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Effective design and delivery of lessons lead to successful learning in communicative language classrooms. Teachers need to not only to plan and teach lessons, but also to reflect on how the lessons were taught and how the students interacted during the lessons. Through this module, you will explore ways that will help you design and develop lesson plans for your communicative language classrooms. You will also have a chance to delve deeper into reflective teaching practices that will benefit both you and your learners.

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

• plan, teach, reflect, and adjust lesson plans to promote effective communicative language practice in their classrooms

• develop an effective lesson plan for English learners that teaches language through meaningful context and promotes communicative interaction using engaging activities

• design effective lesson plans for English learners using the following steps: warm up, presentation, practice, application, and wrap up

Click here to download the Module 6 Packet.

6.1 Watch

Explore ideas for how to write good objectives, how to sequence activities, and how to improve our instruction through reflective teaching by watching three videos.

6.2 Read

Explore ideas for plan, teach, reflect, and adjust by reading at least two articles.

Articles

Article 1: Developing Dynamic Units for EFL by Joan Kang Shin

When teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), the classroom has to be a place in which language is not only taught but also used meaningfully. This article gives ideas for planning thematic units that help you develop lessons that are meaningful and communicative.

Source: Shin, J.K. (2007). Developing dynamic units for EFL. English Teaching Forum, 45(2), 2-8. https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/07-45-2-b.pdf

Article 2: PTRA: Plan, Teach, Reflect, Adjust by Woomee Kim

Design, delivery, and reflection are fundamental to effective lesson planning. In this article, reflective teaching strategies are emphasized with a set of guiding questions that you can ask before, during, and after you teach a communicative lesson.

Source: Kim, W. (2021). PTRA: Plan, teach, reflect, and adjust. Teaching English through English: English Speaking Nation for Uzbekistan Program. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1utrDM7Ma6FfVNzeC1qWynWDyToI4zmxd/view?usp=sharing

Additional Resources

Multi-level classes part one: Differentiating instruction with learning stations

Source: U.S. Department of State, American English. (n.d.). Multi-level classes part one: Differentiating instruction with learning stations. https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/june_week_2_final.pdf

6.3 Search

Explore more teaching resources about plan, teach, reflect, and adjust. You can also search these websites for more teaching resources:

• American English Resources page

• Open Educational Resources Commons

• British Council Teaching Secondary Resources page

• Pearson Classroom Resources

• Read, Write, Think

(Hint: Try using these keywords: lesson planning, reflective teaching, communicative activities. Type the keywords in the “Search Our Resources” space located in the middle of the web page. Explore the other sites using a similar approach.)

6.4 Think

Think about one or more of the following questions regarding lesson plans that promote classroom interactions:

• What are some examples of communicative lesson plans you have used successfully in your teaching context? What is your favorite communicative lesson plan that you have taught? Explain why.

• If you do not use communicative lesson plans yet, what aspects would you like to improve, either from “PTRA” or “Six-Steps of Lesson Planning”?

• What are the challenges in creating communicative lesson plans for your learners?

6.5 Create

Based on your preference choose one of the following tasks:

Choose a lesson plan you have used before and make any changes and/or improvements to reflect what you have learned about communicative lesson planning.

OR

Think of a lesson you have previously taught. Consider “Plan, Teach, Reflect, Adjust (PTRA)” and reflect in 4 paragraphs how you planned for the lesson, how you have taught the lesson, what you now reflect about the lesson, and what you will adjust in this lesson for the next time you will be teaching it.

OR

Think of a lesson you would like to teach. Use the Six-steps of lesson planning and design a communicative lesson in detail. Consider what activities you might want to use to teach the content and promote communication in your classroom.

Note: This will be added to your Portfolio.

6.6 Share

Share the lesson plan you improved/created in the group chat. Be sure you post a lesson that you have not seen already in the group chat. Please post a brief message and attach a Word document, PDF, or PPT slides with your activity.

Example

Hello, Colleagues! The lesson plan I want to share which I improved/created is called __________________________________________ (lesson title). This lesson is effective because_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. See the attached file for an example on how I use this lesson in my classroom. (Be sure to attach your activity file.)

6.7 Apply

After you share a lesson in the group chat, read through your colleagues' lessons. Find at least one or two new lessons in the group chat that you can use in your next class. Apply a new lesson from this module in your next class. If it was a success, be sure to send a message and tell your colleague "Thank you!" and why it was effective.

6.8 Reflect

Write 1-2 paragraphs to reflect on Module 6 (300-500 words). You may use what you have created, shared, and applied in the previous tasks.

Note: This will be added to your Portfolio.