Planning lessons with young learners
What this domain covers
Planning for young learners means designing a sequence that fits their attention, energy and need for security, and being able to describe it in the language of aims, stages and procedures. Candidates should understand lesson aims (what learners will be able to do by the end), procedures (what teacher and learners actually do), staging (warmer or routine, presentation or exposure, controlled practice, freer production, review), pace and variety, interaction patterns, materials and resources, transitions, revision and recycling, and anticipating problems. They should also know how a lesson plan relates to a scheme of work and to a syllabus that may be topic-based, story-based or activity-based.
Concepts to know
Balance of activities by energy level, skill focus, interaction pattern and sensory channel. Routines that give children security. Short, achievable steps and clear instructions planned in advance. Differentiation for mixed ability and something ready for fast finishers. Recognising that a plan is a working document, not a script.
Traps
Writing aims as teacher actions ('to teach the past simple') instead of learner outcomes; confusing an aim with a procedure; planning one long activity for a class that needs several changes of focus; forgetting to plan transitions, routines and instructions; confusing 'lesson plan' with 'scheme of work'; and ignoring what fast finishers will do.
Worked example
Weak aim: 'Teach farm animals and there is/there are.' Strong aim: 'By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to name six farm animals and use there is/there are to describe a picture.' The procedure then reads separately: 'Teacher shows flashcards, children mime each animal, pairs label a picture, children describe their picture to another pair.' The aim states the outcome; the procedure states the route.