A range of learning experiences for health education is suggested in the learning experiences in this chapter. Teachers should select those experiences that best meet the learning needs of their students.
Determinants of health – Level 7
Possible learning activities
Activity 1: A picture of health
Activity 2: Factors affecting well-being
Activity 3: The deal of life
Intended outcomes
Students will:
demonstrate their understanding of the wider social factors (determinants) that affect people's well-being (7A4, 7C2, 7D1);
establish priorities for policies to raise standards of health across the population (7D2, 7D3);
identify and examine ways in which determinants of health are interrelated (7A4, 7C2, 7D1).
Links to NCEA Achievement Standards
This foundation unit will help prepare students for assessment against all NCEA level 2 and 3 achievement standards in health education.
Key areas of learning
1.Mental health
2.Sexuality education
3.Food and nutrition
Key concept
Socio-ecological perspective: Analysing how determinants of health and their interrelationships affect people's well-being.
Background information
The activities in this section are essential for health education at this level. (They may also be used in physical education and home economics.) They are designed to help students identify and understand the factors that affect the well-being of people in society generally, and they provide students with opportunities to think critically as they learn to look at health issues from a socio-ecological perspective.
The three activities on pages 38–41 are intended to be combined as a unit of work that provides students with background information about determinants of health and related concepts. Students can then draw on this knowledge in a range of situations and learning contexts. It is recommended that this unit of work be implemented early in year 12 programmes.
For each activity, allow sufficient time for in-depth discussion that includes analysis and synthesis of new concepts introduced and students' ideas.
A complete version of the activity on pages 46–47, with teaching materials, can be found in Social Issues: Alcohol (Tasker and Hipkins, 2002).
Activities
Below are three possible learning activities provided for this learning experience. You can jump directly to one by selecting the link from the following list.
Activity 1: A picture of health
Activity 2: Factors affecting well-being
Activity 3: The deal of life
Activity 1: A picture of health
Share the learning goals (intended outcomes) with your students and establish success criteria.
Students work in small groups. Give each group a photo and ask them to discuss the following questions in relation to their photo.
What do you think is happening, or what could have happened, in the photo?
What can you tell about the person?
Does the person look healthy?
Explain all the factors (determinants) that could be affecting their well-being.
Print out and enlarge the following handout (if necessary) and cut it into separate terms with their sentences. Place them in random order on a surface where the students can view them all. Students examine these and, as a group, select a term and sentence(s) that they think could match their photo.
Key terms and sentences handout: click on the link 'Health determinants: Key terms and sentences', and select the printer icon in the pop-up window to print the Key terms and sentences. These terms and sentences are derived from Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts (WHO, 1998).
Display the photographs with their matching statements around the room for students to share and discuss. This process will help them to identify social determinants of health.
Then provide each student with a list of determinants. Either in discussion or in writing, students go on to demonstrate their understanding of determinants that affect people's well-being.
Teachers' notesThis first activity helps students to identify some social determinants of health. Because students may initially have difficulty with some concepts, you may need to explain these fully.
Gather a set of photographs of people, such as those in the web-based document Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts (WHO, 1998). This is available online at www.who.dk/document/e59555.pdf (PDF, 3.2mb)
Alternatively, teachers could gather photographs that feature an aspect of health from newspapers or news/current affairs magazines, such as National Geographic magazine.
Print out and enlarge the following handout (if necessary) and cut it into separate terms with their sentences. Place them in random order on a surface where the students can view them all. Students examine these and, as a group, select a term and sentence(s) that they think could match their photo.
Activity 2: Factors affecting well-being
Make up a set of cards, each of which contains information about a particular determinant of health. You could make up a set based on the example below, including additional details from Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts (WHO, 1998) or from Social Issues: Alcohol (Tasker and Hipkins, 2002), pages 103–124.
The cultural determinant
Cultural factors that affect people's health include people's beliefs, their sense of having an identity, and their culturally based philosophies, practices, and values, including values that relate to rights and responsibilities within the family or whānau...
Give each group of students a card. Each group discusses their responses to the following questions and instructions (in relation to the determinant on their card) and then presents their conclusions to the whole class.
What determinant of health is on your card?
What impact does it have on people's well-being?
What might need to be changed to bring about more positive health outcomes in relation to this determinant?
All determinants of health are interrelated. Explain how the effects of other determinants may compound the effects of your determinant on people's well-being.
Referring to the information provided on your card, suggest one or more laws, policies, or practices that could raise standards of health across the population in relation to this determinant. You may need to consider other laws, policies, or practices that could compound its effects.
As a class, discuss and agree on priorities for these policies.
Teachers' notes
This second activity is designed to deepen students' understanding of social determinants of health and to enable them to examine implications of these determinants for policies intended to enhance community health.
Important determinants of health are identified in the 'Socio-ecological perspective and health education' page and are summarised in Appendix 1. More detailed information is available from:
The Social Origins of Health and Well-being (Eckersley, Dixon, and Douglas, 2001)
'Social, Economic and Cultural Determinants of Health' (Howden-Chapman and Cram, 1998)
Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts (WHO, 1998), which is available online at www.who.dk/document/e59555.pdf (PDF, 3.2mb)
Activity 3: The deal of lifeStudents work in groups of about five. Give each group of students a set of cards. (See Teachers' notes on this page.) One student deals out the cards, face down, to the other group members. One at a time, each student turns over one of their cards and reads out the statement on it. As each card is turned, the group responds to question 1 below so that each group gradually builds up a profile of a person's health.
If the statements on different cards appear to contradict each other, students can discard one card, but in general they should try to build up a profile that accommodates apparent discrepancies.
Building a profile
Question 1: What would you expect this person's health to be like? Explain your answer.
Once they have built up the profile of their person, each group considers the following questions and then shares their conclusions with the whole class.
Question 2: Do you think that this person is healthy?
Question 3: Considering the profile of this person and the ways their health is affected by social determinants of health, how long do you think they might live?
Question 4: How might these social determinants be changed to enhance the health of this person?
Question 5: How likely is it that these determinants will be changed? Explain your answer.
Question 6: What other determinants of health might affect the well-being of this person?
The profile could include personal determinants, such as genetic factors, age, and gender, lifestyle determinants, and cultural, political, and environmental determinants.
Engage students in an in-depth discussion of the interrelationships among the various determinants of health. Go on to examine how the effects of any determinant may be compounded or mitigated by the effects of other determinants.
ExtensionStudents each select one determinant of health. They research existing national or local legislation, policies, and practices that are designed to mitigate the negative effects of this determinant (or to enhance its positive effects) in order to achieve equitable outcomes for all groups in the community or to help disadvantaged groups. Local websites may have sections that provide relevant regional information.
Students then present a brief report on their findings. They could consider the policies already in place and decide on the next priority for policy in this area.
Teachers' notes
This third activity enables students to analyse some of the complex interrelationships between determinants of health.
Make up different sets of ten cards – one for each social determinant of health. Each card contains a statement that relates to one social determinant of health.
One card has a statement about work, such as: "High level of job control – high satisfaction rate – can make choices about tasks".
Another has one about food, such as: "Balanced diet with very little processed food".
Another is about social support, such as: "High level of social support from family and community", and so on).
For a source of six such statements for each social determinant of health, refer to Social Issues: Alcohol (Tasker and Hipkins, 2002).
The statements in each set contribute to the profile of an individual.
Further activities focusing on determinants of health within the context of health education at years 11-13 can be found in 'Determinants of health and changing states of health' and 'Applying knowledge of determinants of health'.
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Showing posts with label lesson plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lesson plan. Show all posts
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Asking Questions - Advanced Level
From Kenneth Beare,
Your Guide to English as 2nd Language.
Speaking Skills - Asking Questions
Students - even higher level students - often run into problems when asking questions. This is due to a number of causes: i.e., teachers are the ones that usually ask questions, the inversion of the auxiliary verb and subject can be especially tricky for many students.
This simple lesson focuses on helping higher (intermediate to upper intermediate) level students focus on some of the more difficult question forms.
Aim: Improving speaking confidence when using question difficult question forms
Activity: Intensive review of advanced question forms followed by student gap question exercises.
Level: Intermediate to upper intermediate
Outline:
Focus on auxiliary verb usage by making a number of statements in tenses the students are familiar with.
Ask students to identify the auxiliary verb in each case.
Ask a student or students to explain the underlying scheme of the object question form (i.e., ? word Auxiliary Subject Verb). Have students give a number of examples in different tenses.
Review the question forms of some of the more difficult tenses and constructions such as: conditionals, used to, present perfect continuous, past perfect, etc.
Split students up into pairs. Distribute worksheet and ask students to ask an appropriate questions for the given answer taking turns.
Follow-up check of questions either by circulating through the student pairs or as a group.
Ask students to each take the second exercise (one for Student A the other for Student B) and complete the gaps by asking their partner for the missing information.
Solidify question forms by quickly playing a verb inversion game using the various tenses (i.e., Teacher: I live in the city. Student: Where do you live? etc.)
Asking Questions
Exercise 1: Ask an appropriate question for the response
It was really rather wet and windy with temperatures well below normal.
Since eight o'clock this morning.
I was cleaning up.
I'd buy a new house.
She can't be at home, I tried to call her a few minutes ago.
Why don't you go shopping?
For about 2 years.
Exercise 2: Ask questions to fill the gaps with the missing information
Student A
The last few weeks have been very difficult for my friend ______. He discovered that he hadn't insured his car after his car was stolen __________. He immediately went to his insurance agent, but she told him that he had only bought ____________, and not against theft. He became really angry and ________________, but, of course, he didn't do that in the end. So, he hasn't been driving for the past two weeks, but ___________ to get to work. He works at a company about 15 miles from his home in __________. It used to take him only twenty minutes to get to work. Now, he has to get up at ___________ in order to catch the seven o'clock bus. If he had more money, he would ___________. Unfortunately, he had just spent most of his savings on an _____________ before his car was stolen. He had a wonderful time in Hawaii, but he now says that if he hadn't gone to Hawaii, he wouldn't be having all these problems now. Poor guy.
Student B
The last few weeks have been very difficult for my friend Jason. He discovered that _______________ after his car was stolen three weeks ago. He immediately went to his ___________, but she told him that he had only bought a policy against accidents, and not ________. He became really angry and threatened to sue the company, but, of course, he didn't do that in the end. So, he hasn't been ___________ for the past two weeks, but has been taking the bus to get to work. He works at a company about __________ from his home in Davonford. It used to take him ____________ to get to work. Now, he has to get up at six o'clock __________________________. If he had more money, he would buy a new car. Unfortunately, he had just __________________ on an exotic vacation to Hawaii before his car was stolen. He had a wonderful time in Hawaii, but he now says that if _______________, he wouldn't be having all these problems now. Poor guy.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Teaching Writing Skills
From Kenneth Beare,
Your Guide to English as 2nd Language.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Writing
Teaching Writing: Strategies
The most important factor in writing exercises is that students need to be personally involved in order to make the learning experience of lasting value. Encouraging student participation in the exercise, while at the same time refining and expanding writing skills, requires a certain pragmatic approach. The teacher should be clear on what skills he/she is trying to develop. Next, the teacher needs to decide on which means (or type of exercise) can facilitate learning of the target area. Once the target skill areas and means of implmentation are defined, the teacher can then proceed to focus on what topic can be employed to ensure student participation. By pragmatically combing these objectives, the teacher can expect both enthusiasm and effective learning.
Choosing the target area depends on many factors; What level are the students?, What is the average age of the students, Why are the students learning English, Are there any specific future intentions for the writing (i.e school tests or job application letters etc.). Other important questions to ask oneself are: What should the students be able to produce at the end of this exercise? (a well written letter, basic communication of ideas, etc.) What is the focus of the exercise? (structure, tense usage, creative writing). Once these factors are clear in the mind of the teacher, the teacher can begin to focus on how to involve the students in the activity thus promoting a positive, long-term learning experience.
Having decided on the target area, the teacher can focus on the means to achieve this type of learning. As in correction, the teacher must choose the most appropriate manner for the specified writing area. If formal business letter English is required, it is of little use to employ a free expression type of exercise. Likewise, when working on descriptive language writing skills, a formal letter is equally out of place.
With both the target area and means of production, clear in the teachers mind, the teacher can begin to consider how to involve the students by considering what type of activities are interesting to the students; Are they preparing for something specific such as a holiday or test?, Will they need any of the skills pragmatically? What has been effective in the past? A good way to approach this is by class feedback, or brainstorming sessions. By choosing a topic that involves the students the teacher is providing a context within which effective learning on the target area can be understaken.
Finally, the question of which type of correction will facilitate a useful writing exercise is of utmost importance. Here the teacher needs to once again think about the overall target area of the exercise. If there is an immediate task at hand, such as taking a test, perhaps teacher guided correction is the most effective solution. However, if the task is more general (for example developing informal letter writing skills), maybe the best approach would be to have the students work in groups thereby learning from each other. Most importantly, by choosing the correct means of correction the teacher can encourage rather discourage students.
Your Guide to English as 2nd Language.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Writing
Teaching Writing: Strategies
The most important factor in writing exercises is that students need to be personally involved in order to make the learning experience of lasting value. Encouraging student participation in the exercise, while at the same time refining and expanding writing skills, requires a certain pragmatic approach. The teacher should be clear on what skills he/she is trying to develop. Next, the teacher needs to decide on which means (or type of exercise) can facilitate learning of the target area. Once the target skill areas and means of implmentation are defined, the teacher can then proceed to focus on what topic can be employed to ensure student participation. By pragmatically combing these objectives, the teacher can expect both enthusiasm and effective learning.
Choosing the target area depends on many factors; What level are the students?, What is the average age of the students, Why are the students learning English, Are there any specific future intentions for the writing (i.e school tests or job application letters etc.). Other important questions to ask oneself are: What should the students be able to produce at the end of this exercise? (a well written letter, basic communication of ideas, etc.) What is the focus of the exercise? (structure, tense usage, creative writing). Once these factors are clear in the mind of the teacher, the teacher can begin to focus on how to involve the students in the activity thus promoting a positive, long-term learning experience.
Having decided on the target area, the teacher can focus on the means to achieve this type of learning. As in correction, the teacher must choose the most appropriate manner for the specified writing area. If formal business letter English is required, it is of little use to employ a free expression type of exercise. Likewise, when working on descriptive language writing skills, a formal letter is equally out of place.
With both the target area and means of production, clear in the teachers mind, the teacher can begin to consider how to involve the students by considering what type of activities are interesting to the students; Are they preparing for something specific such as a holiday or test?, Will they need any of the skills pragmatically? What has been effective in the past? A good way to approach this is by class feedback, or brainstorming sessions. By choosing a topic that involves the students the teacher is providing a context within which effective learning on the target area can be understaken.
Finally, the question of which type of correction will facilitate a useful writing exercise is of utmost importance. Here the teacher needs to once again think about the overall target area of the exercise. If there is an immediate task at hand, such as taking a test, perhaps teacher guided correction is the most effective solution. However, if the task is more general (for example developing informal letter writing skills), maybe the best approach would be to have the students work in groups thereby learning from each other. Most importantly, by choosing the correct means of correction the teacher can encourage rather discourage students.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Adjective Lesson Plan - English Adjectives Activity
In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun - for example, "He's a silly young fool," or "she's a smart, energetic woman." When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type. This page will explain the different types of adjectives and the correct order for them.
Opinion An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you). Examples:
silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult
Size A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is. Examples:
large, tiny, enormous, little
Age An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. Examples:
ancient, new, young, old
Shape A shape adjective describes the shape of something. Examples:
square, round, flat, rectangular
Colour A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour of something. Examples:
blue, pink, reddish, grey
Origin An origin adjective describes where something comes from. Examples:
French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
Material A material adjective describes what something is made from. Examples:
wooden, metal, cotton, paper
Purpose A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with "-ing". Examples:
sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in "roasting tin")
Some examples of adjective order
Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Purpose
a silly young English man
a huge round metal bowl
a small red sleeping bag
Opinion An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you). Examples:
silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult
Size A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is. Examples:
large, tiny, enormous, little
Age An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. Examples:
ancient, new, young, old
Shape A shape adjective describes the shape of something. Examples:
square, round, flat, rectangular
Colour A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour of something. Examples:
blue, pink, reddish, grey
Origin An origin adjective describes where something comes from. Examples:
French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
Material A material adjective describes what something is made from. Examples:
wooden, metal, cotton, paper
Purpose A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with "-ing". Examples:
sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in "roasting tin")
Some examples of adjective order
Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Purpose
a silly young English man
a huge round metal bowl
a small red sleeping bag
Sunday, November 11, 2007
How To Choose a Coursebook and Other Classroom Materials
From Kenneth Beare,
Finding the right coursebook is one of the most important tasks a teacher needs to undertake. This quick guide will help you in your decision making process and point you to some of the resources on this site that can help you find the right coursebooks and supplementary materials for your course.
Difficulty: N/A
Time Required: 1 hour
Here's How:
Evaluate the makeup of your class. Important considerations include the age, final course (are the students going to take a test?), objectives and whether the class is made up of students learning for work purposes or for hobby.
If you are teaching a standard test course (TOEFL, First Certificate, IELTS, etc.) you will need to choose a coursebook that specifically for these tests. In this case, make sure to choose the coursebook based on the age of the class. Don't choose a book that prepares for another test as these tests are very different in construction and objectives. Here are my recommendations for the TOEFL and the First Certificate tests.
If you are not teaching a standard test course, are you going to teach a standard syllabus or do you want to focus on a specific area such as conversation or making presentations?
Standard syllabuses require books that will cover grammar, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. I highly recommend the English File series or the Headway series for this type of course. You might also want to take a look at this 120 hour intermediate level teaching syllabus.
If you are teaching a non-standard syllabus class, maybe focusing on one skill set, you'll need to get some resource books for your classroom work. Here are my recommendations for classroom resource books for adults, and these are my recommendations for young learners.
If you would like to take a different, non-grammar based, approach then I highly recommend taking a look at either the lexical approach (focusing on building language skills from vocabulary and linguistic forms) or the Brain friendly approach (focusing on bringing a wide variety of learning types into play).
If you are going to teach a Business English or ESP (English for Special Purposes) course you will need to not only find a standard special English book, but also use the Internet as a means of finding specific information and content related to the industry. Here is a fantastic book entitled Internet and Business English.
You may also want to consider using software as a means of extending the possibilities in the classroom. Here are guides to my recommendations for beginner, intermediate and young learner software packages.
Finding the right coursebook is one of the most important tasks a teacher needs to undertake. This quick guide will help you in your decision making process and point you to some of the resources on this site that can help you find the right coursebooks and supplementary materials for your course.
Difficulty: N/A
Time Required: 1 hour
Here's How:
Evaluate the makeup of your class. Important considerations include the age, final course (are the students going to take a test?), objectives and whether the class is made up of students learning for work purposes or for hobby.
If you are teaching a standard test course (TOEFL, First Certificate, IELTS, etc.) you will need to choose a coursebook that specifically for these tests. In this case, make sure to choose the coursebook based on the age of the class. Don't choose a book that prepares for another test as these tests are very different in construction and objectives. Here are my recommendations for the TOEFL and the First Certificate tests.
If you are not teaching a standard test course, are you going to teach a standard syllabus or do you want to focus on a specific area such as conversation or making presentations?
Standard syllabuses require books that will cover grammar, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. I highly recommend the English File series or the Headway series for this type of course. You might also want to take a look at this 120 hour intermediate level teaching syllabus.
If you are teaching a non-standard syllabus class, maybe focusing on one skill set, you'll need to get some resource books for your classroom work. Here are my recommendations for classroom resource books for adults, and these are my recommendations for young learners.
If you would like to take a different, non-grammar based, approach then I highly recommend taking a look at either the lexical approach (focusing on building language skills from vocabulary and linguistic forms) or the Brain friendly approach (focusing on bringing a wide variety of learning types into play).
If you are going to teach a Business English or ESP (English for Special Purposes) course you will need to not only find a standard special English book, but also use the Internet as a means of finding specific information and content related to the industry. Here is a fantastic book entitled Internet and Business English.
You may also want to consider using software as a means of extending the possibilities in the classroom. Here are guides to my recommendations for beginner, intermediate and young learner software packages.
Lesson Plan Format
From Kenneth Beare,
Your Guide to English as 2nd Language.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
There are many different approaches to teaching English. However, most of these plans tend to follow this standard lesson plan format.
Warm-up
Presentation
Controlled practice
Free practice
Feedback
This lesson plan format is popular for many reasons including:
Students have a number of chances to learn a concept through various means
Students have plenty of time to practice
Teachers can give detailed instruction, or students can deduce structures and learning points through practice
The standard lesson plan format provides structure
It provides for variation over the course of 60 - 90 minutes
This lesson plan format moves from teacher centered to student centered learning
Variations on the Lesson Plan Format Theme
In order to keep this standard lesson plan format from becoming boring, it is important to remember that there are a number of variations that can be applied within the various segments of the lesson plan format.
Warm-up
Students might arrive late, tired, stressed or otherwise distracted to class.
In order to get their attention, it's best to open with a warm-up activity. The warm-up can be as simple as telling a short story or asking students questions. The warm-up can also be a more thought-out activity such as playing a song in the background, or drawing an elaborate picture on the board. While it's fine to start a lesson with a simple "How are you", it's much better to tie your warm-up into the theme of the lesson.
Presentation
The presentation can take a variety of forms:
Reading selection
Soliciting students' knowledge about a specific point
Teacher centered explanation
Listening selection
Short video
Student presentation
The presentation should include the main "meat" of the lesson. For example: If you are working on phrasal verbs, make the presentation by providing a short reading extract peppered with phrasal verbs.
Controlled practice
The controlled practice section of the lesson provides students direct feedback on their comprehension of the task at hand. Generally, controlled practice involves some type of exercise. Remember that an exercise doesn't necessarily mean dry, rote exercises, although these can be used as well. Controlled practice should help the student focus on the main task and provide them with feedback - either by the teacher or other students.
Free practice
Free practice integrates the focus structure / vocabulary / functional language into students' overall language use. Free practice exercises often encourage students to use the target language structures in:
Small group discussions
Written work (paragraphs and essays)
Longer listening comprehension practice
Games
The most important aspect of free practice is that students should be encouraged to integrate language learned into larger structures. This requires more of a "stand-off" approach to teaching. It's often useful to circulate around the room and take notes on common mistakes. In other words, students should be allowed to make more mistakes during this part of the lesson.
Feedback
Feedback allows students to check their understanding of the lesson's topic. Feedback can be done quickly at the end of class by asking students questions about the target structures. Another approach is to have students discuss the target structures in small groups, once again giving students the chance to improve their understanding on their own.
Lesson Plan Format: A Final Word
In general, I think it is important to use this lesson plan format to facilitate students' English learning on their own. The more opportunity for student centered learning, the more students acquire language skills for themselves.
Your Guide to English as 2nd Language.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
There are many different approaches to teaching English. However, most of these plans tend to follow this standard lesson plan format.
Warm-up
Presentation
Controlled practice
Free practice
Feedback
This lesson plan format is popular for many reasons including:
Students have a number of chances to learn a concept through various means
Students have plenty of time to practice
Teachers can give detailed instruction, or students can deduce structures and learning points through practice
The standard lesson plan format provides structure
It provides for variation over the course of 60 - 90 minutes
This lesson plan format moves from teacher centered to student centered learning
Variations on the Lesson Plan Format Theme
In order to keep this standard lesson plan format from becoming boring, it is important to remember that there are a number of variations that can be applied within the various segments of the lesson plan format.
Warm-up
Students might arrive late, tired, stressed or otherwise distracted to class.
In order to get their attention, it's best to open with a warm-up activity. The warm-up can be as simple as telling a short story or asking students questions. The warm-up can also be a more thought-out activity such as playing a song in the background, or drawing an elaborate picture on the board. While it's fine to start a lesson with a simple "How are you", it's much better to tie your warm-up into the theme of the lesson.
Presentation
The presentation can take a variety of forms:
Reading selection
Soliciting students' knowledge about a specific point
Teacher centered explanation
Listening selection
Short video
Student presentation
The presentation should include the main "meat" of the lesson. For example: If you are working on phrasal verbs, make the presentation by providing a short reading extract peppered with phrasal verbs.
Controlled practice
The controlled practice section of the lesson provides students direct feedback on their comprehension of the task at hand. Generally, controlled practice involves some type of exercise. Remember that an exercise doesn't necessarily mean dry, rote exercises, although these can be used as well. Controlled practice should help the student focus on the main task and provide them with feedback - either by the teacher or other students.
Free practice
Free practice integrates the focus structure / vocabulary / functional language into students' overall language use. Free practice exercises often encourage students to use the target language structures in:
Small group discussions
Written work (paragraphs and essays)
Longer listening comprehension practice
Games
The most important aspect of free practice is that students should be encouraged to integrate language learned into larger structures. This requires more of a "stand-off" approach to teaching. It's often useful to circulate around the room and take notes on common mistakes. In other words, students should be allowed to make more mistakes during this part of the lesson.
Feedback
Feedback allows students to check their understanding of the lesson's topic. Feedback can be done quickly at the end of class by asking students questions about the target structures. Another approach is to have students discuss the target structures in small groups, once again giving students the chance to improve their understanding on their own.
Lesson Plan Format: A Final Word
In general, I think it is important to use this lesson plan format to facilitate students' English learning on their own. The more opportunity for student centered learning, the more students acquire language skills for themselves.
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