Lesson plan for problem – solving activities

Introduction

One of the factors that takes part in the English
Teaching Learning Process are the lesson plans, because it allows
teachers to think about where they are going and gives them time
to have ideas for next lessons. Planning is very important,
because it helps teachers to organize the topics that he or she
feels it is necessary to teach and specially to satisfy the
students" needs and doubts.

These lesson plans, usually are changed due to different
aspects such as: equipment not working, bored students, students
who have done this before, students who need to ask questions or
who want or need to pursue unexpected pathways, etc.

Teachers may also be flexible about the way that they
carry the lesson plan out, because students need a feedback most
of the times before start a new theme, and because of the level
of English knowledge, age, sexes, likes, difficulties to learn
the language, behavior, teachers" experiences.

Other aspect to take in count is, if the work is in
group or in pairs, is written or spoken, if the activities will
need materials such as tape recorder, photocopies, dictionaries,
projectors, etc.

All of these aspects are very important for making a
lesson plan, it must to follow the logical sequence included in
the syllabus. Harmer, J. in his search mention an important
aspect " Some teachers with experience seem to have an ability to
think on their feet, which allows them to believe that they do
not need to plan their lessons" , that is true, in fact, there
are lots of teachers that have experience and dominium of the
English language, they think, they do not need to plan their
classes, the most of them teach without using a lesson plan and
they do it in an informal way. Lack of planning may reflect a bad
preparation, professionalism of a teacher.

The most English teachers follow a particular format
that varies depending on the class, although most of the students
of senior high school have similar problems in different aspects
of the language, such as the English phonetic sounds because they
do not exist in their mother tongue, but they are involved in the
English Teaching System.

Phonology is no taking part of the Ecuadorian syllabus
at secondary level. Many people think that "all that matters is
communication". It is important thinking: what is involved in
communication? If the answer that it involves understanding
others and being understood by them, there are serious errors in
pronunciation which cannot ignore or in the receptive mastery of
the sound system.

Another aspect is Grammar, it is concerned with how
sentences and utterances are formed. In a typical English
sentence, we can see the two most basic principles of grammar,
the arrangement of items (syntax) and the structure of items
(morphology).

The aspects above would help to solve some difficulties
that students may have in their English learning process and at
the same time it would help them to develop the language skills
(listening, speaking, reading and writing) and sub skills. For
this reason, it is important to consider the different patterns
in a lesson plan.

Lesson
plan

According to the aims of the curriculum ( to plan a
lesson that has an internal coherence which allows students to do
different things) teachers have to prepare a series of connected
lessons taking in count the time class (45 to 60
minutes).

-First the teacher clarifies his/her general and
specific learning objectives depending on the topic.

-The teacher chooses methodological strategies according
to the needs of the students.

-The professor prepares suitable practice activities and
to order their best sequencing from easy to difficult, from the
known to the unknown.

-The teacher collects and organizes the most suitable
materials.

Objectives:

• To develop the four skills of the language: writing,
  listening, speaking and reading and sub-skills: vocabulary,
  pronunciation, intonation, and spelling.

• To conscience about the importance of the
  environment .

Structure of a
general plan

The five steps that it follows are:

– Warm up

– Presentation

– Controlled Practice

– Creative Practice

– Consolidation

WARM UP.- This is an activity which gives
students the opportunity to speak in English.

Activities that
should be considered in a lesson plan focus on reading, writing
and vocabulary

PICTORIAL PROCEDURES: Thematic Picture.- The aim
of this activity is that students have an idea about what the
topic is.

• The teacher motivates the students in order to look
  at the pictures according to the main topic of the lesson;
  the theme is:

• "IS ECUADOR A PLACE WHERE INVESTORS AND COMPANIES
  TAKE EVERYTHING?

IS ECUADOR A PLACE WHERE INVESTORS AND
COMPANIES TAKE EVERYTHING?

The rainforests in Ecuador are being sold to the highest
bidder-greedy companies and investors anxious to get their hands
on the rich land under Ecuador"s rainforests.