ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by presenting some general principles concerning planning instruction. It discusses the types of content teachers need to include in their teaching and present the principles for creating a unit of work and an individual lesson plan. There are two types of planning: preparation prior to teaching and planning in situ. Teachers make decisions on the spot to change their activities to ensure learning takes place, rather than keeping to their plan regardless of what happens in the classroom. In language teaching, the goal is to help learners become proficient users of the target language. This focus on use is rather different from teaching a body of knowledge such as mathematics or science. The paradox in language teaching is that the language is both the vehicle for teaching and the content. Many programs divide language into its four components—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—with separate classes for each mode.
