All of the lesson plans and resources presented here have been used in actual ESL classrooms. They are designed to be easily adaptable for students of all ages and skills levels. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to contact us.
Top 10 ways to use the verb "to get" - "to get" is one of the most difficult verbs in the English language, becuase it has so many different meanings. This powerpoint expalains the 10 most common ways to use it.
Teach proper English pronunciation - This site explains the phonetics of English speaking, with videos, illustrations and step by step instructions.
This site works well in classes where you can project the images onto a large screen and hear the sound clips on a sound system.
How to pronounce R and L - Many students have trouble pronouncing, and telling the difference between R and L. This powerpoint presentation explans the difference between these two sounds.
Art Projects
NEW - WORD ART - This is an awesome presentation with examples of word art. After you show this presentation, have the students make their own piece of art using English words. They love it!
This is a fun activity that makes students think, and helps them practice their creative writing skills.
First, show this Kiwi Video.
Then, use this worksheet to help them start writing.
Make a movie poster - Have the students make a poster
advertising their favorite movie. Give prizes for the best poster, and display them around the classroom.
Make Headline Poetry using English magazine and newspaper clippings. Save up as many English newspapers and magazines as you can. Then, have the students look through them, and cut and paste words onto a blank sheet of paper to form short poems or stories. You can give them a theme, or let them be creative on their own. You can also require that they use a certain number of small pictures, or a certain number of words.
Drama
Use The Three Little Pigs to teach ESL to students of all ages. Bring props, or have the students create their own. Have the students work on the play in groups, and give a prize to the group that puts on the best performance.
Little Red Riding Hood is another great play to use. Edit the play according to your students level or group size.
Reading Comprehension - This quiz / test style worksheet is for more advanced students, to check for reading comprehension. After completing each section, you can talk about the topics presented.
This passport worksheet works great to practice essential traveling vocabulary. Roleplay going through customs, going through security, and boarding an airplane.
NEW - How to give directions worksheet and powerpoint - This is a slighlty more advanced version of "How to give directions". The powerpoint works well if you want to give an initial explanation.
Self Introduction Worksheet - Use this worksheet to help students practice introducing themselves.
Each student can fill out the sheet and introduce him or herself, or the sheets can be exchanged and students can introduce each other. This activity is especially
meaningful at the beginning of a new year or semester. The sheet can be modified to fit the level of your students.
Games and Activities
NEW - How to play Ultimate Frisbee - Students love to be active. I taught them how to play one of my favorite games, Ultimate Frisbee. You can incorporate a lot of sports vocabulary as you teach it. All you really need is a frisbee and a place to play. It's a lot of fun. I used it as a kind of reward, saying something like, "If you guys are good this week, then on Friday I'll take you outside to play frisbee..."
NEW - The Price is Right - This is a powerpoint game based on the gameshow, The Price is Right. To play the game, I gave each group of three a small sheet of plastic (kind of like a small dry-erase board) and a dry erase marker. A thick marker and a pad of paper would also work. Then the students had to guess the price of the item shown on the screen, write it on their dry erase board (or pad of paper) and hold it up high. The closest guess under the actual retail price got one point. Then, about half way through, we went to round 2, and each correct guess was worth 5 points.
The prices are all in Korean Won, but they can easily be modified to fit your class. My students loved this game.
Scrabble-type letter game - Students of all ages and skill levels love to play this game. You can adapt it any way you like. VARIATION 1: Give each student a sheet and have them cut out the letters. Then in small groups, have them make as many words as they can. A timer or stop
watch makes it more fun and competitive. When the timer rings, whoever has the most points is the winner. VARIATION 2 (for more advanced learners and faster play): Place all the letters face down in the middle of the table.
Each player takes 7 letters from the center, and begins to make their own puzzle. When a player gets stuck, he or she says, "take one". Everyone must take another letter from the center.
The game continues until the letters in the center are gone, and someone yells "finished". The player with the most points is the winner.
The Best Vocabulary Game Ever - This is by far one of the most popular activities I've done in class...
For this game you need you need a deck of regular playing cards, and at least 2 players. More players makes it more interesting, although 10 is probably about the maximum number of players.
First, you choose a topic, like plants, animals, cars, items of clothing... whatever.
Second, everyone chooses a name based on the topic. If the topic is animals, then one person is a lion,
one person is a bird, a cat, a dog etc.
Deal out all the cards so everyone so everyone has the same number. Keep the cards
face down and don't look at them.
Then, one at a time around the circle, each person lays down one card at a time in front of them, face up.
When two people end up with the same card (for example, two 7's or two kings or whatever) then whoever says the other person's
topic-name first gets to take that persons pile of face-up cards and put them in their hand. Players are eliminated when they run out of cards.
The game ends when one person ends up with all the cards.
This is a great game because if forces students to remember vocabulary words from whatever topic is chosen.
It's very entertaining and fast moving. One class, we played in a group of tarted with 10 players, it took about 45 minutes to finish,
and they were glued to the game the entire time. They also remembered all the words by the end. It works awesome. Try it out!
It was recomended to me by one of my Korean friends, who said that he used it as a textbook in one of his English conversation classes. I have used it my classes with great success. It's easy to understand, and full of good information about Korea. It works best in conversation classes, where you can read a few pages, and then discuss the topics. It was originally written in Korean, and then translated into English, but the translation is excellent, and very suitable for an ESL classroom. Most parts are suitable for all ages, but it would probably work best for older learners, who will understand more of the background and history behind the topics. All of the major bookstores in Korea have it, as well as Amazon.
