Planning your first TEFL lesson might seem a bit daunting, but honestly, it’s pretty exciting too. It’s also critically important. I’ve said it many times on this site; you can’t teach a great lesson without a lesson plan.
But how do you actually plan your first TEFL lessons? It’s actually not that difficult. But you do need to know a few things in order to succeed. Believe me; when I first started teaching, I had no idea how to plan a lesson to save my life.
The core is pretty simple, though. Stick with simple aims, use activities to break the ice, and create a structure that’s easy to follow. If you’re looking for ideas to get started, check out some expert tips on how to prepare for your first TEFL class.
Know Thy Class, Know Thine Self(‘s Lesson Plan)
The first thing you need to know when you plan your TEFL lesson is your class. If you don’t know who you’re teaching, how are you going to provide a decent class for them? Focusing on these points makes your lesson more organized and effective.
Identifying Student Needs
To plan a good TEFL lesson, you’ve got to know your students’ needs and abilities.
In most cases, if you’re working at a language school you will be walking into already-established classes. Most language schools sort classes by ability level (for children and adults) or age (mostly children). If you’re working at a public or private school, then, of course, the students will usually be divided by grade.
You might think that planning a class for 3 adults at a language school would be different from planning a class for a roomful of 1st graders at an elementary school. And you’d be right, sort of.
You see, the basics of planning a lesson don’t change by the class, but the specifics do. For that reason, you’ll want to check out the follow-up articles for planning for different types of classes: this is just an overview to cover all those basics you’ll use for all of the classes.
When considering adult lessons, you’ll want to consider what they can do and what they want to be able to do. You’ll begin building a bridge between those two points.
When considering kid’s lessons, you’ll want to consider that as well, but you’ll also need to look at it through the lens of what they are developmentally able to do. There’s also the difference that, generally speaking, an adult taking your class is there because they want to learn. A child is usually there because they are obligated to. That makes a huge difference in mindset as well.
Matching your lessons to your students keeps them motivated and interested. It’s not always easy, but it’s worth the effort.
Knowing the Curriculum
Lesson objectives should connect to your school or curriculum standards. Generally speaking, if you’re working at a language school, they’ve already got textbooks they use and progress through. This gives you a ready-made path to know what a given class’s language target should be.
Usually, you’ll be spending a few classes working on a specific topic or language target. Part of what you’ll have to consider when you plan your less is what aspects of that you’ll want to cover. Typically, in week 1 you’ll introduce the topic or language target, but what about weeks two through four? You will want to consider how all of those things build on each other week on week.
You may also want to consider tangents or peripheral things related to it. No textbook can cover everything; part of your job is knowing when there’s something good you can add from outside the book. It could be a language point, some extra vocab, or a newspaper clipping that presents related information.
SWBAT
You may have heard the term SWBAT if you’ve taken a TEFL certification course or other teaching course. If you haven’t, it might sound like nonsense, but it’s really the third critical part of planning your lesson.
SWBAT stands for “Students Will Be Able To”, and it sets the goal for your class. This can be both an overarching goal for the whole semester or year (usually tied to the overall curriculum), but it can also be used to describe that specific lesson. A good learning SWBAT is specific, doable, and easy to check.
For example, instead of “learn new words,” a good SWBAT would be something like, “Students will be able to use 8 new words describing jobs.”
Make sure your goals match the main purpose of your lesson and fit your students’ level. A SWBAT like the one above is good for children or beginner students, but probably not a good fit for higher level students.
If goals are too tough or too easy, students might get frustrated or bored. Breaking big goals into smaller steps helps students see progress and stay motivated.
When your goals are clear, it’s much easier to check if your students have learned what you planned. Need help? Here are more tips on writing effective objectives.
Choosing Engaging Lesson Topics
Picking the right lesson topic is honestly half the battle. Students are way more likely to join in if the subject matches their age and interests.
Selecting Age- and Level-Appropriate Themes
Always think about your students’ ages when you plan your lesson. Young children usually like lessons about animals, colors, food, or family. Well, they don’t like lessons about them, usually. They’re kids; they like games and activities that incorporate them. These topics use simple vocabulary and connect to their daily lives.
Note that if these are really young children they may not be speaking their native language well yet, so bear that in mind. Simple question and answer and vocabulary are goals; immerse them in English so they get comfortable with it.
Teens often prefer talking about hobbies, social media, sports, or technology. At this age, it helps to let students share opinions or talk about their experiences. If they’ve been studying for a while, they may still have difficulty expressing themselves, though; make sure you are giving them support in building to a full conversation, instead of just a question and answer.
For adults, stick with practical themes like travel, jobs, and daily routines. Topics like news or world events can work if students show interest, but as you get to know them, building in a “free talk” time can get them to open up on whatever subject they are interested in. This helps build language skills for real situations.
Note that for teen and adults students who may already be good at English (such as students who have spent years overseas), they are often coming to class to keep what they have, as opposed to learning new things, because if you don’t use it, you lose it. Give them lots of opportunities to use it!
Want a quick way to check if a topic fits? Ask yourself, “Is this something students this age talk about?” If yes, you’re probably on the right track. Then, ask yourself, “Is this something students of this ability can talk about?” If the answer is yes, it’s a good warm-up. If the answer is “kind of”, then it’s good for being the main meat of the lesson. If the answer is no, then wait a bit and build them up to it.
Incorporating Student Interests
If you want students to be excited, use topics and materials they care about. The easiest way to figure this out is to ask questions on the first day – interact with your students! That’s why they’re coming to you. Just talk to them at a level they can match.
Also, pay attention to what students mention in class. If a few talk about soccer, music, or movies, toss those into your activities or examples.
When you include what matters to your students, you build a positive classroom. Students are way more likely to take part when they see you care about their interests.
Structuring Your TEFL Lesson Plan
A good lesson plan helps students understand what’s expected and what they’ll learn. Planning lesson flow, timing, and using warm-up and cool-down activities all support a better classroom experience.
Write it down
Write down everything you plan on doing. Put that lesson plan somewhere you can see it. I usually put mine up on the whiteboard or blackboard where I can shoot a quick look and make sure I’m where I should be.
Once you get comfortable and familiar with your classes, materials and curriculum, you probably won’t have to write down everything. But even then a quick bullet point list will still help you until you get to the point where you internalize everything. That takes years, though, and even then it still helps to write some things down.
While these days I don’t often have to write down my lesson plan, if I’m encountering a new class, new materials, or something else where I’m out of my comfort zone, I write it down. It has saved my butt a lot, it will save yours, too.
Creating an Effective Lesson Flow
Start by deciding your lesson aim. What do you want your students to do or understand by the end?
Break your lesson into clear stages, like introduction, practice, and production. Here’s an example of a common “PPP” flow used in a lot of TEFL classrooms:
- Warm-up: Get students thinking in English.
- Presentation: Introduce new language or skills.
- Practice: Guide students through activities.
- Production: Let students use the new language more freely.
- Cool-down: Review or reflect on the lesson.
This structure makes your lesson predictable and logical. Each stage should build on the last, so the lesson flows naturally.
Note: I use PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) here because it is the most common flow in TEFL today, and a lot of schools use it so may expect you to use it, too. But it’s not the only one. ESA (Engage, Study, Activate), TTT (Test, Teach, Test), TBL (Task-Based Learning), and others also exist. I’ll discuss those more in follow-up articles, as well as an article going into more detail on PPP.
Timing Activities and Transitions
Decide how much time to spend on each stage. For a 60-minute class, here’s a rough breakdown:
| Stage | Suggested Time |
|---|---|
| Warm-up | 5-10 min |
| Presentation | 10-15 min |
| Practice | 20-25 min |
| Production | 10-15 min |
| Cool-down | 5-10 min |
Stay flexible. Activities sometimes take more or less time than you expect.
Make transitions clear so students know what’s next. If you finish early, have extra quick activities ready.
Including Warm-Up and Cool-Down
A warm-up gets your class focused and ready. It should be quick, simple, and tied to the lesson topic. Ideally, it will be a review that leads into the presentation.
For the cool-down, help students reflect and finish smoothly. Ideally, it will not introduce anything, but will instead either reaffirm what they’ve covered in class that day, or will join what they’ve just learned to something they covered before.
Both warm-ups and cool-downs set the tone and boost student confidence.
Reflecting and Adapting After Your First Lesson
After you finish teaching your first TEFL lesson, take some time to think about what went well and what could be better. This reflection helps you become a more confident and effective teacher.
Evaluating Lesson Success
Start by asking yourself some simple questions about your lesson. Did your students understand the main point? Did they stay engaged?
Write down what parts of your lesson worked well and what seemed confusing for your students. Pay attention to student reactions and feedback.
If many students looked lost or asked a lot of questions at the same spot, that part of your lesson might need a little work. You can use lesson planning apps to jot down notes, or leave comments to yourself for next time.
Some teachers keep a short log or journal after each lesson, noting what activities were most successful. I use a journal myself and it has helped me grow as a teacher.
Focus on student learning. For example, if a group activity got everyone talking, that’s a sign it worked well.
If students didn’t finish a worksheet or seemed bored during a lecture, mark that as a place to adjust.
Making Improvements for Next Time
After reflecting, pick one or two things you want to tweak for your next lesson. Maybe you’ll switch up the order of activities, lean on more visuals, or just try to give instructions that actually make sense the first time. Or maybe give no instructions!
It’s not about chasing perfection. Just keep making those small, steady improvements.
Here are some ways to adapt:
- Simplify the parts where students got stuck
- Add time for discussion if they seemed into it
- Test out a new classroom management strategy
- Mix up group work to shake things up
Jot down quick notes or reminders on your old lesson plan—sticky notes or digital tools both work.
Over time, these tweaks can really boost your confidence. Your lessons start fitting your students a lot better, even if it’s a bit messy at first.
Other Considerations When Planning your Lesson
That’s a basic overview of planning a lesson, but there are a few other things you’ll want to consider. Perhaps not when you plan your first lesson, but shortly thereafter. I’ll go into more detail on these in future articles, but, at-a-glance, a few things you’ll want to consider adding to your lesson planning once you get a hold of basic lesson planning.
Using Authentic Resources
Authentic resources are real-life items like menus, brochures, magazines, or short videos. These materials show students language as it’s actually used outside class.
Using them makes lessons more interesting and helps students build practical skills. For example, you might use a bus schedule or menu to teach vocabulary and common phrases.
Adapting Materials for Language Learners
It’s great when you can bring in outside material, especially when it meshes with a student’s interests, but many times these are not made for language learners. Adapt them so students understand and don’t get frustrated.
Rewrite tough parts, explain new words before reading, or add pictures and diagrams. Breaking the material into smaller chunks helps too.
Designing Interactive Activities
Interactive activities keep students focused and let them practice English in real situations. Use group work, pair activities, games, and movement to make lessons more engaging—and honestly, way more memorable.
Incorporating Games and Movement
Games and movement add energy to your class and help students remember new words or grammar. They are extremely important to use in kid’s lessons, but even adults get into games and movement activities from time to time to break up the routine.
Balancing the Four Key Language Skills
Any language (unless it’s a dead language), isn’t just about reading or writing. It also isn’t about speaking or listening. It’s about all four of them. When you plan your TEFL lessons, try to include activities for each main skill. The equal use of all four skills helps reinforce each other.
That doesn’t mean you have to make sure that your one hour class has 15 minutes each of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Ideally many of your activities will cover more than one skill, but also remember that, if there’s homework, that provides more time where students can focus on reading and writing (and probably listening, too). So if you want to focus a bit more on speaking in class, as long as all things are in equal measure, it’s probably fine.
Assessment and Feedback Strategies
Checking what students have learned and helping them improve is a key part of any TEFL lesson. You can do this with quick checks during lessons and by giving helpful comments that guide their progress.
Giving feedback that’s kind and useful helps students feel more confident. Instead of just pointing out mistakes, tell students what they did well and how they can improve.
For example, say “Good job using the new vocabulary, but check your verb tense next time.” This shows students exactly what to work on.
The Lesson Plan Is a Guide
As important as a lesson plan is, it’s also important to remember that it’s not the end-all-be-all. You should be ready to ignore your lesson plan if you feel you need to.
If an activity is completely falling flat, you might not be sure what to do. Especially if you planned to do that activity for 10 minutes and you can already tell 2 minutes in that it’s not working. Cut it off; better to end an activity that isn’t working than make everyone slog through it.
Or it could be an activity that is working, but it’s too easy. Cut that off a bit early, too. It’s better to cut it off while they’re having fun than letting them get bored. On the other hand, if the activity is working well, the students are enjoying it and learning from it, and there’s more material to go, let it go a little longer if you feel that works.
It could also be an instance where you suddenly get a brain storm for an activity or a related thing to cover (this happens to me ALL the time). Students often find those connections very interesting! You might not be able to cover all of the things you want to if you do it, but the students will usually enjoy class more.
Let’s Sum Up
Planning your first lesson can be nerve-wracking, especially if you don’t know anything about planning a lesson. My first few months of lessons sucked because I didn’t know what I was doing. It was only through a lot of trial and error that I figured out what was working and what wasn’t.
Ultimately, it turned out that it wasn’t hard to plan a good lesson, but I had to know the students, the material, and the curriculum to be able to generate a decent lesson plan, and I had to understand some basic pedagogy of TEFL teaching before I was able to put it all together.
Hopefully, now you’ve got the tools to do it yourself.