Identifying the Different Components of a Lesson Plan
A lesson plan is a working document, and TKT questions ask you to label what each part of it is doing. Learn to separate four layers.
Aims
- Main aim: the most important thing learners should achieve, usually expressed as a learning outcome ("By the end of the lesson learners will be able to describe habits using the present simple").
- Subsidiary aims: secondary learning outcomes, often a skill or subskill ("to develop listening for gist").
- Personal aims: about the teacher, not the learners ("to reduce teacher talking time", "to give clearer instructions").
- Stage aims: why one stage exists ("to create interest in the topic").
Procedures, interaction and timing
Procedures are the step-by-step activities. Interaction patterns describe who talks to whom: T–Ss, S–S (pairs), group work, individual work, open class. Timing is an estimate in minutes plus a total. A timetable fit note explains how the lesson links to what came before and after.
Anticipated problems and solutions
Problems concern language, learners or materials ("learners may confuse he don't with he doesn't"). Solutions are the teacher's planned response. Keep the two separate.
Assumptions and class profile
Assumptions state prior knowledge the plan relies on. The class profile records level, age, size, needs and learning preferences.
Traps: confusing the main aim with the procedure; offering a solution when asked for a problem; treating a personal aim as a subsidiary aim; missing that one line can show two components at once.
Worked example
Plan line: "Students work in pairs to order the pictures, then compare with another pair (8 mins)." This is procedure (ordering pictures), interaction pattern (pairs, then groups of four) and timing (8 minutes), not an aim.