Companion guides for lesson planning: a planning template and the lesson plan pro forma

Jason Anderson’s proposal for an affordance-based approach to lesson planning raises important issues in teacher education. However, his arguments against the role of planned outcomes in favour of an affordance-based focus using learning opportunities as units of planning fail to acknowledge the complexities involved and teachers’ needs in mastering this essential task. By way of response, in this article I first echo the legitimate concerns raised in Anderson’s paper about lesson planning, then follow with a critical analysis of three fundamental issues of curriculum planning which reflect fallacies in his core argument. Then, based on a holistic perspective, I propose scaffolding lesson planning in teacher training, using the companion guides of a planning template and the lesson plan pro forma. Practical suggestions are also made for a three-level planning model for EFL/ESL practice with the support of a generic lesson plan incorporating examples of reasoning and ways of representing the decisions made during the plan writing process. Copyright © 2016 The Author.