Chapter 9: “The best laid plans of mice and men”: Designing Units and Lessons for the World Language Classroom

This chapter begins with a discussion of the purposes of instructional objectives in the planning process. As part of this discussion, it includes background information about writing instructional objectives, especially of the types commonly used in planning for world language classes. It also considers the uses of “understanding by design” and “backwards planning” for the world language educator. Next, it explores the role of the curriculum, and the spiral nature of the curriculum, in the planning process. It then provides an overview of the process of unit planning for different kinds of world language planning units (thematic units, grammatical units, etc.), as well as exploring different aspects of daily lesson planning and different formats that can be used in planning for world language classes. Included in this chapter is a description of the nature and advantages of the “spiral curriculum” in world language education. Last, the chapter includes a discussion of the nature and purposes of assessment in the world language classroom.