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Module 3 · 15 min read

Designing a Session

An unplanned lesson becomes a conversation. A good lesson is a designed structure with an opening, a rise and a close — and that structure is built differently one-to-one than in groups, online than in person.

  • Cambridge framework: Teaching, learning and assessment
  • Turkish MoNE competency area: Professional skills — planning teaching and learning
An educator works with wooden bridge models at different stages and planning cards.
Plan the session around what the learner will be able to do independently. The images in this module are illustrative scenes created with AI.

In this module

  • Write a measurable can-do objective for every session
  • Plan the full arc of a lesson and budget time honestly
  • Apply the design rules specific to online one-to-one teaching

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Watch first: a 8-minute overview

A short video on the module's main ideas. The text below then gives the details and examples.

8 min · narrated in TurkishOpen on YouTube

The video is narrated in Turkish; on YouTube you can turn on subtitles and choose Auto-translate → English. Its charts and minute-by-minute timings are illustrations, not measured data; the module text below is the reference. Time spent watching counts towards reading time.

Objectives: not 'I will teach', but 'they will be able to'

Most lesson plans are topic lists: “Present Perfect”, “motivation techniques”, “perspective drawing”. These are headings, not objectives. An objective is something the learner can observably do by the end.

  • Weak: “I’ll teach the Present Perfect.”
  • Strong: “By the end, the learner can describe three experiences from their own life in the Present Perfect, unaided and accurately.”

The difference is not cosmetic. The strong version tells you when the lesson is finished: if the learner cannot do it, the lesson is not over. The weak version has no completion test — the lesson ends when the clock does.

The shape we recommend for a forty-minute lesson. This is not a research finding but this programme’s advice, and the thing to notice is that the two longest slices are not the teacher explaining, they are the learner attempting. Change the proportions for your subject; keep the order.

You can read the opening section of the module below.

This module is open to registered educators

The first module is open to everyone. For the remaining eleven, the certification exam and the certificate, all you need is a free educator account.

  • All twelve modules and the certification exam
  • Your progress is saved — continue on any device
  • A certificate with a verifiable code, and the educator badge
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