Unit 2 Task 8

[José Mario]

My planning style is similar to Paolo´s. I think variety is very important to keep students engaged and to allow students to practice different skills. Even if students haven´t studied too much grammar before I would still focus on skills and maybe throw in a grammar activity to change the pace and allow for some individual work too.

I consider the following qualities important when it comes to planning a lesson.
- relevance: people are more motivated to learn if what they´re learning is related to their work and/or goals.
-balance: different skills and language systems should be addressed throughout the course.
- variety: because everyone learns in a different way, a variety of approaches and activities would keep students interested and expose them to other ways of learning a language.

I plan lessons one at a time and start with the aims. I use the coursebook but often change a few details about activities and I discard those which I think won´t benefit the students in a particular context. I usually look for ideas on the internet or on books about classroom activities and I like to have backup activity in case one is completed too early.

I would say: Know your students and their needs and plan a lesson accordingly. Aim for activities that would benefit most, if not all, students. At least for me, planning every detail or planning too much doesn´t work and tuning up to students and being open to the possibility of changing the lesson plan as the class progresses goes a long way.

[Admin]

Thanks for writing José Mario, your lesson planning strategy sounds very sensible: know who your students are and give them what they need, don't force them to work through material that is of little relevance to them just because it's in the book and be flexible! I think that is pretty much spot-on!
I hope you are enjoying the course,
Pieter