ELT365 · Day 264 — Lesson Plans for One-to-One Teaching
One-to-one lessons strip away the safety net of pair and group work. Every interaction sits directly between teacher and learner — making planning for variety and pacing essential.
Blog
Every lesson, essay and journal entry, newest first. 726 published posts.
- English Teaching 678
- Resources 20
- Travel Journal 17
- Philosophy & Mental Health 14
- Photography & Software 9
- Career & Professional Development 4
- Writing & Books 1
ELT365 · Day 263 — Personal Aims for Teachers
A personal aim is one teaching skill you are working on in a particular lesson. It makes observation feedback targeted rather than general.
ELT365 · Day 262 — Board Plans
A board plan shows what will be on the board at each key stage. Deciding it before the lesson prevents mid-lesson thinking about layout and ensures clarity.
ELT365 · Day 261 — Materials in the Plan
List every material in your lesson plan: the coursebook page, the handout, the board diagram, the audio file. Prepare, check, and sequence everything before the lesson.
ELT365 · Day 260 — Interaction Patterns in Plans
Interaction patterns describe who talks to whom: T→S (teacher to student), S→S (pair), S↔S↔S (group), S→T (student reporting). Vary them across a lesson.
ELT365 · Day 259 — Timing Stages Realistically
Planned timings are starting estimates. Under-timing is a common error — novice teachers often plan more content than a lesson can hold.
ELT365 · Day 258 — ESA in a Plan
Engage → Study → Activate (Harmer) is a flexible framework where the three phases can appear in any order. It suits varied lesson types and mixed aims.
ELT365 · Day 257 — TBL in a Plan
Task-Based Learning plans lead with a communicative task; language work comes after. The task creates a felt need for the language.
ELT365 · Day 256 — TTT in a Plan
Test → Teach → Test plans diagnose what learners already know before committing teaching time. The first 'test' is a diagnostic task, not an assessment.
ELT365 · Day 255 — PPP in a Plan
A PPP plan moves through Presentation (teacher introduces language in context), Practice (controlled activities), and Production (freer use). It is transparent and suits lower levels.
ELT365 · Day 254 — Stage Aims vs Lesson Aims
Each stage has its own micro-aim that serves the overall lesson aim. The lead-in does not practise the target language — it activates interest and prior knowledge.
ELT365 · Day 253 — Staging a Lesson — What Is a Stage?
A stage is a discrete part of the lesson with its own aim, activity, interaction pattern, and timing. Most 60-minute lessons have four to seven stages.
ELT365 · Day 252 — Solutions — Planning for Problems
For every anticipated problem, write a solution — not a worry. The plan is your back-up strategy. A problem without a solution is just an anxiety on paper.
ELT365 · Day 251 — Anticipated Problems — Learners and Tasks
Beyond language, plan for procedural problems: unclear task design, grouping that doesn't work, or a text too long for the time available.
ELT365 · Day 250 — Anticipated Problems — Language
Before teaching, predict where learners will struggle with the target language: meaning confusion, form errors, or pronunciation difficulty.
ELT365 · Day 249 — Assumed Knowledge
Lesson plans should state what learners are expected to already know. This shapes your starting point and helps you avoid teaching what they already have.
ELT365 · Day 248 — Selecting Target Language
Target language is the specific item you are teaching: a structure, a set of lexical chunks, a functional exponent. Analyse it before you plan any stages.
ELT365 · Day 247 — Writing a Good Lesson Aim
A good lesson aim is learner-facing and observable: 'By the end, learners will be better able to…' Avoid teacher behaviour ('I will teach…') as the aim.
ELT365 · Day 246 — Aims — Main and Subsidiary
Every lesson needs one main aim — the primary thing learners will be better able to do by the end. Subsidiary aims are language or skills practised along the way.
ELT365 · Day 245 — The Lesson Plan vs the Lesson
A written plan is a hypothesis; the lesson is the experiment. Experienced teachers deviate from plans when learners need something different — but only because they planned well.