Hunter College Adult TESOL Lesson Plan Format
Hunter College ADULT TESOL Lesson Planning Guide with Prompts
Questions to consider as you plan
your lesson (Please fill in your
thinking in response to these
prompts):
 What kind of data did I use to
determine if students need this lesson?
 What theories of second language
learning are guiding my approach to
this lesson?
 What are the “big ideas” I am working
with in this course?
 What are some themes or skills you are
developing over this series of lessons?
 Why are these ideas, themes, or skills
meaningful to my students?
 Who decided the foci of the course?
 Did I reference any TESOL adult
standards? If so, which ones?
 Did I begin with a standard or add the
standard after planning the lesson?
 What language skill/function/grammar/
vocabulary do I want my ESL students
to develop in this lesson?
 How does this skill / function fit into the
overall goals of the course?
 What were ESL students’ challenges/
what was I thinking about when
selecting this language objective?
Baecher, Farnsworth, Tong, Rosalia, Ediger 2013
Lesson Plan
Teacher Candidate: Nile Gayle
Major goal(s) for this course in general:
Overall English proficiency of students: Beginner Students L1(s): Spanish
Language learning needs to be addressed in this lesson: Students will
continue learning how to develop their thoughts and ideas and then be able to
present them more clearly in their writing.
Big Ideas/Essential Questions within which this lesson is situated: Teacher
will address the common errors I found in their essays on the play “A Raisin in the
Sun” which were sentence boundaries and capitalization. Students will have a
chance to practice simple sentence structure by placing periods where they put
commas in their sentences. Students will also have the opportunity to practice
capitalizing the first word of each sentence, names of people and places, and the
pronoun I.
Standard in TESOL this lesson targets: This lesson targets the 4 main
components of learning a language which are speaking, listening, reading, and
writing. Because the CAT-W exam is timed, students will learn how to organize and
write essays in a timely manner.
Language Objective(s): Students will be able to say why they capitalized names,
countries, places, and the pronoun I in different sentences.
Content Objective(s): With the teacher illustration of real-life examples in
everyday situations, students will be able to recognize why we capitalize names of
people, streets, stores, restaurants etc. Students will have an opportunity to
practice this concept with examples to reinforce the topic. Students will also be able
to recognize that the pronoun ‘I’ is always capitalized regardless of where it’s
located in a sentence. Students will also have the opportunity to practice this
concept with examples to reinforce the topic.
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Hunter College Adult TESOL Lesson Plan Format
(If you have a content (literacy or
academic) focus):
 Did I come up with the content or
language goal first?
 Did I consider the varied life
experiences and goals of my adult
learners?
 If I am working with a Cooperating or Collaborative Design: I am working with my mentor teacher Daniel Casey. We
co-Teacher: What will our roles be? will teach the lesson by going back and forth. He will manage the different aspects
of the instruction. The lesson I have prepared for my ESL students connects to what
Who will manage different aspects of other ESL students in other settings are learning because it’s preparing them for
the instruction? academic placement in college.
 If I am teaching solo, how does my
lesson connect to what my ESL students
are encountering in other classes/
larger school curriculum and exit
criteria?
 What materials will I need? Materials: Markers, eraser, blackboard, handouts, soft squeezy baseball
 What considerations should I keep in
mind regarding cultural relevance,
appeal, comprehensibility and
complexity?
 Did I differentiate and modify these
materials for my adult ESL students?
 What technology might be helpful for
these adult learners to use during this
lesson?
 What seating arrangements or Seating Configuration/Use of Physical Space: Students will sit in their rows
groupings will support my learning and work in groups of 2 or 3. Students will eventually break up into groups of 4 or
5 as the lesson goes on.
objectives?

 How will I find out what the students Discovering Prior Knowledge/Pre-Assessment: Teacher will find out what the
already know and what kinds of students already know by giving them a review sheet to practice capitalization and
sentence boundaries.
experiences they have already had?

Baecher, Farnsworth, Tong, Rosalia, Ediger 2013 2

Hunter College Adult TESOL Lesson Plan Format
 What could I do to get the students’
attention, build excitement and
enthusiasm, to engage them in the
lesson?
 What will I tell my students about the
purpose of today’s lesson?
 What target language will I
demonstrate to the students?
 How will I differentiate my content,
process, or products to accommodate
varying English proficiency levels? How
did I decide who needed what? (Show
specific examples of the modifications
you make, such as different handouts
or written or spoken prompts given to
students) What choices did I give
learners?
 Have I considered the advanced
proficiency level of adult students with
college preparation?
 How will I give the students
opportunities to practice using their new
knowledge or skill, with teacher
guidance?
 How will I provide the opportunity for
students to practice their new
knowledge or skill independently?
Baecher, Farnsworth, Tong, Rosalia, Ediger 2013
Motivation / Introduction: Teacher will begin the class by Time: 10 min
giving students a warm-up review sheet on sentence
boundaries, capitalization and, plagiarizing.
Statement of Goal Worded for Students: Teacher will tell
students the purpose of today’s lesson is to continue working Time: 10 min
on sentence boundaries and capitalization which were the
most common and reoccurring errors that I found as I read
their essays on “A Raisin in the Sun”
Teacher Modeling/Lesson Development: I will use real Time: 10 min
life situations through examples of standard and academic
English that’s commonly used (either written or spoken).
Language Proficiency: Beginner: Teacher will use real-life
examples in the handout and provide more real-life examples
on the board of how we always capitalize the first word of
every sentence. Teacher will also use real-life examples from
the handout of how the pronoun ‘I’ is always capitalized
regardless of its location in a sentence.
Application / Independent practice: Students will have Time: 10 min
the opportunity to practice capitalization by answering 6
short questions. Students will be required to rewrite each
sentence and capitalize the name of the underlined place in
each sentence. 6 volunteers will come up to the board and
write the answers to each question and the teacher will go
over each question as a class with the students. A different
student will read each question out loud.
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Hunter College Adult TESOL Lesson Plan Format
 What language do I wish to hear or see
my ESL students producing during the
lesson?
 How will I engage ESL students in
reflecting on their own and their peers’
learning?
 What evidence will I have to assess
students’ progress in learning? (e.g.,
exit slips, writing samples, student
products, check-ins with students from
email or after class talks about
learning)
 How can I provide an opportunity to
remediate, reinforce, or expand on
adult students’ learning in class?
 Are there any tech or web tools useful
for helping learners practice these
objectives?
 How can I improve upon this lesson if I
were to teach it again? What did I learn
from assessment in this lesson that
must be built on in following lessons?
Baecher, Farnsworth, Tong, Rosalia, Ediger 2013
Final Summary/Closure: Teacher will give students the Time: 10 min
opportunity to practice capitalizing the pronoun ‘I’ by
answering 6 short questions. Students will have to rewrite
each sentence and capitalize the ‘I’ in each sentence.
Assessment of Learning: Teacher will go over every question from the handout
to make sure they have a good understanding of why names of places or the
pronoun ‘I’ should be capitalized in each example. Before going over each question,
teacher will walk around the classroom to make sure if students are having any
difficulty answering the questions. Teacher will ask students if they have any
questions or need me to explain anything that we covered. Teacher will have
students write their answers on the board to check if they understand the content
of the lesson and also for the other students to check if their answers are similar.
Homework/Extension: Teacher will ask students to look at their essays they did
on “A Raisin in the Sun” and see if they recognize any sentence boundary or
capitalization errors in their paragraphs.
Teacher Reflection:
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