Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities
Links
Karin's ESL PartyLand
Lesson
Plans and Classroom Activities
Links
Business | Conversation | General | Film and Video | The Internet | Integrated Skills | Music | The News and Current Events | Reading | Vocabulary | Writing
Current Business News for EFL and ESL Learners--Weekly business stories from the Bangkok Post. "Each column consists of background and commentary followed by an actual story from the Bangkok Post, accompanied by explanations of key vocabulary terms."
International House Barcelona - Teacher Resources--A small collection of business worksheets, most with a grammar focus.
Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom--A project of the Internet TESL Journal, conversation questions on a variety of topics.
Brown - Talking Cards (I-TESL-J)--Beginning lesson using an ordinary deck of playing cards to stimulate conversation.
Counihan - Headline Completion (I-TESL-J)--Use newspaper headlines in low intermediate and above classes.
Internet TESL Journal--One of our favorite Internet resources. Don't miss the Highlights of Previous Issues; there are hundreds of lesson ideas here.
The ESL/EFL Online Resource Center--Loads of classroom activities and games from Teachers for Christ International, nicely organized by skill. Don't worry--there's no apparent religious slant; it's just gosh darn good stuff.
John Korber: One World One People--Like me, John grew up in Queens, so of course I loved this page. Even if you're not a native New Yorker, you'll find some great ESL lessons, games, and resources here.
SARAH AND JOHN'S TEFL PITSTOP--These classroom games and activities are sure to add some excitement to your ESL class. There's a nice list of 177 trivia questions, a fun game called How Much Will You Bet, and some lessons contributed by other teachers.
EnglishCLUB.net Teachers' Room--TEFL/TESL Resources and Lesson Plans--A variety of classroom activities and games, coded by level.
ETC Lesson Plans and Activities--This site has been around for a long time, and it rarely seems to be updated. Nevertheless, there are some solid communicative activities for classroom use here, mainly beginner and intermediate level.
English Teaching/Learning Materials by S. Kathleen Kitao and Kenji Kitao--Topics include American holidays, colonial days, communicating with Americans, and developing reading strategies.
OTAN Forum--A collection of very thorough lesson plans from the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. Topics include: auto vocabulary, buying a car, going to the doctor, and many more.
John's ESL/EFL Resources--John Erskin provides ESL/EFL classroom activities. You'll also find a job board and some interactive quizzes for students at this site.
My Teaching Ideas--Ideas from Joan M. Díez Clivillé. (Note: you'll have to follow the links from the contents column on the top left; the hyperlinks down below don't seem to work.)
ESL Links--Dan Joslin's links and lessons for ESL/EFL teachers.
Le Rosey ESLSheets--Original worksheets for ESL students and teachers. Includes grammar, literature, and Internet based activities.
IES Sierra Magina--Classroom Ideas and activities from the English department at the IES Sierra Magina in Andalucia,
Luka's EFL Cuisine--"Weekly" lesson plans.
EFL Games--ESL/EFL classroom games from Brett Reynolds at Sakuragaoka Junior and Senior High.
Ernie's Activity Page--Classroom activities from Ernie Barteldes.
Outta Ray's Head Lessons--"A collection of lesson plans with handouts by Ray Saitz and many contributors." Includes literature, writing, and poetry. Though these lessons are designed for use in native speaker classrooms, many are of value to ESL teachers.
Teacher Lesson Plan Main Menu--Vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation lessons from The Longman Dictionary Web Sites.
Adult Education ESL Teachers Guide--Lessons for beginning level ESL students, with accompanying teacher training modules. It's a bit too audio-lingual for my own tastes, but you might like it. Oh, there's also a section on teaching non-literate adults.
Netting the Net--This well-developed innovative lesson centers on the movie The Net. It contains interactive web-based activities, vocabulary development exercises, and comprehension questions. Be sure to check out the teachers guide.
Teaching the Movie Men in Black to ESL Students (I-TESL-J)--Letitia Bradley breaks down the movie Men in Black by providing comprehension questions and vocabulary for each scene.
TEFL Worksheets for When Harry Met Sally--Brett Reynolds provides loads of communicative activities to go along with the movie's screenplay.
ESL/EFL Lessons Using Movies (I-TESL-J)--Lessons and ideas on using movies in the ESL/EFL classroom.
Techniques for Teaching with Video--Brought to you by Prentice-Hall, this page demonstrates five techniques for teaching using videos.
NOVA Online--An extensive collection of activities and lesson plans to complement PBS's NOVA series.
Discovery Channel School--Lesson plans and classroom resource material to use with a wide variety of programs aired on the Discovery Channel.
A&E: ESCAPE THE ORDINARY : A&E Classroom--Another native speaker classroom resource. Printable materials to accompany programs aired on the Arts and Entertainment Network.
History Channel Classroom--Click on "Study Guides" for lesson plans and materials to use with a variety of the History Channel's programming.
PBS TeacherSource--Another massive web site with endless resources and lesson plans to accompany PBS programming.
CNN NEWSROOM Guide--"CNN NEWSROOM & WorldView is a free instructional program for teachers to bring the world into their classroom. CNN is the perfect start to any lesson with the daily Features Desks, in-depth news stories and world & regional events designed exclusively for students." Daily guides for educators to use with CNN programming.
Bravo in the Classroom--Again, lesson plans and printable materials for use with programs aired on Bravo.
The Weather Channel - Education Index--Teachers guides and classroom resource material for The Weather Channel.
Cable in the Classroom Online Homepage--If you find the number of educational resources for cable TV overwhelming, stop by this great site where you can search for programs and lesson plans for all the cable networks. Cool, huh?
The Ed Tech Pages - Video--"Articles, reviews, papers and useful links dealing with the use of video in the EFL classroom."
EFL Lessons about Sports--A lesson plan from Gail Shuster-Bouskila and David Snipper.
Life (ITESLJ)--Five activity ideas on the topic life from Gerard Counihan at the Internet TESL Journal.
Filamentality 2.0--Filamentality is a native speaker resource described as "a fill-in-the-blank interactive Web site that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet sites, and turning Web resources into activities appropriate for learners." You can use this amazing resource to design lessons for your own students, or you can search the existing activities. There are web activities on over 2,000 topics here. These activities include treasure hunts, webquests, and hotlists. Highly recommended.
S.C.O.R.E. CyberGuides--Another native speaker resource loaded with activities. If you're teaching or reading literature in English, you should appreciate this site.
Blue Web'n Learning Sites Library--A searchable database of learning sites on the WWW.
Filamentality--Treasure Hunts--Educational Technology--A collection of treasure hunts from the San Diego City Schools Filamentality project. Though designed primarily for native speakers, these lessons can be integrated into any content based ESL curriculum. Topics include: California Missions, Historical Shipwrecks, and Resumes. There's also a treasure hunt on finding pen pals for students of world languages.
WWW Activities for ESL Students--A collection of Internet scavenger hunts from Cliff Stevens at the UC Berkeley Extension Program. Topics include: Berkeley (and Beyond), All Around the World, The Virtual Tourist, and SF Trip. If you teach in the Bay Area, your students should enjoy this site.
Steve's ESL Homepage--Printable worksheets for elementary/intermediate level students. Students use the worksheets to visit web sites and find answers to certain questions. Many of the worksheets focus on that great land down under.
Listening Games for the ESL/EFL Classroom--From Teachers for Christ International.
Raconteur Listening--More than providing just a simple lesson plan, this site offers tips and information on how to use Raconteur listening activities in class.
EL Easton's Listening Links--A comprehensive set of listening and speaking links.
Music in the EFL Classroom--This section of Ernie's Song Page gives teachers some exciting ideas for how to use music in ESL/EFL classes.
Teaching English with Songs and Music--Ian Hewitt brings you more ideas on how to use songs in ESL/EFL classes, an Edutainment site.
Ernie's EFL Song Activities--Activities to use in class with beginner, intermediate, and advanced level students.
Songs (IES Sierra Magina)--Classroom exercises and activities for several popular songs.
Materials for Teaching English:Songs and Lyrics--E. L. Easton's fantastic page of musical links for ESL students and teachers. This page includes unbeatable resource material on topics like American music, children's songs, and Christmas carols. There's also a section for students that includes links to interactive quizzes on music. This page is a must-see.
CNN Newsroom for ESL--This site provides worksheets to accompany CNN Worldview broadcasts. You videotape the segments at home or school. The worksheets focus on grammar and vocabulary and are available in two versions: on-line and printable.
Using CNN News Video in the EFL Classroom (I-TESL-J)--Alan Mackenzie provides ideas on using CNN video segments.
Current Events--This discussion activity from Hands-on English is updated monthly. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to access old lessons.
Lesson for CNN Interactive: Reading, Discussion, and Writing--In this lesson from Amy Ogasawara, students use the Internet to help develop critical reading and writing skills.
Teaching Tips from the Bangkok Post--The Bangkok Post is a wonderful ESL site for students and teachers alike. Check out their suggestions for using newspapers in ESL classes.
How Newspapers on the Internet Can Be Used for Language Teaching--Links to useful sites.
The Calgary Herald: Classroom Units--Newspaper in education units. Although it's a native speaker teacher resource, many of the student activities are adaptable for the ESL classroom. You can use a lot of different newspapers with these activities.
Teaching the English Newspaper Effectively--This lesson plan and student worksheet from Kenji Kitao introduces students to the format of English language newspapers.
Jigsaw Activities Using Newspapers--David Dycus provides a nicely structured lesson plan for using newspaper articles.
Funny Newspaper Headlines--from Ciaran P. McCarthy, a handout for classroom use.
Instant Lessons™ English--Very complete no-prep reading lessons from Rueters. Highly recommended.
Hands-on English: Activity Page--Reading and discussion lessons centering on current events.
A Lively Vocabulary Game--a classroom vocabulary game in the spirit of the $20,000 Pyramid. (Actually, Rickford Grant is calling it the $10,000 Pyramid. Maybe they had upped the ante by the time I can remember that show from.) Anyway, it looks like loads of fun.
Poppleton - An Activity for Teaching the Purposes of Discourse (I-TESL-J)--This lesson "was designed for a freshman-level, college ESL course whose students possessed a 550 TOEFL score. However, this approach could be adapted to suit others, such as secondary or adult language learners. It is best to have 12 or more students to participate in this exercise."