PHASE 1: LESSON PLAN FOR ADULT LEARNERS

A. Students and Setting

Students are adults mostly in their 30s to 70s 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 students family tree on flipchart paper will
demonstrate their understanding of the lesson.
D. Materials and Sources

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...
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)
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.
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

Students say/do...
Approx. Time
Students go round the class asking 5 of their 15 minutes
classmates questions like How many
brothers and sisters do you have and How
many sons and daughters do you have.

Students practise saying the mispronounced 10 minutes

words correctly; practise together as a class
(chorally) the asking and answering of
questions using pronouns in the 3rd person.

One student from each table gets up and

moves to another table. Group members
settle into their roles: interpreter picks and
gathers new group members information
based on his/her survey; illustrator draws
while being given input by his group

25 minutes

of the student who has

moved to join them at their
table; assigns roles of
interpreter, illustrator, time
keeper, grammar police and
observers.
T now asks one observer in
each group to share with the
class the drawn family tree.

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