10 Tips on Lesson planning for NQTs

10 Tips on Lesson planning for NQTs

Lesson planning is one area that most teachers struggle with, especially if you are very new to this. It is quite common for new teachers [just out of their CELTAs] to walk into a teachers room and feel lost. You would see some people doing some cut-ups, some looking very relaxed, some discussing great lesson ideas and sometimes with ELT jargons that you don`t understand a word. 

1. This is absolutely normal!

First of all, feeling like this is absolutely normal and every teacher has gone through this stage. In a few months or years` time, you will look relaxed too or probably sitting there discussing some interesting ELT stuff.

2. Little by little!

At the start of your teaching career, it is always best to commit to a few classes per week- say about 6-12 hours of teaching a week. This will give you time to meticulously plan your lessons and reflect on them well too. However, this is sometimes not a matter of choice, that most schools demand you to teach 24 hours a week. In that case, I would suggest you to ask for same courses taught at different times or at least similar ones [age groups], so that you can reuse some of your material. And, believe me this would save a lot of time in planning.

3. Focus on the learners

This is something that will be well set during your CELTA and is something that you have to follow all throughout your teaching career. Before you start your lesson planning, think about what your learners might need. Am I teaching this lesson because they need it or because it is a part of the syllabus? It is useful to learn doing needs analysis to see what students really need. They often just tell you that they need to learn English, but this can be further probed by asking specific questions. Methods such as TTT, give you the room to check whether learners really know that particular area of grammar or vocabulary, before we teach it. So, give it a try. I would any day suggest that teachers should constantly be in this pursuit of knowing their learners` needs. Makes you a better teacher by day!

4. Not just fun!

In the CELTA, we often see some innovative trainees who use some lovely ideas in their class and they get appreciated too. This sometime sets the precedent that lessons are all about fun. While I would agree that lessons need fun, it is just not fun. There should be a meaningful outcome to any activity that you might do in class. At times, you can have a fun activity in class for 5 mins for a change [Outcome could just be fun!]. With the internet having so many fun resources, easy- to-download ones, it is very important to see the outcomes of these before having to use it in class. 

5. Work with your coursebook!

This may sound very basic, rather less fun. But, yes your book or the material selected by your institution should be good. It is often noticed, that teachers want to look for other resources to make their lessons interesting. But if you carefully notice, your coursebook, teachers book and the entire kit would have most of what you would need to deliver a fantastic course. After all, no one writes a book before they get to that level of expertise. When I started teaching the very first time, I was told just to plan with the book and the material that came with it. It proved useful because I was working closely with the book to understand the links between activities and why it is done a particular way. You can still change the order of things, if you have good reason to doing that.

6. Start early, but not too early!

It is possible that you can be overwhelmed by the number of things you got to plan in terms of planning. So, time management is key. When you plan entirely depends on how frequent your lessons are. Thoughts about what to do for your next lesson can start as early as you finish your current lesson. Given some time, these thoughts can take shape as good ideas. Say about two to three days before the lesson, sit somewhere nice and quiet to plan your lesson. It is best to do this when you are relaxed, and has time to think. It`s best to use a pen and a paper or a computer to make notes. Some people refer them while teaching, for some like me it just gives me the confidence of having planned that part. Do all parts of your planning in one go if you can, including prints and cut-ups. It is such a nice feeling, just that you walk into work, pick your material [which is all ready], sip a cup of tea and get to class.

7. Be flexible!

Rigid lesson plans often fail! It is best to consider the lesson plan as a reference document. There can be some part of the lesson, that might take longer, shorter or can be very boring for students and this is very normal. This can happen more when you are not very familiar of your teaching context. Nothing wrong- have a spare activity to use just in case. If it is an hour of a lesson, plan for 50-55 mins  and leave the 5 mins for some flexibility in terms of time. Have some spare stand- alone activities, just in case if everything gets over quick. When you have gained the confidence, give your learners some choice, as to what they want first- a reading lesson first or a writing lesson.  

8. You can`t possibly know everything!

This is the biggest fear for any teacher, especially a new teacher. But, truth be told, no one knows everything. So, be bold and tell your students if you don`t know something and find it for them the next day. A delayed good answer is better than an instant wrong answer. You can also lead them to use tools such as the dictionary or google it to find answers. 

9. Action research/ work with one particular area for a term of teaching.

It can be daunting to deal with all the skills and systems [Grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary] all at once. So, to make things simpler, you can pick on one thing to work over a period of time. For example, 'how to teach reading for young learners?' or 'how can you make vocabulary learning fun?'. By this way, over a few years, you would have tried some range of activities and will have your favorites.

10. A lesson as a part of a longer course.

I am not very sure if this is looked at much in the CELTA. But in reality, every lesson is a part of a longer course, which serves a purpose, and is a part of the learners` longish language learning journey.  So, it is a good idea to see what all the course aims to do before starting the first lesson. Sometimes your learners ask you a grammar point which is not that lesson, but is planned later in the course, you can tell them to wait till that day. Having to look at the course plan gets you to think of the flow and connect between your lessons. Saves you time as well. 

Thank you for reading! See you in another blog.