Can you please check my simple past lesson plan?

[fatma]

Dear Lucy,
I have to submit a lesson plan for my TEFL course, I'd appreciate it if you could check it out before I submit it. Pls confirm if its a realistic lesson plan for the time allotted. Here are the details:

Preparation
Level Elementary (Adults)
Lesson Length 45 minutes
Objective For students to practice Past Simple interrogative forms - closed question forms - and short answers relating to action at a specific time in the past.

Target Language
1. Question form: Did + subject + verb in base form? (Did she eat in a restaurant last night? / Did you eat in a restaurant last night?)
2. Answer form: Yes + subject + did / No + subject + didn’t (Yes, I did) / (No, I didn’t).
3. Meaning: Asking about a past action.

Assumed Knowledge Students should have learned the Past Simple regular / irregular verbs, and should know the negative form – follows from previous lesson and will continue tomorrow.

Anticipated Problems
1. Students might get confused about using the base verb in the question form, and might use the past form – Did she ate in a restaurant last night?
2. Students might ask the question in a positive form – You / she eat in a restaurant last night?
3. Pronunciation of ‘Did you’ sounds like ‘didgu’ – students might place too much gap between ‘did’ and ‘you’.
4. Incorrect Stress.

Solutions
1. During Presentation, draw attention to the fact that in question form, the verb used is the base verb, and not the past tense verb via CCQ.
2. Drilling.
3. Demonstrate model pronunciation –Stress on ‘yes’, ‘no’, and intonation.

Preparation & Aids Flash cards of people of different nationalities; ‘Find Someone Who’ worksheets (warmer); White Board; markers; Worksheet of Past Tense Matching exercise; Past Tense Board Game; counters for each player; dice.

Lesson Plan
Stage Activity Interaction Timing
1 Warmer: Find Someone Who Milling Activity using Past Simple (FSW went to a party last week, bought a new CD yesterday, etc).

Aim: Reinforce and practice using past simple words; energize students

Seating: Students move in space in front of desks, asking each other questions. S-S 3 mins
2 Introduction: Board Stage:
T pins word prompts from first flash card on white board (WB). Elicit or present necessary question and answer forms:

T: What’s her name? S: Barbara!
T: Did Barbara eat in a restaurant last night?
(T shakes head.) S: No. T: No, she didn’t.
T: Did she watch a film last week? S: Yes. T: Yes, she did.

Drill each question and answer with class, first choral (3-4x), then individual spot drills (2x).

CCQ: Is the verb in the question a base verb?
Is the verb in the answer a base verb or past tense verb?

Aim: For students to recognize tense of verb in question & answer form; for students to practice speaking questions & answers in correct tense.

Seating: Students sit in seats. T-S 8 min

3 Model Exchange: T nominates a confident student and models exchange activity. Give student one card. T asks questions on card, student answers.

Aim: To demo the upcoming controlled practice. T-S 1 min

4 Controlled Exchange (Practice): Organize students into pairs. T gives 2 cards to each pair, one of a man, one of a woman. Student A asks questions, Student B answers. Then Student B asks, Student A answers. T monitors.

Aim: Students practice using target language.

Seating: Students sit in seats. PW 4 mins
5 Practice: Worksheet: Speaking activity: Ask your partner about activities below: (same q’s as on flashcards). Students exchange personal info, write down partner’s answer in table on worksheet. Teacher has strong pair demo first question. T monitors. (Students write only key words, not full answers, as this is speaking exercise).

Did you eat in a restaurant last night?

Aim: Grammar reinforcement / check understanding; usage of ‘you’ instead of ‘she/he’. Exercise becomes more personal, therefore more interesting. PW 5 min
6 Class Feedback: nominate 2-3 students to tell what they learned about their partner.

Aim: To confirm correct usage. T-S 2 mins
7 Free Practice (Production): T divides students into groups of 3 or 4. Students play Past Simple Board Game. Each group gets 1 dice, each player a counter. Students place counters on START, throw dice to decide who starts. Student A throws dice, moves that # of squares. Student B asks student A the question on that square. If student A answers with correct form, and group agrees it is correct, student A’s counter remains where it is. If answer is incorrect, student A goes back to former position. Play continues until someone gets to FINISH and wins. T monitors.

Aim: for students to practice Past Simple tense and develop fluency and confidence using it.

Seating: Students sit in Groups with a table in between for board. GW 20 mins

8 Feedback: T asks S how they enjoyed the game. (T has noticed the errors made in Speaking, will address in next lesson.)

H.W.: Q&A match – Where Were You Last Week?
Students match past tense questions with right answers. Eg: Where were you last week? I went to my aunt’s ranch.

Aim: Practice Past Simple tense at home. T- S 2 mins

[Lucy]

Dear Fatma,

Your lesson plan is very good and pitched at the right level. I have 2 general comments and then my specific comments are integrated into your lesson plan.

You are aiming to cover a lot of material; you might want to reconsider timing and how much you can cover in 45 minutes. It’s good to have too much material in case students get through it quickly but don’t be too ambitious about what you can cover.

I would also give examples of the verbs you expect to cover in this lesson; which verbs are likely to come up?

Preparation
Level Elementary (Adults)
Lesson Length 45 minutes
Objective For students to practice Past Simple interrogative forms - closed question forms - and short answers relating to action at a specific time in the past.

Target Language
1. Question form: Did + subject + verb in base form? (Did she eat in a restaurant last night? / Did you eat in a restaurant last night?)
2. Answer form: Yes + subject + did / No + subject + didn’t (Yes, I did) / (No, I didn’t).
3. Meaning: Asking about a past action.

Assumed Knowledge Students should have learned the Past Simple regular / irregular verbs, and should know the negative form – follows from previous lesson and will continue tomorrow.

COMMENT I think it’s a bit dangerous to state what students know. Probably better to word it as students have recently studied…

Anticipated Problems
1. Students might get confused about using the base verb in the question form, and might use the past form – Did she ate in a restaurant last night?
2. Students might ask the question in a positive form – You / she eat in a restaurant last night?
3. Pronunciation of ‘Did you’ sounds like ‘didgu’ – students might place too much gap between ‘did’ and ‘you’.
4. Incorrect Stress.

Solutions
1. During Presentation, draw attention to the fact that in question form, the verb used is the base verb, and not the past tense verb via CCQ.
You should state what your CCQs are.
2. Drilling.
3. Demonstrate model pronunciation –Stress on ‘yes’, ‘no’, and intonation.
I would write out some examples in full and indicate stress and intonation.

Preparation & Aids Flash cards of people of different nationalities; ‘Find Someone Who’ worksheets (warmer); White Board; markers; Worksheet of Past Tense Matching exercise; Past Tense Board Game; counters for each player; dice.

Lesson Plan
Stage Activity Interaction Timing
1 Warmer: Find Someone Who Milling Activity using Past Simple (FSW went to a party last week, bought a new CD yesterday, etc).

COMMENT In order to carry out this warmer, students need to know the question form of the simple past. From your lesson aims, it seems that students haven’t studied this yet. Also bear in mind that find somebody who activities take a long time to set up and get going. Think carefully about your timing.

Aim: Reinforce and practice using past simple words; energize students

Seating: Students move in space in front of desks, asking each other questions. S-S 3 mins
2 Introduction: Board Stage:
T pins word prompts from first flash card on white board (WB). Elicit or present necessary question and answer forms:

T: What’s her name? S: Barbara!
T: Did Barbara eat in a restaurant last night?
(T shakes head.) S: No. T: No, she didn’t.
T: Did she watch a film last week? S: Yes. T: Yes, she did.

Drill each question and answer with class, first choral (3-4x), then individual spot drills (2x).

CCQ: Is the verb in the question a base verb?
Is the verb in the answer a base verb or past tense verb?

COMMENT Do Students know the language used in the CCQs? If not, simplify or find another way to check knowledge.

Aim: For students to recognize tense of verb in question & answer form; for students to practice speaking questions & answers in correct tense.

Seating: Students sit in seats. T-S 8 min

COMMENT Think about giving students time to note down the verb forms you have just presented.

3 Model Exchange: T nominates a confident student and models exchange activity. Give student one card. T asks questions on card, student answers.

Aim: To demo the upcoming controlled practice. T-S 1 min

4 Controlled Exchange (Practice): Organize students into pairs. T gives 2 cards to each pair, one of a man, one of a woman. Student A asks questions, Student B answers. Then Student B asks, Student A answers. T monitors.

Aim: Students practice using target language.

Seating: Students sit in seats. PW 4 mins
5 Practice: Worksheet: Speaking activity: Ask your partner about activities below: (same q’s as on flashcards). Students exchange personal info, write down partner’s answer in table on worksheet. Teacher has strong pair demo first question. T monitors. (Students write only key words, not full answers, as this is speaking exercise).

Did you eat in a restaurant last night?

Aim: Grammar reinforcement / check understanding; usage of ‘you’ instead of ‘she/he’. Exercise becomes more personal, therefore more interesting. PW 5 min
6 Class Feedback: nominate 2-3 students to tell what they learned about their partner.

Aim: To confirm correct usage. T-S 2 mins
7 Free Practice (Production): T divides students into groups of 3 or 4. Students play Past Simple Board Game. Each group gets 1 dice, each player a counter. Students place counters on START, throw dice to decide who starts. Student A throws dice, moves that # of squares. Student B asks student A the question on that square. If student A answers with correct form, and group agrees it is correct, student A’s counter remains where it is. If answer is incorrect, student A goes back to former position. Play continues until someone gets to FINISH and wins. T monitors.

Aim: for students to practice Past Simple tense and develop fluency and confidence using it.

COMMENT I’m not convinced that this stage really practises fluency. I would reconsider this. Of course, it also depends on the definition of fluency used by your tutors. To me, this is not fluency practice.

Seating: Students sit in Groups with a table in between for board. GW 20 mins

8 Feedback: T asks S how they enjoyed the game. (T has noticed the errors made in Speaking, will address in next lesson.)

COMMENT You might want to explain why you will address errors in the following lesson. Personally, I would prefer to address errors in the simple past in this lesson and other errors in a following lesson.

H.W.: Q&A match – Where Were You Last Week?
Students match past tense questions with right answers. Eg: Where were you last week? I went to my aunt’s ranch.

COMMENT: Where Were You Last Week? This language hasn’t been presented in this lesson. Has it been presented and practised elsewhere? In this lesson you are only dealing with did you…? questions so the homework should be based on that.

Aim: Practice Past Simple tense at home. T- S 2 mins