Several excellent publications exist on the approach of using the backwards design model for lesson planning. Teachers in school across the United States are being taught this through education courses and profesional development. Why is this concept rarely taken into consideration for lesson planning of esl students?

Good teaching is good teaching, no matter what the subject. ESL teachers should be using the backwards design model for their own lesson planning. The basic model is a series of questions:

1. ESL teachers should first ask: What do I want my esl students to be able to DO when the lesson is complete. Example: Students should know the primary and secondary colors and how to speak and write them. The lesson will center around this one performance.

2. ESL teachers should then pose essential questions that students must understand in order to meet the above goal. Going back to the example: What are the primary colors? What are the secondary colors? Can I use each in an example, such as fire trucks are red, etc... These questions are small learning goals that lead to our first expected outcome.

3. Plan learning that is not just activity-based in order to understand those essential questions. Make sure these activities are strictly focused on the learning goal itself. Avoid adding in "fun" activities that you may be familiar with but do not help achieve the learning goal.

If we follow this process, teachers get out of the habit of finding activities, then delivering instruction without a central goal or standard to be met. Teachers focus on the outcome itself and this puts focus on the student achievement. If the learning stays on target, students will meet our standard and/or learning goal.

ESL teachers can find more information on the backwards desgin process via publications available at http://eslbooks.theeslteacher.net. More references are available at the ESL Teacher Community, http://www.theeslteacher.net