Lesson Plans by Level

Advanced

• New Vocabulary Done Right

  I hate teaching students new words. Finally, I developed a model that I really like that brings together all the theories of how students should be introduced and start to practice words. It also involves all four skills. This lesson plan explains the model and provides example materials, but presumably you would adapt them to your own classroom.

• Writing Good TOEFL Paragraphs Quickly

  A great method from the Michigan Guide for writing good body paragraphs quickly and easily with 6 simple questions.

• Inversion With the Conditional
• Find Someone Who, Greet Them As If

  A new twist on “Find Someone Who”

• First Impressions

  Can’t remember how I came across the article in the first place, but as soon as I saw that a newspaper had photographed ordinary people and then asked other people what their impressions of the photographs were, I knew I had a lesson plan here. It’s a great way to practice talking about people.

• Happiness

  This discussion lesson plan explores the idea of happiness by having students evaluate their own happiness, think about the happiness level of their nation as a whole and look at data on the world’s happiest countries. Then students can talk about what they think about measuring happiness. A lot of extension ideas here.

• Mystery Unit

  Whodunit, a unit on mysteries comprising a reading, a bit of practice with modal verbs of speculation (as they seem to be called these days) and a writing assignment. Lots of discussion should be easy to add to this unit.

• Don't Give Up

  A lesson plan that I adapted from somewhere, but I can’t remember where exactly. This is an idea that can be adapted to any lesson on a song that has a music video. Students watch the music video first, without sound, and try to figure out what the song is about. Then they listen to the song together with the music. Finally, they get a chance to look at the lyrics. Great fun as their opinion on the song changes each time.

• The Environment and Slow Cities

  A discussion lesson plan on ecology, environmental protection and the slow city (Cittaslow) movement.

• Bad Grammar

  A lesson plan that touches on bad grammar and slang used in pop music. Students will learn common terms like, “ain’t”, “got no”, and “we be”. They then discuss why pop songs often have bad grammar and spelling and also whether these terms are really all that bad.

• Yes Virginia There is a Santa Claus

  A reading lesson plan on the famous editorial about the existence of Santa Claus, “Yes, Virgina, There is a Santa Claus”.

• Fillers

  A few of my favorite filler activities that I always have on hand to kill the last few minutes of class, transition between activities or warm students up at the beginning of a lesson.

• Desert Island Discs

  A simple party game that works as a warm-up, cool-down or to give students some easy practice expressing preferences.

• IELTS Task 1: Example Essay Step by Step

  Step by step how to write the Task 1 essay for the IELTS Writing Section. Skills described include: writing a good introduction, conclusion, using transition words, summing up data.

• Land Called Paradise

  This is a lesson based on a movie by Muslim American filmmaker Lena Khan. She took a song by Muslim-American singer and songwriter Kareem Salama and made a sort of unofficial music video by asking Muslims what messages they wanted to send to the US about Islam. It’s a really funny and touching short film that should generate a lot of discussion as well as providing comprehension activities in listening and watching movies. Students can also make a project of doing a similar film to spread their message to the world.

Beginner

• New Vocabulary Done Right

  I hate teaching students new words. Finally, I developed a model that I really like that brings together all the theories of how students should be introduced and start to practice words. It also involves all four skills. This lesson plan explains the model and provides example materials, but presumably you would adapt them to your own classroom.

• Ordering at a Restaurant for Beginners
• Find Someone Who, Greet Them As If

  A new twist on “Find Someone Who”

• First Impressions

  Can’t remember how I came across the article in the first place, but as soon as I saw that a newspaper had photographed ordinary people and then asked other people what their impressions of the photographs were, I knew I had a lesson plan here. It’s a great way to practice talking about people.

• Randy and the Nobel Prize

  Randy makes an important scientific discovery and writes to the Nobel Prize Committee. But he doesn’t get an answer!

• What a Wonderful World

  A lesson plan for beginners on the classic song by Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World” that promotes learner autonomy by breaking students into groups and giving each group a different assignment. The tasks focus on vocabulary, writing, grammar and comprehension.

• Where is It? Prepositions of Place

  My original giving directions lesson plan is focused more on practice in talking about where things are in a town or city and describing how to get there. This lesson is more about teaching and controlled practice. It focuses on basic prepositions of location such as “next to”, “in front of”, “behind”, “near”, “far from”, as well as “on”, “in”, and “at”

• Body Language

  This is an activity I came up with to teach American body language to students. It has a cross-cultural aspect to it as students talk about body language in their own cultures.

• Who Knew?

  A listening lesson plan on regular verbs in the Past Simple using Pink’s song, “Who Knew”. It also gets into some comprehension questions and a bit about love and relationships.

• Future Tenses and New Year's Resolutions

  This is just an idea I had to use New Year’s resolutions to teach the future tense. That in and of itself is probably nothing new. However one major issue that many students have with talking about the future in English is distinguishing between when we use “going to do”, when we use “will do” and when we use present continuous, “I am doing”. So here’s a way to help them understand the difference.

• Christmas

  A Christmas lesson plan that discusses the American Santa Claus and his counterparts in other parts of the world. Since I teach in the post-Soviet Union, where Ded Moroz, or Grandfather Frost, brings presents on New Year’s Day and has some other differences, I thought a comparison of Kazakhstan’s holiday traditions and American traditions was a good introduction to Christmas. But of course, you could compare American Santa Claus and Sinterklass or other variations in your students’ cultures.

• Fillers

  A few of my favorite filler activities that I always have on hand to kill the last few minutes of class, transition between activities or warm students up at the beginning of a lesson.

• Trick or Treat Halloween Resources

  Two songs that introduce the idea of trick or treating and set the mood for Halloween. The Trick or Treat rap is a good activity aimed at beginners and includes a lyric sheet and some activities. The Halloween Trick or Treat Rap Video I found on YouTube isn’t much harder to understand though it is a bit adult in character.

• This is Halloween

  “This is Halloween” is the opening song from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. It makes a great introduction to Halloween, especially setting the mood. Note that this song is not to be confused with the Marliyn Manson song of the same name!

• Desert Island Discs

  A simple party game that works as a warm-up, cool-down or to give students some easy practice expressing preferences.

Intermediate

• New Vocabulary Done Right

  I hate teaching students new words. Finally, I developed a model that I really like that brings together all the theories of how students should be introduced and start to practice words. It also involves all four skills. This lesson plan explains the model and provides example materials, but presumably you would adapt them to your own classroom.

• Culture Shock
• Reading Strategies: Questions
• Writing Good TOEFL Paragraphs Quickly

  A great method from the Michigan Guide for writing good body paragraphs quickly and easily with 6 simple questions.

• Find Someone Who, Greet Them As If

  A new twist on “Find Someone Who”

• First Impressions

  Can’t remember how I came across the article in the first place, but as soon as I saw that a newspaper had photographed ordinary people and then asked other people what their impressions of the photographs were, I knew I had a lesson plan here. It’s a great way to practice talking about people.

• Describing Change

  Worksheet to teach verbs that describe changes in numbers, graphs and statistics as well as prepositions. Designed for the IELTS Writing section, Task 1.

• Mystery Unit

  Whodunit, a unit on mysteries comprising a reading, a bit of practice with modal verbs of speculation (as they seem to be called these days) and a writing assignment. Lots of discussion should be easy to add to this unit.

• Don't Give Up

  A lesson plan that I adapted from somewhere, but I can’t remember where exactly. This is an idea that can be adapted to any lesson on a song that has a music video. Students watch the music video first, without sound, and try to figure out what the song is about. Then they listen to the song together with the music. Finally, they get a chance to look at the lyrics. Great fun as their opinion on the song changes each time.

• Body Language

  This is an activity I came up with to teach American body language to students. It has a cross-cultural aspect to it as students talk about body language in their own cultures.

• The Environment and Slow Cities

  A discussion lesson plan on ecology, environmental protection and the slow city (Cittaslow) movement.

• Who Knew?

  A listening lesson plan on regular verbs in the Past Simple using Pink’s song, “Who Knew”. It also gets into some comprehension questions and a bit about love and relationships.

• Bad Grammar

  A lesson plan that touches on bad grammar and slang used in pop music. Students will learn common terms like, “ain’t”, “got no”, and “we be”. They then discuss why pop songs often have bad grammar and spelling and also whether these terms are really all that bad.

• Future Tenses and New Year's Resolutions

  This is just an idea I had to use New Year’s resolutions to teach the future tense. That in and of itself is probably nothing new. However one major issue that many students have with talking about the future in English is distinguishing between when we use “going to do”, when we use “will do” and when we use present continuous, “I am doing”. So here’s a way to help them understand the difference.

• Yes Virginia There is a Santa Claus

  A reading lesson plan on the famous editorial about the existence of Santa Claus, “Yes, Virgina, There is a Santa Claus”.

Mixed

• New Vocabulary Done Right

  I hate teaching students new words. Finally, I developed a model that I really like that brings together all the theories of how students should be introduced and start to practice words. It also involves all four skills. This lesson plan explains the model and provides example materials, but presumably you would adapt them to your own classroom.

• Culture Shock
• Writing Good TOEFL Paragraphs Quickly

  A great method from the Michigan Guide for writing good body paragraphs quickly and easily with 6 simple questions.

• The Olympics: A Discussion Lesson Plan

  6 April 1896 was the opening of the first Modern Olympic Games. This lesson plan asks students about the Olympics, sports and athletes.

• Ireland