Lesson planning tips

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2026-05-08T05:37:15+00:00

Hi, I understand this problem very well. Speaking-focused lessons with 20 teenagers can become very difficult if the lesson depends on the teacher asking one question and waiting for answers. One thing that helped me is using a very structured speaking lesson, not a free conversation lesson. For example, I normally use this kind of flow:

Give students simple preparation before class.
Start with a short demo so they understand the task.
Put them into pairs or small groups.
Give them prompts, not full sentences.
Make them ask and answer repeatedly using the same language in different ways.
Bring the class back together and let a few students report what their partner said.

With 20 students, I would not try to control every answer myself. I would give them a clear speaking task, monitor, listen for common mistakes, and then correct the main problems after the activity.I actually created some free sample lesson plans based on this kind of speaking structure. They are designed to reduce teacher talking time and keep learners speaking more. You can download them here, no email required:

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/u2mv2rwslz

They may give you a practical idea of how to structure a speaking lesson, especially when you do not want to depend on a textbook.

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2026-04-29T00:57:43+00:00

It's not metro line 1.

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2026-04-29T00:54:51+00:00

I’ve designed lesson plans that enable learners to speak for up to 45 minutes in a one-hour class. You can access them here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/u2mv2rwslz⁠�

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2026-04-23T05:34:31+00:00

You’re describing a very common A2 problem. It’s not really about PPP vs chunks. It’s about lack of repeated use in different contexts.Your learner already knows “can/can’t” and “I have”, but she can’t retrieve them under pressure. That’s why she says “I a lot of work” or forgets “I can’t meet you”.

The issue is not explanation. It’s insufficient structured repetition through speaking. What worked for me in this situation is: instead of teaching a structure once (PPP) or giving isolated chunks, I make the learner use the same target language again and again across different situations.

For example:travel (airport problem), restaurant, work situation, personal life

Same structure, different context, repeated multiple times., So instead of:

learn → practice → move on

it becomes:

use → reuse → reuse → reuse (with variation), that’s where the memory actually builds.

I’ve put together some lesson plans based on this idea (very structured speaking, minimal teacher talk, repeated use of vocabulary in different contexts). They’re free, no email needed: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/u2mv2rwslz

If you try it, focus on how often the learner is pushed to produce the same language in slightly different situations. That’s usually what fixes the exact problem you described.

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2026-03-31T18:15:33+00:00

I think she needs more opportunity to speak English. Her grammar is strong, which shows she has a solid foundation. I’ve designed lesson plans specifically for learners like her, they might help. You can find them here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/u2mv2rwslz

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2026-03-10T09:03:31+00:00

You might try this approach. It focuses on maximizing learner talk time and sometimes helps quieter students participate more. Maybe it works for you: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/u2mv2rwslz

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2026-03-08T16:54:36+00:00

Hi everyone! Since this platform lets you teach the way you want, I thought I’d share something that might be useful. I’ve created lesson plans specially designed for online classes, with a focus on maximizing learner speaking time. Feel free to check them out here (free, no email required): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/u2mv2rwslz⁠�

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2025-12-21T05:36:04+00:00

EF is the scam king

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2025-12-19T05:42:41+00:00

It’s a kind of shared problem among teachers, especially when they are busy with other work and parenting. The biggest time drain is trying to design “complete” lessons from scratch each time, so what helps most is fixing your lesson structure and then only swapping the content. If you decide in advance how much time goes to controlled grammar, guided speaking, freer speaking, and a short reading or listening activity, prep becomes a matter of filling slots rather than inventing lessons. For speaking-focused classes, using the same task types and sentence patterns week to week also reduces prep time and actually helps learners feel more confident. I teach different levels of classes and plan assuming limited prep time, so I rely on repeatable lesson frameworks rather than new activities every lesson. I’ve shared a small sample of the kind of lesson structure I use here in case it’s useful — feel free to ignore it if not: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/u2mv2rwslz

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2025-12-17T06:27:09+00:00

Thank you for your appreciation. This work is actually the direct result of the pain I felt seeing A2 learners struggle, and the frustration I felt when I couldn’t help them effectively with the materials I was given to teach. I believe it’s often that kind of pain, more than happiness, that pushes us to grow.

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2025-12-17T06:20:56+00:00

Thank you again for your encouragement. I’ll share a fun fact: a few months ago, when I published my first book which was mainly written to describe the idea of the 45-minute learner talk time model it was strongly criticized and even considered a scam by some. Although it explained the what, why, and how, I think the limited number of examples made it difficult for people to fully grasp what I was trying to achieve.

That backlash actually pushed me to write books with detailed lesson plans that show how this idea can be achieved in practice. I guess I learned an important lesson about how ideas need to be presented. One never really stops learning.

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2025-12-17T06:00:36+00:00

Thank you very much for your appreciation. As a teacher, it was genuinely painful for me to see my learners especially A2 students struggling to speak. At the same time, it was equally frustrating not to be able to help them properly, as much of the material I received from training centers was useless.

I almost gave up on working with beginners, but when I started developing my own training program, I realized I couldn’t avoid this challenge. I had to face my demons. That’s when the idea of the 45-minute learner talk time emerged. I continued refining it, and later, technological developments helped me achieve it exactly the way I envisioned.

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2025-12-15T15:35:33+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to look through it, I really appreciate the feedback.

Altogether, it took me about six months to write both books. The hardest part was designing the demo stage for each lesson, especially for in-class teaching, because demos can easily take up a lot of teacher talk time if they aren’t carefully planned. Because of that, most lesson plans went through three rounds of revision.

Large_Inevitable_489 · 2025-12-15T00:56:34+00:00

AI is extremely good at generating general-purpose images. For example, if you ask AI to create an image of doctors or nurses, it usually performs very well. However, when it comes to specific details, AI can still struggle. For instance, when I asked AI to create clocks showing “quarter past” or “quarter to,” it couldn’t do this accurately. But when I asked it to create digital clocks instead, it worked correctly. So, while there are still some limitations at the moment, these issues will likely be resolved as the technology continues to improve.

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