Page 162 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Lesson Planning

tive models have been proposed by different authors, such as the Engage-
Study-Activate model proposed by Harmer (2007) which has a strong em-
phasis on arousing the learners’ interest and is more flexible than the PPP
model in that the stages can be moved around rather than following the
same scheme. What is common to different models is that they usually de-
scribe the teaching process in three different stages which involve the intro-
duction of language, some form of structured practice and the use of the
language practiced by learners in less controlled, more free contexts.
Another useful framework is the Plan-Do-Review sequence which involves
warm-up and other activities at the beginning of the lesson, then several dif-
ferent activities in the main part of the lesson, which may also follow the
main Plan-Do-Review format, and a rounding up of the lesson in which pupil
performance is reviewed (Brewster et al., 2002, p. 239). In addition, as Jensen
(2001) notes, planning the transitions from one activity to another and mak-
ing sure the lesson flows well is particularly valuable for novice teachers and
their learners.
A good strategy is also to ensure a balance between ‘stirrers,’ i.e. tasks
or activities that stimulate or energise our learners and ‘settlers,’ designed
to calm students down and settle them into a routine. In settling activities,
such as drawing, listening to stories, or mini projects, pupils are usually quiet
and calm, while typical ‘stirrers,’ such as class surveys, action and movement
games or drama activities require the learners to actively participate and
move around the classroom.

Timing
Anotherimportantaspectoflessonplanningistimemanagement.Especially
new teachers might find the planning of the duration of different activities
challenging. We could say that a foreign language lesson with YLs occurs in
a different time dimension. In other words, time runs differently in the for-
eign language classroom compared to other subjects. Just imagine asking
the pupils to copy a word from the whiteboard which is not in their mother
tongue. They are more likely to check the word several times to get it right.
And this is even more challenging in a language like English which is char-
acterised by a weak correspondence between spelling and pronunciation.
In addition, as we have seen above, giving efficient instructions for an activ-
ity in the FL takes much longer than in L1, sometimes even longer than the
activity itself. Also, Jensen (2001) points out that teachers, especially inexpe-
rienced ones, tend to underestimate activities in terms of length. In this case,
a certain amount of flexibility on the part of the teacher is welcome, such as

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