1 Simple Lesson Planning Tool
That will save hundreds of hours of your time.
I have spent thousands of hours of lesson planning.
I’m not saying that lesson planning is a waste of time, but I’ve lost days of my life typing the same phrases and language chunks repeatedly.
You know what I mean — phrases such as ‘by the end of the lesson, the students will be better able to … blah’. That, and detailed descriptions of activities. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve typed the instructions for certain activities.
Especially as the school I worked for insisted that we have full, detailed lesson plans (in case cover was needed).
I tried having a document I used to copy and paste from, but it always seemed faster to keep typing rather than opening a file.
The solution? Use a text expander program to turbocharge your typing and reduce planning time.
Huh? What’s A text expander?
Another way you can do this is to use a text expander program. My choice (because it’s free and easy to use) is called Phrase Express.
How does it work?
After setting it up, you type a short word or phrase, press a shortcut key and as if by magic, your whole chunk of language appears before your very eyes.
Example: in every lesson, when I’m setting my aims, I type ‘Aims: by the end of the lesson the students will be better able to’.
Now, instead of typing that sentence, I type ‘aims1’ and press space, and voilà! My entire phrase appears at high speed.
Why use a text expander?
‘Cos it’ll save you a boatload of planning time. Honestly. The first time I had the idea and started using it, it blew my mind.
If you liked this article, you’ll love my books:
📝 Lesson Planning for Language Teachers - Plan better, faster, and stress-free (4.5⭐, 175 ratings).
👩🎓 Essential Classroom Management - Develop calm students and a classroom full of learning (4.5⭐, 33 ratings).
🏰 Storytelling for Language Teachers - Use the power of storytelling to transform your lessons (4.5⭐, 11 ratings).
🤖 ChatGPT for Language Teachers - A collection of AI prompts and techniques to work better, faster (4.5⭐, 10 ratings).
💭 Reflective Teaching Practice Journal - Improve your teaching in five minutes daily (4.5⭐, 16 ratings).