15/10

Lesson planning is always important, but it is essential when teaching very young children, since this age group requires wide variety of short activities. Children will get bored if activities take too long. long and without necessarily meaning to, will start to disrupt your class. Get them standing and moving, then sitting and singing, then moving again. Craft Activities will also keep children involved. Try to provide individual and group working and playing time within the lesson. Encourage good interaction but also independent endeavour.

 Your lesson plan helps you to keep track of the order in which you are going to do all these things, as well as giving you a place to jot down extra information you may need to keep in mind for an activity you are presenting for the first time. You can also make a note of materials you will be using at cach stage at your lesson. Finally, planning gives you an idea of the time each activity will take.

 

 

TIPS:

• Think about the main topic of your lesson and what you want to achieve. Think about what you hope children will have learned by the end of the lesson. This is sometimes called the ‘aim' of the lesson. Will your class learn new words (e.g. cat, lion), a new concept (e.g. pets vs wild animals) or how to use a structure (e.g. A cat's small. A lion's big)?
• Keep to the same basic routine in every lesson. With very young learners, routine is very important. Knowing what comes next will help children remember the language they need to fulfil each task. Use the routine that works for you - some teachers always start with a story, for instance. 
• Think about the way the whole lesson works. When writing your lesson plan, try to see the flow of your lesson in your mind's eye, like a film director going through a script, imagining the various scenes of a film he or she is planning. Think of how each activity fits into the overall sequence. Is it a good fit? If not, would it fit better somewhere else in the sequence or would a different activity be better. As you write your lesson plan, you are likely to see a natural progression.
• Plan 'transitions between activities, as well as the main points of your lesson. See Chapter 1, Class routines and classroom management, for activities to help you move from one step of the lesson to the next. Write down the activities you are planning but also note the main language you will need to use and anything that will help you present your ideas.
• Be flexible. You may not have time to do all the activities or steps you've planned. You may sometimes need to change the order of the lesson stages to suit what you are doing on a particular day (you might decide to start with a craft activity, for example, making puppets, so that children can use the puppets to participate during story time). 
• Have your materials ready. Remember to set up the song you need so it is ready on the CD player or computer, or have your Hello slide on the interactive whiteboard when children come in.
• Think about the lesson when it has finished. Use a section of your lesson plan to write down ideas and reminders for the next class and to highlight things that went well or areas you need to work on.

 

Here is a possible order every lesson could follow:

Warmer: Begin your lesson with a 'hello' routine (see, for example, 1.1. Name tags: Who's here today? . When everyone has arrived, make a circle and perform the Hello, how are you? chant .

Circle time: Move on to routine activities, for example, talking about the date or the weather, phonics work or revising topic vocabulary. Use the board, charts, chants, songs, flashcards and question and answer techniques.

Story: Tell a story, generally related to the topic/ craft activity or game which follows. The story might be from a picture book or it could be a short film, puppet show or theatre activity, encouraging children's participation.

Topic / Craft: The children do this activity in groups at their tables. It can be based on the day's focus (taken from the story or the vocabulary topic, for example). 

Game or TPR: Do a get up and move activity, play a game or perform an action story with the children.

Wrap up: Finish the lesson with a settling activity, such as What did we do today?, followed by a goodbye' routine, for example, performing the Goodbye chant. See the next page for a lesson plan template.