Start by listing what you do not know
Student teachers preparing for a Bali volunteer teaching week usually receive a general picture before departure: the type of school or community space, an approximate age band, and the subject focus, which is often conversational English. What you rarely know in advance is the exact number of children, how mixed the ages will be, how much English they already use, what the room looks like, and whether there will be a board, power, or shade. A good first lesson plan starts by admitting those unknowns on paper.
Write a short list headed “I do not know yet.” Put the room, the group size, the level, and the timing on it. Next to each item, write what you will do if it turns out one way or the other. This list is not pessimism. It is the difference between a plan that bends and a plan that breaks in the first ten minutes.
Choose one aim you can reach in any room
A first lesson should have one aim that survives almost any classroom. Examples that travel well: learners can greet and introduce themselves with name and age; learners can name and point to five classroom objects; learners can ask and answer one simple question such as “What is your favourite …?” Avoid aims that depend on worksheets, projectors, or reading ability you have not confirmed.
Keep the aim small enough that you can check it. At the end of the lesson you should be able to say which children could do the target sentence on their own and which needed help. That small check is more useful to the next volunteer and to the host teacher than a lesson that covered a lot but cannot say what was learned.
Bring activities, not equipment
Plan activities that need little more than voices, hands, and a few objects you can carry. Call-and-response, simple songs with gestures, picture cards, a soft ball for name games, and pointing games work in a classroom, on a veranda, or under a tree. Pack materials that are light, durable, and easy to leave behind if the host wants them, and avoid anything that needs charging or printing on site.
Plan each activity in two sizes: a short version for a small, quick group and a longer version with repetition for a larger or younger group. Write both on a single index card so you can switch without searching through notes.
Let the host teacher open the lesson
In most placements a local teacher, coordinator, or community member knows the children and the routines. Ask before the week how they would like the first session to start, and on the day, let them open it. A short introduction from a trusted adult settles the room faster than any icebreaker you can design. It also signals that you are a visitor supporting their work, not a replacement for it.
Agree in advance on simple signals: how the host will tell you to slow down, to stop, or to hand back the group. Ask what words or gestures are polite in that setting, and what to avoid. Cultural preparation is not a separate module from lesson planning; it is part of the first five minutes.
A first-lesson shape that works
A forty-five minute session can follow a simple shape. Five minutes for the host introduction and your own name. Ten minutes for a warm-up name game that gets everyone saying something. Fifteen minutes for the core target language, modelled, repeated in chorus, then practised in pairs or small groups. Ten minutes for a game that uses the target language, such as passing a ball and asking the question. Five minutes to close with a song or a goodbye routine you will repeat every day.
Repeating the same opening and closing routine across the week matters more than it looks. It gives children something predictable, reduces the time you spend on instructions, and lets you see progress from day to day.
Write a backup plan before you need it
Write down three backups on the same card as your plan. If the group is much younger than expected, drop to naming and pointing games. If the group already speaks more English than expected, move to questions and short dialogues. If the room is noisy or outdoors, switch to whole-group call-and-response and movement. Deciding these in advance means you can change course calmly instead of improvising under pressure in front of thirty children.
After the lesson: a five-line note
Right after the session, write five lines: who taught, how many learners attended, what the aim was, what most learners could do by the end, and one thing to change tomorrow. Share it with your team and, where appropriate, with the host. Over a week these notes become a simple record that supports your reflection and your journey portfolio without exaggerating what a short stay can achieve.
Do not photograph or post children without the school’s and families’ agreed permission, and do not describe a week of lessons as lasting change in a community. Honest notes are the most useful thing you can leave behind.
Plan with your teaching partner
Most volunteer teaching teams work in pairs or small groups. Decide before the week who leads each part of the first lesson and who supports. The supporting volunteer is not idle: they model answers, help children who are shy or lost, watch the time, and notice who has not spoken yet. Swap roles on the second day so both of you practise leading. Write the split on the same card as the plan, so that a last-minute change of room or group does not also become a change of roles.
Where to go next
Read the lesson briefing for student teachers for team roles, the guide to cultural preparation for Bali before you travel, and the day-by-day rhythm of a Bali volunteer teaching week to see where your first lesson sits in the schedule.