We'll take each element of the plan separately and match the content of the plan to the CELTA assessment criteria.
A lesson can pass or fail on the strength of its plan so this is not a box-ticking exercise.
The University of Cambridge sets out the requirements for what is in a CELTA lesson plan in the syllabus document (section 4.2 on page 10).
The sections are:
We will follow that and suggest what should go into each section although this guide considers the class profile first because that is where planning should begin – with the learners. You cannot sensibly set aims without considering the needs and level of the learners.
All plans start with a consideration of the learners, their needs, their learning preferences and their interests.
The key question to ask is
What do I need to tell the observer to make it clear that I am considering the learners from the outset of my planning?
On most CELTA courses classes are shared and all the trainees will teach the same classes.
Do not, however, rely on other people's perceptions (but draw on them). It is your view and your response to the group that is most important.
It is here that you demonstrate your familiarity with the group and the fact that there are some commonalities to bear in mind when planning for them. Here's how to do that.
Here's an example:
| The learners: | There are usually between 8 and 12 learners in this group and most of them are speakers of French, German and Italian as a first language. They come from Ivory Coast, France, Austria and Switzerland. There is one learner, Abdullah, who is the only Arabic speaker (from Jordan) in the group and he struggles to read and write in English but has good oral /aural skills. Jean-Paul has a slight hearing impairment so I will make sure that I am close to him and face him when I am giving key instructions and explanations. The strongest learners are Marie, Franz and Jean-Paul; the weakest overall are Claudia, Lara and Abdullah (but see above). All the learners are living in the UK and need language skills for work and socialising. This lesson on making arrangements will be relevant to them all, therefore. |
That's enough. There is no need, unless the group is very unusual, to say more here.
There may be an unusual item worth adding to the list. For example, if the group is particularly heterogeneous, has split aims and so on. Before you write something about this, ask yourself if it's really relevant to your lesson. If it isn't, leave it out.
Depending on the centre at which you are taking CELTA, you may be asked to distinguish between Aims and Learning Objectives.
Usually the difference is explained as:
An Aim is what you hope to teach but
An Objective is what the learners will be able to do at the end that they couldn't do at the beginning.
There are two important things to bear in mind:
There is a critical difference between an Aim and a Procedure.
The following are Aims and Objectives:
These, however, are Procedures and refer to what you and the learners will do, not what will be achieved:
Try not to mix them up!
Here an example of this part of the plan:
Life is what happens while you are making other plans (John Lennon)
In this part of the plan you need to think about what problems might arise and how you will deal with them.
Problems can be of three main sorts and you should think about all of them:
Solutions need to be precise not generalised so for example
I will explain
or
I will deal with it
or
I will provide more practice
are not solutions at all but
I will spend a little longer on the drilling phases so the learners gain confidence and skill stressing the words correctly.
I will also mark the stress clearly on the board like this: HAIRdresser
I have back-up paper copies of the task
Learners can share the handout and I'll make copies for those who need them at the end
are all proper solutions.
Here's an example of this part of a plan:
| Problems and solutions: | Problem | Solution |
| The learner may misunderstand the instructions for the last task (because it is complicated) | I will demonstrate the task with Claudia because she is one of the weaker students | |
| The Italian speakers may have trouble pronouncing the short /ɪ/ sound near the end of the -ing forms | I will drill the three of them separately | |
| Maria and Sheena may find it difficult to talk about work problems (because they are not currently in work) | I'll pair them together and may use an alternative topic (family issues) |
On some CELTA courses, you may be asked to separate these and Cambridge list them separately but we will consider them together because they are closely connected.
Almost everyone does this in the form of a table, like this:
| Stage | Aim | Procedure | Time | Interaction | Comment and teacher role |
| Stage 1 | To activate the learners' knowledge of the topic | 3-minute buzz groups to come up with 5 items related to weekend activities | 4 minutes | SS-SS (groups of 4) | Separate the groups as much as possible so they cannot overhear each other. I will listen to each group in turn and note one interesting activity from each for a short feedback. |
| Stage 3 | To prepare for the pair work activity and provide written practice of the verbs and nouns | Individually, learners write down three things they are doing this weekend, e.g., seeing friends, eating out at a restaurant, going to the cinema | 8 minutes | S (individually) | Monitor and assist with the lexis and the collocating verbs |
| Stage 6 | Students mingle to ask and answer questions using the form, e.g., What are you doing on Saturday? I'm having lunch in the park etc. | To provide semi-controlled practice of using the forms naturally. | 10 minutes | S-S (mingle) | I will make sure I am alert to any false production of the target language (form and pronunciation) and intervene immediately. This is a check for me of learning and progress so far. |
There are two guides on this site that are helpful in selecting and designing tasks and activities when planning the procedures in a lesson. Both guides will open in a new tab:
All you need to do here is
While there are many good reasons to have a plan, there are also ways in which a plan can actually get in the way of responding to your learners. This calls for a little flexibility.
A map is not the territory. Do not confuse the model (your plan) with the reality (your lesson).
While both focus and variety can be planned, flexibility, by definition, cannot. What the teacher does when things do not go according to plan is just as important as knowing what to put in the plan in the first place.
However good the plan, and however carefully you have thought about your learners, their needs and their preferences, something will arise in almost all lessons which was not predicted in your plan.
It may, for example, turn out that the learners' mastery of a language item which you had assumed is not as secure as it needs to be. This may require quite a serious diversion from your plan if the lesson depends on their knowing how to handle the language in question.
It may also be the case, on the other hand, that the learners are already aware of and can handle some of the targets of the lesson. If that occurs, you would be very unwise to continue with the teaching procedures you had planned for these targets.
The moral of all this is: Teach the learners, not the plan.
| Related guides | |
| planning | for a basic guide to planning to remind you of the most important aspects |
| activity types | of three sorts: awareness raising, skill getting and skill using |
| task types | for some ideas of what to include in the activity phases |
| grouping learners | for some consideration of when it pays to take the time to re-group learners appropriately |
| the CELTA Handbook | contains a bit more on planning and an example of a completed lesson plan |
