Example of a CELTA lesson plan

NAME: Chiew Pang WEEK: 4 DAY: 2 LENGTH: 60mins
LEVEL: Upper Intermediate DATE: 23 Oct 2012 TP # 7
APPROACH If Discrete item…
Discrete Item  Situational Presentation 
X
Task Based Learning  Teaching from a text 
Skills  Teaching from examples 
Teaching from rules 
Test-Teach-Test 
TOPIC/THEME: (e.g. Holidays, Regional Dishes, Health and Medicine...)
Anecdotes

AIMS: By the end of the lesson, students will have…
Main Aim(s):

… learnt how to tell anecdotes in a more natural way.

Subsidiary Aim(s):

… had the opportunity to improve their writing and speaking skills (pair and group work).

PERSONAL AIMS: What do you personally want to improve on in this lesson and why? Example: 1.give
clearer instructions and check them, 2. reduce TTT, 3. improve my drilling techniques.

1. To give instructions slowly, clearly, and concisely; and to check their understanding by asking them some
ICQs or by giving examples. I’m still not doing this well enough.

2. To improve on monitoring.

3. To improve on concept-checking lexis. In the last lesson, I was weak on this score.

SOURCES OF MATERIALS: What course books, reference books, internet sites etc. did you use?

http://www.macmillandictionary.com
Teacher’s own activities and materials
Scott Thornbury’s blog for TBL research: http://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/tag/task-based-instruction/
Practical English Usage, Michael Swan, Oxford 1995

Lesson Plan Assignment 2 & 4i
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The LANGUAGE ANALYSIS that you need to do in the following section relates to your LINGUISTIC AIM(S) i.e. the
LANGUAGE COMPONENT of your lesson. As a rough guide:
• In a discrete-item lesson, you need to analyse the M,F,P,A of the discrete item i.e. the language point
• In a TBL lesson, you need to analyse M,F,P,A of any topic-related lexis you intend to teach (Pre-task stage) and ‘useful
language/expressions’ (Planning stage).
• For ALL of the above, and skills lessons, you need to analyse any lexis that you intend to teach or that might cause
problems of M, F, P, A during your lesson.
The idea is that this analysis will help you to predict problems the students may have and to plan solutions to these
BEFORE the lesson in the next section of the lesson plan.

Assignment 2: LANGUAGE ANALYSIS
MEANING/USE State what the language component of your lesson is (see above) AND what it means/how it is used.
Give an example(s). For LEXIS/USEFUL PHRASES, list the words/phrases you intend to teach and the key points of
their meaning. See example.

FORM: State what the FORM of your language component is, showing a breakdown of the structure/phrase. Include
negatives, question forms, contractions etc if necessary. Include parts of speech in your list of LEXIS. See example.

PRONUNCIATION: Indicate the key pronunciation features of your language component (word/sentence stress, weak
forms, silent letters, key intonation patterns etc.). See example.

APPROPRIACY: indicate whether anything in your language component is colloquial, formal, informal, slang etc. See
example.

EXAMPLE:
DISCRETE ITEM: have to vs don’t have to

Meaning: I have to get up early every day. (it’s necessary/it’s an obligation for me.)
I don’t have to wear a suit. (it’s not necessary; it’s optional)

Form: Positive: subject + have to + infinitive Negative: subject + don’t have to + infinitive
Question: Do you have to wear a suit?
Short answer: Yes, I do./No, I don’t.

Pronunciation /hæftə/ before infinitives beginning with a consonant sound
/hæftu:/ before infinitives beginning with a vowel sound

LEXIS/EXPRESSIONS
to manage to do sth.
Meaning to succeed in doing something, especially something that needs a lot of effort or skill
Form: manage to do sth = manage (v.reg) +’to’ infinitive
Pronunciation /-ɪdʒ/

a suit
Meaning: a set of clothes made from the same cloth, usually a jacket with trousers or a skirt
Form: noun (in this context)
Pronunciation: /su:t/

WRITTEN RECORD: What written record will students get of key features of M,F,P,A of the language you
are teaching?

Students get a written record of the exercises used in the lesson, along with the answers.

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Assignment 2: LANGUAGE ANALYSIS

Topic-related lexis (pre-task stage)

basin
Meaning: an open container used for holding liquids (as used in context)
Form: noun, countable
Pronunciation: | ˈbeɪsn̩ |

embarrassed
Meaning: ashamed of something and worried about what other people will think of you
Form: adjective
Pronunciation: | ɪmˈbærəst |

chore

Meaning: an ordinary job that must be done regularly
Pronunciation: | tʃɔː |

circuit breaker

Meaning: a piece of equipment designed to stop an electric current automatically if it becomes too strong or
dangerous
Pronunciation: | ˈsɜːkɪt ˈbreɪkə |

cape

Meaning: in this context, it’s the piece of cloth matadors use to attract the bulls
Pronunciation: | keɪp |

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Assignment 2: LANGUAGE ANALYSIS (Cont.)

Useful language chunks (planning stage)

Have I ever told you…?

Meaning: a useful expression to begin a story
Form: Interrogative using present perfect
Pronunciation: | həv aɪ ˈevə təʊld ju |

I was doing the washing-up when the lights went out.

Meaning: to speak about an event that interrupted another which was in progress
Form: Past continuous and past simple
Pronunciation: weak form of was | wəz |

suss out

Meaning: to understand a situation or the reason why someone does something
Form: verb, transitive
Pronunciation: | sʌst aʊt |
Appropriacy: Only in informal usage

Note: I could easily have used “realised” instead of “sussed out”, but with Underhill and Scrivener’s Demand-
high ELT in mind, I decided to keep the more informal “sussed out”.

gosh

Meaning: used to express surprise or annoyance
Form: interjection
Pronunciation: | ɡɒʃ |
Appropriacy: Informal. Although it’s deemed to be old-fashioned, I think it is still used a lot, along with other
interjections such as Cor! or Crikey!

Thank goodness!

Meaning: used for saying that you are happy that something unpleasant has stopped or has not happened
Form: interjection
Pronunciation: | θæŋk ˈɡʊdnəs |
Appropriacy: Fairly informal. “Goodness” can be replaced by “God” or heaven(s)”.

In the end

Meaning: useful phrase to end an anecdote or story
Form: mainly spoken
Pronunciation: | ɪn ði end |

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Assignment 2: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
What problems of M,F,P,A might students have with the previously analysed language? List and explain these
problems and include details of a solution immediately after each (please label them Problem 1, Solution 1 etc.)

MEANING: Please include full details of how you will convey meaning and check understanding in your solutions,
including timelines, concept questions etc, as necessary. Alternatively, refer to the exercise/worksheet which does this.
Example: Problem 1: Ss may think that ‘don’t have to’ means ‘obligation not to do sth’. Solution 1: In worksheet 1
Ex.1 Ss choose the correct meanings from several options. Problem 2: Ss may not know the meaning of a. To manage
to do sth, b. To refuse to do sth, etc. Solution 2: Ss match these words to their definitions on Worksheet 1, Ex.2.

Problem 1: Although this is an upper intermediate group, they still may have some difficulty understanding
some words such as basin (not mentioned, but a translation of “palangana”, which was mentioned),
embarrassed (false friend of “embarazada”), chore and cape.
Solution 1: The use of images in the PowerPoint should clarify any doubts fairly easily. Some CCQs may
have to be employed:
CCQ embarrassed: What happens to most of us when we feel embarrassed? Our face go red.
Do we feel ashamed or do we feel proud when we’re embarrassed? Ashamed.
CCQ chore: Is ironing a chore? Yes.
Is making the bed a chore? Yes.
Is listening to music a chore? No.

Problem 2: Most likely, they wouldn’t have heard of “suss out” before. This word doesn’t form part of the
blocking lexis, so they may not enquire on this.
Solution 2: Explain that we use this to express that we have understood something, usually not immediately
but after a time.
CCQ: Can we use “realised” instead of “sussed out”? Yes.
When we sussed something out, do we realise it immediately or after a period of time? After a period of
time.

FORM: Example: Problem 1: Ss may think the negative of ‘have to’ is ‘haven’t to’. Solution: ask Ss to find
examples of negatives in text. Problem 2: Ss may not know ‘suit’ is both n + v. Solution: Give examples.

Because the level is upper intermediate, I don’t envisage problems with neither the present perfect nor the
past continuous, but it is possible that some of them may still not have understood its use perfectly.

Problem 1: “Have I ever told you I’m living in Las Palmas?”
Solution 1: CCQ: The verb “told” – does it refer to a period of time in the past or a definite time?
Do we mention the time? No. Can I say “Have I told you yesterday I’m living in Las Palmas?” No.

Problem 2: “I was doing the washing-up when the lights went off”.
Solution 2: Draw a time line:

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CCQ: Which is the longer action? Washing up.
Which is the shorter action? Lights went off.
Which action interrupted and which action was interrupted? The lights going off interrupted the washing up.
Do we use the past simple for the shorter or longer action? Shorter.
Do we use the past continuous to describe the shorter or the longer action? The longer.

PRONUNCIATION: Consider individual sounds, silent letters, unpronounced syllables, syllable stress,
sentence stress and intonation patterns. Example: Problem 1: (a) Ss may pronounce the ‘v’ in ‘have’ as /v/
not /f/ (b) may mispronounce ‘suit’. Solution 1: drilling and phonemic script for (a) and (b).

Problem 1: Some may still pronounce “embarrassed” with the additional syllable |ɪd|.
Solution 1: CCQs: How do we pronounce “wanted” (writing it on the board)? | ˈwɒntɪd |
How do we pronounce “depended”? | dɪˈpendɪd |
Do we pronounce “kissed” | kɪsɪd |? No.
What’s the ending of the sound of “want”? |t| “Depend”? |d| “Kiss”? |s|
So, we only add |ɪd| when the final sound of the verb in the base form is |d| or |t| - is that right? Yes.

Problem 2: Strong form of “was” is used in “I was doing the washing up…”
Solution 2: Only if time: drill.

Problem 3: Students may have difficulty pronouncing “sussed out”
Solution 3: Tell them that the sounds are linked such that the |t| is pronounced along with the second
syllable: | sʌs taʊt |. Drill.

APPROPRIACY: Example: Problem 1: Ss probably won’t know that ‘loads of’ in the text is an informal
way to say ‘a lot of’. Solution 1: I have included this in a short glossary under the text.

Problem 1: Students may not realise that “suss out” and “gosh” are fairly informal.
Solution 1: CCQ: Can we use these words when we write a formal letter, for example? No.
Can we use them when we’re telling anecdotes to friends? Yes.

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SKILLS ISSUES: Is there anything related to skills that you are worried about. Example: Problem 1: The
listening recording is quite long and some speakers have strong accents. Solution 1: let students listen to the
recording twice if necessary.

Problem 1: They may not understand me.
Solution 1: I must try to speak slower and clearer. Use images to reinforce understanding. Use
comprehension questions to test understanding.

OTHER ISSUES: Is there anything non-language related that you are worried about, for example with tasks
or activities? Example: Problem 1: The tape in the book is badly organized. Solution 1: reorganize & read
myself. Problem 2: the role play requires an even no. of Ss. Solution 2: Put Javier (weaker S) in group of 3.

Problem 1: Technology fails.
Solution 1: Images are used to create interest and help understanding, so the effect will be dramatically
reduced. It’s a waste of paper and money to create flash cards, so I’ll have to rely on strategies such as
miming and asking CCQs.

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Assignment 4: POST-LESSON EVALUATION
AIMS: Did you achieve your aims (fully/partially/not at all) and what evidence do you have?
Main Aim(s): (fully / partially / not at all)
How successful were you at meeting your main aims?

Subsidiary Aim(s): (fully / partially / not at all)
How successful were you at meeting your subsidiary aims?

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS: How accurate were your anticipated problems of
MFPA and other problems? How successful were your solutions? What other problems did students have in
these areas that you didn’t anticipate?

SUMMARY: If you were to teach the same lesson again, what would you change?

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: What did you learn from teaching this lesson?

PERSONAL AIMS: Did you improve/work on the personal aims you set before the lesson?

AREAS FOR FUTURE WORK: What areas do you think you need to work on in the future?

TUTOR’S COMMENTS:
ASSIGNMENT 2 (BEFORE THE LESSON) ASSIGNMENT 4 (AFTER THE LESSON)

Tutor: ________________________ Tutor: ____________________________

TO STANDARD  RESUBMIT  TO STANDARD  RESUBMIT 

NOT TO STANDARD  NOT TO STANDARD 

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Example of a CELTA lesson plan

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