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How to Present a Lesson Plan

First days are always exciting, and expectation builds up about the contents of the task ahead, especially if you’re starting a class as a student or professor. This interaction will be significant because it will establish and define the subjects to be covered and the set of expectations flowing from the instructor towards the audience. 

Perhaps you are ready to begin your career as a teacher and need some guidance; otherwise, you are a seasoned instructor searching for a refresher in your program. No matter which of the above you represent, the truth of the matter is that you are probably seeking a better way to introduce the subjects you’ll be teaching to your students. 

What is a lesson plan? 

A lesson plan will be the set of subject matter materials you will be teaching during a specific timeframe. The lesson plan should be an index that students can constantly consult to understand better the parts of the learning journey they will go through during each session. 

Teachers and professors should have a lesson plan template that happens in every session. This is different from a syllabus because, in the latter case, the whole curriculum of the program will be laid out; however, for each lesson, there should be one individual lesson plan example to guide the instructor in the set timeframe. 

When building the materials for the class or lesson’s attention, it’s always essential to share elements like the purpose or rules that guide the learning process . This article will explore the best way to present a lesson plan and drive a learning session successfully from the instructor or professor’s view. 

How to write a lesson plan 

Education nowadays guides different sorts of students and target specific learning needs. Therefore, it’s important and relevant to understand how lesson plans can change and be varied to truly implement the best learning path for your students. Once you have this part figured out, the next step is to understand how you will transmit the information and use a PowerPoint Presentation to simplify creating and presenting a lesson plan to your students. 

Lesson plans will comprise several different sections that will clarify the first questions students can have: How long will the course be? Will it be an online course ? What will be the main objectives? Which subjects will be discussed along with the class? 

1. Introduction 

As the lesson begins, it’s essential to place a brief yet descriptive introduction about what the session will cover. A good practice is to create a catchy title for each lesson to have an overall understanding of the information they will be receiving.

Example: Digital Marketing Basics: Industry background, historical review years 1980-2010. In this session, we will cover the birth of digital marketing, including all the touchpoints that shaped today’s industry. 

2. Audience

If your class is a one-time-only or recurring session, or even a blended learning journey, it’s essential to explain to your students who this class is for; this will allow them to calibrate their expectations about the matter to be taught ahead. 

Example: This lesson is directed to professionals who work in traditional marketing, business owners, or communication specialists seeking to have a profound understanding of how digital marketing came to be. 

3. Lesson Objectives 

This piece is critical because it will allow the students to assess the intention of each lesson. When thinking about the objectives, it’s vital to consider the acquired skills we expect our students to have at the end of the class. Like any other goals in life or business, each one should be actionable and measurable, meaning after each class, students should be able to use what they have learned and put into action the concepts. 

Example : Understand and be able to create a timeline framework of reference to explain the story of the Internet.

4. Materials 

Suppose the lesson requires using any specific materials, physical or not, including any software or hardware necessary. In that case, it´s important to list or include within the lesson plan so students can set clear expectations on what they might require. This is particularly important if the session you will be delivering requires them beforehand to bring anything. 

Example : 

• Computer 
• Scratch paper 

5. Learning Activities 

We´ve covered all the logistics by this point; however, now we need to start sharing the actual activities during the lesson. Ideally, this is a play-by-play of how each activity will guide the lesson towards the already established objectives. To add the list of learning activities that will be helpful for your students, take into account how all of them align with each goal and the requirements students need. 

Make sure that you add variety to the activities that you are proposing, go ahead and research trends of how many other teachers or professors, students will appreciate your search to engage them in learning. 

Also, consider how much time they will take so that you can note it in the next section. 

• Create a timeline on the wall with the most important moments of digital marketing history, including creation of social media, mainstream of email, etc.

Time periods

Pairing each learning activity with a specific timeframe will be useful both for instructors and students. Make sure you calculate a reasonable amount of time for each activity and list it within the lesson plan so everyone can set correct expectations. Assigning time slots for each exercise will also help students and teachers stay on track with the lesson and not waste valuable time invested in learning.

Example : Creation of a timeline – 45 min

How to present a lesson plan 

We have now listed the components of the lesson plan structure, everything looks beautiful in the draft, but now we need to start planning how we will present the program to the students. This part is challenging because you have to choose a template that makes sense for you and will be helpful for your students to understand.

A PowerPoint presentation is a great way to showcase all the contents of the lesson plan, however, the trick is to decide how you want to structure it.

Lesson Plan Design

By this point, you’ve structured a lesson plan template that can go through any test. Nevertheless, creating the materials to accompany it can be a key in the commitment generates between the students and the professor.

Design and Style

Before adding any text to your presentation template , think about the requirements you have: Does the academic institution where you work require the use of logos? Do you have to follow any visual guidelines? This might be important for the cohesiveness of your presentation.

It’s essential to think about how you would like to present the lesson plan. You may want to keep it simple and have a 1 pager and talk through it to understand your students fully, or perhaps you need to create one full presentation where every slide will be a relevant piece of information. Let’s explore this a bit further. 

One Pager Lesson Plan 

If your style is more towards simplicity, this is a great solution: succinct, minimalistic, and straight to the point. You can complete a one-page lesson plan with bullets of the relevant data and send it out to students. A great advantage of this format is that you can either send it as a PDF or even as a single image (JPG or PNG), exporting it directly from PowerPoint. 

One significant advantage is that your students will only have to check for one source by choosing this simple format when revising the lesson during the class or afterward. 

Several pages lesson plan 

Almost like a syllabus, a more extended presentation will include several slides so you can include the information in different formats. 

For example, you can use the first slide to include the lesson title; afterward, a new slide can define the purpose or introduction of the lesson. In the upcoming slides, you can include materials, contents, and even ad charts or similar to explain how grades will be affected by each lesson’s assignments on the upcoming slides. 

Text in the presentation 

It’s always good to follow the reliable practices of presentations and include the necessary information without overwhelming students. Don’t add an excessive amount of text to one slide; actually, make sure that every piece of data is helpful for students to plan their time both during and after class. 

However, if you will be sending out the presentation to your students before reviewing it, consider that they will be using it for their reference to follow through with your lesson. So make sure all the information is easy to read and accessible. 

Additional elements 

Learners of all sorts have become increasingly visual, so don’t be afraid to add infographics, images, photographs, icons or any other elements to make your lesson plan presentation more appealing visually. 

Final Words 

Remember the lesson plan presentation will be the first approach your students will have with the subject matter. Take your time, enjoy the process, and create comprehensive and attractive lesson plan slides that will inspire your students to have thoughtful and deep learning. 

1. 1-Slide Lesson Plan PowerPoint Template

Create a simple and minimalist one-pager lesson plan for your academic uses, course planning, and even as student handouts, with this eye-catching PowerPoint template. 

Use This Template

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How to Create an Effective Lesson Plan Presentation

Regardless of the subject or content you’re teaching, having a lesson plan in place prepares you for class by offering detailed guidelines for the session. The lesson plan doesn’t have to be lengthy or complex—it just needs to include elements about what you’re teaching, the method of presenting this material, and what objective and goals you wish your students to achieve as part of the curriculum.

Why Lesson Plans Are Important

It’s crucial for teachers to prepare their lessons in advance and implement the best teaching approaches. Attending a session without a lesson plan can be counterproductive for both students and teachers. Without the right preparation beforehand, classes can end up being unproductive or confusing.

Below are a few reasons why you should consider lesson planning:

Lesson Planning is Handy for Classroom Management

Developing the lesson plan from the learning objectives provides flexibility in adapting to different teaching methods and classroom management techniques. For instance, hybrid or online classes require a different delivery approach from the traditional classes, which means making modifications to any existing plans. With the right foresight and plan in place, classes can stay on topic and effective. Such circumstances underscore how crucial lesson plans are in ensuring that the class runs smoothly, regardless of the learning environment.  

Lesson Planning Creates Student Success

Various studies have shown that students benefit immensely from and appreciate well-structured lessons. Thus, success is more likely when students engage and show interest in the material being taught. Using a curriculum guide, teachers can develop valuable lesson plans based on specific objectives and goals (what’s intended for students to learn). 

​​Lesson Planning Is Central to Teacher Success

Teachers’ success is, to some extent, pegged on students’ success. Besides that, the documents you develop as part of the lesson planning process are often part of your assessment by school administrators. What’s more, as you advance your teaching career, your lesson plans serve as a repository for your expanding body of knowledge. Thus, the significance of lesson planning cannot be overlooked when it comes to advancing your career as an educator.

Lesson Planning is Vital in Student Assessment

Lastly, lesson plans turn the learning sessions into clear objectives for students and a way to gauge their understanding of the subject matter. One notable benefit of the lesson plan is tailoring the assessment to a particular objective while considering students’ specific needs. You can use common assessment methods such as quizzes, tests, and homework assignments.

How to Write a Lesson Plan

Lesson plans include different sections that clarify questions students might have about the subject on hand. What are the lesson objectives? What subjects will be covered during the session? How long will the course take?

• Introduction – As the lesson commences, it’s good to have a concise yet vivid introduction about what the lesson will cover. The ideal practice is to create a memorable title for every lesson to create a general understanding of the learning material students will be interacting with.
• **Lesson Objectives –**This section is critical as it allows the students to ascertain each lesson. When it comes to objectives, it is crucial to consider the acquired skills you expect the students to gain by the end of the session. Each objective should be measurable and actionable; meaning after every session, students should be able to apply what they’ve learned.
• Learning Activities – This should be a detailed account of how each activity will lead the class to achieve its predetermined goals. To create valuable activities, consider how each learning activity fits each objective, and the requirements students need.
• Practice – Practices are primarily intended to assess students’ comprehension of the material and aid in memorizing what they have learned in class. Therefore, it is crucial to include this in the lesson plan so that assessments can always be done at the appropriate time.

Today, lesson planning has been made less time-consuming and easier, thanks to smart whiteboards for the classroom . A digital whiteboard like the Vibe Board Pro provides unmatched performance that shows you know your craft and are way ahead of the pack.

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How Smart Whiteboards Simplify Lesson Plan Creation and Presentation

Not only does using a smart whiteboard make learning accessible , it’s also a great way of enhancing and enriching your lesson plans with interactive activities for the class. Smart whiteboards function as a touch screen for all; during class sessions, you and your students can use it as a digital whiteboard to create a space where students’ engagement, knowledge, and teamwork are appreciated.

While the smart whiteboard aids in making your lesson more engaging, interactive, and educational, you as the teacher can still customize your teachings to what you want them to be. This helps in foiling any hitches in your lesson presentation and makes switching from one topic to another seamless.

Below are more specific ways how smart whiteboards make your lesson plan presentation better:

Take Advantage of Built-in Templates

Once you invest in a smart whiteboard, make sure to take advantage of the wide variety of built-in lesson planning templates. You can use these templates to improve lesson plans while leveraging the technology associated with smart whiteboards. Even better, these templates can be easily customized for every lesson plan and cover different subject matters, allowing you to create new lesson plans without always starting from scratch quickly. How cool is that?

Organize and Present Lesson Plans Better

Smart whiteboards combine the power of the traditional whiteboard and a TV/projector into one hub, allowing you to write on the board while concurrently projecting it to the classroom. This allows you to conduct lesson plan presentations on a larger scale while also letting students see what’s going on.

For instance, if you’re presenting on an extensive topic involving multiple subtopics, a smart whiteboard will help you walk students through each subtopic with ease. Begin with the presentation divided into primary or main sections, highlight key definitions, and add infographics and videos to ensure that every student understands the tiniest detail.

Additionally, you can get students involved in the lesson plan presentation by asking questions, polling them on key points, or allowing them to follow along on their tablets or laptops.

Record Lesson Plan Presentations

Another benefit of using smart whiteboards in the classroom is that a lesson plan presentation can be recorded and accessed long after the session is over. This allows your students to access the material on their own time.

Final Words: Creating a Lesson Plan Presentation

Lesson plan presentation offers students the first interaction with the material they will learn. Take your time, appreciate the process, and create an attractive and comprehensive lesson plan that will encourage your students to have deep and thoughtful learning experiences. Even better, all of this can be made easier with smart whiteboard technology. Leave the spiral notebooks and sticky notes at home. A smart whiteboard is all you need.

What is the presentation stage in lesson planning?

Presentation is usually the core of the lesson plan. During this stage, theteacher introduces the topic and the key subject matter the students need to master. Presenting with smart whiteboards is exceedingly easy and less time-consuming.

What are the 5 steps in lesson planning?

The five steps are:

• Objective: A learning concept or objective is introduced.
• Warm-up: Revise the previous lesson
• Presentation: Present the material using suitable tools and techniques.
• Practice: Students try to apply what they have learned.
• Assessment: Evaluate whether the objectives were achieved

How does lesson planning help teachers?

Planning lessons in advance allows teachers to arrive at class each day prepared to introduce new concepts and facilitate engaging discussions rather than improvising as they go. In other words, without a lesson plan, teachers may be left scrambling, making students lose interest in the material to be learned.

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The word educate comes from Latin, meaning "to bring up, to rise, and to nourish, to train." To educate is an active enterprise. In comparison, the word  teach comes from German, meaning  "show, declare, warn, persuade." To teach is a more passive activity. 

The difference between these words, educate and teach, has resulted in many different instructional strategies, some more active and some more passive. The teacher has the option to choose one in order to successfully deliver content.

In choosing an active or passive instructional strategy, the teacher must also consider for other factors such as subject matter, the resources available, the time allotted for the lesson, and the background knowledge of the students. What follows is a list of ten instructional strategies that can be used to deliver content regardless of grade level or subject matter.

Lectures are instructor-centered forms of instruction given to a whole class. Lectures come in many different forms, some more effective than others. The least effective form of lecture involves a teacher reading from notes or the text without differentiating for student needs. This makes learning a passive activity and students may quickly lose interest.

The lecture is the most used strategy. An article  in "Science Educator" titled "Brain Research: Implications to Diverse Learners" (2005) notes:

"Although lecturing continues to be the most widely employed method in classrooms across the country, research on the way we learn indicates that lecturing is not always very effective."

Some dynamic teachers, however, lecture in a more free-form manner by including students or providing demonstrations. Some skilled lecturers have the ability to engage students using humor or insightful information.

The lecture is often coined as "direct instruction" which can be can be made into a more active instructional strategy when it is part of a mini- lesson .

The lecture portion of the mini-lesson is designed in a sequence where the teacher first makes a connection to previous lessons. Then the teacher delivers the content using a demonstration or a think-aloud . The lecture part of the mini-lesson is revisited after students have an opportunity for hands-on practice when the teacher restates the content one more time. 

Socratic Seminar

In a whole group discussion , the instructor and the students share the focus of the lesson. Typically a teacher presents information through questions and answers, trying to ensure that all students are involved in learning. Keeping all students on task, however, may be difficult with large class sizes. Teachers should be aware that using an instructional strategy of whole-class discussions may result in passive engagement for some students who may not participate .

To increase engagement, whole-class discussions may take several different forms. The Socratic seminar is where an instructor asks open-ended questions allowing students to respond and build on each others thinking. According to education researcher Grant  Wiggins , the Socratic seminar leads to more active learning when,

"...it becomes the student’s opportunity and responsibility to develop habits and skills that are traditionally reserved for the teacher."

One modification to the Socratic Seminar is the instructional strategy known as the fishbowl. In the fishbowl, a (smaller) inner circle of students respond to questions while a (larger) outer circle of students observes. In the fishbowl, the instructor participates as a moderator only.

Jigsaws and Small Groups

There are other forms of small group discussion. The most basic example is when the teacher breaks the class up into small groups and provides them with talking points that they must discuss. The teacher then walks around the room, checking on the information being shared and ensuring participation by all within the group. The teacher may ask students questions to ensure that everyone's voice is heard.

The Jigsaw is one modification on small group discussion that asks each student to become an expert on a particular topic and then share that knowledge by moving from one group to another. Each student expert then "teaches" the content to the members of each group. All members are responsible to learn all content from one another.

This method of discussion would work well, for example, when students have read an informational text in science or social studies and are sharing information to prepare for questions posed by the instructor. 

Literature circles are another instructional strategy that capitalizes on active small group discussions. Students respond to what they have read in structured groups designed to develop independence, responsibility, and ownership. Literature circles can be organized around one book or around a theme using many different texts.

Role Play or Debate

Roleplay is an active instructional strategy that has students take on different roles in a specific context as they explore and learn about the topic at hand. In many ways, role-play is similar to improvisation where each student is confident enough to offer an interpretation of a character or an idea without the benefit of a script. One example could be asking students to participate in a luncheon that is set in a historical period (ex: a Roaring 20s "Great Gatsby" party). 

In a foreign language class, students might take on the role of different speakers and use dialogues to help learn the language . It is important that the teacher has a firm plan for including and assessing the students based on their role-playing as more than participation.

The use of debates in the classroom can be an active strategy that strengthens skills of persuasion, organization, public speaking, research, teamwork, etiquette, and cooperation. Even in a polarized classroom, student emotions and biases can be addressed in a debate that begins in research. Teachers can foster critical thinking skills by requiring students to provide evidence to support their claims before any debate.

Hands-on or Simulation

Hands-on learning allows students to participate in an organized activity best evidenced in stations or science experiments. The arts (music, art, drama) and physical education are those recognized disciplines that require hands-on instruction.

Simulations are also hands-on but are different than role-playing. Simulations ask students to use what they have learned and their own intellect to work through an authentic problem or activity. Such simulations might be offered, for example, in a civics class where students create a model legislature in order to create and pass legislation. Another example is having students participate in a stock market game. Regardless of the kind of activity, a post-simulation discussion is important for assessing student understanding.

Because these kinds of active instructional strategies are engaging, students are motivated to participate. The lessons do require extensive preparation and also require the teacher to make clear how each student will be assessed for their participation and then be flexible with the results.

Software Program(s)

Teachers can use a variety of educational software on different platforms to deliver digital content for student learning. The software might be installed as an application or a program that students access on the internet. Different software programs are selected by the teacher for their content ( Newsela ) or for the features that allow students to engage ( Quizlet ) with the material.

Longterm instruction, a quarter or semester, can be delivered over software platforms online such as Odysseyware or Merlot . These platforms are curated by educators or researchers who provide specific subject materials, assessment, and support materials.

Short term instruction, such as a lesson, can be used to engage students in learning content through interactive games ( Kahoot !) or more passive activities such as reading texts.

Many software programs can collect data on student performance which can be used by teachers to inform instruction in areas of weakness.  This instructional strategy requires that teacher vets the materials or learns the software processes of the program in order to best use the data that records student performance.

Presentation Through Multimedia

Multimedia methods of presentation are passive methods of delivering content and include slideshows (Powerpoint) or movies. When creating presentations, teachers should be aware of the need to keep notes concise while including interesting and relevant images. If done well, a presentation is a kind of lecture that can be interesting and effective for student learning. 

Teachers may want to follow a 10/20/30 rule which means there are no more than 10  slides , the presentation is under 20 minutes, and the font is no smaller than 30 points. Presenters need to be aware that too many words on a slide can be confusing to some students or that reading every word on the slide aloud can be boring for an audience that can already read the material.

Movies present their own set of problems and concerns but can be extremely effective when teaching certain subjects. Teachers should consider the pros and cons of using movies before using them in the classroom.

Independent Reading and Work

Some topics lend themselves well to individual classroom reading time. For example, if students are studying a short story, a teacher might have them read in class and then stop them after a certain time to ask questions and check for understanding. However, it is important that the teacher is aware of student reading levels to make sure that students do not fall behind. Different leveled texts on the same content may be necessary.

Another method some teachers use is to have students select their own reading based on a research topic or simply on their interests. When students make their own choices in reading, they are more actively engaged. On independent reading  selections, teachers may want to use more generic questions to assess student understanding such as:

• What did the author say?
• What did the author mean?
• What words are the most important?

Research work in any subject area falls into this instructional strategy. 

Student Presentation

The instructional strategy of using student presentations as a way to present content to the class as a whole can be a fun and engaging method of instruction. For example, teachers can divide up a chapter into topics and have the students "teach" the class by presenting their "expert" analysis. This is similar to the Jigsaw strategy used in small group work.

Another way to organize student presentations is to hand out topics to students or groups and have them present information on each topic as a short presentation. This not only helps students learn the material in a deeper manner but also provides them with practice in public speaking. While this instructional strategy is largely passive for the student audience, the student presenting is an active demonstrating a high level of understanding.

Should students choose to use media, they should also adhere to the same recommendations that teachers should use with Powerpoint (ex: a 10/20/30 rule) or for films.

Flipped Classroom

Student use of all manner of digital devices (smartphones, laptops, i-Pads, Kindles) that allow access to content brought the beginning of the Flipped Classroom. More than a switch of homework to classwork, this relatively new instructional strategy is where the teacher moves the more passive elements of learning such as watching a powerpoint or reading a chapter, etc.as an activity outside of the classroom, usually the day or night before. This design of the flipped classroom is where valuable class time is available for more active forms of learning.

In flipped classrooms, one goal would be to guide students to make decisions on how to learn better on their own rather than having the teacher deliver information directly.

One source of materials for the flipped classroom is Khan Academy, This site originally began with videos that explained math concepts using the motto "Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere."

Many students preparing for the SAT for college entry might be interested to know that if they are using Khan Academy, they are participating in a flipped classroom model.

• Whole Group Discussion Pros and Cons
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How a Simple Presentation Framework Helps Students Learn

Explaining concepts to their peers helps students shore up their content knowledge and improve their communication skills.

A few years ago, my colleague and I were awarded a Hawai‘i Innovation Fund Grant. The joy of being awarded the grant was met with dread and despair when we were informed that we would have to deliver a 15-minute presentation on our grant write-up to a room full of educational leaders. If that wasn’t intimidating enough, my colleague informed me that he was not going to be in Hawai‘i at the time of the presentation. I had “one shot,” just a 15-minute presentation to encapsulate all of the 17 pages of the grant I had cowritten, but how?

I worked hard to construct and deliver a presentation that was concise yet explicit. I was clear on the big picture of what the grant was composed of and provided a visual of it in practice. I made sure the audience understood the “why” behind the grant. I showed how it worked, the concrete elements of it, and how they made it successful. I finished with a scaffold that would help others know how to initiate it within their context, giving them the freedom to make it authentically their own.

I received good feedback from the presentation, and more important, what was shared positively impacted student learning in other classrooms across the state.

A Simple Framework for Presentations

That first presentation took me over a month to prepare, but afterward I noticed that my prep time for presentations shrank exponentially from a few months to a few (uninterrupted) days. Interestingly enough, as a by-product of creating the original presentation, I created an abstract framework that I have used for every professional learning presentation I have delivered since then. The “What, Why, How, and How-To” framework goes as follows:

• What? What can the audience easily connect to and know as a bridge to the unknown for the rest of the experience?
• Why? Why should they care to listen to (and learn from) the rest of the presentation? What’s in it for them to shift from passive listeners to actively engaged? The audience needs to know why you believe in this so much that you are compelled to share it.
• How? What are the key elements that make it unique? How is it effective in doing what it does? What are the intricacies of how it works?
• How-to? How could they start doing this on their own? How could this knowledge serve as a foundational springboard? Connect it to “why.”

Benefits for Students

One of the best parts of presentations is that they help the presenter to improve their communication skills. The presenter is learning how to give a presentation by doing it. To prepare a presentation, the presenter must know the intricate elements of what they are presenting and the rationale for their importance. In the presentation delivery, the presenter must be articulate and meticulous to ensure that everyone in the audience is able (and willing) to process the information provided.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that preparing and delivering presentations could provide a valuable learning opportunity for my students.

I recall teaching mathematical concepts whereby students would immediately apply knowledge learned to accomplish the task in silence and without any deeper questioning. Only after I asked them to provide presentations on these concepts did they regularly ask me, “Why is this important, again?” or “What makes this so special?” My students’ mathematical literacy grew through preparing presentations with the “What, Why, How, and How-To” framework, which supported them in their ability to demonstrate content knowledge through mathematical rigor (balancing conceptual understanding, skills and procedural fluency, and real-world application).

• The “what” served as the mathematical concept.
• The “why” demonstrated the real-world application of the concept.
• “The “how” demonstrated conceptual understanding of the concept.
• The “how-to” demonstrated skills and procedures of the concept. 

In addition to content knowledge, the sequential competencies of clarity, cohesiveness, and captivation ensured that the presenter could successfully share the information with their audience. When combined, these framed a rubric that supported students in optimizing their presentation deliveries. The competencies are as follows:

1. Content knowledge. The presenter must display a deep understanding of what they are delivering in order to share the “what, why, how, and how-to” of the topic.

2. Clarity. The presenter must be clear with precise, academic language. As the content they deliver may be new to the audience, any lack of clarity will alienate the audience. Providing multiple modes of representation greatly addresses a variety of processing needs of a diverse audience.

3. Cohesiveness. When making clear connections, the presenter bridges gaps between each discrete component in how they all work together as integral elements of the topic. Any gaps too large may make the elements look disjointed or, worse, the audience feel lost.

4. Captivation. The presenter must captivate the audience through any combination of audience engagement or storytelling . They make the presentation flow with the energy of a song , and in the end, they leave the audience with a delicate balance of feeling fulfilled and inspired to learn more.

Anyone can build an effective presentation with the “What, Why, How, and How-To” framework, along with competencies of content knowledge, clarity, cohesiveness, and captivation. The better we teach and coach others on how to create and deliver presentations, the more we learn from these individuals through their work.

In my class, one multilingual learner responded to the prompt “What are the non-math (life lessons) you have found valuable from this class?” with “I learn what is learning and teaching... I truly understood how teaching is actually learning when I had presentation. I found a bit of desire to being a teacher. I hope you also learned something from this class.” I always learn from my students when they present.

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Student presentations

In this article I would like to give you a few tips and some advice on what I've learned from helping students prepare and deliver presentations.

• Why I get students to do presentations
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• Planning a presentation lesson
• Classroom Management

Why I get students to do presentations Presentations are a great way to have students practise all language systems areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse and phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening). They also build confidence, and presenting is a skill that most people will need in the world of work. I find that students who are good presenters are better communicators all round, since they are able to structure and express their ideas clearly.

• Presentation skills are extremely useful both in and outside the classroom. After completing a project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with others what they have learned. It is also a chance to challenge and expand on their understanding of the topic by having others ask questions. And in the world of work, a confident presenter is able to inform and persuade colleagues effectively.
• Presentations can also form a natural part of task based learning. By focussing on a particular language point or skill, the presentation is a very practical way to revise and extend book, pair and group work. The audience can also be set a task, for example, a set of questions to answer on the presentation, which is a way of getting students to listen to each other.

Syllabus fit Normally the presentation will come towards the end of a lesson or series of lessons that focus on a particular language or skill area. It is a type of freer practice. This is because the students need to feel relatively confident about what they are doing before they stand up and do it in front of other people. If I have been teaching the past simple plus time phrases to tell a story, for example, I give my students plenty of controlled and semi controlled practice activities, such as gapfills, drills and information swaps before I ask them to present on, say, an important event in their country's history, which involves much freer use of the target grammar point.

Planning a presentation lesson Normally a presentation lesson will have an outline like this:

• Revision of key language areas
• Example presentation, which could be from a textbook or given by the teacher
• Students are given a transcript or outline of the presentation
• Students identify key stages of the example presentation – greeting, introduction, main points in order of importance, conclusion
• Focus on linking and signalling words ('Next…', 'Now I'd like you to look at…', etc.). Students underline these in the transcript/place them in the correct order
• Students are put into small groups and write down aims
• Students then write down key points which they order, as in the example
• Students decide who is going to say what and how
• Students prepare visuals (keep the time for this limited as too many visuals become distracting)
• Students practise at their tables
• Students deliver the presentations in front of the class, with the audience having an observation task to complete (see 'Assessment' below)
• The teacher takes notes for feedback later

It is important that the students plan and deliver the presentations in groups at first, unless they are extremely confident and/or fluent. This is because:

• Shy students cannot present alone
• Students can support each other before, during and after the presentation
• Getting ready for the presentation is a practice task in itself
• When you have a large class, it takes a very long time for everyone to present individually!

I find it's a good idea to spend time training students in setting clear aims. It is also important that as teachers we think clearly about why we are asking students to present.

Aims Presentations normally have one or more of the following aims:

• To inform/ raise awareness of an important issue
• To persuade people to do something
• Form part of an exam, demonstrating public speaking/presentation skills in a first or second language

I set students a task where they answer these questions:

• Why are you making the presentation?
• What do you want people to learn?
• How are you going to make it interesting?

Let's say I want to tell people about volcanoes. I want people to know about why volcanoes form and why they erupt. This would be an informative/awareness-raising presentation. So by the end, everyone should know something new about volcanoes, and they should be able to tell others about them. My plan might look like this:

• Introduction - what is a volcano? (2 minutes)
• Types of volcano (5 minutes)
• Volcanoes around the world (2 minutes)
• My favourite volcano (2 minutes)
• Conclusion (2-3 minutes)
• Questions (2 minutes)

Classroom Management I find that presentation lessons pass very quickly, due the large amount of preparation involved. With a class of 20 students, it will probably take at least 3 hours. With feedback and follow-up tasks, it can last even longer. I try to put students into groups of 3 or 4 with classes of up to 20 students, and larger groups of 5 or 6 with classes up to 40. If you have a class larger than 40, it would be a good idea to do the presentation in a hall or even outside.

Classroom management can become difficult during a presentations lesson, especially during the final presenting stage, as the presenters are partly responsible for managing the class! There are a few points I find effective here:

• Training students to stand near people who are chatting and talk 'through' the chatter, by demonstration
• Training students to stop talking if chatter continues, again by demonstration
• Asking for the audience's attention ('Can I have your attention please?')
• Setting the audience an observation task, which is also assessed by the teacher
• Limiting the amount of time spent preparing visuals
• Arranging furniture so everyone is facing the front

Most of these points are self-explanatory, but I will cover the observation task in more detail in the next section, which deals with assessment. 

Assessment The teacher needs to carefully consider the assessment criteria, so that s/he can give meaningful feedback. I usually run through a checklist that covers:

• Level - I can't expect Elementary students to use a wide range of tenses or vocabulary, for example, but I'd expect Advanced students to have clear pronunciation and to use a wide range of vocabulary and grammar
• Age - Younger learners do not (normally) have the maturity or general knowledge of adults, and the teacher's expectations need to reflect this
• Needs - What kind of students are they? Business English students need to have much more sophisticated communication skills than others. Students who are preparing for an exam need to practise the skills that will be assessed in the exam.

I write a list of language related points I'm looking for. This covers:

• Range / accuracy of vocabulary
• Range / accuracy of grammar
• Presentation / discourse management- is it well structured? What linking words are used and how?
• Use of visuals- Do they help or hinder the presentation?
• Paralinguistic features

'Paralinguistics' refers to non-verbal communication. This is important in a presentation because eye contact, directing your voice to all parts of the room, using pitch and tone to keep attention and so on are all part of engaging an audience.

I find it's a good idea to let students in on the assessment process by setting them a peer observation task. The simplest way to do this is to write a checklist that relates to the aims of the lesson. A task for presentations on major historical events might have a checklist like this:

• Does the presenter greet the audience? YES/NO
• Does the presenter use the past tense? YES/NO

And so on. This normally helps me to keep all members of the audience awake. To be really sure, though, I include a question that involves personal response to the presentation such as 'What did you like about this presentation and why?'. If working with young learners, it's a good idea to tell them you will look at their answers to the observation task. Otherwise they might simply tick random answers!

Conclusion Presentations are a great way to practise a wide range of skills and to build the general confidence of your students. Due to problems with timing, I would recommend one lesson per term, building confidence bit by bit throughout the year. In a school curriculum this leaves time to get through the core syllabus and prepare for exams.

Presentations - Adult students

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What is ‘Presentation, Practice, Production’ (PPP)?

And how can i best use it in my classroom.

Presentation, practice, production (PPP) is a lesson structure, a way to order activities in your lessons.

Although quite old and heavily criticised over the years, PPP is probably the most commonly used lesson structure in teaching English to foreign learners today. It’s also still widely taught to new teachers and seen on initial teacher training courses like the CELTA and CertTESOL.

Most course books that you’re likely to use will structure their chapters in ways similar or the same as PPP, meaning that you’ll get a lot of exposure to this method.

As the name suggests, there are three stages to this lesson structure, which we’ll look at now.

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The ‘Presentation’ Stage

This is where the language is introduced, or ‘presented’ to the learners, usually by introducing a context or situation. For example, you could:

Tell or act out a short story or anecdote ( “I woke up this morning with a nasty cold… AHHH-CHOOO! I went to the doctor and…”)

Play a short audio clip

Show a clip from a movie or TV show.

Show objects you’ve brought in (e.g. newspaper cuttings, plane tickets, hobby materials)

The aim is to ensure students understand the context and get them thinking about it. You could elicit ideas or suggestions from students, get them to talk to each other about what they know or think about the situation, etc. This also helps them start to remember the language and vocabulary they already know about the topic (or ‘activate the schemata’, if you want the fancy term for it).

The ‘Practice’ Stage

The ‘practice’ stage is when students use the language in a controlled way. This stage is sometimes divided into two — a controlled practice and a freer practice. Again, among many things, you could get students to:

Drill sentences or sounds, chorally or individually.

Substitution drill in pairs

Sentence matching activities

Gap-fill exercises

Pair work asking and answering questions

The aim of this stage is accuracy . Error correction is important in this stage, so monitor the students closely and take time to correct errors immediately. A delayed error correction section after the activity would be useful for target language errors that seem to be common.

The ‘Production’ Stage

The ‘production’ stage is where the language is used more openly. Things like:

Communication tasks

Collaborative tasks

Discussion activities

The focus of this stage is using the language as fluently and naturally as possible , as students would do outside of the classroom.

Theory Behind Presentation, Practice, Production

This is where PPP gets criticised. It started in the 1960s, and language learning theory has developed considerably since then. Academics who study second language acquisition get annoyed at how PPP doesn’t tick any of the boxes for how we’re supposed to learn a language and yet is still so widespread.

Some learning assumptions behind presentation, practice, production are:

Students should be told the grammar rules and then practice them (a deductive approach).

Language learning is a skill like any other and should be practised as such.

There should be a high level of teacher control, slowly handed over to learners as the lesson progresses.

Language is a series of items that can be learned in sequence.

The target language should be practised by removing unnecessary language to help focus.

All of these have been shown that this isn’t how we best learn languages (in fact, the opposite is largely true!).

However, it isn’t all bad. Here’s my opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of PPP:

It’s easy to learn for new teachers.

It’s very flexible.

It’s easy to plan for and has a logical progression.

It works for most types of classes, including larger classes.

Most course books use this or a similar method to structure their lessons and chapters.

Disadvantages

Research shows that it may not be the best way to teach/learn a language.

Weaker learners may overuse the target language from the practice session, so it sounds unnatural.

Learners may not know how to use the target language in different contexts.

It can be boring if used repeatedly for higher-level students.

Thoughts on Presentation, Practice, Production

Academics are often far removed from the classroom and the real world, studying the individual phenomenon in isolation.

I’ve often seen a light bulb moment for students whilst teaching PPP (although one could argue that it’s not strict PPP, and it’d be hard to isolate the teaching method from other variables). Teaching over a period of time with this method, you do see students improve. Consider also that it’s not done in isolation — you should be getting your learners to interact in English naturally and read extensively outside of class, for starters.

Presentation, practice, production works. Maybe not as well as something like task-based learning (TBL), but TBL takes longer to plan and implement, which becomes very difficult when your teaching hours are high.

Sure, so it might not be theoretically perfect, but it does work.

How to Adapt the PPP Method

Also, I believe it has evolved from the ‘traditional’ PPP approach described above. Here are some ways you can adapt the classic PPP structure:

Spend more time in the presentation stage eliciting.

Turn the deductive aspect of explicit grammar instruction into an inductive aspect (so learners have to figure out the patterns themselves).

Add collaborative tasks during the practice stage, which learners must use the target language to complete successfully.

Include meta-learning strategies so students can learn how to learn.

Include more incidental language throughout the class so learners hear language in a more natural context.

Change the final stage into a task, such as you’d find in task-based learning .

These changes turn PPP into something else, a blended approach that addresses many of the criticisms of PPP.

Other structures have sought to improve upon the model of PPP. Variants include ESA (engage, study, activate) and CAP (context, analysis, practice)

However, the simplicity of PPP and its notoriety have kept it the most widely used model. I doubt it’s going away any time soon.

See you again in two weeks.

Whenever you're ready, there are three ways I can help you:

1.   Learn how to plan better, faster and stress-free with my book Lesson Planning for Language Teachers (90 ratings, 4.5 ⭐ o n Amazon).

2.  Develop calm students, a relaxed mind and a classroom full of learning with my book Essential Classroom Management (16 ratings, 4.5 ⭐ o n Amazon).

3.  Improve your teaching in five minutes daily with my Reflective Teaching Practice Journal (4 ratings, 4.5 ⭐ o n Amazon).

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• Welcome to this free course on 'General Teaching M...
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• TOPIC 1 - QUIZ
• TOPIC 2 - QUIZ
• TOPIC 3 - QUIZ
• TOPIC 4 - QUIZ
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• Introduction
• 1.1 DEFINITIONS, TYPES & PROCESSES OF LEARNING
• What is learning
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• Introduction to learning styles
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• Verbal learners
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• 2.3 BARRIES IN INTEGRATING ACTIVE TEACHING
• Identifying Barriers
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• Defining classroom management
• The role of the teacher
• Defining classroom organization
• Classroom seating arrangement
• Overview of classroom seating arrangement styles
• Benefits of effective classroom management and organization
• 3.2 STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
• The teacher as a model
• Desired learner behaviour
• Rewarding learners
• Types of rewards
• Reinforcing learners
• Delivering a reinforcement
• 3.3 LESSON PLANNING
• Definition of a lesson plan
• Components of a lesson plan
• 4.1 INTRODUCTION TO ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
• Definition of assessment
• Formative vs. summative assessment
• Assessment for learning
• Assessment vs. evaluation
• 4.2 CLASS ASSESSMENT TOOLS
• Assessment rubrics
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• 4.3 REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
• Definition of reflective practice
• The reflective cycle
• 5.1 CONCEPT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
• Introduction to teaching and learning materials
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• 5.2 TYPES OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
• Traditional and innovative resources
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• Integrating instructional materials
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General Teaching Methods

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A presentation delivers content through oral, audio and visual channels allowing teacher-learner interaction and making the learning process more attractive. Through presentations, teachers can clearly introduce difficult concepts by illustrating the key principles and by engaging the audience in active discussions. When presentations are designed by learners, their knowledge sharing competences, their communication skills and their confidence are developed.

• Define the objectives of the presentation in accordance to the lesson plan (lesson planning)
• Prepare the structure of the presentation, including text, illustrations and other content (lesson planning)
• Set up and test the presentation equipment and provide a conducive seating arrangement and environment for the audience (lesson planning)
• Invite the audience to reflect on the presentation and give feedback (lesson delivery)
• After the presentation, propose activities or tasks to check the learners’ understanding
• Use Mentimeter for interactive presentations and to get instant feedback from your audience (consult this written tutorial on how to use Mentimeter).
• An infographic; graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge, is an innovative way to present. Use the digital tool Canva to create your own infographics (consult this  written tutorial  on how to use Canva).
• Use Google Slides or the Microsoft software PowerPoint , to easily create digital presentations.
• The purpose of a presentation is to visually reinforce what you are saying. Therefore the text should contain few words and concise ideas organised in bullet-point.
• Support your text using images .
• Provide time for reflection and interaction between the presenter and the audience, for example by using  Mentimeter .

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a  great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information  40% more accurately  than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

• Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations
• How  knowledgeable the audience  already is on the given subject
• How much interaction you want from the audience
• Any time constraints there are for your talk
• What setting you are in
• Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:

• What is your presentation’s aim?
• Who are the audience?
• What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.

Read our tips on  How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

• Introduce your general topic
• Explain your topic area
• State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
• State your presentation’s purpose – this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, “I will argue that…” or maybe you will “compare”, “analyse”, “evaluate”, “describe” etc.
• Provide a statement of what you’re hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, “I’m hoping this will be provide you with…”
• Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

• The length of the talk.
• Signal whether you want audience interaction – some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.
• If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a  sales pitch  may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

• Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.
• Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.
• Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you’re moving onto the next point.
• Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

• Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for example, “As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…”
• Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation – “In this speech I wanted to compare…”
• Summarise the main points, including their implications and conclusions
• Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking takeaway
• Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to  ask any questions  they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Other common presentation structures

The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

• Explain why the product is valuable.
• Describe why the product is necessary.
• Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.
• Demonstrate the product  to support what you’ve been saying.
• Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

• Briefly frame the issue.
• Go into the issue in detail showing why it ‘s such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this – the logical and emotional appeals.
• Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.
• Call to action – something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating  stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Storytelling for Business Success  webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.

Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

• Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.

• Go into the issue in detail showing why it’s such a problem – use logos and pathos.
• Rebut your opponents’ solutions  – explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you’re trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.
• After you’ve presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you’re fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done  using speech transitions  which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

• Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
• First, let’s begin with…
• I will first cover…
• My first point covers…
• To get started, let’s look at…

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

• In the same way…
• Likewise…
• Equally…
• This is similar to…
• Similarly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

• What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
• What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
• How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
• What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

• Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
• For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
• You discuss your second point from the centre again.
• You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
• The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

• An intro slide outlining your ideas
• A  summary slide  with core points to remember
• High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

• Don’t over fill them  – your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.
• A picture says a thousand words  – instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.
• Make them readable  – depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.
• Don’t rush through slides  – give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a  10-20-30 rule :

• There should be a maximum of 10 slides – people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there’s no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
• The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.
• The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

• 7 design tips for effective, beautiful PowerPoint presentations
• 11 design tips for beautiful presentations
• 10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices.  Clean transitioning between speakers  is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

• Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
• Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
• Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Elnaz”.
• The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Joe.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO  Eric Schmidt  demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and  practising your talk  beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

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• PPP In The EFL Classroom

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• Classroom Considerations, Teacher's Toolkit

Me: Okay, time for me to do some lesson planning for tomorrow.

Also me: *yawn*

Lesson planning is one of those unfortunate things that are a necessary evil in the English as a Foreign Language classroom. Lesson planning can be downright boring if we’re honest, but it is something that needs to be done in order to teach the best lessons we can.  The bottom line, you’re stuck with lesson planning (sorry!). But it doesn’t have to be as arduous as you think.

Let’s talk about one very common lesson plan structure which can make your lesson planning as easy as, well, PPP!

PPP in the EFL classroom

Here’s the lowdown on PPP in the EFL classroom.

If you’ve even taken one look at the course content on your TEFL course, you should be familiar with PPP. PPP stands for Presentation, Practice, and Production.  t is a very common lesson plan model that is used in English as a Foreign Language classrooms around the world.

Why is PPP so common in EFL classrooms?

PPP is not rocket science. Nor is it brain surgery. This is probably the reason it is so widely used in EFL classrooms.

Once you have understood the basics of a PPP lesson, it’s super easy to slot your activities into the lesson plan framework, thus creating a lesson plan which you know will be logical and which will flow.

A breakdown of PPP

A PPP lesson is divided into three stages: not surprisingly, Presentation, Practice and Production.

The Presentation stage is basically the beginning of the lesson.

It starts with a warmer and/or a lead-in to get the students engaged and interested in the topic (or to wake them up if your lesson is at the end of the day!).

Then the teacher presents the target language of the lesson. There are a number of ways this can be done, such as presenting the language in context, eliciting the language, or telling a personal anecdote.

The teacher then tells the students the rules of the particular language structure and explains the meaning, form, and pronunciation.

The second stage is the Practice stage .

In this stage, the learners do activities to practice the target language, which requires total accuracy. These activities are, by their very nature, the controlled practice of the language.

The final stage is the Production stage .

This is when the students do more activities, but this time they are less controlled and freer. In other words, the learners are free to use the target language in whichever way they wish in the activity set up by the teacher.

The advantages of PPP

There are many advantages to using PPP in the EFL Classroom. The obvious advantage of PPP is that it is simple and straightforward. Once you have gotten the hang of the different activities you can do in the EFL classroom, it is simply a matter of plugging them into the relevant stage and your lesson should make sense.

It also provides a structure with which to plan your lessons. As long as you are clear on your aims, it helps you to plan your lesson and imagine the different steps you need to take in order to accomplish your aims.

The disadvantages of PPP

Unfortunately, there are a few disadvantages to PPP lessons.

Firstly, it is very easy to get stuck in the PPP framework .

In other words, all your lessons end up exactly the same. Of course, many of our lessons are very similar, but it’s easy to become lazy and use the exact same activities for your lessons. PPP is good like that, in that you can be confident your lessons will be effective, but you can become complacent when it comes to interest levels. As a result, your lessons can become samey .

Another disadvantage is that many teachers place too much emphasis on the Presentation stage, believing this to be the most important stage. What happens here is that the students have no opportunity to practice the language, which is actually what we want them to do.

A PPP lesson plan example

Let’s now look at an example of a traditional PPP lesson, teaching the present perfect to Intermediate learners.

Read more: An Explanation Of The Present Perfect

Presentation

The teacher puts up a map of the world on the board. In green, she has marked countries she has been to. In blue, she has marked countries she would like to go to. She asks the students to guess what the different colours mean.

Once they have correctly guessed, she boards a few example sentences, such as

I have been to India.

I have never been to France.

Have you been to Mexico?

She then explains – while eliciting as much as possible. The teacher then focuses on meaning, form and pronunciation.

The students then complete a grammar exercise, in which they complete a gap fill. As a second practice activity, the students must decide whether a set of sentences are grammatically correct or not.

The students finally discuss in partners which countries they have been to and which they would still like to visit. The students then change partners and repeat the conversations. The teacher gets feedback from the class and does a delayed error correction activity.

Alternatives to PPP

Of course, PPP is not the only way to structure an EFL lesson plan.

There are many other frameworks that work just as well, such as ARC , TTT , and TBL . Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Which one you will use in your classroom will depend on your learners, the target language, and you.

Using PPP in the EFL classroom is a great idea for beginners.

While you are starting out as a TEFL teacher, we recommend you adopt the PPP lesson plan structure just for the simple fact that it’s logical and straightforward. When you have a bit of experience under your belt then you should definitely branch out and try your hand at a few other lesson plan structures.

But until then, go forth and Present, Practice and Produce!

The above information about PPP is very informative and helpful for the beginners like me .I would appreciate if you post more informative articles about language lessons at the initial stage. thanks a lot

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Presentation Lesson Plan How to give a good presentation

Presentation lesson plan for Business Engish

When giving a presentation it's important not to put your audience to sleep. There's also great value in sounding professional. Learning the skill of presenting well is not only useful for public speaking and giving formal presentations, but is also invaluable in conversations when wanting to clearly communicate your ideas and convince others that your ideas and proposals are worthwhile.

This lesson plan aims to teach students not only how to effectively use commonly used phrases and vocabulary, but also to put together a well structured, and thoroughly thought through and convincing presentation.. To this end, I have used two resources (a video and a text) which the students have to analyze and summarize. In the video, Nancy Duarte analyzes two outstanding speeches - 'I have a dream' by Martin Luther King, and Steve Jobs' iPhone launch. The text is a document produced by Newcastle University for their students on how to improve their communication and presentation skills.

Free Downloadable Lesson Plan

This business English lesson plan is suitable for upper-intermediate, advanced and proficiency level students ( B2, C1 and C2 ).

Language Focus

The goal of this lesson is to improve the ability of the students to give presentations, giving them appropriate tools to do so, i.e. an overall outline and strategy, vocabulary and phrases, and the opportunity to practise.

The lesson starts with the students giving their own ideas about what makes a good presentation. This is followed by a video from TED which carefully analyzes the structure of successful speeches. There is also a reading with pointers on how to improve your communication skills. The students need to use these resources to formulate a diagram that summarizes the points that they have found to be the most valuable.

The students then get a hand out of appropriate phrases and sentence starters to use during different parts of the presentation. They then get to choose a topic from a given list, prepare a presentation and then deliver it to the class.

Once the students have done this lesson,they can practise giving presentations during other lessons on any given topic.

For a list of useful phrases to use during a presentation without the full lesson plan, go to Giving a Presentation Vocabulary .

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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Definition of lesson

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of lesson  (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

• indoctrinate

Examples of lesson in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lesson.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English, from Anglo-French leçon , from Late Latin lection-, lectio , from Latin, act of reading, from legere to read — more at legend

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

1555, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing lesson

• teach (someone) a lesson
• object lesson

Dictionary Entries Near lesson

Cite this entry.

“Lesson.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lesson. Accessed 21 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of lesson, more from merriam-webster on lesson.

Nglish: Translation of lesson for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of lesson for Arabic Speakers

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PPP Technique in TEFL

Presentation, practice and production.

The PPP technique in teaching is a common way to introduce students to new words and concepts. This can be especially useful in the EFL classroom. The PPP method in English teaching is a three-step lesson plan and teaching approach that helps the student learn, understand and practice new vocabulary.

The three stages of a PPP lesson 

There are three stages in a PPP TEFL lesson.

Firstly, the teacher presents the new word, an event which involves the presentation of pronunciation and spelling in context.

Next, the teacher allows the students to practice the new word in a controlled setting, making sure the student has understood the vocabulary and usage properly.

Lastly comes the production stage, where there is a period of less-controlled practice and an informal assessment of learning. This is where the students get chance to use the new word or phrase in an original way and to relate it to their knowledge and experiences.

These three stages of a PPP lesson help the student to consolidate the new word in their mental vocabulary bank.

The sequence of a PPP lesson in EFL teaching

This EFL teaching method of presentation, practice and production is an approach that follows a definite sequence:

• The teacher presents the new vocabulary and explains the form of the language in a meaningful context.
• The students practise this new vocabulary through controlled activities such as worksheets or question and answer activities to check comprehension .
• The students use or produce what they have learned in a communicative activity such as a role-play, communication game, or question and answer session.

Teaching English using the PPP technique

Each stage of the Presentation, Practice and Production lesson must be planned well to be effective. However, the PPP method in TEFL is a highly flexible approach to teaching and there are many different activities a teacher can employ for each stage.

Presentation can include mime, drawing and audio. In fact, it is a good idea to try to engage with the students’ different senses to get across the meaning of the new word, using visual, kinaesthetic (movement) and audio techniques.

It is also important to make sure that students have understood the new word before encouraging them to practise it. It is often fun and highly effective for students to play games to practise vocabulary and to produce it.

Current debate about the PPP technique in TEFL

In recent times, there has been increasing debate surrounding the PPP method of teaching, with many critics asking if teachers should be using the PPP technique so often in the EFL classroom.

Some critics of the PPP method in TEFL think it can be too formal and structured, with too little focus on student interaction. However, we think the PPP technique in EFL teaching offers a very flexible base from which to construct a lesson that is highly student-centred.

For ideas on ways to present new vocabulary and check comprehension , and activities which allow students to practice and produce their vocabulary , please browse this PPP teaching section.

• Is the PPP method old fashioned  or is it still a useful and effective way to teach?
• Do you use the PPP technique in TEFL?
• What is your favourite way to present new vocabulary?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.

9 thoughts on “ PPP Technique in TEFL ”

may I know who is the actual founder of PPP technique?

Sorry Sifa, we don’t know who originally developed the PPP technique. Can any readers help?

Yes, it was Jeremy Harmer. 😉

Thanks for this information, Miri! If any readers want to check out Jeremy Harmer’s explorations of the PPP technique, you can read more in his book: ‘How to Teach English’, published by Longman.

Catherine may you please help me with the same book by Jeremy Harmer, on soft copy I will highly appreciate it.

Hi Grace, Jeremy Harmer’s book can be found online to read or download at academia.edu .

It PPP useful and used in teaching reading?

Hi Muharram, thanks for your question. Yes the PPP method can be used to teach all areas of language, including reading.

In this type of lesson, any new target words would be presented in the early part of the class (pre-reading) before the student meets the vocabulary within a longer written text. While reading the text during the ‘practice’ stage, students should be able to identify the individual ideas expressed and understand how the new words are used in context.

After reading, students can analyse the material and discuss the text, hold a questions/answer session or write about it in the production stage. This helps them deepen their understanding and test their reading comprehension. I hope this gives you a few ideas – I’ll be adding more details about using the PPP method to teach reading and writing soon.

Can somebody help me with these questions of Unit 3 i-to-i (180 hour units) please:

Match the description to the stages to make a complete PPP lesson. The aim of the lesson is expressing past habits with ‘used to’ + infinitive. For example, When I was younger, I used to watch cartoons.

The teacher repeats the model sentence with natural linking, stress and intonation. The class repeats.

1)Teacher asks, “Did he play football in the past?” (Yes) “Does he play football now?” (No).

2)Teacher says ‘used to’ + infinitive can be used to talk about things we regularly did in the past, but don’t do now.

3)The students answer conversation questions about their childhood to introduce them to the topic.

4)The teacher asks some individuals how many people share their thoughts on living in London and corrects some errors if they are made.

5)The learners use the target language to talk about how their lives are different now they live in London and compare their country’s cultures to the UK.

6)The teacher writes the model sentence on the board. When I was younger, he used to play football. Draws a box round ‘used to’ and writes ‘infinitive’ over play.

7)Learners choose an activity they enjoyed as children then walk round the class asking if other people used to do the same thing. For example, Did you use to watch cartoons?

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Is There a Difference Between Presentation and a Lecture?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

The differences between a presentation and a lecture can be subtle. However, there are a number of important factors to consider in how to approach one or the other, which will impact how you formulate your given talk.

The key difference between a presentation and a lecture is that a lecture is mostly given by authority and is typically formal in nature. It is mostly one-way communication. Whereas, a presentation can have an element of demonstration. It allows for collaboration and usually follows a story arc.

While these slight nuances might be hard to grasp, there are important distinctions you will need to make when it comes to preparing for a public speaking engagement. Let’s understand these in detail.

1. Event Format – Series vs Standalone

One of the most important differences between a lecture and a presentation is the context in which it is given. A lecture will generally form part of a larger body of work. This might, for example, be part of a broader series of lectures of which this talk is just one – given by the same speaker or otherwise.

A lecture may also form a particular means of presenting the findings of a book or research paper to an audience.

In contrast, a presentation is generally more likely to be a standalone piece of work. That is not to say that it cannot serve as the culmination of research for a project, but a presentation is typically a one-off event.

Presentations will normally encapsulate the entirety of a concept, idea or theory; relating to a single event, which will make it possible to listen to and understand in isolation.

2. Authority vs Peer-to-Peer

To this end, the purpose of either a presentation or a lecture is an essential element in differentiating between the two. Lectures tend to have an educative purpose. They will often be part of a university module, or a conference.

A lecture is intended to help the audience understand the material. After all, the etymology of the word is one which stems from the Latin word ‘ Lectura ’ or ‘ Legere ’ – meaning to read. As such, a lecture is intended to come from a position of authority, whereby the speaker is telling the listeners about a topic which they are particularly knowledgeable on.

In contrast, a presentation is typically considered to be more peer to peer. Therefore, it is intended for a more specific audience who might have a more vested interest in the content of the discussed material.

Presentations tend to be given in a professional setting, as opposed to an educative one. You might be pitching a new idea, presenting your quarterly reports, or speaking to your department about the company’s plans for the future.

In a university setting you may find that the difference between lectures and presentations lies in the simple matter of who is giving the talk. If it is a Professor, then it will be labelled as a lecture.

Meanwhile, if students are presenting their work or contributing to a seminar then this will be deemed a presentation.

3. In-depth Learning vs Introduction to a Subject

The intended purpose of the presentation will therefore have an impact on the audience who will be listening. This will also affect what they want to gain from listening to your talk and it may also be a reason to change the structure and content of your talk in order to retain their attention.

A lecture, being given in an educative situation, will be intended to teach the listeners about a given topic. Therefore, a lecture will typically develop a layered understanding of the content contained within it. The audience will typically be there to learn, and the lecturer will be aiming to convey their knowledge to the students in as much detail as possible.

It is likely that those listening will be taking notes , which will have an impact on what you include in your script (if you have one), your slides, and how you deliver them. In particular, you don’t want to speak too quickly, and you want to make it as easy as possible for people to take the notes they need throughout your lecture.

In both cases, it is important that you consider who your audience is when you are giving either a lecture or a presentation. But remember, whichever you are giving, you need to tailor its content to suit their needs and wants, in order to maximise your impact on them.

In both lectures and presentations, you ought to consider the fact that the audience may need to participate. In a lecture, this might be more freeform, with listeners interjecting to ask questions. Although, if you do not want this to happen you should address this when you begin and ask for them to restrain until you have finished speaking.

A presentation will typically not allow for interjections, as it is much more of a demonstration than a lesson. You should allow time for questions at the end so that listeners are able to clarify any issues. After all, there may not be a follow up session and either you or they may have to go elsewhere immediately afterwards.

4. Length of a Lecture vs Presentation

The first thing to consider when formulating any presentation is how long will you take to deliver it. Lectures will generally be slightly longer than a presentation – usually lasting somewhere around an hour in length.

Meanwhile, a presentation is typically shorter because the content contained within it requires less depth and provides more on an overview or insight into a topic, rather than an explanation.

In this regard, it is also again important to consider the role of your audience in the formation of your presentation. After all, if you are expecting your audience to take notes which they will go over at a later date, then you should consider how you help them in their note taking.

If you are using slides to support your lecture, you should make sure to include sources and associated reading, so that those who are listening are able to note this down, in order to pursue any further research themselves.

This may also be important if your audience wish to cite your lecture in their research, because if your lecture isn’t also properly cited then they may have issues in doing so.

You should also highlight the most important points throughout and do your best to signpost your audience through every element of your lecture to make it as easy as possible to digest the content you are giving them.

In a presentation, on the other hand, it helps to me more direct with the content you are giving to the audience. They generally only need to know the main points of what you are saying to them and will not often have the need or ability to go and read around the given subject.

To this end, you should also make sure that your presentation is visually appealing and engaging. While a lecture can go without slides, as the content of the spoken argument and information is more important; a presentation requires you to put across what you are saying in the easiest to comprehend fashion.

5. Tonality – Formal vs Informal

A lecture, typically being part of a wider series of work, will have a very different structure to a presentation. It might start by going over the content discussed in the previous lecture, before going on to outline how the next lecture will follow on from this and fit into the wider series.

In this sense, lectures often take a much more academic approach, whereby they are heavily structured, referenced and researched. Particularly in a University context, this is important as students might be being taught about cutting edge research.

Therefore, lecturers need to be able to demonstrate to their students where the information they are giving is from, so that they too can investigate it further.

In contrast, presentations are generally less formal in this regard. The reason for a presentation is much more immediate than you would associate with a lecture.

That is to say, the presentation does not necessarily need to relate to anything that has gone before it or will come after it. It is needed in order to convey information to the audience for the duration of the time in which they are listening to it.

Therefore, while a lecture might follow the Aristotelian method of ‘say what you are going to say, say it, and then say what you said’, a presentation can generally take a more freeform approach – choosing to settle on the significant pieces of information and arriving at a very specific conclusion.

This is not to say a presentation needs to be any less thorough. In a corporate setting in particular, you will need to make sure it is fully supported by the right data and is well structured and argued. However, it doesn’t necessarily need the same academic rigour as a lecture might in a University setting.

Topic: Presentation Skills

As you can see in the slide (giving presentations)

Step into the world of presentations with this handy lesson! Students explore vocabulary for structuring presentations, read the text of a presentation and watch a video on how to communicate ideas clearly.

Presentation: putting skills into action

With this lesson plan, students practise giving a presentation in English by doing a lot of different speaking activities. The lesson is the third of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations. 

Moving through your presentation

With this lesson plan, students learn plenty of useful phrases for presentations in English. They also prepare presentation excerpts, and learn how to start a presentation. The lesson is the second of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations. 

How to nail that presentation

In this lesson about business presentations in English, students discuss presentation structures in depth, watch a video with tips on giving presentations, and learn useful words and phrases related to the topic. The lesson is the first of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations. 

The city of the future is here

With this lesson plan based on a video about Toyota’s city of the future students learn some useful language for presentations and then practise their presentation skills.

The chair that conquered the world

This lesson plan about the chair that conquered the world includes a variety of tasks for students to learn new vocabulary related to describing furniture design and practise their presentation skills. 

How do you like your milk?

In this lesson, students will learn advanced cooking verbs, discuss different types of milk and do an English class project.

Apple’s legendary keynotes

The objective of this lesson plan is to teach students some adjectives for describing products and show them a video analysing Apple’s legendary keynotes.

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Language Point

Sustainable teacher  education

• Apr 5, 2022

TEFL basics: Meaning, pronunciation, form. Three ways to ensure deeper language learning

When we plan to teach a piece of grammar or vocabulary, it is important that we plan for students to be able to understand it and use it correctly. In order to achieve this aim, it is important to consider three factors: meaning (or concept), pronunciation and form (or structure). If we deal with these three aspects in turn, our students are more likely to retain what we teach and be able to use it when they need to.

There are many ways of knowing a word, phrase or grammar structure. Most school curricula assume that students ‘know’ something if they can reproduce it in a written test after having learnt it. However, remembering the meaning of a word and using it to fill a gap in a sentence is not the same type of ‘knowing’ that is required in a conversation, or when listening to a podcast, or when trying to explain a complex idea using that language.

Meaning: More than just ‘knowing’ a word

Deeper understanding of a word, phrase or grammar item starts with its concept. Concepts are non-linguistic - they are the stored meanings in the brain, which are used to make sense of the world. Words themselves are a tool for organising those concepts, and communicating them to the outside world. So, it follows that before being presented with a new, unfamiliar word, we should make sure that the concept behind that word is clear. This means presenting non-linguistic cues to meaning, which ready the learners’ brains to receive the word itself.

A non-linguistic cue can be a picture, sound or video clip which show the concept of the word you will present, but without the learner seeing or hearing the word itself. For more abstract words and phrases, or to teach a grammar structure, you may not be able to show the concept visually, so a quick story or situation can do the same job. Tell the class about a friend of yours who did something, or who has a certain characteristic. Don’t say the word you are teaching or use the grammar you are presenting, but ask the students to fill in the meaningful gap with the word or sentence structure if they know it.

As we can see, presenting concepts can be tricky, and it can take some thought about how to give the students the idea of the word you are teaching without directly saying or showing the word itself. See our other article for more on why meaning should be separated from form when presenting new language.

Pronunciation first - presenting new language orally

The English spelling system is a very confusing thing. There are very few standardised sound-letter relationships, especially with vowels (and all words have vowels). With this in mind, it is best to deal with pronunciation before looking at the written form of a word. Any word or grammatical structure is pronounced in the same way, no matter how many irregular or silent spellings it contains. This means that the spoken form of a word is more accessible than the written form, despite not involving any kind of visual support.

Focusing on pronunciation before written form has many benefits: firstly, hearing an authentic, connected version of a phrase fixes its real form in the learners’ minds first, so they will recognise it when you come to say it again (which you will, many times, if that is the target language that you are teaching). Familiarising learners with spoken forms also helps them to produce it, firstly through controlled drills, then perhaps in response to practice tasks , and finally (hopefully), independently in their own speaking. The sooner they have access to an authentic pronunciation of what they are learning, the better.

We often think of drilling as a way of introducing and fixing the sound of individual words, but pronunciation is equally important for grammar teaching . Most grammatical structures consist of several words spoken together, so as above, the sooner learners can process these structures as chunks of language, the more easily they will retain the whole structure, rather than as individual words.

Drilling verb phrases for tense work also gives an opportunity to work with the features of connected speech, to help learners produce a more natural sound in the grammar that they are studying. After all, we don’t only use grammar to read and write - we need it to process speech through listening and produce meaningful spoken language, both of which skills are often underdeveloped in second language learners coming out of high school English classes.

Substitution drilling is a good technique for generating different patterns of speech out of grammar items. Drilling chunks of language and substituting one part of the structure you are teaching each time you drill it can show learners which parts of the grammar are adaptable for different meanings - by time, number, person or verb (the features of a sentence which commonly change to show different ideas. For example, a substitution drill for the present perfect simple tense might go as follows:

She’s been to Italy

He’s been to Italy

He’s been to France

He’s visited France

They’ve visited France

They’ve come back from France

They’ve come back from the airport

By substituting different pronouns, verbs, objects, etc., we can build student confidence with simple forms and extend sentences using slightly more complex structures, changing one word or phrase at a time.

The written form - the final piece in the puzzle

Finally, once all students have understood the concept of the item you are teaching, heard it spoken and had the chance to try out its pronunciation, learners are ready to work with the written form of the word or structure.

Don’t be too quick to display the written form of a word - remember, the written form can distract from its sound, and there is a lot of work that can be achieved with concept and pronunciation without learners seeing the word itself.

However, dealing with form in a visual way, through sentence examples, tasks and form equations, is a good final step to consolidate the understanding that you have enabled up to now.

For grammar teaching, a display of the form is more complex than simply writing a sentence on the whiteboard. Form equations show the patterns of grammar rather than a specific meaning in the form of a sentence. Form equations are designed to be applied to any example of the grammar being used. For example, a form equation for the present perfect simple, which could be applied to any of the examples from the substitution drill above, would look like:

Subject + have/has + Verb (past participle) + Object

Or, to save time and whiteboard space, it’s a good idea to get students working with the annotated forms of the grammar terms above, for example:

S + aux. (have/has) + V(pp) + O

Once students know their form equations, they can quickly check the grammar that they use against these, and confirm whether they are structuring their sentences accurately.

As you can see, these three aspects of language: meaning, pronunciation, form, are quite rightly grouped in that order. This is the essence of the ‘MPF’ principle of language teaching. This is also known as ‘meaning before form’ or ‘COW’ (Concept-Oral-Written), all of which aim for the same process outlined here. When you plan to teach vocabulary or grammar next, make sire you plan for work in these three important areas, to give your learners the most effective experience of the language they are learning .

Tom Garside is Director of Language Point Teacher Education. Language Point delivers the internationally recognised RQF level 5 Trinity CertTESOL in a totally online mode of study , and the RQF level 6 Trinity College Certificate for Practising Teachers , a contextually-informed teacher development qualification with specific courses which focus on online language education or online methodology.

If you are interested to know more about these qualifications, or you want take your teaching to a new level with our teacher education courses, contact us or see our course dates and fees for details.

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