The document discusses identifying and selecting lesson aims. It explains that main aims state what learners will be able to do, subsidiary aims are linked skills needed to achieve the main aim, and personal aims focus on an aspect the teacher wants to improve. Effective aims are learner-centered, specify the context and skills, and allow measuring learner achievement. Procedures should have stage aims describing the purpose of each section.

1. Module 2
Identifying and selecting aims

2. Main aims
The overarching aim of the lesson. These tend to be worded very specifically, The
language learners will understand or be able to use, and the context they will
understand be able to use this language are usually stated. e.g., learners will be
able to discuss leisure plans for the coming week, using the present continuous
forms.
Subsidiary aims
Second in importance to the main aim. These tend to be worded less specifically
than main aims, and are linked to the main aims of the lesson. e.g.: to enable
learners to review/activate previously learnt lexis relating to leisure interests.
Personal aims
These focus on an aspect of teaching the teacher him or herself would like to
practise/experiment with/improve on, e.g : to provide learners with more
effective feedback

3. • Gist noun, global understanding, listen/read for gist, listen/read for global
understanding phrases
To read or listen to a text and understand the general meaning of it, without
paying attention to specific details – for example, reading a restaurant review
quickly to find out if the writer liked the restaurant or not.
• Detail noun, read for detail, listen for detail phrase
To listen to or read a text in order to understand most of what it says; e.g.
learners listening for detail to someone talking about a their last holiday
would have a task to listen for where the holiday was, when it was, how long
it was, what things the person did etc.

4. Look at the table. Can you work out what the difference is between main
aims, subsidiary aims and personal aims?
Main Aim Subsidiary Aims Personal Aims
To practice making polite
requests in the context of
making holiday
arrangements.
Example exponent:
Could you give me some
information about hotels?
Grammar: to revise modal
auxiliary verbs.
Functional exponents:
Could/would you?
Vocabulary: to consolidate
lexis for travel
accommodation.
Phonology: to focus on
intonation.
Speaking: to give
controlled oral practice.
To improve my
organisation of the
whiteboard.
To give clearer examples.

5. • Main Aim
Describes the most important thing we want the learners to achieve in a
lesson or sequence of learners.
We may want learners to understand and practise using new language; to
reinforce or consolidate (i.e to make stronger) the use of language they
already know by giving them further practice; or to revise language they have
recently learnt. If the main aim is to teach new language, the lesson plan
should also include an example of the target language we are planning to
teach.

6. • Subsidiary aims
Show the language or skills learners must be able to use well in order to
achieve the main aim of the lesson.
In the example table, the main aim is to practise making polite requests;
subsidiary aims describe the language and skill that learners will need to
make these requests.
Subsidiary aims usually contain language way of making sure that our lesson
plan focuses on what we want our learners to learn to the next, building up
out learners’ knowledge or skills in the best order.
In addition, to the main aim and subsidiary aims, a lesson plan will also
include a number of stage aims, describing the particular purpose of each
stage (or short section) of the lesson.

7. Procedure Stage aims
Show students pictures of various holiday
destinations. Ask them to talk about their
last holiday.
To contextualise the topic of holidays
Tell two short stories about holidays (one
true, one untrue). Invite students to ask
questions and then to guess which story is
true.
To give students a model for the speaking
activity.
Allow time for students to plan their own
story, which may be true or not.
To give students time to plan their
speaking.
In groups students tell their stories. The
rest of the group ask questions and guess
if the story is true or not.
To give students fluency practice.
To provide opportunities to practise the
sequence of tenses in a spoken narrative.

8. Discuss these learning aims. Are they main, subsidiary or personal?
• To use strategies for dealing with unknown words in reading comprehension
passages: deducing meaning from context, using knowledge of the world, using word
structure
• To improve handwriting on the board
• To revise language for describing people
• To use narrative tenses simple past and past continuous to create stories on the
theme of Hallowe’en
• To develop learners’ ability to express opinions
• To give learners a chance to speak without correcting them every time they make a
mistake
• To give instructions to learners in English
• To use imperatives to write instructions for making hot drinks
• To expand vocabulary on the topic of the environment

9. Why is setting lesson aims important?
They provide a purpose and direction for teaching and learning
They enable teachers to focus on what their learners need to achieve
They help teachers to adapt textbooks to their learners’ needs
They provide a framework for the lesson
They help teachers to select appropriate materials and activities
They help teachers to anticipate possible problems and build in solutions
They can serve as a reference point for teachers to measure learners’
achievements

10. Less Effective aim
Which is less effective?
• 1) Learners will be able to use the present perfect
simple to describe situations in their lives which
began in the past and are still continuing.
• 2) To teach the present perfect simple with time
adverbials.

11. Now think about the less effective aim. What
made it less effective?
1. It doesn’t say what learners will be able to do
2. It doesn’t give a context
3. It is vague and lacking in detail
4. It would be difficult to measure if learners has achieved the
aim.

12. How do you check lesson aims are effective? Write
your ideas in the box. Suggested checklist for writing
effective lesson aims
• Learning - centred, focus on what learners will be
able to do
• Say which situation, context etc, the language will be
used in
• State exactly which sub-skills will be developed, and
the context
• Ensure the aims are measurable, ie, how will
teachers know that learners can understand and
perform the target language/situations described in
the aims

13. Procedures and
Stage Aims
1.Students move around the
classroom to find partners with
newspaper headlines about the
same story.
To get students actively
involved/ To put students
into pairs.
2. In pairs, they exchange ideas
about what they find difficult in
reading authentic texts.
To raise awareness of
what the lesson aim will
be/ to encourage
personal involvement.
3. They say what they think their
story will be about from the
headlines and make note of the
main points they expect to read.
To use limited information
to predict possible
content

14. 4. Pairs read the two newspaper
stories and compare the two
newspaper stories.
5. They list the similarities and
differences between the two
newspaper stories
To read for gist/ to check
predictions
To read for more detailed
information
A.To practise deducing
meaning from context
6. They try to work put the
meanings of new words, using the
language that they know in the
text.

15. 7. They prepare and give a short
presentation on their articles to
the rest of the class.
8. Teacher asks students to
summarise what they have done.
To check students’
understanding of what
they have read and
activate language.
To review the whole
lesson/ to give the
teacher feedback