LESSON FRAMEWORKS
Receptive Skills: Reading/Listening
Main Aim: By the end of the lesson, students will have improved at reading (or: listening to) a (text/audio
type) for gist (or specific information) and detailed comprehension in the context of ...
Subsidiary Aim(s): To practice speaking for fluency
Intro (set up context)
Pre-text discussion (pairwork!)
Option 1: you may choose to pre-teach blocking vocabulary at this stage
Reading/Listening 1:
for gist or specific information
Option 2: you may choose to pre-teach blocking vocabulary for the second task
Reading/Listening 2:
for detailed comprehension
A brief post-text discussion (optional):
sharing opinions about the text
Productive task preparation
(set up a communicative speaking task)
step by step instructions, generating ideas for the task (consider note-taking),
demonstration.
Task performance
Speaking in pairs or mini groups
Time-efficient (!) feedback
on content (task achievement) and language
Additional notes:
● You need to provide a task each time BEFORE they read/listen to the text. “Just read/listen to it”is
not a task. You need to say “Read/Listen AND ….” Students need a task to complete while they
read/listen, not after. See your notes from input
● Reading is an individual, silent task. We don’t read in pairs. We don’t read aloud.
● When reading for detailed comprehension, consider asking students to underline justification for
their answers and focus the paircheck/open class feedback on those.
● After listening for detailed comprehension, have the copies of the script ready. Be ready to re-play
the recording, but it should not be done multiple times. Have copies of the script ready to resolve
conflicts about the answers quickly
● If reading/listening for detailed comprehension + feedback took longer than you planned, consider
cutting out one of the speaking stages: either post-text discussion or the productive task (last
three stages).
1
Language Systems (Grammar/ Functions):
Text-Based Presentation
Main Aim: By the end of the lesson students will be better able to use (target language) to (communicative
goal) in the context of…
Subsidiary Aims:
● To practice reading for gist.
● To practice speaking for fluency.
Intro/Pre-text discussion (pairwork!)
set up context, prepare the students for the reading task
Reading/Listening for gist
to familiarize the students with the text
Noticing the target language
in the text
Clarification of Meaning,
checking understanding
Clarification of relevant aspects of Form and Pronunciation
Controlled practice (written/oral)
of Meaning, Form and Pronunciation of the target language.
Productive task preparation
(set up semi-controlled/freer practice (FP)
step by step instructions, generating ideas for the communicative task,
demonstration
Task performance
Students communicate in pairs (oral FP)
or do a meaningful, communicative writing task (written FP)
Time-efficient (!) feedback
on content (task achievement) and language
Additional notes:
●
●
Make sure your main aim, clarification, controlled practice and production focus on the same
target language.
Be careful of overly long lead-ins and clarification stages. You need to provide a balance of
language input and practice.
2
Language Systems (mainly Vocabulary): Test-Teach-Test
Main Aim: By the end of the lesson students will be better able to use (target language) to (communicative
goal) in the context of …
Subsidiary Aims:
● To practice speaking for fluency.
Intro (set up context)
TEST 1
monitor and take notes, find out what needs to be taught
‘TEACH’ stage:
clarify the Meaning of the target language that caused difficulties in Test 1,
check understanding
Clarify relevant aspects of Pronunciation/Form,
address anticipated problems.
TEST 2
Check whether your clarification has worked well, and the students can
understand and use the target language correctly.
Provide more Controlled practice
if Test 2 revealed the need for extra practice.
Productive task preparation
(set up semi-controlled/freer practice(FP)
step by step instructions, generating ideas for the communicative task,
demonstration
Task performance
students communicate in pairs (oral FP)
or do a meaningful, communicative writing task (written FP)
Time-efficient (!) feedback
on content (task achievement) and language
Additional notes:
●
●
Make sure your main aim, your clarification, your controlled practice and production focus on the
same target language.
Be careful of overly long lead-ins and clarification stages. You need to provide a balance of
language input and practice.
3
Productive Skill: Speaking
Main Aim: By the end of the lesson, students will have practiced speaking for fluency while (provide a reallife task, role-play or communicative goal) in the context of (topic)
Subsidiary Aims:
● To introduce and clarify functional phrases for…
● To listen for gist
Intro (set up context)
Pre-text discussion (pairwork!):
consider letting the students share previous experiences in similar
situations/contexts
Listening for gist
to familiarize the students with the model text
Noticing tasks/Clarification of useful features
(choose the ones relevant for your lesson):
focus on the purpose of the conversation,
focus on the useful language, clarify MPF where necessary
(provide some controlled practice if needed),
focus on the appropriate register,
focus on organization, e.g. a conversation pattern/roles for a dialogue, or on a
template (if it’s a story/a presentation)
Productive task preparation
(set up a communicative speaking task)
step by step instructions, generating ideas for the task (consider note-taking),
demonstration
Task performance
Speaking in pairs or mini groups
Time-efficient (!) feedback
on content (task achievement) and language
Consider task repetition after feedback:
let the students swap partners and do the task again, now taking feedback into
account and trying to do it even better this time.
Provide time-efficient feedback on content and language.
Additional notes:
● This is a speaking lesson, not a language lesson. Consider focusing on useful features/sub-skills
that go beyond language, encourage the students to show interest, develop their argument, ask
follow-up questions, etc.
● Focus on Pronunciation of useful language could prove very helpful in a Speaking lesson.
● Balance your input/task cycle. For a 45 min slot, spend 10 min on intro/gist tasks, 15 min on
noticing/clarifying, and start Task Preparation 20 min before the end of the slot.
4
Productive Skill: Product Writing
Main Aim: By the end of the lesson, students will have practiced writing in the context of writing a (genre +
topic)
Subsidiary Aims:
● To practice reading for gist.
● To introduce/revise a set of linkers/functional phrases for…
Intro (set up context)
Pre-text discussion (pairwork!):
consider letting the students share previous experiences in similar
situations/contexts
Reading for gist
to familiarize the students with the model text
Noticing tasks/Clarification of the useful features
(choose the ones relevant for your lesson):
focus on the purpose and the target reader of the message,
focus on the genre features:
- useful language (clarify MPF where necessary, provide CP if needed)
- appropriate register,
- organization (template), paragraphing
Productive task preparation
(set up a communicative writing task)
step by step instructions, generating ideas for the task (consider sharing ideas
orally, in pairs), demonstration
Task performance:
writing individually
Feedback/Sharing:
let the students read each other’s writing tasks.
They can respond to messages or choose the most interesting ones
(feedback on content/task achievement)
If the Ss have written parts of a story/an essay, they can put these together and
see if they fit into a whole (feedback on content/task achievement)
They can discuss how the tasks could be improved (FB on language).
Time-efficient feedback on most common errors.
Collect the writing tasks to provide more detailed FB on content/language
Additional note:
● Focus on Form/spelling of useful language could prove very helpful in a Writing lesson.
● Still, this is a writing lesson, not a language lesson. Consider focusing on useful features/sub-skills
that go beyond language, focus on organisation and layout, etc.
● Balance your input/task cycle. For a 45 min slot, spend 10 min on intro/gist tasks, 15 min on
noticing/clarifying, and start Task Preparation 20 min before the end of the slot.
5