Lesson Plan

Please hand this to the observer at least 1 hour before the lesson begins, together with copies of
materials used in the class.
Teacher: David Pickup
Class: IELTS Low 2
Date: 23rd July 2014
Time: 13:05 14:20
Number of Students: 12
Week number: 9
Language Systems or Skills: academic writing
Main Aim(s) of lesson: (these should be written from the perspective of what the students will achieve by the end
of the lesson.)

Students will understand and be able to plan for an IELTS task 2 writing question
Students will be able to generate ideas for an opinion essay.

Sub Aim of lesson:

Students will practise discussing their ideas with their peers.
Students will practise reading a short text (model essay) quickly and writing summaries.
Students will practice identification of key words in question texts.
Personal Aim
To improve classroom management and delivery of more challenging material in a more
interesting way
Syllabus Fit: (This needs to show what was learnt in previous lessons that this particular lesson will build upon and
also how what the students learn today will be extended in future lessons. Also show why you believe the students need
to learn what is being taught)

The elective provides a comprehensive overview of the IELTS test for students of a lower level: this
includes weekly exposure to a variety of reading, listening, writing and speaking tasks in
accordance with the Academic IELTS exam. In addition, the elective aims to improve students skills
related to these areas, alongside introducing students to some of the grammatical forms and
vocabulary necessary to succeed in the IELTS test.
This week, students have planned and completed the writing of a task 1 writing task involving
comparisons of tables, charts, and graphs. This introduced students to some more advanced ways of
forming comparatives. Last week, students spent more than one lesson looking at linking words for
a variety of purposes, particularly giving additional information and contrasting information. This
lesson and the subsequent one will give students the opportunity to use this grammar/vocabulary in
a test setting. Students have also recently practised reading for specific information from a text, and
a True/False/Not Given task, and later this week will practise listening skills and further reading and
speaking skills.
Student Profiles:
Student Name
Mohamed Aljayfili
Mohamed Alghamdi
Abdulaziz

Strengths
Grammar
Speaking

Weaknesses
Application
Very low level
Writing

Reasons for studying

Taking IELTS exam

Faleh
Khawlah
Ziyuan
Fawzan
Thasannee
Panida
Khaled
Ali
Seraj
Mousa

Speaking; Reading Listening

Grammar
& Listening
Reading
Reading
Listening
Very low level
Reading
Writing
Reading
Writing; Listening
Speaking
Reading; Writing
Writing; Grammar Speaking
Speaking
Writing; Reading
Reading
Grammar

Anticipated Problems & Solutions (these are not necessarily related to the language point being taught but
can also include such things as motivation, lethargy at time of day etc)

Students have already completed a task 1 writing this week, and therefore may not be motivated
by further writing practice. Emphasise the importance of writing to their overall IELTS score,
and that they are going to experience a lot of writing in a short space of time in their tests. A lot
of students have expressed a desire/demonstrated that they need to improve their writing score.
Students may find the generation of ideas difficult, especially as they may not have thought
about this topic beforehand. Group work at this stage should help alleviate this problem, along
with grouping students as culturally diversely as possible in order to increase the breadth of
possible examples. Students only need focus on generating half of the ideas and examples due to
the nature of the exercise.
Students may find the communication and noting of ideas difficult. Model examples
beforehand.
Students may be unfamiliar with some of the language they encounter in the lesson, in the
question and in the model text they read. This is inevitable when introducing IELTS material to
lower levels. Encourage the use of dictionaries rather than translators if this arises, check
carefully that the most important aspects have been understood.
Not all students may participate equally in the generation of ideas stage. Monitor groups
carefully to ensure that all students are participating.

Lesson Aids:

IWB presentation including pictures for warmer

Printed out copy of the IELTS question
Copy of the model answer
Copy of the paragraph plan

Timing
0 4 mins

5
mins

10

11
mins

15

16
mins

20

21
mins

30

Stage Aims
Activities
Warmer: introduce the topic Picture speculation: Ss discuss what
and task
they can see in the pictures and what
they have in common elicit that they
are successful and ask how they are
successful. Extend this by asking if
they are a successful person and what
makes someone successful.
Generate ideas and vocabulary Ask students to work in small groups
to define success by listing as many
ways to be successful as possible.
Take brief feedback on board
Introduce vocabulary pertinent Board question Can you measure
to the Task 2 writing question
success? and ask for Ss response.
Focus on meaning of measure in
this context; elicit as many examples
as possible.
Ss to read and understand the Ss read the question text and underline
question;
practise the keywords. Take feedback,
identification of keywords.
ensuring Ss have understood the type
of essay (opinion) and the main idea
(how success is measured).
Ss form an idea of how the Check Ss knowledge of structuring an
essay should be structured.
IELTS essay by eliciting the basic
outline of the essay.

Interaction

T-Ss; SsSs; Ss- T

T-Ss; Ss-T;
Ss-Ss
T-Ss; Ss-T

T-Ss; Sstext; Ss-T

T-Ss-T

Board paragraph plan and ask Ss to T- Ss; Ssfill in their copy with their ideas of the Ss; Ss-T
main points of each paragraph.
31
mins

Take feedback as class.

46 Ss
generate
ideas
and Split Ss into groups A and B, asking T-Ss
examples suitable for inclusion each to focus on opposing sides of the
in the Task 2 writing essay.
argument (i.e. measuring success
through money/measuring success in
other ways).
Ss then complete the relevant section
of their paragraph plan with their Ss - Ss
ideas. Monitor carefully and prompt as
necessary.

47
mins

Emphasise the importance of coming

up with a wide range of examples.
57 Ss compare and communicate Re-organise groups AB, and ask Ss to T- SS; Ssideas together to complete compare and communicate their ideas Ss
their plan coherently.
and examples to each other.
Ss then complete the other half of
their paragraph plan.

58
mins

63
mins
71
mins

Take feedback as a class, using IWB Ss-T

to complete class paragraph plan
including examples.
62 Ss are introduced to a model Ss read the text quickly and write a T-Ss; Ssessay answering the same note-form summary of the content of text
question they have planned, to each paragraph.
check their work so far.
In feedback compare this to the class Ss-T
paragraph plan.
70 Ss exploit model text for Ask Ss to read the model essay to Ss- text
language and structure
identify language points and consider
their use. Explain any unknown Ss-T
vocabulary.
75 Ss finalise their paragraph Give Ss the chance to amend their Ss-text
plans ready for writing the paragraph plans based on what they
essay.
have encountered in the model text