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This is an example lesson plan taken from Lesson plan 1 for an English language class.

• Lesson Plan
  • Subject: General English class, A2 level
  • Grade Level: high school
  • Topic: Friendship
  • Time: 15 minutes
  • Teacher: Benjamin L. Stewart
  • Observer: John Doe
  • Videographer: John Doe’s cousin Mike
• Rationale (theoretical framework):
  • The sequencing of the procedure is based on the concept, Gradual release of responsibility (GRR) coined by David Pearson and Margaret Gallagher in 1983. GRR is a teaching strategy that helps students learn new skills and concepts by gradually shifting responsibility (i.e., dependency) from the teacher to the student. A cyclical process includes the following: direct instruction, guided practice, collaborative or cooperative learning, and independent practice. It stage of the procedure is meant to enable the learner as to what comes next, leading to the practice stage that requires a level of production (i.e., speaking English as an additional language).
  • Lesson include only formative assessment that is designed to promote learning. This lesson primarily involves Positive evidence recasts that involves having the instructor model the corrected language without calling out students for incorrect language production.
  • The content objective (or learning objective) is based on Wiggins and McTighe’s (2005) Understanding by Design: the Six facets of understanding.

<aside> 💡 An alternative to writing out language objectives and content objectives separately, you may use a single prompt as discussed in Writing Learning Objectives for English Language Learners. Either way, content provides the means (or context) for practicing the language and language provides the means for learning content.

</aside>

• Learning (i.e., content and language) Objectives: English language learners will understand that maintaining a strong friendship requires give and take by having them create a S.W.O.T. analysis (i.e., a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) related to one close friend and discussing this with a partner using key vocabulary discussed in class.
• Language Objectives:
  • Students will be able to...
    • Identify and use new vocabulary related to past experiences with one close friend
    • Pronunciate words needed to converse with a partner
    • Speak in the past tense (regular and irregular verbs) to discuss opportunities and threats and speak in the present tense to describe personal characteristics
    • Brainstorm a list of words and phrases that relate to past experiences with a close friend
    • Listen and respond to a partner.
    • Judge their friendship; connect with someone who is similar and different; Adapt to difficult circumstances; analyze a friendship using S.W.O.T.; share personal beliefs; reflect and self-assess on past experiences
• Content Objectives:
  • English language learners will understand that friendship requires give and take and that true friends reveal themselves most honestly during hard times.
• Materials and technology:
  • Student notebook or digital note-taking app.
  • Word cloud app
  • Physical dictionary or dictionary app.
  • Board/screen
  • Pens/pencils/markers
  • Pictures
• Procedure with approximate time allocations and interactional patterns:
  • Warm-up: Greet students and introduce the topic with the following question: What makes a true friend? Instruct students to refer to their picture of their close friend while thinking about their answer to the question - students were asked in a prior class to bring a picture of a close friend to class. Solicit answers from students and create an online word cloud of key words and phrases. (whole group - 3 minutes)
  • Critical thinking and personal reflection: Students refer to any key words or phrases from the online word cloud to create a S.W.O.T. analysis with any additional vocabulary required to complete their short lists. The students are to include different verbs for each point: verbs in the present tense to describe strengths and weaknesses and verbs in the past tense to describe past opportunities and threats - no more than three or four items per each of the four sections. Students are encouraged to use a dictionary. (individually or in pairs - 4 minutes)
  • Practice: Based on their S.W.O.T. analysis, students as assigned random partners to discuss the question, What makes a true friend? by having them refer to their S.W.O.T. analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Students are to maintain a conversation by both answering the question and comparing and contrasting their responses (i.e., agreeing or disagreeing). (pair work - five minutes)
  • Assessment: Assessment occurs throughout entire lesson in the form of observation, questioning, reviewing worksheets (S.W.O.T. analysis), and monitoring and offering feedback while listening to conversations.
  • Closure: The lesson concludes with a review of key words from the online word cloud and any additional words that emerged during pair work conversations through revisiting the essential question: What makes a true friend? (whole group - 3 minute)
• Differentiation (see Differentiated instruction):
  • Differentiating content came in the form of having each student choose a friend and base prior experiences with this person.
  • Differentiating process and/or environments were a result of giving students a choice in whether or not to use an electronic dictionary or physical dictionary and a choice to work either individually or with a partner during the critical thinking and personal reflection stage.
• Anticipated issues:
  • Some students may need sentence prompts to help to facilitate conversing with a classmate. Also, I many need to prepare examples of filler words or discourse markers to help students segue their ideas, asking for clarification, or unsure what to say next.
  • If Wifi connection is an issue, the board can substitute for creating an online word cloud.
• Reflection:
  • What feedback was provided by classmates and/or your tutor?
  • What went well in this lesson and why?
  • What could be improved and why?
  • What will I do differently next time and why?

This is just a general lesson plan format, and the specific activities and materials you use may vary depending on the topic, the duration of the class, the level of the students, and the resources available to you. It is important to be flexible and adaptable in the classroom, and to be willing to change your plans if necessary. The most important thing is to create a lesson plan that is engaging and effective for your students.