Comprehensible Input Lesson Plan Template

All 11 sheets

One lesson 3

Comprehensible input lesson plan on ruled lines The same six parts with room for sentences: ruled lines under Target structures, How I make them clear, The story or text, Comprehension checks, Questions to ask, and Quick write.
Comprehensible input lesson plan, six boxes around a story or text Language, Class and Date lines, then six ruled boxes with a prompt each: Target structures, How I make them clear, The story or text (the full width), Comprehension checks, Questions to ask, and Quick write.
Lesson in a table, with how students show they understand A Target structures line, then five rows, Make it clear, Tell or read, Check, Ask, and Write, with a column for what you say or show and a column for how students show they understand. A Next time line at the foot.

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A story, a picture, a reading 3

Class reading plan, a text students can follow Text, Class and Date lines, then ruled lines under Words students already know, New words and how I make them clear, Where I stop to check, Questions about the text, Questions about the students, and After reading: draw, retell or write.
Picture talk plan, 6 statements with three kinds of question For a lesson built on one picture: six rows with What I say about the picture, then a Yes or no question, a This or that question and a Who, what or where question for each. Picture and Date lines at the top.
Story plan, four parts with the phrases students hear For a story you tell aloud: rows Who and where, The problem, What they try, and How it ends, with What happens, Phrases students hear and Questions I will ask columns. A line at the foot for details the class adds.

Checking and writing 2

Quick write page for students A page to hand out: Name and Date lines, a full page of ruled lines under Retell the story in your own words, and a Number of words line at the foot.
True or false listening check, 10 statements Your own key for a listening check: ten numbered rows with Statement I will read aloud and a box to check under True or under False. Story or text and Date lines at the top.

A week, or a unit 2

Comprehensible input week, one set of structures across five days A sideways page with Monday to Friday across and four rows, Students hear, Students read, How I check, and Students write or say, under a Target structures line.
Unit of stories, 8 lessons Eight numbered rows with Target structures, Story, picture or text, and Check or quick write columns. Language, Unit theme and Dates lines at the top.

Filled-in sample 1

Sample: a first-year story lesson on wants, goes to and does not have, filled in Sample. The six boxes filled in for a made-up first-year class in any language, written in English: three phrases, a short story about a sandwich, four checks, four questions and a retelling.

How this list was compiled: Our own layout, made for this page on October 12, 2026. Every sheet is a plain form in English; no school district's, publisher's, course's or training body's form is copied. The headings were compared with Wikipedia's article Input hypothesis and with A Comprehensible Input Sequence for ESL, a 1989 guide for teachers held in ERIC, the online library of education research sponsored by the United States Department of Education, both read on October 12, 2026. The sample lesson is made up. Licence: own work

How it works

This comprehensible input lesson plan template is for a language class taught through listening and reading that students can follow. Pick a few phrases, a story or text that repeats them, and the questions that show who understood.

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Six boxes for one lesson

Start with the target structures, the few words or phrases students will hear again and again, and note beside them how you will make each one clear. The story or text gets the full width of the page. Under it go your comprehension checks, the questions to ask, and what students write at the end.

A picture talk, a class reading, a week

Starting from a picture? One sheet sets what you will say beside a yes or no question, a this or that question and a who, what or where question. Others plan a story in four parts, a reading with the places you stop to check, a true or false listening check, and a week on one set of structures.

Hand out the quick write page: a Name line, a Date line and a full page of ruled lines for retelling the story.
Planning further ahead? The unit sheet lists eight lessons with the structures, the story or text and the check for each.

Questions and answers

What is comprehensible input (CI)?

Language a student can understand. In the input hypothesis, a theory of how languages are learned, people progress when they understand language a little beyond their current level. The theory has its critics.

What is a comprehension check?

A quick question that shows whether students followed what they just heard or read. One published guide for teachers uses three kinds: yes or no questions, option questions (this or that) and question-word questions (who, what).

Is there a comprehensible input lesson plan example?

Yes. The sample is a made-up first-year lesson on three phrases: wants, goes to and does not have. In its story a boy wants a sandwich, has no bread, and goes to a friend and then to a bakery.

Does it work for Spanish, French, Latin or ESL?

Yes. Language is a blank line and every heading is in English, so the same sheets serve any language class. The words you teach are yours to write in.