Lesson Plan for Adult Learners

8/20/2019 Lesson Plan for Adult Learners

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PHASE 1: LESSON PLAN FOR ADULT LEARNERS

A. Students and Setting

Students are adults mostly in their 30’s to 70’s who are beginners in the English language.

There are 12 to 20 students in each class. These are usually housewives returning to the

workforce, retirees, low-wage workers and Chinese speakers or other Asian immigrants who

need to learn simple English so that they can be an asset in their places of work. A few are

sponsored by their companies to attend English classes. A rare few had never been to school

at all and some may not know how to read.

The setting is a Continuing Education Training (CET) Centre that runs courses approved and

certified by our government. In the classroom are hexagonal tables that can sit a maximum

of 6 adults per table, a ceiling mounted projector, a projector screen, a flipchart, 3

whiteboard markers (black, red and blue), a whiteboard eraser, and a whiteboard.Instructors use their own laptops to connect to the projector and teach. Students have a

tablet and two workbooks issued to them when they turn up for the first lesson. The

curriculum has been uploaded into the tablets which the students can access in class.

Classes are held over 90 hours, twice a week at 3 hours per lesson. There is a 15-minute

break in each lesson.

B. Lesson Background

This is a three-hour long lesson on the topic “My Family”. It is one lesson out of thirty

lessons for the whole course. This lesson stands by itself. It is not covered over two or three

lessons. The learners were told in the previous lesson to bring some family photos from

home. Based on past experiences, several would bring just a photograph, a few would bring

a photograph album and many of them just whipped out their hand phones to show family

pictures in the picture gallery. Basic grammar rules would have been taught in the previous

lessons and reinforced in this lesson.

C. Learning Objectives/Expected Results

Learners will introduce family members in a three-generational family from grandfather and

grandmother (grandparents) to grandson and granddaughter (grandchildren). They will

apply the grammar structure of asking about family members, for example, “Who is this”,

“What does she do”, “Where does he work?” They will apply the grammar structure of

answering questions, for example, “This is my ______. He works in _____.” They will write

simple sentences about their family. This written exercise is in their workbook. They will also

show their photographs and tell about their family members within the group seated at

their table. Drawing and labelling of one student’s family tree on flipchart paper will

demonstrate their understanding of the lesson.

D. Materials and Sources


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Materials: Each student has a workbook and a pen. The students would have brought at

least a photograph (realia) to class. Some would use photos that are in their hand phones

instead. Flipchart papers and marker pens are on standby for the drawing and labelling

activity.

Sources: Training Vision Institute Pte Ltd (classified material)

Tan, L.P. (Ver 2.0 Jan 2012)

E. Procedures and Timing

This is only part of my lesson plan because of the time limit (40 to 60 minutes) set by our

instructors. Before the break/recess, the class would have covered the grammar of asking

and answering questions about their family members in the 1st

, 2nd

and 3rd

persons. They

would also have done pair work by sharing the photograph with their partner and talking

about it. Pair work would have progressed into “enlarged” pair work when they show and

share with other members seated at their table. In addition, they would have seen a video

clip before the break/recess. The activity planned below is done after the break.

Teacher says/does... Students say/do... Approx. Time

Teacher (T) tells the class to

get up and move around as

they do a survey of 5 of their

classmates using the form

printed in their

workbook.*(See below)

Students go round the class asking 5 of their

classmates questions like “How many

brothers and sisters do you have” and “How

many sons and daughters do you have”.

15 minutes

T calls the class to order;

corrects mispronounced

words observed earlier while

moving round the class to

listen and check on their

information-collecting for

the survey; reviews by

drilling the class in eliciting

answers from their mates

using pronouns in the 3rd

person. Example, “How

many children does John

have?” “John/He has two

sons.”

Students practise saying the mispronounced

words correctly; practise together as a class

(chorally) the asking and answering of

questions using pronouns in the 3rd

person.

10 minutes

T now moves one student

from each table to another

table; hands out a flipchart

paper and a marker pen to

each table; instructs the

groups to draw a family tree

One student from each table gets up and

moves to another table. Group members

settle into their roles: interpreter picks and

gathers new group member’s information

based on his/her survey; illustrator draws

while being given input by his group

25 minutes


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of the student who has

moved to join them at their

table; assigns roles of

interpreter, illustrator, time

keeper, grammar police and

observers.

members; time keeper makes sure that the

group keeps to the 25 minutes; grammar

police watches for Chinese or other

languages/dialects being spoken; and quiet

observers. They do the group activity.

T now asks one observer in

each group to share with the

class the drawn family tree.

The chosen observer in each group now

shares with the class the drawn family tree.

10 minutes

*Unpublished work. The survey form has a table with 10 rows and 4 main columns. The

headings for the columns are Name, Brother(s), Sister(s), Children. Under Children, it is sub-

divided into Son(s), Daughter(s). The rows are numbered 1 to 10. They represent each

learner’s name. After the survey-taker has the answers to questions, he/she writes the

answer as a number in the right columns. Because of time constraint, I usually limit the

survey to 5 people’s information.

F. Reflection

Based on my context where older adult learners take a longer time to understand their

lessons, I have to tailor my instruction cum facilitation for them.

Using a family photograph as realia would not intimidate a low-level Beginner because it is

something very near and dear to their heart. The approximate time taken for each part of

the lesson in my plan is doable when I get a class of adults who are mostly quick in

understanding. When I get a class where several learners are rather slow to understand,

then the activity in my lesson plan goes haywire. The time taken can stretch to 40 minutes.

Because I teach a 3-hour long class, 40 minutes for the activity is still within the time frame.

Lots of review and drilling are needed for low-level Beginner classes, in my context.

Documents

Lesson Plan for Adult Learners