EFL Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Overview

Topic

This section should include a short description about the content or language skill area that is targeted in this lesson. Do the content, vocabulary, or topics focus on a specific idea or issue?

 Example: This lesson helps students develop their speaking abilities in the context of a debate. Specific skills include expressing facts and personal opinions when supporting an argument and using appropriate vocabulary to link their main and supporting ideas together.

Description

This can be considered the "abstract" of the lesson plan; try to give instructors a clear idea of the overall lesson. This section should have a general description about the structure of the lesson.  How much total time will this lesson require? Does this lesson require multiple class periods to complete?

 Example: Students are introduced to specific language forms to help them effectively debate in small groups. communicative language teaching methodology, so this is primarily student-led and students are mainly involved in small group activities. The total time to complete this lesson is 90 minutes; however, longer class periods can be filled with extended independent practice activities. This lesson can be completed in a single session, but assessment will require an additional class period.

Student Characteristics

This section should identify any specific characteristics of student for which this lesson is appropriate. The information here should help instructors determine whether the lesson would applicable to their teaching context.

Student Group

This section should describe the demographic characteristics of students who can participate in this level. Is the lesson appropriate for children? Or is it targeted towards academic secondary and post-secondary learners? Is this appropriate for adult and professional learners? Does this lesson assume specific skills or cultural knowledge in order to complete the activities? Your description here should give other teachers a clear idea of whether or not the activities and materials would fit the learner group that they are teaching.

 Example: High-school students and/or adult learners

Skill and Language Level

You should do your best to also identify the appropriate language level of the materials. Keep in mind that general descriptions like "beginner" or "advanced" might be interpreted differently depending on the general English ability of the country and the teaching context. If your teaching context uses local or national learning standards for English/foreign language learning, you are encouraged to use any appropriate descriptors. 

If you do not need to reference specific standards, you should try to use an internationally recognized scale. For example, you can consider using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CERF) scale. Above all else, consider what information would be most accessible to the potential professional audience in your teaching context.

   Example: B1 - Spoken Interaction

• Can put over a point of view clearly, but has difficulty engaging in debate
  
• Can initiate, maintain and close simple face-to-face conversation on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
• Can briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions, plans and actions. 
  

Curriculum Alignment with Learning Outcome(s)

Supported Outcomes

This section should identify any learning outcomes that this lesson helps to develop. Learning outcomes are broad goals that students develop over time. Thus, students are not expected to reach mastery of these goals by the conclusion of this lesson. Outcomes should be realistic and achievable within the scope of a single course or program, however. 

 Example:

• "Students will learn effective speaking strategies for debating and argumentation."

Student Learning Objectives

This section should feature specific learning objectives that are related to the learning outcomes in the previous section. These learning objectives should be concrete skills and abilities that students will gain by completing this lesson. An essential characteristic of learning objectives is that they should be measurable; teachers should be able to see whether or not students have achieved these objectives by using targeted assessments. 

 Example: "Students will be able to..."

• "Differentiate between fact and personal opinion when presenting ideas."
• "Explain the connection between supporting details and their central argument (by using appropriate signal words and vocabulary)."
  

Materials

This section should identify all of the necessary materials that teachers and students will need in order to successfully complete the lesson.

Teaching Materials

This section should include all materials that (only) teachers will use during the lesson.  Is there a brief lesson plan document for teachers to use during instruction? Are there any answer keys for activities? Is there a presentation file or website that teachers will use? If so, provide a link to the document(s) here.

 Example:

Student Materials

This section should include all materials that will be distributed to students during the lesson. Are teachers expected to hand out worksheets or paper documents? If so, provide a link to the document(s) here.

 Example:

Technology Requirements

This section should identify all of the technology that is required to successfully complete the lesson. You should consider various educational contexts when designing your lesson plan. Be clear and descriptive as to what the classroom should be equipped with. Some example questions to answer include:

• What are the specific technologies that your lesson requires? 
• Does the teacher need to use a computer during the lesson? Do students need access to a computer during the lesson? 
• Should the classroom be equipped with a projector, speakers, or a microphone? 
• What level of internet access does the classroom need (e.g. high bandwidth, constant/streaming connection, etc.)? 
• Do students need to use technology outside of the classroom, such as completing online homework or research assignments? 
• Does your lesson plan have alternate activities for low-resource contexts? 

 Example: No technology is required for this lesson. Optional: A projector can be used to display the debate topics for students to refer to during practice.  

Lesson Plan

This section will include all the information necessary to execute the different steps and activities of the lesson plan.

Knowledge Check

The purpose of this segment is to determine the students' background knowledge of the topic and identify any existing gaps in knowledge. 

This section should include specific details about what actions teachers and/or students will take and in what order. How much time will this activity take? Try to give an estimate if you are unsure. You can use a range. 

 Example (5-10 minutes):

1. The teacher asks the students if they have watched or participated in a debate before. Elicit student-provided examples and stories.
2. The teacher puts students into small groups of 2-3 for a short discussion. The teacher provides question: "How do you know the difference between fact and opinion?". 
3. Students have a peer discussion; one student reports back to the class after the time has finished.

Introduction/Warm-up

The purpose of this segment is to provide students with a general idea about the purpose of the lesson. This is also a good opportunity to generate interest and motivation for the activities. Teachers can also begin to make connections between previously learned material and the current lesson. 

 Example (10-15 minutes):

1. The teacher presents a scenario where each student group is given a different position (or opinion) and the group needs to convince other groups to agree with them. Teachers should refer to the provided topic sheet for ideas, or substitute with topics that are appropriate for your class.
2. Students are instructed to discuss within their group how to support and present their ideas; they should write down the ideas that they create.
3. After a short planning period, the teacher will direct pairs of student groups to present their ideas to each other. Teachers should monitor for how the groups interact and take note of any language difficulties they may have.

Guided Practice

The purpose of this segment is to provide a model of language and communication skills for students to practice. This segment is often led by the teacher.

Example (10-15 minutes):

1. The teacher points out some of the ideas that students discussed during the previous activity.
2. The teacher elicits student responses to the following question: "Were you successful in convincing the other group What were the problems that your group had when trying to convince the other group?"
3. The teacher models how groups might better express their ideas using specific language structures. Also, the teacher may provide a standard debate format: "Group 1 Main Support > Group 2 Main Support > Group 1 Response to Group 2 Support > ..."

Independent Practice (or Student Production)

The purpose of this segment is to allow students to implement the target language and communication skills in a low-stakes activity. There is typically no assessment during this portion of the lesson. This should allow students to freely experiment without concern for making mistakes.

Example (20-25 minutes):

1. Student groups are directed to review their notes and make any necessary changes to their group's argument.
2. After a short planning period, student groups return to their original pairing and present their points again using the target language structure.
3. The teacher should monitor student groups during production. The teacher should scaffold any help or instruction as needed as well as take note of common difficulties with the target language.

Feedback

The purpose of this segment is to provide students with specific information about their performance. This information can include highlighting students' areas of strength; in addition, the instructor can identify areas that need improvement and provide scaffolding or guidance for error correction. Feedback can also come from peers. Lessons can also have another segment of independent practice that follows feedback.

Example (15 minutes):

1. The teacher brings the class back together for focused discussion.
2. The teacher provides examples of specific errors that s/he observed students making during the previous segment. Teachers are encouraged not to single out particular students, as this can lead to embarrassment or shame.
3. The teacher elicits corrections from the entire class regarding the errors ("I heard some people say _____. What is wrong with this? How can we correct this?").
4. Depending on the responses, the teacher should guide students to recognizing the correct answer before directly providing it to them.

Closing Activity/Wrap-up

The purpose of this segment is to conclude the activities and direct students towards any steps to prepare for the following lesson (e.g. homework). This segment is a good time to have students explicitly reflect on what they learned during the lesson.

Example (5-10 minutes):

1. The teacher asks students to think about the difference between their performance during the introduction activity compared to the independent practice. (e.g. "What did you do differently during the second debate?")
2. The teacher distributes the homework worksheet and dismisses the class.

Extension and/or Differentiation

This section should include ideas for how to support exceptional learners. Are there ways that teachers can support students who find the main activities easy? How can teachers encourage students who finish early to continue developing the target skills? Is there structured peer support that teachers can facilitate for this activity? 

On the other hand, how can teachers help support learners who are struggling with the materials? Are there alternative activities or expectations for students who are unable to complete the activity at the expected pace?

Example: Students who have little to no difficulty with the activity can be individually encouraged to listen and record the ideas that they hear from their group members. Then, the whole group could organize the information into an outline or summary and identify places where the target language or skills could be used. Students who are having  trouble participating in their assigned group can be reassigned to a different group or the expectations for the independent practice can be adjusted (e.g. provide a single supporting idea instead of multiple).

Assessment

This section should include any formal assessment measures that will be used to evaluate the students' acquisition of the target language. The assessment measure should be valid towards the target language or skills. 

Assessment Methods

This section should identify the type of assessment that the teacher will use to evaluate the students. What instructions should be provided to students before the assessment is administered? Is there a prompt or question that students will receive beforehand? Include any documents that are used during the assessment.

Example: "Your group will debate another student group during the next lesson. Your topic is ___________. Your group will argue for the topic. The other student group will argue against the topic. Your group members should prepare three supporting ideas before the next class and organize your ideas in an outline. Come prepare to participate in a debate in front of the class."

Grading Criteria and/or Rubrics

This section should include any information or tools that teachers will use to evaluate student performance regarding the target language or skills. What are the criteria that teachers should use to evaluate the students' ability? Is there a rubric that teachers can use during assessment? Should teachers provide students with the rubric before or after the assessment?

Example:

Assessment Differentiation

This section should identify any modifications or adaptations of the assessment that the teacher can use in cases where students are not of equal proficiency or ability. Example cases for differentiating assessment could be mixed-level groups or students with learning disabilities.What student characteristics should teachers be attentive to when thinking about this lessons assessment? What specific changes can be made to existing instructions or rubrics?