How do you plan your lessons? Do you start with a general idea of what you want to do? Do you build a lesson around a weakness that your students have? Do you simply pick up where you left off in the previous class? Do you open the course book and see what comes next?
I’d imagine the last scenario happens to us quite often.
You open the course book and you think: “I need to cover this, this and that. I’ll start with a warm up, take this activity out, change this one a bit, add a communicative one, finish with a game… Ok, that’s a lesson”. Sounds about right?
Now, when did you think of your lesson aims?
Ideally, we should have some idea of our aims before we start planning the lesson in detail. So, maybe you look at the material available to you, and you think about what you want your students to be able to do by the end of the lesson.
How you phrase your aims should help you understand what you want your students to achieve and how you want to help them get there. So for example:
Students will be able to write an email to a friend inviting them to a party. (achievement aim)
Students will practise analysing model texts, structuring emails, and noticing fixed expressions typical for emails. (procedure aim)
Normally, you only need to write lesson aims for formal observations. However, it is useful to write them down or simply think of them for your own clarity and focused planning.
To get a better grasp of lesson aims and their phrasing please visit the following links to very useful articles:
https://barefootteflteacher.com/blog/lesson-plan-aims
https://thebestticher.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/learning-objectives/
Happy reading!
by Kasia Kepka