ELT365 · Day 262 — Board Plans
Idea
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.
Example
Left column: target language and form. Centre: a model sentence. Right: error correction space. All decided before learners arrive.
Try
Draw your board plan for your next lesson. Use the same column structure every week — consistency helps learners navigate.
From my training materials
In my CELTA training file, I have a document titled “Foreign lesson – Board work.docx” that captures board work from a foreign-language lesson input. The document focuses on how to use symbols and mime to teach an unknown language, which demonstrates the importance of clear board layout even when the shared language is minimal. It shows a specific mapping of phonemic symbols to Welsh words, helping me visualize how board space can be divided to support different types of input.
The excerpt includes a structured paradigm with plus, minus, and question forms. For example, it lists “+ Rydw i’n hoffi (caws)” followed by negative and question variants. This layout is a concrete example of a board plan in action, where columns or sections are dedicated to specific grammatical forms. It connects directly to the idea that deciding on board content before the lesson prevents confusion. By seeing how the symbols and text are arranged, I can appreciate how a consistent column structure helps learners navigate the information without needing to read every word aloud.
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