I’ve recently been teaching some A1 adults as part of the Cert TESOL at TEFL Iberia in Barcelona. It’s been a while since I’ve taught really low levels and it’s been a great experience. I’ve made quite a few of my own materials for the class and I’ll try to upload them over the coming days and weeks. Let me know what you think.
This particular lesson plan was designed to help students practice using the present simple to talk about their daily routines using a loose TTT structure and then teaching from a short text. It was designed as a demo class for trainees during the first week of the course. I may have underestimated some of the timings of the tasks but students seemed to get a lot out of it.
This is a warmer/short conversation activity for use with lower-level students (A1-B1) to refresh past simple question formation. Download the handout below:
Unscramble the questions, and then ask them to your teacher:
summer your how holidays were?
did where go you?
there you did do what?
it did like you?
Ask and answer the questions in pairs.
Questions Words
Complete the questions with a question word:
Where What (x2) How (x2) Who
___________ was the weather like?
___________ did you stay?
___________ did you get there?
___________ did you go on holiday with?
___________ long did you go for?
___________ was the best thing you did there?
Answer Match
Match the questions (1-6) with the answers (a-f)
We went surfing, it was so much fun!
In a nice little hotel next to the beach.
We took a plane to the island and then we rented a car.
We went for 6 days.
It was lovely, it only rained once.
I went with my Mum, Dad and little brother.
Speaking
Ask the questions to your teacher, then to your partner.
Then write 2 new questions for your partner:
Where
Who
When
What
Why
How
Did
You
Verb in base form
Do
Eat
Buy
See
Etc.
There?
What
Was
The best thing
You
Verb in past simple
Ate?
Saw?
Bought?
Etc.
Key
Scrambled questions
How were your summer holidays?
Where did you go?
What did you do there?
Did you like it?
Question Words
What
Where
How
Who
How
What
Answer Match
E
B
C
F
D
A
Teacher’s Notes
Pronunciation
While students are performing the speaking task, be sure to help them with pronunciation of the questions, focusing specifically on weak forms and sentence stress:
Where did you go?
| weə dɪdjə ɡəʊ | – Connected speech and weak form “you”
What was the weather like?
| ˈwɒt wəz ðə ˈweðə ˈlaɪk | – weak forms of “was” and “the”. Sentence stress on “what” “weather” and “like”
Smartphones, photos
If students have photos of their holiday readily available (on a smartphone or tablet) let them show their partner while they describe their holiday.
This is a vocabulary lesson for pre-intermediate – intermediate students. Students will describe the area they live in and learn some prepositions of place.
Download the students’ hand out and teacher’s lesson plan below:
Write the two questions on the board and have students complete them in open class.
What area of the city ____ _____ live _____?
What street ___ ____ live ____?
What area of the city do you live in?
What street do you live on?
Students ask and answer the questions in pairs.
Reading Comprehension
Introduce me as a character using the picture below:
Tim is an English teacher who lives in Barcelona.
Students read the text and answer the questions. Then check in open class.
Read the text and look at the map. Then answer the questions (1-9)
I live in Raval on Carrer de la Cera. When I want to go out for dinner I have a lot of options. There is a Burger King opposite my house. If I want pizza, there is a pizza restaurant next to my house. There is an excellent tapas restaurant under my house, and if I feel like a kebab there are 3 kebab shops around the corner!
Kebabs, hamburgers and pizzas aren’t very healthy so I need to exercise. Fortunately, there are two sports centres close to my house. One problem is that the academy where I work is far from my house, but I can catch the bus there from the bus stop in front of Pia School.
What area of the city do I live in?
What street do I live on?
What is opposite my house?
What is next to my house?
What is under my house?
What is around the corner from my house?
What is close to my house?
What is the problem about where I live?
Where do I catch the bus to work?
Concept Checking
Use the positions of the students in the class or a pen and bottle to check students’ understanding of the prepositions. For example, hold the pen next to the bottle and ask “Where is the bottle?” elicit the prepositions from students. Sts do the same in pairs.
Memory gap-fill
Have this printed on the back of the handout, students flip the sheet over and try to remember the prepositions, they can refer to the map to help them, encourage them to work in pairs.
Can you remember the prepositions?
I live __ Raval __ Carrer de la Cera. When I want to go out for dinner I have a lot of options. There is a Burger King _______ my house. If I want pizza, there is a pizza restaurant _______ my house. There is an excellent tapas restaurant _______ my house, and if I feel like a kebab there are 3 kebab shops __________________!
Kebabs, hamburgers and pizzas aren’t very healthy so I need to exercise. Fortunately, there are two sports centres __________ my house. One problem is that the academy where I work is __________ my house, but I can catch the bus there from the bus stop ___________ Pia School.
Draw a map and describe your area
Using the map of the area around your school that you drew on the board earlier, elicit a description using the prepositions in open class, for example: There is a bakery opposite the school, there is a bus stop in front of the school. Draw in the features as the students describe them. Then tell students to draw a map of the area around their house on a piece of paper and describe it to their partner, help with vocab for shops etc, students then change partners and describe their area to someone new.
Follow up/Homework
Students write a paragraph describing their area for homework for the next day using as many of the prepositions as they can.
