Welcome to our new series where will be sharing real lessons plans that have been taught by our teachers to classes of students across China. The goal of this series is to give you an idea of what a successful lesson plan looks like so you can create your own. Good lesson plans are at the core of positive relationships with your students, classes that assist in their progress, and a confident teacher who can deliver quality lessons.
The lesson plan we will focus on today is targeted at young learners or beginners, and the vocabulary being learnt is about body parts.
Warm Up
Every good lesson starts with a warm up. This is a chance to recap previously learned content and get students ready to learn. In this lesson plan, a game is used to go over vocabulary from the last class. There are endless games you could use in a warm up, but it’s generally better to avoid those that are too exciting, instead saving them as a reward for the end of class.
Introduction / Context / Practice
The next stage is the biggest part of the lesson, this is where content is learned and developed. First, the vocabulary is introduced in a fun and light-hearted way, the introduction. This lesson plan uses a song and then repetition, both fantastic tools to engage young learners providing the teacher is energetic and enthusiastic. Students should enjoy getting involved in a way that is not too difficult, meaning everyone can participate.
Next is context, this is where the target vocabulary is used within sentences. In this lesson plan, repetition is used again as students repeat sentences after the teacher until words are omitted and the students are able to produce the vocabulary themselves. Eventually, the
students should be able to speak sentences without any prompts from the teacher. Kinaesthetic learning is also used to help students remember the vocabulary
The last part of this section is practice, this is an opportunity to see if the students have been learning and are capable of using the vocabulary. In this lesson plan, flashcards and a game are used to engage and motivate students.
Assessment
The assessment part of a lesson is not too dissimilar from practice. However, it is usually more fun and often contains games. The goal here is to see how much of the lesson content students have learned, this will help you plan your next lesson, you can assess if you need to revisit something or if it’s ok to move on. In this lesson plan, a game similar to ‘Simon Says’ is used.
Cool Down
A reward for good behaviour and hard work, the cool down is the time in the lesson that students look forward to the most. You can revisit
lesson content in a fun and relaxed way, often with a game or song. The ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ song is used in this lesson plan, this is a great idea because young students love to sing and dance.
So there it is, the first lesson plan in our new series. We hope you have enjoyed and found value in seeing what a great lesson plan contains. As you can see, it isn’t rocket science and is nothing to be afraid of. Your first lesson plan will not be perfect but you will learn as you go, and you’ll be great!
Keep an eye out for our next post, a lesson plan for more advanced learners about countries.
And if you have any questions, or want to know more about our programs in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Hungary and Poland, please get in touch here.
