New to teaching? Lesson planning can be a bit overwhelming to begin with. To make life easier, I have compiled a list of 10+ free lesson plan templates for you to use in the design of your online English lessons, with Australasian-specific planning resources.
Why lesson plan templates with an Australian focus?
One of the biggest challenges for new teachers is planning lessons. Some even wonder why you should even create a lesson plan for conversational and informal classes. A lesson plan doesn’t have to be complicated or have each minute of the class written down.
What it does is provide you with a framework to follow and a goal for the time that you have with the student/s. It also helps tie your classes into bigger goals that will be achieved over a longer period of time, not just what can be accomplished in a single lesson.
Do you want to introduce yourself and your classes with some Australian-themed content? Perhaps you just want things using UK English spelling and grammar? We’ve got you covered and you should find more than enough resources to get you going and planning great lessons – so “get crackin’ mate”.
Blank online English teacher (TESOL) lesson plan templates for free.
- Teacher Planet offers a free “Basic ESL Lesson Plan Template” in a easily customised Google Doc here. “
- Teachers Pay Teachers have hundreds of thousands of teacher-created materials, including free “ESL Lesson Plan Templates” here. Don’t be afraid to pay for some materials as well, it helps support other teachers.
- FluentU have an interesting blog post about “How to Make the Best ESL Lesson Plans with a presentation, practice and production (PPP) Template”, with downloadable .pdf.
- Canva offer some really attractive lesson plan templates, for the visual and aesthetically-minded.
- Venngage have some amazing lesson plans (with examples and tips for teaching).
Australian-specific lesson planning resources:
There are some great Australian resources as well. Not just lesson plan templates, all of these sites also have great resources for English teachers.
- TESOL Australia provide some lesson plans.
- Aussie Educator have great general resources, including video and associations.
- Australasian Training Academy have free lesson plans including subjects such as “Food” and “Phrasal verbs”.
- Australian Curriculum Lessons offer lesson plans such as “Around Australia”.
- ATESOL ACT offer a list of Australian only resources such as books and videos.
Videos on lesson planning basics:
Designing your own lesson plan "top tips":
- Imagine the end point and break down the time between now and then. How will your students achieve their goals?
- You don’t need to make your lesson plan a novel. A basic structure is all that is needed.
- Four or five dot points can form a solid basis for a lesson plan. Consider the language goal/s and the methodology.
- Draw, journal or use many different colours to create a ‘mind map’ for inspiration, then search the idea and borrow heavily from other prepared lessons (by others).
- Brainstorm topics based on free or low cost lesson plans from experienced teachers. Once you know the basics, from learning from others, you’ll be ready to design your own.
Why not ask our teaching Facebook community for lesson plan templates and ideas?
Finally, don’t worry if your lesson plans are simple in the beginning. The more you teach, the better you’ll get at planning and thinking about how to structure your classes. Use the above resources to give you a boost, then experiment and adjust those plans until you’re happy. If something in your class works well and your students respond positively, then you know you’re “on to a winner’.
Good luck and happy teaching!
Kate (GradCertEd TESOL) studied a TESOL certificate in 2010 and has been teaching English ever since. Tutoring ‘freelance’ for many years before starting an independent teaching business, she began Teach English Online to support Australians and New Zealanders to do the same. Just starting out, want to apply to one of the 300+ global companies or build your own small independent teaching business? She can help.
Good post , thank you for sharing with us.lesson plans