Lesson Aims and Stage

Aims in Lesson Planning

Svetla Tashevska
NBU

29 April - 1 May, 2011 BETA-IATEFL Conference, NBU 1

 Lesson aims are …
“… the things that you hope the
students will learn or get better at as a
result of your lesson. So, lesson aims are
not the things that you or your students
do in class – but the result of the things
you do.”
(Scrivener, onestopenglish.com)

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 Aims Checklist
Complete the practical advice for writing lesson aims
in the aims checklist provided with the correct
options from this list.

sub-skills
action verbs
clearly
contextualize
concisely
learner-centred
observable

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 Aims Checklist (2)
1. Aims should be sub-skills
__________: focus on action verbs
skills or knowledge clearly
learners will acquire. contextualize
2. Use __________, e.g. – concisely
learners will be able to learner-centred
describe/ identify/ observable
interpret/ produce/
communicate/ use,
etc.
3. __________ the
outcomes, e.g. – what
situations will the
language/ skills be
used
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2011 BETA-IATEFL Conference, NBU 4
 Aims Checklist (3)
4. Express aims __________ and sub-skills
__________. action verbs
5. Aims should be __________,
e.g. – in the following aims clearly
teachers can see and hear contextualize
learners do this: Learners will concisely
be able to use the Present
Continuous to talk about learner-centred
situations in their lives which observable
are planned and arranged.
6. Aims should state what
__________ are being
developed.
(British Council Global English online courses -
TKT Essentials)

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 Aims Checklist (4)
1. Aims should be learner-centred: focus
on skills or knowledge learners will
acquire.
2. Use action verbs, e.g. – learners will be
able to describe, identify, interpret,
produce, communicate, use, etc.
3. Contextualize the outcomes, e.g. –
what situations will the language/ skills
be used for.

29 April - 1 May, 2011 BETA-IATEFL Conference, NBU 6

 Aims Checklist (5)
4. Express aims clearly and concisely.
5. Aims should be observable, e.g. – in
the following aims teachers can see
and hear learners do this: Learners will
be able to use the Present Continuous
to talk about situations in their lives
which are planned or arranged.
6. Aims should state what sub-skills are
being developed.

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 SMART Aims
S – specific
M – measurable
A – achievable
R – realistic
T – time-bound

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 Student-teachers’ difficulties
Analysis of student-teachers’ difficulties:
with lesson aims
with stage/ activity aims
(handout)

29 April - 1 May, 2011 BETA-IATEFL Conference, NBU 9

 No wonder student teachers
experience difficulties:
with making aims learner-centered – they
have learning aims themselves, so are
preoccupied with their own survival in the
classroom
with making aims specific – they rely mainly
on course input (usu. lectures), which
inevitably generalize, even if based on
specific examples (Theory is synthesized
practice.)

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 Student teachers experience
difficulties (2)
with specifying contextualized
outcomes and sub-skills to be
developed – they, as language
learners themselves, have rarely been
sensitized to why they did whatever
activities their teachers involved them
in doing, i.e. learning aims of activities
have not been communicated to
them
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 Student teachers experience
difficulties(3)
with making aims clear and concise
and using the appropriate terminology
in formulating their aims - doing this
requires practice, and they are at the
beginning of this process
relating the aims of the stages/
activities to the main lesson aims

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 So, how can we facilitate …
… student-teachers in their first steps
planning lessons and identifying aims?
Provide plenty of good models/
examples, incl. getting used to the
terminology.
Provide opportunities for identifying the
appropriate aim for an activity from
two or more suggested options.

29 April - 1 May, 2011 BETA-IATEFL Conference, NBU 13

 How can we facilitate student-
teachers (2)
Provide practice in
defining the aims of
specific course-
book activities, incl.
from their own
language learning.

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 How can we facilitate student-
teachers (3)
Direct them to practice of the kind TKT
materials provide.
Present previous student-teachers’
plans for analysis and evaluation.
Get them to formulate the aims of
activities the way they can
communicate those to their students.

29 April - 1 May, 2011 BETA-IATEFL Conference, NBU 15

 So, how can we facilitate
student-teachers (4)
Provide specific feedback on their own
plans, commenting and asking clarifying
questions to help them identify their own
problems and seek improvement.
Encourage them learn more about their
students and their learning needs.
Get them to realize that being learners
themselves, they are a lot closer to the
students they teach than experienced
teachers – capitalize on that 

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 So, how can we facilitate
student-teachers (5)
Get them into the habit of listening
and observing their students to check
what learning has been taking place.
Allow time for improvement to take
place.

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 References
www.onestopenglish.com
www.teachingenglish.org.uk

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 Thank you!

svetla_tashevska@yahoo.co.uk

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