Lesson planning and materials design
Aims first
A main aim states what learners will be able to do by the end, often written as SWBAT (students will be able to). Subsidiary aims cover language or skills, and personal aims address the teacher's own development. Distinguish an aim from a procedure: 'students will do exercise 3' is a procedure, not an aim.
Syllabus and staging
Know structural, functional/notional, lexical, skills-based, task-based and integrated syllabuses. Typical stages include lead-in or warmer, presentation or task, controlled and freer practice, and review. A plan should record timing, interaction pattern, anticipated problems and solutions, and assumptions about prior knowledge. PPP and ARC are descriptive labels for lesson shapes, not laws.
Materials
Authentic materials are not produced for teaching; created materials are. Adapt by simplifying, adding, deleting or reordering, and grade the task rather than the text where possible. Build in recycling, differentiation and learner training.
Traps
Aims confused with activities; plans so full they cannot flex; assuming authentic always means better, or always means unmodified; forgetting to plan how instructions will be checked.
Rule of thumb
Read the plan and ask of each stage: how does this move learners toward the main aim? If the answer is unclear, cut the stage.