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.