Approaches to Lesson Planning

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TESL 0110 
Unit 4 Reflection 

 There are three main approaches to grammar-based lesson planning, and I think they all have some merit. In Present-Practice-Produce lessons, students are presented with a structure, practice it, and then produce that structure in a more communicative task. Task-based lessons begin and end with a task with grammar and language elements being taught in the middle. Grammar instruction is integrated into the teaching of a language skill in Skills-based lessons. I do not think that I necessarily gravitate to one approach entirely; I think the way I think of teaching a grammar lesson incorporates bits and pieces of each approach. In addition, my decision on how to teach a lesson would be primarily based on the needs of my students, the context I was teaching in, the length of the class, and a multitude of other factors. 
Initially I was drawn to the Task-Based approach, but in a somewhat more structured way with a bit of Present-Practice-Produce thrown in, and sometimes integrated within a particular skill, as in Skill-Based. I believe I have maintained my original "philosophy" of how grammar should be taught from the outset of the course, although it has been fine-tuned as a result of the readings and my research. I (still) think it is best to teach grammar through an integrated approach, within the context of a task. To me it makes sense to start with a task, or a purpose for learning the grammar, so that students see how what they are learning can apply to their real life. Then, provide students with the grammar needed for the task in the midst of the lesson. Finally, have the students apply the grammar in context in a personalized way. This will result in a deeper understanding by the students, and allow them to internalize and ideally transfer that learning to other similar situations.
The video, Grammar Lesson Planning Tutorial for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, outlined the qualities of an effective lesson plan. It included five stages: Lead-in, Elicitation, Presentation, Controlled Practice, and Freer Practice. The stages of the grammar-focused lesson plan presented in the video were similar to the way I  envision grammar instruction. I found this video to be quite useful in providing a structure to a grammar-focused lesson, without being all about the grammar. The example lesson provided also helped me with visualizing how this could be accomplished in an ESL classroom. In this lesson format grammar instruction is embedded withing the context of a meaningful, real-life task.
Reference:
Grammar Lesson Planning Tutorial for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNCKmdof6a0

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