Supporting the lesson planning process of beginning languages teachers

Languages lesson planning is a complex process bringing together curriculum and pedagogical understanding, and encompassing competences from the Teachers’ Standards. It also needs to consider the development of the four communicative skills, the three ‘pillars’ (phonics, vocabulary, and grammar), as well as providing an ‘opening to other cultures’ and a ‘liberation from insularity’ as dictated by the 2013 National Curriculum in England. Experienced teachers operating in well-resourced departments often have internalised parts or all of this process, which busy and overwhelmed beginning teachers might see as evidence of no planning. Successful mentors offer explicit analysis of their planning practices, tailored to the development of their mentee, with opportunities for scaffolded application, gradually moving towards autonomy. This chapter explores ways to deconstruct planning, making the implicit explicit to support beginning teachers’ understanding of the discrete processes involved. This is a necessary step to allow beginning teachers to integrate those at a later stage, maximising pupils’ learning and enjoyment, in the short, medium and long term, whilst developing sustainable planning habits.