Lesson Plans for Adults

[Niko]

Sample Lesson Plan: Age 20+. Group size 6.

The below lesson plan would be suited to a 90 minute English lesson.

Task 1: Small Chitchat

With students sitting at their desks, the teacher will make small chit chat on a variety of topics. Weekend activities, food, travel, hobbies, current events and sports are some of the better topics to base conversations on.

Points to consider:

- Avoid questions that require a Yes/No answer.
- Involve all students.

The teacher needs to control the flow of conversation and steer it into the right direction. If one students spends too much time talking, then ask a question to another student to spread the speaking opportunity around.

Be careful - there are quiet students and talkative students. The teacher needs to balance the speaking opportunity amongst all students.

Task 2: Textbook work

It's important to introduce topics presented in a textbook to strengthen communication and improve enjoyment when studying English. Pair up students to discuss the topic of the current lesson in the textbook.

If the textbook lesson is on shopping, you may want to discuss the following:

- Expensive shopping items.
- Best shopping experiences.
- Annoyances of shopping.
- Shopping for discounts.

Some lessons may also present a picture. Have students describe to each other what they see in the picture. The teacher then listens to some of the students' descriptions before giving their own description. That way, students can compare their descriptions with the one given by the teacher.

Many good textbooks such as New Interchange, Passport and Transitions will have a supplementary teacher's book to support the lessons.

Task 3: Pair work / Teamwork

The teacher assigns an activity that may or may not be related to the textbook lesson previously given.

Ideas for pair work / teamwork may be:

- Debating.
- Chinese whispers.
- Dancing lessons with clear instructions.
- Telling a story.
- Making a sentence where each student contributes only 1 word.

The above ideas are only limited by the imagination of the teacher.

The teacher needs to give clear instructions to students and foresee any problems that may occur with the activity. Therefore, good class preparation is required.

Task 4: Presentation

Finally, have 1 student each lesson give a presentation in front of the class for 5 to 10 minutes. At the end of the presentation, students may ask the presenter questions. Presentations can be on any topic of interest to students. Students may also bring in props and photos to support their presentation.

Do not discount the benefit of this task. Whilst some students may complain about having to give a presentation, you will find that they still nevertheless look forward to presenting.

Obviously, prior to giving presentations, students need to learn what contributes to a good presentation and the body language used.