures in small groups, once again giving students the chance to improve
their understanding on their own.

In general, it is important to use this lesson plan format to facilitate students'

English learning on their own. The more opportunity for student-centered
learning, the more students acquire language skills for themselves.
 7 Components of an Effective Classroom
Lesson Plan

Whether you’re a regular classroom teacher or teach in a specific content

area, lesson plans matter. The quality of your lesson plans will in great
part determine how efficiently class time is used and how much content
your students learn each period.
Lesson plans don’t have to be lengthy. The main thing is to make sure
they contain the main elements of the lesson. They’re meant to guide
your instruction so you can make maximum use of your classroom time.
An effective lesson plan has the following components:

1. Materials
What will you need to teach this lesson? This includes student supplies
as well as your own. Don’t forget about technology such as your doc cam
and laptop.
Make sure you have everything you’ll need so you’re ready to roll when
your students arrive.
You don’t want to be scrambling around in the middle of a lesson trying to
locate the protractors which you thought were in that bottom cabinet, only
to realize at the last minute that they’re not there.
Having your resources lined up ahead of time saves valuable class time
and gives you great peace of mind. When your materials are in place, you
can devote all of your energy to teaching the lesson.
Your materials list may look something like this:
Materials: lined paper, pencils, rulers, Kagan chips, doc cam, laptop

2. Objective
What exactly do you want your students to be able to do by the end of the
lesson? This should be clearly communicated to your students orally at
the very beginning of the lesson.
Some teachers write their lesson objective on the board as a frame of
reference for both students and themselves.
Communicating the learning objective to your students both verbally and
in writing makes it easier to stay on target throughout the lesson. The
objective should be the ongoing focus of your lesson!
Your objective should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable,
relevant, and time-bound.
Sample SMART Objective:
Students will complete a Venn diagram to compare two Spanish-speaking
cultures, with five common characteristics and five characteristics specific
to each culture.

3. Set the Stage

This is where you can really “sell” your lesson by getting your students
excited about what you’re going to teach them!
Tap into students’ prior knowledge to prepare them for new content you’re
about to introduce.
For example, if you’re about to present a lesson on using metaphors and
similes in writing, start out by discussing what makes a story engrossing
to a reader.
Involve your students in the discussion by asking them to share out their
thoughts based on gripping stories they’ve read.
Some responses you may get are: “interesting characters”, “interesting
plot”, “suspense”, “ability to relate to the characters or plot.”
This discussion will lead right into using metaphors and similes as
additional ways to make a story captivating to readers.

4. Direct Instruction
This is the “meat” of your lesson plan. It’s where you present the new
concept which is included in the lesson objective.
Speak clearly and concisely. Less is more as long as you stay on topic.
Model, Model, Model.
Use the board or doc cam as you model what you’re teaching. If it
involves a process, show the process. Speak aloud as you model through
the entire process, explaining each step as you go along.
Involve students.
After modeling a few examples on your own, involve your students in a
few additional examples using the board or doc cam. They will gain
confidence as they go through the process with you!
5. Guided Practice
After you’ve presented the new concept, modeled examples, and involved
your class in a few additional ones, your students are ready for guided
practice.
This is where they get to apply the new concept independently and/or in
cooperative activities.
Circulate the room to check for understanding as students work. Pause to
clarify as needed.
If you notice an area where many students are confused or struggling,
stop and address this particular point with the entire class.
If necessary, go back and model a few additional examples, followed by
additional guided practice. You want to make sure your students are
applying the concept correctly rather than practicing mistakes.

6. Closure
This is where you “wrap it up.” It’s a quick synopsis of the lesson.
You may want to ask students to pair share or to share out something
they learned that period, or to provide an example of the concept taught.
Keep it short and sweet.
Example: “Today we learned about metaphors and similes. Tell your
partner one example of a simile and one example of a metaphor.”

7. Demonstration of Learning (D.O.L.)

This is how you as a teacher evaluate whether or not your students met
your lesson objective.
The D.O.L. should always be completed independently. It should take
most students no longer than five minutes to finish, and can be a simple
written activity such as a quiz (many teachers call these “exit tickets”).
Make sure the D.O.L. accurately reflects the learning objective and allows
your students to apply what they learned during the lesson.
The purpose of the D.O.L. is to provide you with valuable feedback which
should drive your instruction.
Student performance on the D.O.L. tells you if you need to go back and
reteach the same lesson the following day, or if your students are ready
to move on to the next lesson.
Lesson Plans provide you and your students with a clear sense of
direction in the classroom. Remember that they don’t have to be
extensive, drawn out plans. They are meant to guide and assist you in
maximizing classroom time.
Don’t forget to use humor as you teach. A sense of humor goes a long
way in keeping students engaged in the classroom!