Lesson Planning

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Concept of Planning

Before we begin to do anything, take up any assignment or embark on any undertaking, we try to know
about the purposes (objectives) for which we take up the work, what content is involved in it (curriculum) and how
to go about it (methodology), what features we have to keep in mind and the strategies we would like to use to
complete the work successfully and also how to know whether we have been successful or not (evaluation).
As teaching of English is an important undertaking we should plan it in such a way that we work not in a
haphazard or happy- go-lucky fashion but concerted, systematic and scientific way. Of course, there might be
some deviation which is but natural. The deviation will be from the planned stage and not in a hotchpotch manner.
Obviously, planning is decision making, something premeditated, pre-conceived and has some foreseen
details about the effort to perform a task. It makes the task really operative, functional and workable in such a way
that it provides a smooth road to the journey and it yields fruitful results and enables us to reach the destination
successfully.

Importance of Planning

Careful planning, therefore, is crucial and basic, most essential and presupposes deeper understanding,
creativity, insightful knowledge of the details, the problems likely to be encountered, and the snags likely to occur
in the proper, smooth execution of the undertaking.
Fortunately, your task for planning teaching of English has become lighter and easier because you have
already had the requisite understanding of the process involved in teaching English as a second language in the
foregoing (earlier) unit, (chapters of this book).
Naturally, you know a great deal about the objectives of teaching the subject, the prescribed syllabus
(curriculum) as the content and approaches and methods to teach it. In fact, you can plan more easily than other
teachers.
The task, nevertheless, is more difficult and obviously of greater importance in the context of teaching
English which as you know is quite different from the teaching of content subjects like social sciences and physical
sciences because its focus is on language competence and acquisition of skills rather than knowledge of facts and
ideas.
Unfortunately, most teachers are not aware of it and in a large number of schools English is taught like
content subjects, not like languages. As a matter of fact the teaching of English in our country, particularly in
Rajasthan is not well defined. Many factors are responsible for it. A teacher of English is not necessarily clear about
the objective of teaching English as a second language which has wider implications for curriculum and methodology.
Teachers of English although are qualified and trained but all of them may not be properly equipped adequately to
deliver the goods. Most of them use wholesale translation.
The scenario is not encouraging. Careful planning of the course will help in making the undertaking systematic,
scientific and objective-based.

A Unit Plan

The organization of subject matter into units has received considerable attention in recent years. In English
a lesson from the course book is a unit and the content of the lesson will form the basis for teaching structures and
vocabulary and the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. In fact, the books prescribed have been written
in view of the inclusion of the language material and the acquisition of the skills they are likely to lead to. The main
thrust of a unit is on spelling out of the language material viz. structures and lexical items (vocabulary) and providing
the text for teaching the skills of reading and writing. Obviously, the teaching of the course book is very crucial from
the point of view of their objectives. The course book is for detailed study and is meant for intensive reading. While
the supplementary is for non-detailed study and is meant for reading for pleasure, to motivate the learner to read
more and more books and thereby they assimilate and internalize the language.
Obviously, the course book is the textbook which is deliberately intended to exploit the situation and the
context so that new structure and vocabulary items (included in the structural syllabus) could be weaved, interwoven
as it were, to teach real meaning in appropriate contexts, and that is the reason why it is called the course book. It
is the rapid reader that focuses on acquisition of the skill of reading. Therefore, it performs two functions; it gives
the new structural and lexical items with different shades of meaning. They are to be taught and intended to develop
the skill of reading for comprehension.
The teacher, therefore, is supposed to first analyze the content, list them from a particular lesson as a unit,
categorize them for active or passive use and the shades of meaning they are used in with a view to teaching them
sub-units orally so as to keep the text as unfamiliar or unseen to be used for developing the skill of reading after the
language material has been taught orally. Evidently the teacher who takes up the text directly renders it unsuitable
for reading. Furthermore, teaching structures and vocabulary and the text of the lesson is making learning all the
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more difficult because in this way they put two difficulties at the same time i.e. teaching new structures. In fact, new
words and new vocabulary items with in the context of words and structures which in themselves are difficult and
should be taught with the help of the material already learnt by the student. In some cases, it has been pointed
earlier the text of the lesson is known to the reader and therefore, the expected answers to comprehension questions
could be given without reference to the text. Such a text defeats its very purpose and is utterly meaningless.

A Lesson Plan (or a period plan)

A lesson plan is part of the unit of teaching, which in English is a lesson from the course book.
A lesson (a period plan) obviously, emerges from the unit and in turn contributes to it in an integrated
manner. Different plans, of course, are needed for teaching structures, vocabulary, reading comprehension and
composition based on the unit. The language material involved in the unit will naturally permeate in all the cases
including the unit test and remedial work. In all planning, the dominant thing must be the objective. The teacher must
bear in mind that there is a hierarchy of objectives. This hierarchy extends from general and proceeds to the specific
objective. The specific objective concerns what the teacher expects to achieve during the class hour, she/he should
have a definite end in view as to what he or she expects to accomplish each day.
Nevertheless, the specific teaching purpose must be in harmony with the general and both should be
written out in order that there may be no confusion. The most important part of a lesson plan in English would be to
provide the learner with some motivational input, a sort of initial warm up through a puzzle, rhyme or brisk dictation
of the known words to be used to teach the new items. Secondly it is crucial indeed to identify the basic assumptions,
the entry level competence of the learner (his previous knowledge) and on which the lesson will be built-up. Then
the first phase would be presentation of the teaching point (structure or lexical items) through meaningful situations
and making use of audio-visual aids, objects, pictures, actions, gestures, mimes, demonstration etc. The second
phase would include reinforcement and consolidation of the material by using substitution tables, dialogue, sentenceframes
and frames based on programmed learning. In this phase the focus would be to get the feedback about the
performance of the learner and knowledge of the efficacy of the teaching strategies used. The tight control could be
relaxed at this stage and freedom be given to the learner to use language authentically in appropriate contexts of
situations for genuine communication and social interaction.
In teaching comprehension (based on the text of the course book) care has to be taken to see that questions
are framed in such a way that the skill of genuine comprehension of the learner is developed properly. The questions
have to be properly graded in view of the difficulty level and would be of general, detailed and linguistic type. The
learner should be given adequate experience in reading silently at normal conversational speed without moving lips
and/or fingers because that hampers speed and derails attention from meaning.
Initially the composition lesson will be integrated, guided and controlled and contextualized and the techniques
(letters, stories etc.) would be selected in view of the language content involved. Written composition will be
preceded by oral composition in all cases. Later, of course, the tight control could be gradually relaxed and
composition work made semi-free in the spirit envisaged in communicative approach for authentic use of the
language for communication.