The space race

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – encourage students to analyze and discuss major events of the Space Race while learning vocabulary related to space exploration and scientific achievements;

• – improve students’ grammar and vocabulary skills by completing sentences with adjectives, using IN or BY correctly, and using idioms to paraphrase;

• – have students identify key information from a video titled “Who Won the Space Race?”

In this Intermediate ESL lesson plan, students analyze and discuss key events of the Space Race while boosting their vocabulary with key words related to space exploration and scientific achievements.

Warm-up: 

Students try coming up with the English names for planets that they know.

Video: 

Students identify key information in a video titled “Who won the space race?” 

Exercises: 

Students use the correct adjectives to complete some gap-fill activities 

In the second exercise, students decide whether they should use “in” or “by” to complete some example sentences. 

In the final exercise, they practice using an idiom in context.

Reading: 

Students read a short text about the space race, then check their understanding by completing some comprehension questions.

Discussion: 

Students practice expressing themselves using the target language from the lesson to discuss some thought-provoking questions.