Planning Lessons and Courses- Tessa Woodward

This book manages to cover a vast subject very thoroughly with lots of practical ideas in only 250 pages. It also gives a framework for lesson planning that covers the two dissatisfied ends of the spectrum- the beginning teachers who spend too much time planning and have yet to build up routines, and the experienced teachers who find it all too easy and too routine. The approach is very influenced by ‘humanistic language teaching’, with the use of metaphor and personal anecdotes to illustrate the ideas, but at the same time the content is very organised and the ideas are scientifically-based. Because so much needs to be taken into account when planning a lesson, this basically adds up to whole teaching course and covers much the same subjects as a CELTA level course. Because this book is not really designed with pre-service teachers in mind, however, it is able to go much deeper into some of the more controversial matters, and is much more thought-provoking and readable. I would recommend it highly to any new teacher trying to make what they learned on their course work in real life, and it could also be useful for teachers who feel like they are getting stuck in a rut.