When a 'Plan B' is Necessary: A Vignette

A fifth grade of 34 students are arranged in rows of 7 each in an eighty-minute English lesson. The teacher, Mrs. Arguello, elicits responses from the children about their own families in order to introduce the verb ‘have got’. Once she is able to obtain some replies, she displays and sticks a poster of a large family tree on the blackboard. Mrs. Arguello points at the pictures and asks students “Who has got a sister? Who has got a brother?”. Many of the students raise their hands and answer.  After that, the teacher presents the new grammatical structure and explains it to the students without any noticeable intricacy. Immediately after, the teacher writes, as usual, the date, the title ‘I have got a brother’, and the rules on the board and gives the group some minutes to write on their folders. She takes advantage of the time to look for the materials in her bag. Mrs. Arguello soon realises that she does not have the copies because she forgot them at home. However, she discovers that she has the original version of the activities in her lesson plan, so she decides to leave the classroom and to make copies while her students are busily working. Finally, Mrs. Arguello returns with the printed activities and continues delivering the class. Fortunately, she could solve this unexpected situation. Some eventualities may arise during a lesson; therefore, the key is to be prepared with some extra copies or ideas to revert unforeseen events.