Lesson Frameworks

A complete handbook of lesson structures for English language teachers — from the four skills to teaching methods, every framework you need for any classroom.

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18 frameworks
Stage 1
Content hook and language activation
8–10 min
Stage 2
Content input — comprehensible and supported
12–15 min
Stage 3
Cognitive task — process, apply, and discuss
10–12 min
Stage 4
Report, review, and language consolidation
10–12 min
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is for teachers who teach a subject — science, history, geography, mathematics, civic education, health — through the medium of English. In many schools in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia, English is not only a subject on the timetable; it is the…
The principle that changes everything: language support makes content accessible, not easier
The most common error in content-through-English teaching is assuming that if the content is clear, the language will take care of itself. It will not. A teacher who delivers an excellent science lesson in English — clear demonstrations, logical sequence,…
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clil content-language-integrated-learning lesson-framework elt
Stage 1
The opening — a stimulus, not a lesson plan
5–8 min
Stage 2
The conversation — following, shaping, and noticing
15–20 min
Stage 3
Language moment — making emergent language visible
8–10 min
Stage 4
Production and consolidation
8–10 min
Dogme ELT — also called Teaching Unplugged — is not just a lesson type. It is an attitude towards teaching: a commitment to placing the students themselves at the centre of the lesson rather than any pre-planned material, textbook, or technology. Developed by Scott Thornbury and Luke Meddings in 2000,…
The three principles: conversation-driven, materials-light, emergent language
CONVERSATION-DRIVEN: The lesson content emerges from dialogue between students and teacher — not from a coursebook, a text, or a pre-set grammar syllabus. The teacher begins with a stimulus (a question, an object, a statement) and follows where the students…
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dogme teaching-unplugged lesson-framework elt
Stage 1
Context and meaning
5–8 min
Stage 2
Data presentation — notice the pattern
8–10 min
Stage 3
Rule formulation
8–10 min
Stage 4
Controlled practice
8–10 min
Stage 5
Freer production and reflection
10–12 min
Traditional grammar teaching presents the rule first, then gives examples, then asks students to practise applying it. This approach is efficient for the teacher and poor for learning. When students are handed a rule they had no part in forming, they receive it passively — they write it in their…
The principle that changes everything: meaning before form, data before rule
Two principles underpin every grammar discovery lesson. The first is meaning before form: students should understand what a structure communicates before they analyse how it is constructed. Presenting the passive voice before students understand the idea of focusing on the…
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grammar grammar-discovery lesson-framework elt
Stage 1
Context — the situation that needs the function
8–10 min
Stage 2
Exponents — the range of language for this function
10–12 min
Stage 3
Controlled practice — matching form to context
8–10 min
Stage 4
Role play — prepared
8–10 min
Stage 5
Free role play and feedback
8–10 min
A language function is the communicative purpose behind an utterance: why someone says something, not just what words they use. Apologising, suggesting, refusing, giving advice, complaining politely, expressing doubt, making a request — these are functions. They are not grammar points. The same function (suggesting) can be expressed through many…
The principle that changes everything: context, then exponents, then register
A functions lesson must begin with a genuine communicative situation — a context in which the function is naturally needed. Without context, the language items (the 'exponents') feel arbitrary: a list of ways to apologise, learned without understanding when and…
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functions functional-language lesson-framework elt
Stage 1
Pre-listening — prepare and predict
8–10 min
Stage 2
First listening — gist task
5–8 min
Stage 3
Second listening — detail task
8–10 min
Stage 4
Check and discuss
5 min
Stage 5
Respond and connect
8–10 min
Stage 6
Language focus
6–8 min
optional
Listening lessons are often abandoned in low-resource classrooms because teachers assume they require audio equipment, speakers, and a power supply. None of these are true. The teacher's voice is a fully functional audio source — and in some ways a better one than a recording. It can be repeated, slowed,…
The principle that changes everything: task before listening, every time
The most important rule in listening pedagogy is identical to the most important rule in reading pedagogy: set the task before students listen, not after. 'Listen to this and then I will ask you questions' produces passive, anxious, unfocused listening…
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listening lesson-framework elt skills
Stage 1
Prepare and anticipate
8–10 min
Stage 2
First encounter — read for feeling
8–10 min
Stage 3
Second encounter — close reading and noticing
10–12 min
Stage 4
Language focus — what the text teaches
8–10 min
Stage 5
Creative response — writing in the shadow of the text
10–12 min
Literary texts — short stories, poems, extracts from novels, folktales, song lyrics as poetry — offer something that no ELT coursebook text can provide: the experience of language used to its full expressive capacity, by a writer who cared deeply about every word. A well-chosen literary text creates genuine emotional…
The principle that changes everything: response before analysis
The most common mistake in literature teaching is going straight to analysis — what does this symbol mean, what is the theme, what technique is the writer using. Analysis without response produces students who can discuss literature mechanically without ever…
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literature stories poetry lesson-framework
Stage 1
Lead-in — context and need
5–7 min
Stage 2
Presentation — language in context
8–10 min
Stage 3
Controlled practice — accuracy focus
10–12 min
Stage 4
Semi-controlled practice — guided production
8–10 min
Stage 5
Free production — communication focus
10–12 min
Present-Practise-Produce is the framework that most English teachers around the world know, whether or not they know its name. It is the structure behind most coursebook lessons, most initial teacher training, and most classroom grammar teaching globally. It has been criticised heavily in academic ELT literature — but it remains…
The principle that changes everything: the production stage is not optional
The most common failure mode in PPP teaching is simple: the production stage gets cut. The presentation takes longer than planned, the practice takes longer than planned, and by the time students have completed two gap-fills, the bell is about…
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ppp present-practise-produce lesson-framework elt
Stage 1
Context and motivation
5–7 min
Stage 2
Listening discrimination
8–10 min
Stage 3
Focused explanation — form and articulation
5–7 min
Stage 4
Controlled drilling
8–10 min
Stage 5
Communicative practice
10–12 min
Stage 6
Noticing in the wild
5 min
optional
Pronunciation is the area where most teachers feel least confident — and most students receive least teaching. The result is that students may have excellent grammar and vocabulary but fail to communicate because they cannot be understood, or cannot understand others. Pronunciation teaching does not require specialist equipment, recordings, or…
The principle that changes everything: awareness before production
Students cannot produce sounds they cannot hear. The most common error in pronunciation teaching is asking students to repeat before they have learned to distinguish. A student who cannot yet hear the difference between /p/ and /b/ at the end…
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pronunciation lesson-framework elt skills
Stage 1
Activate and predict
8–10 min
Stage 2
First read — gist task
5–7 min
Stage 3
Second read — detail task
8–12 min
Stage 4
Check and compare
5 min
Stage 5
Respond and connect
10–12 min
Stage 6
Language focus
8–10 min
optional
Reading is not about the text. It is about the skill of reading. The text is a vehicle. A reading lesson teaches students to become better readers — to predict, to skim, to scan, to infer, to respond — using a particular text as the practice ground. A teacher who…
The principle that changes everything: task before text
The single most important habit in a reading lesson is setting the task before students read, not after. 'Read this and then I will ask you questions' produces passive, anxious reading. 'Before you read, your job is to find one…
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reading lesson-framework elt skills
Stage 1
No-notes retrieval warm-up
8–10 min
Stage 2
Identify the gaps
5–8 min
Stage 3
Targeted practice on gap areas
12–15 min
Stage 4
Peer teaching
8–10 min
Stage 5
Final retrieval check and forward planning
8–10 min
Most revision lessons are passive. The teacher goes through old content on the board; students watch, maybe take notes, and feel as though they have revised. Research on memory is unambiguous: passive re-exposure to material produces almost no durable learning. What produces durable learning is retrieval — the effort of…
The principle that changes everything: retrieval, not recognition
There is a crucial difference between recognition and retrieval. Recognition is seeing something and knowing you have encountered it before. Retrieval is producing something from memory — reconstructing it without a prompt. Only retrieval consolidates memory. This is why re-reading…
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revision review retrieval lesson-framework
Stage 1
Lead in and generate language
8–10 min
Stage 2
Controlled practice
8–10 min
Stage 3
Guided practice
10–12 min
Stage 4
Free production
10–12 min
Stage 5
Feedback on content, then on language
8–10 min
Most speaking lessons fail for the same reason: the teacher talks too much. The lesson opens, the teacher introduces the topic, the teacher gives an example, the teacher asks a question, one student answers, the teacher responds, another student answers. Forty minutes pass and each student has spoken for approximately…
The principle that changes everything: genuine communication, not performance
There is a crucial difference between a student who speaks because the teacher asked them to perform — and a student who speaks because they genuinely need to communicate something. Performance speaking ('Now, Maria, tell the class about your weekend')…
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speaking lesson-framework elt skills
Stage 1
Pre-task — introduce the topic and the task
8–10 min
Stage 2
Task — students complete the real-world activity
12–15 min
Stage 3
Planning and report — prepare to share the outcome
5–8 min
Stage 4
Report — groups share outcomes with the class
5–8 min
Stage 5
Language focus — address what emerged from the task
10–12 min
In most ELT approaches, language is introduced and then practised through a task. In Task-Based Learning, the sequence is reversed: the task comes first, and language arises from the need to complete it. Students engage in a real-world or real-world-like activity — planning an event, solving a problem, making a…
The principle that changes everything: meaning first, form later
Traditional language teaching asks students to learn a form and then use it in communication. TBL asks students to communicate first and then — having experienced what they needed and what they lacked — to attend to the forms that…
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task-based-learning tbl lesson-framework elt
Stage 1
Context and first test
10–12 min
Stage 2
Feedback on the first test
5 min
Stage 3
Teach — targeted, not comprehensive
10–12 min
Stage 4
Controlled practice
6–8 min
Stage 5
Second test
10–12 min
Most grammar lessons teach language that students already partly know. The teacher prepares a presentation on the present perfect, delivers it carefully, and discovers mid-lesson that half the class already uses it well — and the other half have a specific problem that the presentation did not address. Time is…
The principle that changes everything: diagnose before you teach
Every class of students is a mixed-ability class. Even students at the same nominal level have different individual gaps in their knowledge of any particular language point. A lesson that presents the same material to everyone addresses the needs of…
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test-teach-test ttt diagnostic lesson-framework
Stage 1
Encounter in context
8–10 min
Stage 2
Form and meaning focus
10–12 min
Stage 3
Controlled practice
8–10 min
Stage 4
Personalised production
8–10 min
Stage 5
Review and consolidate
8–10 min
Most vocabulary teaching treats learning as a single event: the teacher introduces the word, the student writes it down, the lesson moves on. Research consistently shows this is not how vocabulary learning works. A word becomes part of a student's active vocabulary only after multiple meaningful encounters — hearing it…
The principle that changes everything: teach words in context and in chunks
Words do not live alone. 'Significant' means more when students know that it collocates with 'improvement', 'difference', and 'role' — and that we say 'play a significant role', not 'do a significant role'. Teaching individual words in isolation produces students…
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vocabulary lesson-framework elt skills
Stage 1
Pre-writing — purpose, audience, ideas
10–12 min
Stage 2
Drafting — getting ideas onto paper
12–15 min
Stage 3
Responding — peer response on content
8–10 min
Stage 4
Revising — improving the content
6–8 min
Stage 5
Editing and language focus
6–8 min
Traditional writing teaching sets a title, students write for thirty minutes, the teacher marks the work and returns it with corrections. Students read the marks, put the paper away, and write the next piece with the same errors. Nothing changes. The process approach treats writing as a sequence of stages…
The principle that changes everything: separate the stages, separate the skills
Writing is not one skill — it is a cluster of different cognitive activities that work poorly when combined. Generating ideas, organising them, choosing language, managing grammar, and thinking about the reader are all different mental tasks. When students are…
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writing writing-process lesson-framework elt
Stage 1
Greeting routine
3–5 min
Stage 2
Introduce — story, song, or chant
8–10 min
Stage 3
Practise — games and activities
10–12 min
Stage 4
Produce — a simple creative task
8–10 min
Stage 5
Closing routine
3–5 min
The other frameworks in this series are written with adolescent and adult learners as the primary audience. Young learners — children aged approximately 6–12 — require a genuinely different approach. Their attention spans are shorter. Their need for physical movement is greater. They learn through play, story, song, and repetition…
The principle that changes everything: repetition with variety, not repetition for its own sake
Young children need to encounter language many times before it becomes theirs. This is not a deficiency — it is how language acquisition works at this age. But repetition without variety produces boredom and disengagement. The art of teaching young…
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young-learners children primary lesson-framework
Stage 1
Exam familiarisation
8–10 min
Stage 2
Timed practice — one question type
12–15 min
Stage 3
Model answer analysis
10–12 min
Stage 4
Strategy and technique focus
8–10 min
Stage 5
Self-assessment and target-setting
5–8 min
In many contexts where this site is used, national examinations are the single most consequential event in a student's academic life. They determine progression to the next level, university entrance, and in some cases employment. Teachers who do not prepare students specifically for the format, demands, and strategies of these…
The principle that changes everything: teach the exam, not just the content
The most common mistake in exam preparation is treating it as a content review — going through grammar points, vocabulary lists, and reading passages that happen to look like exam material. This is useful but insufficient. Students also need to…
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exam-preparation lesson-framework elt skills
Stage 1
Topic launch — speaking from experience
7–8 min
Stage 2
Reading or listening — input with tasks
10–12 min
Stage 3
Discussion — speaking from the text
8–10 min
Stage 4
Writing — from discussion to page
10–12 min
Stage 5
Sharing and language feedback
7–8 min
The other frameworks in this series treat the four skills — reading, writing, listening, speaking — as separate lesson types, each with its own framework. This is pedagogically useful: teachers need to understand what a dedicated reading lesson looks like, what a dedicated writing lesson looks like. But in reality,…
The principle that changes everything: each skill feeds the next
In a poorly integrated skills lesson, the skills are merely sequential — students read, then write, then speak, with no connection between the activities except the shared topic. In a well-integrated skills lesson, each skill genuinely feeds the next: the…
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integrated-skills lesson-framework elt reading