In my view, Lesson Planning is vital for teachers for the success of the teaching and learning process. It will help teachers to resolve problems and difficulties, to provide a structure for a lesson, to provide a ‘map’ for teacher to follow and a record of what has been taught (Richards 1998). Thus, the class can run more smoothly and problems can be anticipated before they happen in class. For me, I need to make a lesson plan because I have to prepare and learn/review the material before teaching (although I have been teaching for almost 14 years, I still do that because the same content can be delivered using different strategies, depending on my students’ condition) so as to make me more confident in performing my teaching. If I am confident, I can maintain my students’ interest and attention to the Unit we discuss for the meeting. My preparation is usually for the ice-breaking activity, the language focus, and exercise practice for class activity and home assignment (topics are already plotted in the syllabus, so I can focus on the activity for the day: reading, writing, or speaking). I always prepare plan B in case something happen; for example, I prepare hand-out exercise to be written on WB or copied elsewhere if the electricity went out, while we are supposed to use the language lab , tape recorder, or LCD projector. With lesson plan, I can evaluate my teaching (some improvement or changes I should make for the next semester), and think of what other activities that are fun as well as meaningful for students in the next meeting.
Talking about classroom management, it can not be separated from motivating students, managing constraints, and managing teacher’s role (Harmer, 2004), and I am in full favor of that statement. English teachers are to deliver language skills, which needs application, not merely memorization. Therefore, teaching English needs teacher’s management skills to handle the classroom well in order to make the learning successful. In my experience, I motivate my students by explaining them the benefits to them if they can master English skills, especially in their workplace and career development in the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia (Depkeu RI). In our Ministry, chances to gain scholarship for studying abroad and involved in international diplomacy are widely open. Moreover, those who succeed in our bureaucracy are mostly fluent English speakers, either graduated from abroad universities or had taken overseas courses very often. Also, I tell my students to give them score of A if they actively participate in class activities, do all assignments, and manage the mid/final exam successfully. Since my students are adult learners, this works well to motivate them to be active in the learning process.