Learning to Plan Modern Language Lessons: Understanding the Basic Ingredients

Learning to Plan Modern Languages Lessons contains a wealth of guidance and ideas for those learning to teach in secondary schools. Drawing on extensive experience and research in the field, it offers detailed explanation of basic lesson planning methods and the principles that underpin them, illustrated by worked examples of well-planned lessons.

The book shows how to progress from planning smaller activities to full lessons to sequences of lessons, and how to ensure progression for your students. Specific aspects of language learning such as grammar and culture are explored, together with ideas for how to make your planning skills more effective in long-term collaborative and reflective practice. Starting from a presentation, practice, production (PPP) model of language teaching, the book aims to:

• provide structured, practical starting points in lesson planning for beginning teachers of modern languages (ML);
• deepen knowledge and understanding of ML as a subject and how it is learnt (pedagogical subject knowledge), in order to inform and support planning decisions;
• develop understanding of lesson planning as part of a planning cycle;
• enhance understanding of strategies and professional development opportunities to promote the further development of planning abilities.

Including reflective/discussion tasks and example lesson plans Learning to Plan Modern Languages Lessons is a must-read book for beginning and more experienced teachers of any modern language.

Cheryl Mackay is a freelance education consultant. She started her career as a teacher of ML (French and German), then Head of Department; and has worked in a range of different secondary schools in the UK. She was responsible for the initial training and education of ML teachers at St Martin’s College in Lancaster (now the University of Cumbria) and Newcastle University, UK. She has written on the teaching of thinking skills in ML lessons and on the experiences of beginning ML teachers.