"ESL Lesson Ideas"

Thankfully I:

A: Don't teach elementary school

and

B: Don't have to use these horrible videos in my classes.

(thanks to the Waygook Effect blog for posting these)

My favorite: (Awkward clapping!)

Thankfully, I have the freedom to create my own lessons instead of following the curriculum set by my school. At first, the teachers suggested I follow their books, but they were difficult to follow - as they go with a CD that I didn't have. I later learned that the Korean English teachers don't even lesson plan for their classes (the ones without me). They follow the book and CD's themselves. (poor kids!)

My classes are normally conversation based. I usually choose a theme for the week, or for a few weeks in most cases. I then work my lessons based around that central theme and use different techniques.(Note: I only teach each class once a week)

Examples: 

Geography
Week 1: Continents, Countries, Cities, Landmarks, Languages - basic intro to what they are.
Week 2: Worksheets - writing names in American-English based on flags, and visual cues
Week 3: Group Trivia Game - similar to Facebook's Geo Challenge.

Positive/Negative
Week 1: Good language (amazing, awesome, cool) vs Bad Language (terrible, horrible, stupid)
Week 2: Short video where students write a positive or negative review using good or bad language

(and here are some random ideas for you teachers reading this)


Scattergories : A group activity in which you create categories and give the students a letter to start with. Groups with the same answers cross them off, and team with the most points wins.
Example:
Letter: A
1. Something that is the color red: Apple
2. Something alive: Ant
3. A word with 3 letters: A r m



Boggle: Create your own in PPT of a Boggle board and have teams write as many connecting words as they can find. I give one point for one word. I give each puzzle a theme and have a long hidden word worth 3 extra points (example: Sport) and then they can find the hidden word: BASEBALL

Opposites: (use a similar technique as the positive/negative lesson)

Battleship: (Check out eatyourkimchi's materials here)

Guess Who: (Check out eatyourkimchi's materials here)

Simon Says: Teach body parts and have students write them on a worksheet of a body. Then use more advanced parts of the body for higher level classes - (torso, chest, shin)

Minimal Pairs: (words that sound similar - like "Copy" and "Coffee" - assign the words numbers and have students read a list to the class. Then have them guess which words are being said by writing down the numbers in the correct order). This gets the students speaking, plus works great with Korean students if you use sounds that are problematic (P/F, L/R's) - try: Rice, Lice, Rain, Lane, Pat, Fat, Pan, Fan...or this list I found online.

Bullcrap: Teach the slang word using the pictures of a bull and some smelly crap! (they'll find it funny!) Then teach them that it means to "catch someone lying to you". I then teach the card game and have the kids play a few rounds to get the hang of it. They love screaming out BULLCRAP! If it's one thing they'll learn all year, it's this!

Making lessons can be pretty easy once you're used to it. As long as you try to improve your lesson each class, and are organized and prepared - you'll be fine.