The joy of ordinary life

The main goals of this intermediate ESL lesson plan are for your students to:

• – participate in engaging B1 speaking activities and improve their English listening skills in interesting discussion topics about everyday life;
• – complete challenging English vocabulary exercises related to daily routines and contentment, using word-definition matching, “unscramble the sentence” activities, and gap-fill exercises;
• – use authentic materials such as videos and texts to explore the idea that an ordinary life can be a good life, and express their opinions about whether everyday routines are good or not. More confident students are also encouraged to ask their teacher what they think in order to compare and contrast their opinions.

In this B1-level ESL lesson plan, your intermediate students will complete vocabulary-boosting exercises, engage with authentic videos and texts, and practice expressing their opinions in English with some conversation practice related to daily routines and contentment. Students are encouraged to use new language gained from the lesson in addition to their existing knowledge in order to ask and answer questions in a realistic conversation with their teacher.

Warm-up:

Students start by talking about a selection of discussion topics related to daily routines with their teacher. This is to activate their existing knowledge and to show the teacher which areas the student is strongest in, and which areas they might need more support in throughout the lesson.

Video:

Students watch an authentic English language video called “Why an ordinary life can be a good life”, and then complete a gap-fill exercise based on what was covered. While watching the video, students are encouraged to note down any new English vocabulary that they hear, and to ask the teacher about it if needed. They should also think about how the video content relates to their own opinions – do they agree or disagree with it? This will be helpful in subsequent conversation practice and discussion activities.

Exercises:

Students complete English vocabulary and grammar activities such as word-definition matching, and “unscramble the sentence” exercises. When checking their answers, students are encouraged to ask questions if they are unsure of the meaning, or how to use certain expressions. They should also think about how they could use the expressions in order to talk about things from their own lives. This will provide them with more vocabulary to use in real-life English conversations.

English reading practice:

In this section, students read an authentic English language text about the benefits of an ordinary life, and then answer questions about it to confirm their understanding. As this is an authentic text, students may come across new words and expressions not specifically covered in the exercises. In that case, they are encouraged to ask the teacher how to use them.

Conversation practice:

Students unscramble a quote about an ordinary life, then explain whether they agree or disagree with the quote using new vocabulary from the lesson. Students are encouraged to give reasons and examples to support their opinions, and the teacher should ask short follow-up questions in order to increase the student’s speaking time. More confident students should also be encouraged to ask the teacher questions about their opinions in order to keep the conversation going. This will help the students to feel more confident when they are having real-life English conversations. During this section, the teacher focuses primarily on the student’s fluency.