An aim nobody can see achieved

Two separate faults.

The aim names a topic and a teacher activity, not an outcome. 'To teach the present perfect' can be satisfied by a teacher standing at a board saying true things about the present perfect. It cannot be observed in a learner, so the tutor's question has no answer.

The procedure produces no evidence of use. A gap-fill and a choral drill can both be completed correctly with no understanding of when the form is appropriate. 'They got the exercise right' is evidence of task completion, not of the aim. Nothing in the 45 minutes requires learners to say anything true about themselves, which is the whole point of 'life experience'.

Rewritten: 'By the end of the lesson, learners will be better able to ask and answer questions about their own life experiences using the present perfect (Have you ever been...? / I've never...), in a short spoken exchange with several classmates.'

Now there is a stage you can point at, and a tutor can watch two learners do it.

Keep two, one language and one skills/learning:

1. Language: learners will revise six irregular past participles needed for the task (been, seen, eaten, gone, written, had).
2. Skills/learning: learners will listen to a short model dialogue for specific information and use its structure as a model for their own questions.

Why two, and why these:

• Sub-aims are the supporting aims - the things that have to happen for the main aim to be reachable. They are not a wish list of everything good in language teaching.
• Seven sub-aims in 45 minutes means none of them can be planned for, taught or checked. A sub-aim that does not change a single activity on the plan is decoration.
• 'To build confidence' is not measurable and cannot be planned; it is a by-product of a task that goes well. 'To use the IPA' is a technique, not an aim. 'To work in pairs' describes your grouping, not learning.
• The test for each: what will I do, what will learners do, and how would I know? If you cannot answer all three, it goes.

• 0–8: Contextualised listening. Two short speakers answer 'Have you ever...' questions. Learners listen for gist: who has done what? The form arrives inside meaning, not before it.
• 8–14: Focus on form, elicited. 'What's the difference between I went and I've been?' Build two lines on the board, not a table. Elicit the participle list as it comes up.
• 14–20: Short controlled check. Six items, pairs, then quick checking - monitoring for readiness, not for completeness. This is the sacrificial stage: if the class is secure at 17 minutes, leave it.
• 20–32: The productive task. A mingle: each learner asks four classmates 'Have you ever...?' and records names. This is where the aim becomes visible; monitor and collect three good utterances and two errors.
• 32–37: Feedback on the collected examples, delayed correction at the end, not during.
• 37–41: Brief review, learners report one thing a partner has done.
• 41–45: Homework, set in one minute, with the remaining minutes falling to the mingle rather than to the explanation.

The tutor can now stand next to any pair at minute 25 and see whether the aim is being achieved - which is exactly what the planning form's question was asking for.