FUN ACTIVITIES

FOR TEACHING
ENGLISH
ANDY AND CORTNIE BROOKS
DIRECTORS OF TESOL, YWAM MONTANA

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Contents Videos
INTRODUCTION 5 Need a tuTORIAL?

Watch video tutorials about many
TIPS FOR TEACHERS
 of the activities and techniques in
Which level are my students? 6 this booklet, for a quick refresher
Where do I begin? 7 when you need it!
PPP — How to prepare a lesson, FAST! 8
Some things to think about 8

ACTIVITY IDEAS AND DESCRIPTIONS

Icebreaker Activities 10
W — The Warm Up 12
P — The Presentation 14
P — Practice 17
P — Production 21
W — The Wrap Up 24
Let’s just have some fun 26

LESSON PLANS AND ACTIVITY SHEETS

Design Challenge 30
Blank “PPP” Lesson Plan Templates 31
Activity Sheet – Traditional Scavenger Hunt 34
Activity Sheet – Digital Scavenger Hunt 35
Activity Sheet – Find Someone Who 36

NOTES 37

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 Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities.

Seize common occasions and make them great.

— ORISON SWETT MARDEN

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another:

“What! You too? I thought I was the only one...”

— C. S. LEWIS
 Introduction
This is a list of fun activities that can be used for English classes, youth gatherings, cultural
exchange camps, and many other types of events. We have compiled these over the last ten years
while teaching students of all ages in the U.S. and Asia. These come from our personal search for
activities that are enjoyed by both students and teachers alike. We hope you and your students
will enjoy them as much as we have! They can be added to lessons to make your curriculum come
alive. They can also stand alone when you’re in a pinch for time; see the section titled “PPP—How
to prepare a lesson, FAST!” for ideas on how to survive that awkward moment when someone
asks you to teach an impromptu English class with little time and zero preparation. These will also
help you as you look for ways to make your lessons more engaging and fun for everyone. This is
not an exhaustive list of activities, but it is a good starting point. For even more ideas, try
searching YouTube, Pinterest, or Google for “ESL activity ideas”.

There are two billion people around the world right now learning the English language. With so
many people seeking someone to teach them English, there are a lot of opportunities to become a
“teacher.” Some opportunities are obvious, some less obvious. You will find that doing simple
things like sitting around tables in coffee shops with university students, or cooking a meal
together with adults, or making crafts and kicking soccer balls with children...provide real
experiences for them to practice their English with you. Don’t hide or run away from these
moments. Every potential “student” you bump into is another life you can positively impact in a
way that goes far beyond the reaches of language.

Finally, when searching for resources to aid your language students, it’s important to realize that
one of the greatest things you have to offer them is yourself. By you just being there and speaking
genuine English with them, you will model how to correctly speak the language. Many people just
need a good model and an encouraging friend in order to learn a foreign language. Take time to
just hang out with people. Develop relationships. Value the power of friendship. University
students come to our exchange camps and language classes because of their need for English.
They keep coming back and allow us to fully invest in their lives because of relationship and
because we want to have a little fun with them. Therefore, learn to have fun, and have fun while
learning. Be a good model in every way. And never underestimate a good karaoke jam or dance
party as a perfectly fine way to “learn” and “teach” the English language.

5
Tips for New Teachers
Which level are my students?
BEGINNING

This person speaks little to no English. Beginners often know a handful of English words and a few
short phrases that have been learned mostly through memorization (“Hello, how are you?” / “I’m
fine, thanks.”) but very little ability to create real sentences on their own. A true beginner is
someone who actually knows no English whatsoever, however most people you will teach in a
Beginner level class will have at least some previous experience learning the English language.

Advice for teaching beginners: Choose simple and concrete vocabulary (things that you can see,
touch, smell, hear, taste). Model things as much as you can rather than explain. (“I am sitting.”
Teacher sits down. / “He is standing.” Teacher points to a student who is standing.) Use lots of
repetition and go for mastery of simple language rather than teaching your students too much, too
fast. Use visuals for things you can’t explain, and always use real objects (“realia”) instead of
pictures whenever possible. Write a few model sentences on the board for your students to read
while practicing their speaking. Turn these into fill-in-the-blank exercises that allow students to
read the sentence while adding one of the vocab words learned that day.

ELEMENTARY (OR “LOWER INTERMEDIATE”)

This person has enough vocabulary and understanding of the English language that they can form
a few short, basic sentences on their own. (“I have two sisters.” / “I like hamburgers.” / “The sky is
blue and the grass is green.”) An elementary level speaker may not always form correct
sentences, but they can often get the point across even if it means using some incorrect
language. At this level and below, students are still unable to communicate using abstract or
highly specific terms (only teach concrete and general terms: non-specific vocabulary that the
students can see, touch, smell, hear, taste).

Advice for teaching elementary students: Begin practicing longer sentences, building a broader
vocabulary based on what students have already been taught. Teach descriptive language: “The
small chair is brown.” Teach prepositions: “The chair is next to the table.” Teach connective terms:
“The chair and the table are in the kitchen, but the couch is in the living room.” Also continue to
add to their vocabulary of nouns and verbs, and give them situations in which to practice (at the
restaurant, at the doctor, at the market). Begin using role plays!

INTERMEDIATE
This person has a good grasp of the English language. They can form semi-complex sentences
and they have a larger vocabulary of words to draw from. (“My favorite thing to do is go to the
movies with my friends.” / “I’m afraid of spiders and I think they’re absolutely disgusting.”) An
intermediate level speaker will still mispronounce some words and mix up their sentences from
time to time.

6
Advice for teaching intermediate students: Continue building on what your students have already
learned. You are now able to begin introducing more complex ideas, including abstract terms
(topics such as love, happiness, honor...things that can’t be felt, seen, tasted, etc) and specific
terms (“I have two half-sisters, and one stepbrother.” / “I like bacon cheeseburgers.”

ADVANCED
This person has a fantastic grasp of the English language. There are little to no errors in speech—
although an accent may still be apparent, and that’s okay.

Advice for teaching advanced students: At this level, you may teach on virtually any topic that’s
interesting or meaningful to your student. Some vocabulary will still be new to your students,
however, instead of trying to figure out what the student hasn’t learned yet, create opportunities
for self-exploration where the student can find their own answers, and help them whenever they
get stuck or have a question. Great activities for advanced students are: discussions, debates,
oral presentations, problem solving, and research projects or artistic projects. Some of these can
be completed either on an individual or group basis, however using group-based projects allows
for greater use of communicative skills. These can be assigned by you, the teacher, or they can be
self-selected by the student, based on their own interest. Your students will most likely retain an
accent when speaking, even as an advanced speaker, but as long as their pronunciation is clear
enough to communicate, don’t try to remove their accent. (Accents often allow people to keep
close ties to their culture, and insisting that your students speak without an accent would be
insensitive. Help your students speak clearly, with correct pronunciation when necessary, but
allow them to keep their accent and culture intact.)

Where Do I begin?
SCOUT OUT THE LAND
Try to find out what level of students you are teaching and what resources you’ll have access to.
Use the above guide as a reference for understanding your student’s level and advice for teaching
them. If you are able, ask your contact person for more tips and insight into what your students
have learned previously, what would they like to learn or practice with you, and what that might look
like. The more you know about your students, the easier it’ll be to plan your lesson appropriately.

WRITE DOWN A PLAN

If you are in a hurry, just select a few activities from this booklet, and tie them together into a
single topic using as much repeatable vocabulary as possible. Check if you need any materials
before you teach. If you have other curriculum, you may also be able to select a unit from a book.
Choose a topic or unit that your students may find interesting, and one that is at an appropriate
level (or adapt the curriculum to better fit their level). If you’re teaching a large group and only have
one student book to share, then find a few exercises from the book to copy to a whiteboard, and
have students practice with you in different groupings: as a whole class, in small groups, and with
partners. See the activity ideas and descriptions to create a PPP lesson plan (pages 12-25).

7
P P P — How to prepare a lesson, FAS T !
High-quality lessons can take a lot of time to plan! We recommend using a simple framework
called “PPP” for a quick and easy lesson planning process. This framework follows a natural and
predictable order that most of us are already familiar with (first, the teacher "teaches," and then
the students "practice"). Having a framework like this for organizing your lessons will make your
lesson planning process much more efficient and it will help you get the most out of the time you
spend getting ready for your next class. See the activity lists and descriptions on the following
pages for a step-by-step guide to planning a lesson using this simple framework:
W—Warm up, P—Presentation, P—Practice, P—Production, W—Wrap Up

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

• Focus on Speaking and Listening. (That’s often what people need to practice most, and that’s
probably what you do best.)

• Don’t focus too much on Reading, Writing, and lots of grammar rules, unless asked.

• Don’t modify your speech by speaking very slowly, or in broken English. Speak naturally, using
simple but complete sentences.

• Do activities that keep students talking! (Don’t do all the speaking.)

• Give clear directions, and keep them simple and short. Repeat if necessary.

• Always model the activity (with a fellow teacher or student) before asking the class to participate.

• Don’t force students to say or do something before they’re ready, or to change their
pronunciation/accent and other parts of their culture. (Create a safe environment for them to
make mistakes while they practice their English, and be a good model for them to follow.)

• Limit the amount of new material. Teach a small chunk, and then use it a lot. Don’t be afraid to
use repetition. (It is better to go over something a lot so they achieve mastery than to introduce
lots of new material so they feel overwhelmed.)

• Teach relevant English content, especially words and phrases they can practice every day. (Ask
your students, “What do you want to learn?”)

• Find content that is meaningful to the student, keep it interesting, and make sure the content is
comprehensible (able to be understood) by the student.

• Use magazines and newspapers to find colorful photographs and real, up-to-date content (such
as news about current events, stories, classified listings, advertisements, etc).

• Take responsibility for your student’s learning. A good teacher takes interest in whether their
students are learning or not. If they’re not learning, what can you do differently to help them?

• Praise your students, be specific, and give them fun prizes like candy, stickers, and high-fives.

• Know your students by name. Be friendly. Smile! If you don’t know their names yet, try starting
with a few icebreaker activities. See our list of icebreaker ideas (page 10).

8
 

Pictured:
Parachute Man (Activity #8, page 12) 

being played during YWAM Montana’s 

Fall DTS outreach to Cambodia, 2014

Go and Teach

ACTIVITY IDEAS
— A ND —

DESCRIPTIONS

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Icebreaker Activities — The first day of class
Get to know your students.

Icebreakers  are activities you can do on the first day of class, or even throughout the first few
weeks of class, that help “break the ice” and ease any tensions or uneasy emotions that you and
your students might be feeling. The goal of icebreaker activities is to establish a warm, friendly,
and fun classroom environment where your students feels safe—where everyone feels like family.

Here are some popular activities you can do to get your students warmed up, engaged, and ready
to learn:

1. The Name game — This is a “chain drill” activity that starts with one person and gets longer
and longer as it goes. Write a fill-in-the-blank sentence on the board, then have students go
around the circle introducing themselves using the sample sentence on the board. Have them
say something they like (or have, or want to be when they grow up, etc) while also trying to
remember what everyone before them had said. This is a great icebreaker, and an easy way to
learn everyone’s name and something about them. (Example: “His name is Steve and he likes
juggling, her name is Kathy and she likes seashells,...and my name is Alex and I like khakis.”)
You can make this activity more challenging by requiring answers from a specific topic (favorite
food, future occupation, where you live, places you’ve travelled, etc.) or that start with the
same sound as the student’s name (“Steve likes sandwiches, Kelly likes candy”). 


2. Find someone who  — This is a simple scavenger hunt activity that requires students to
interview each other. Hand out a list to all of the students, who must interview each other to
find which of their classmates can say “yes” to the items on a list (Example: Find someone
who...has a digital camera, has 3 siblings, has been to Bangkok). This is a fabulous icebreaker,
and a good way to get to know your class. This activity also makes a great Production
activity (see page 21). See a sample activity sheet for this activity on page 36.


3. Human Bingo — This activity is similar to “Find someone who_____”, but uses a Bingo card
instead of a list.  Give each student a randomized 5x5 Bingo card containing 24 yes/no
questions and one free space (create your own Bingo cards by searching the internet for a
"bingo card generator"). Students must interview each other to find which of their classmates
can say “yes” to the items on their card.  Students  win  when they successfully collect five
different names in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. If a student finishes too quickly, then
have them continue interviewing classmates until their card is completely filled.  This activity
also makes a great Production activity (see page 21).


4. Make a collage and describe it — This is a variation of "Describe your picture” (see
Activity #42), where you have students create an artistic collage (a collection of photos and
words) and then describe what they made to the class (and have more advanced students also
explain why). They can create these using scrapbooking materials, such as old magazines,

10
 paper, scissors, and glue. Or you can have them create digital collages  by assigning each
student their own slide in Google Slides, Jamboard, or a similar online collaborative tool. You
can ask  your students to create a collage inspired by a specific topic ("Look through the
magazines and create a collage about animals"). Or their collages can simply
be  inspired  by  whatever the students like (this is a good way to  identify your students'
interests, and you can slowly incorporate vocabulary and images from their collages into future
lessons). — Part 2: Write about it — After the students have had a chance to talk about their
collages, have them describe their work in writing. They can describe what they created by
using  vocabulary from recent lessons. More challenging activities include  creating a
poem  inspired by the collage, or a more abstract writing topic, such as describing how the
collage makes them feel.  —  Part 3: Publish it  —  Let your students show off their creativity
by posting their artwork up on the classroom walls, in a public space at your school, or publishing
it in a newsletter or blog. This activity also makes a great Production activity (see page 21).


5. Snowball Fight — Hand out one or more full pieces of paper to each student and ask
them to write a true personal statement about themselves. Then when everyone is ready,
instruct the students to roll up their papers into “snowballs”, and proceed to have a “snowball
fight” by throwing the paper balls at each other. When finished having fun and releasing energy,
each student must find and pick up a random snowball. Have each student take turns reading
aloud the statements inside their snowballs. Have the entire class discuss who they think the
snowball belongs to, and help them form questions (Example: “Sally, do you drive a red car?”).
This activity also makes a great Production activity (see page 21) by having students write a
sample sentence inside their snowball using vocabulary from the lesson, and then have each
student say the sentence aloud, act it out, and/or write it on the board. This activity can also
be modified into a fun and conversational-style Review activity by having students write a
question inside their snowball related to a previous lesson’s topic. After the snowball fight,
have students read aloud the question inside their new snowballs and attempt to answer it. If a
student needs help answering their question, let the rest of the class discuss possible answers.


6. Two Truths and a Lie — Have the students get into 2 or more teams. Have one student
from each team share three personal statements about themselves, two of these statements
must be true and one must be a lie. Have the other team(s) guess which statement is a lie; if
they guess correctly then they get a point. Continue to play until everyone has had a turn. Have
the students practice their writing skills by having them write their statements on a piece of
paper. For advanced students, this can possibly spark a conversation about ethics, and how
do we determine what is right and wrong.

11
W — The Warm Up
Build your students' interest, and get them ready to learn.

Begin your lesson with an activity that introduces the topic of today’s lesson without attempting to
teach anything new yet. Some teachers also like to review their previous lessons before they start
a new lesson. You can  spend a little time reviewing  essential  content from previous lessons as
part of your Warm Up activity, however, this isn't meant to be a "review activity". The main goal of
this section is to build your student’s interest in today’s lesson and get them ready to learn it.
Some teachers prefer Warm Up activities that have a lot of energy in order to get students excited
at the beginning of the lesson (this will often include a Speaking activity with students standing up
and possibly moving around), while other teachers prefer a quiet and calm start to their class
(such as a Writing activity with students sitting down at their desks or tables).

Here are some popular activities you can do to get your students warmed up, engaged, and ready
to learn:

7. 20 Questions  —  Put an object in a box (one of your students’ vocab words, if possible),
students take turns guessing what’s inside by asking yes/no questions about the object. Tally
the results on the board in two columns (Yes | No). The person who can solve the mystery wins
a prize. (Example: Is it made of metal? / Does it have wings? / Is it a children’s toy?)


8. Parachute Man — This is similar to the game Hangman, but instead of drawing body parts
on gallows draw a man hanging from a parachute above shark-infested water. If students
guess correctly then reveal the letter(s) in the puzzle, if students guess incorrectly then erase
one of the parachute strings (if necessary to keep the game going, draw a reserve parachute
with a new set of strings). To use this activity as a Warm Up, choose a word or short phrase
related to your lesson's topic (such as "Animals" or "We're going to the Zoo!") and when your
class solves the puzzle, you can tell them "Yes, today we're going to be learning
about animals!"). 


9. Jumbled Sentence — Hand out a sentence that has been cut up into multiple words and
pieces, each person reads the  words aloud, and as a group they help each other put the
sentence back in the correct order. To use this activity as a Warm Up, choose a sentence
related to your lesson's topic. The sentence can be a quote from a person or movie, or a line of
text from the course book, etc.


10. Questions in a cup — Place many slips of paper in a cup (1 slip for every student), and
on each slip have a different question related to the topic of your lesson or the general topic
you are covering that week/month.  Get in a circle, pass the cup around the room and have
each student grab one question from the cup, then slowly go around the circle letting each
person share the answer to their question. This activity can be reused multiple times in a single
week, since each student will likely receive a different question each time they play. This can

12
 Warm up >> Presentation >> Practice >> Production >> Wrap Up

also be modified as a Production activity (see page 21) or a recurring Icebreaker activity (see
page 10), by using get-to-know-you questions instead of topic-specific questions.


11. Do Now  —  Start each day of your class the same way using this calm, quiet, reflective
activity: Write a question on the board (or on slips of paper next to the  entrance  to the
classroom), and instruct students to quietly write their answer in their notes or journals at the
start of every class. This can include an essay-style question, a jumbled sentence, a quote that
you want them to analyze ("Herbert Spencer said, 'The great aim of education is not
knowledge but action.' What do you think  he meant by this?"), or another kind of writing
prompt. It can also include a crossword puzzle, a matching activity, or an exercise from  a
course book or worksheet. This activity also makes a great Review activity  before  starting
your lesson with a Warm Up. This activity also  gives the teacher a few minutes to take
attendance or make other preparations before starting the rest of the lesson.


12. Personal Link  — This is a short discussion intended to get the students to think about
how the topic relates to their personal lives. A classic version of this activity is to tell students
to turn to their partner (in pairs) or to their classmates at their tables (in small groups) and
discuss a question for two minutes. Choose a question that your students will find interesting,
but make sure to choose a question about something they can relate to or that they will have
experienced. (Choosing a question or topic that they cannot relate to will defeat the purpose of
a Personal Link.) The goal of this activity is to create a connection (link) between your students'
personal experiences and the topic of your lesson. Open-ended questions that deal with
memorable, specific, extraordinary, unusual, or superlative things will often make good
questions for a Personal Link. (Examples: "What is the strangest animal you've ever seen?", "If
you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go, and why?", and similar questions
that begin with  "What is your favorite...", "What  was the most beautiful...", "Tell your partner
about a time that you...", "If you could...what would you choose?", "If I say the word...what do
you think of?", and so on.)


13. Brainstorm  —  Similar to the Personal Link (which gets students to think about their
personal experiences), have your students brainstorm a simple list with a partner related to the
topic. Get your students into pairs or small groups, give them a time limit and a question to
answer, and then have them work together to write down a list of as many  answers as
possible  before the time limit is up. (Examples: "In your pairs for  the next two minutes, write
down as many adjectives as you can that describe our topic: Animals", "If you were taking a
road trip across the country for one month, what would you bring...make a list", "Create a list
in one minute: how many different types of transportation can you think of? Go!") When your
students are done brainstorming, have each group of students share  one or two items from
their list, and pick a student to scribe these answers on the board for the whole class to see.
This activity is “communicative” (since students need to discuss and work together) and the
students also practice spelling. But most importantly, it taps into their prior knowledge on the
topic. Anytime you can get your students to think about what they already know about a given
topic, the easier it will be for them to add new language and ideas to their knowledge. In all of
these Warm Up activities, look for opportunities to tap into the prior knowledge of your students.

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P — The Presentation
Present new material to your students.

This is where you present any new material to the class (new vocabulary words, new tips for
pronunciation, new grammar points, etc). You can also incorporate material from previous lessons
into your Presentation; this will help your students be able to form full sentences using the new
material along with vocabulary that is  already familiar to them.  You should find creative ways of
modeling the language for your students, such as using TPR, visual aids, and realia whenever
possible ("realia" is a teaching term that means using real objects, for example, you might bring a
real apple to class instead of using photos of apples or giving lectures about apples). You may
want to use traditional teaching resources such as a course book and whiteboard  during
your  Presentation, but it is also highly recommended that you teach using fun activities.  While
presenting, you may stop and spend some time practicing before continuing to present more
material. Many teachers spend 20-30 minutes of each lesson on their Presentation, but we
highly  recommend shortening this time as much as possible and getting your students to start
practicing straight away and so that you have plenty of time for Production at the end of your
lesson. Instead of spending all of your time “teaching” (Presenting), find ways to be a “facilitator”.

Here are some popular activities you can use to break up your Presentation and keep your
students engaged, and to help them understand the new material:

14. Choral Repetition — Present a vocabulary word or phrase to the class (by modeling the
language in written form, with a picture, with realia, and/or with TPR), then say "Repeat after
me...", and signal the class to repeat. Repeat this process for each vocabulary word or phrase
multiple times, using a lot of repetition. (Teacher, first time: "Giraffe", Students:
"Giraffe"...Teacher, second time: "Giraffe", Students: "Giraffe"...Teacher, third time: "The giraffe
is tall", Students: "The  giraffe is tall"...Teacher, new word: "Elephant", Students:
"Elephant"...etc.)  This is a very common technique to present new vocabulary words  and
students are also able to practice pronunciation while listening to the teacher repeat the words
over and over again. However, choral repetition can quickly become boring and students may
disengage, so it's important to find creative ways to break up the monotony and keep this
activity interesting (such as turning the vocabulary into a chant or changing the speed, volume,
mood).

15. “What’s happening in this picture?”  —  Hold up a picture from a magazine,

newspaper, book, course book, the internet, or another source, and have students describe
the picture in their own words. Encourage students to use full sentences when appropriate
("Can you put that in a sentence?"). For students in lower levels, write a few vocabulary words
and fill-in-the-blank sentence starters on the board, if needed. The key thing to notice in this
activity and some of the others as well is that you (the teacher) do  not  need to do all of the
presenting of new material. Instead, you can find ways of getting your students to tell each
other what the words are and what they mean, and let them work out the new language
themselves. This activity also makes a great Production activity (see page 21).

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 Warm up >> Presentation >> Practice >> Production >> Wrap Up

16. Toss The Ball — Get in a circle, then toss a ball or other fun object around the circle. When
a student gets the ball they have to say a word/phrase or act out a vocab word. After a few
minutes, start to encourage full sentences if possible (even short and simple ones are okay),
and write a few example sentences on the board in case they need help. (Teacher: “When you
get the ball, say the name of one of the animals we just talked about...”, “...Now can you use
that in a sentence?”, Student: “I would like to pet an elephant.”) Use this activity during your
Presentation by having your students review the vocabulary words and phrases you just
presented. This kind of simple activity also makes a nice transition from the Presentation to the
Practice section of a PPP lesson. This activity also makes a great Practice activity (see page 17).


17. Pronunciation practice  — Pronunciation is a skill that often gets overlooked, and
sometimes it can be hard knowing where to add it to a PPP lesson. Add some useful
pronunciation tips to your Presentation that will help your students correctly pronounce the
vocabulary in full sentences  (this will be especially useful as they begin to practice and
produce language later in the lesson). Some popular pronunciation activities for this include
using Tongue Twisters, "High Low Fast Slow" (have students practice their pronunciation with
a partner in a safe and controlled environment by repeating a sentence in multiple funny ways,
such as really high, really low, really fast, really slow, with a British accent, like an actor
shouting on a stage, and so on) and then have them say it again but in a normal voice with a
lot of emphasis, matching activities or other  worksheets  based of  minimal pairs  (have
students  practice hearing and saying  two words that have only one differing sound, such as
"coffee/copy" and "sit/seat"), or spend some time analyzing  the  stress and intonation of a
word, a phrase, or a dialogue.


18. Chants — Rather than repeating vocabulary words and phrases using one of the techniques
above, turn it into a fun chant or song by adding a melody and a beat. This is a great way to
squeeze more repetition in your lesson while keeping it interesting.  Students are able to
experiment with the rhythm and stress of the language, and pairing vocabulary with a simple
melody and beat will make it much easier to remember.


19. TPR actions — “TPR" refers to Total Physical Response, which is a teaching method that
uses movement and action to teach new language. Rather than relying on visual aids or other
techniques to make vocabulary easy to understand and remember, you can also use physical
gestures and movements. This might be obvious when you are teaching verbs (a teacher can
teach "stand up" and "sit down" by doing those actions as they say the words), however, you
can create all kinds of other fun actions to represent other words and phrases as well. As you
present a new word or phrase to the class, ask your students, "What action can we do for this
word?" and let them come up with their own set of matching actions or physical poses. Check
their comprehension by saying the vocabulary list in random order and having the whole class
do the corresponding actions. — Part 2: Perform it — Then tell a story or read a passage out
loud (which the students can also read again later in the lesson), and have the whole class
listen and do the actions whenever they hear the correct words. This might sound like a kid's
activity, but it's a very effective teaching technique that is perfect for all ages! This activity also
makes a great Practice activity (see page 17).
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The Presentation (continued)

20. Fill-in-the-blank listening exercises  — Give students a fill-in-the-blank passage,

then read the passage aloud or have them listen to an audio recording and have them fill in the
missing words. This can be done using a dialogue (which the students can also practice saying
with a partner later in the lesson) or a reading passage (which the students can also read later
in the lesson). You can also create your own fill-in-the-blank resources from a list of sample
sentences that contain your vocabulary words, lyrics from a song, or an audio exercise from a
course book.


21. Puzzle worksheet — Create a word search, word scramble, crossword puzzle, or another

kind of fun worksheet to get your students to practice reading and recognizing vocabulary
words and phrases.  There are many teacher websites that have tools to help you do this
quickly (try searching for “ESL word search generator”, etc). You can also quickly create your
own worksheets to have your students match vocabulary words with their definitions,
synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, etc.


22. A quick exercise from a course book  — Many teachers and schools use course
books, and you can take short breaks during  the middle of your Presentation to do  quick
activities from your class's book. Similarly, you  can find or create a worksheet to use for the
same purpose if you're not using a course book. These exercises can also be used during the
Practice section of your lesson, however, if you can get this "book work" out of the way during
the early part of your lesson (by making it part of your Presentation), then you may find it easier
to transition to other types of fun and creative activities for Practice and Production.


23. Other Practice activities (see list on the next page)  — If you want to do
something a little different for a change, add one of your favorite Practice activities to the
middle of your Presentation in order to break things up a bit. You can always go back to your
Presentation a bit later in the lesson.

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 Warm up >> Presentation >> Practice >> Production >> Wrap Up

P — Practice
Get students to practice using what you presented.

Get students to practice using the new material that you just presented to them, while building on
any older material they’ve mastered from previous lessons. Go slow and use a lot of repetition.
Practice should be done using activities that are fun, creative, and interactive. If you are using a
course book or worksheet, then you can include exercises from those resources as part of your
Practice (see above, you can also use them as an interactive part of your Presentation). Unlike
Production, Practice should include the help of visual aids. (Example: write all of the new material
on the whiteboard where students can see it while they practice,  use pictures  to help explain
vocabulary words, or let students look at their notes and course books.)

Here are some popular activities you can use to get your students practicing:

24. Pictionary  —  Have students  pick a random vocabulary word or phrase from a cup, and
then draw it on a whiteboard or paper without giving any other hints. The rest of the class tries
to guess the word or phrase. Get into teams to add some friendly competition to this activity,
or have students go one at a time while the entire class guesses. At the end of each turn, have
a student use the word in a full sentence.


25. Charades  —  Have students  pick  a random vocabulary word or phrase from a cup, and
then act it out without giving any other hints. The rest of the class tries to guess the word or
phrase. Get into teams to add some friendly competition to this activity, or have students go
one at a time while the entire class guesses. At the end of each turn, have a student use the
word in a full sentence.


26. Taboo  —  Have students  pick  a random vocabulary word or phrase from a cup, and
then  describe it  without saying the word(s). The rest of the class tries to guess the word or
phrase. Get into teams to add some friendly competition to this activity, or have students go
one at a time while the entire class guesses. At the end of each turn, have a student use the
word in a full sentence.


27. Jeopardy  —  Place  several columns of cards on the whiteboard with different point values
(100, 200, 300, 400, etc.). If you have multiple topics or categories for your lesson, write a
category name above each column of points (such as "Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives" or "Birds,
Mammals, Reptiles") or use the colors of your point cards instead of categories ("Blue, Red,
Green, Yellow").  On a separate piece of paper, have a list of fill-in-the-blank or short answer
questions, one for every point card on the board. Get into teams  to add  some friendly
competition to this activity, or have students go one at a time while the entire class listens.
When a student/team picks a point card ("Mammals for 100 points" or "Blue for 400 points"),
read the corresponding question to them. If they answer correctly, then give them the point
card (if they guess incorrectly, have another student/team guess), and continue until you are
out of cards on the board (or out of time). Have everyone count their cards to find out who won!
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Practice (continued)

Tip: Unlike the real gameshow Jeopardy, don't have the students answer using questions
("What is a giraffe?"). Instead, it's often better to have students answer by using the vocabulary
words in full sentences (Student: "Giraffe!", Teacher: "Can you put that in a sentence?",
Student: "The giraffe is tall.", Teacher: "That's correct! You get 400 points!").


28. Family Feud  — This activity is similar to the TV game show called  Family
Feud, where several families compete against each other by answering trivia questions to earn
points for their family.  Divide your class into different teams (or "families") and select a
spokesperson (or "team captain") for each team. Read questions aloud to the captains, call on
the captain who raises his or her hand first to answer the question (or give them a bell, buzzer,
or some other way to answer the question). To earn a point for their team, that captain must
correctly answer the question within 10 seconds. If the captain who was called on does not
answer the question within the time limit or if he or she gives  an incorrect answer, the next
team can “steal” the question. Team members can talk among themselves, then they must
agree on the correct answer. After each round, have teams choose a new captain so that
everyone gets a turn.


29. Tic-Tac-Toe  — Get into two teams and draw a Tic-Tac-Toe grid on the whiteboard (or use
tape to create the grid on a table or wall). This activity is played similar to the real game (a.k.a.
Noughts and Crosses, or X’s and O’s).  However, place a picture and/or a written vocabulary
word in each box. In order to place their X or O in a box, a team must make up an accurate
sentence using that word.  This activity  may be played over and over again, and is arguably
more fun than the normal version of the game. Tally the winners of each round in order to add
more competition and keep your students interested for longer.


30. Traditional Scavenger Hunt  — Hand out a paper with a list of things to do or find.
The first individual (or team) to complete the list wins. To use this activity for Practice, use
vocabulary that the students are learning in the lesson ("Find...a tree, an animal, something
green"), or add  communicative interactions in order to have students practice conversational
skills or for Production ("Give someone a compliment, Ask a stranger this question ______ and
write down their answer"). Send students outside the classroom to make this activity extra fun.
See a sample activity sheet for this activity on page 34.


31. Digital Scavenger Hunt  — This activity is just like a traditional scavenger hunt,
however, teams use their phones or cameras to take photos of the items on their list as
evidence. This activity is communicative and gives students extra speaking practice
since  they  must work together in their teams to complete their lists ("Where can we find
______", "I think we might find it over by the ______"). To force students to work together, have
teams use a single camera per team, and instruct them to have each member of the team
visible in each photo. See a sample activity sheet for this activity on page 35.


32. Upset The Fruit Basket  — Have students sit in a circle, facing each other, with one
person standing in the middle. There should be one less chair than there are people. Choose a
short list of vocabulary words from your lesson and assign  each student one of the
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 Warm up >> Presentation >> Practice >> Production >> Wrap Up

words  (Example: "mango, apple, papaya, banana", or these can be modified to include any
other type of vocab word, including occupations like "doctor, construction worker", or animals
like "bear, squirrel, moose", etc.). The person in the middle says one of the vocabulary words
out loud (by itself or in a sentence), and anyone who hears their word must get out of their seat
and find a new seat before all the seats are claimed. In the classic fruit-based version of this
game, if the person in the middle shouts “Upset the fruit basket!”, then everyone in the circle
has to get out of their chair and find a new seat (it's pure chaos, but a lot of fun). This phrase
("Upset the fruit basket") can be modified to fit the topic of the lesson, so that you might shout
"It's 5:00 somewhere!" for a lesson about occupations, or "Who let the dogs out!" for a lesson
about animals.


33. Move If  — This  activity is  similar to “Upset The Fruit Basket”, but it's more open-ended.
Have students sit in a circle, facing each other, with one person standing in the middle. There
should be one less chair/seat than there are people. The person in the middle says a sentence
out loud, and if the sentence applies to certain people in the class (Example: “Move if you like
pizza” or “Move if you want to be a doctor”), those people must get up and move to a new
seat. The person left standing without a seat starts the game over again. Use this activity for
Practice by having students use the vocabulary words from the Presentation as they form their
sentences. This activity also makes a great icebreaker, because students learn about each
other (things they have in common). This activity also makes a great Icebreaker activity (see
page 10).


34. Relay Race  — There are many ways to turn language practice into some kind of race,
and  relay races add some friendly competition and communicative competence without
leaving anyone behind or on their own. Get students into 2, 3, 4, or more teams. Have them
line up with their team (you may need to move a few tables and  chairs out of the way
before doing this activity inside your classroom, or take your students outside the classroom
for this activity). When you say "Go!", one student from each team will run to the whiteboard
(or another location that has been selected for them) and perform some kind of language task.
When their turn is over, they will run back to the end of their team's line and the next student
will go, and this will continue until the time is up or all of the teams are finished. There are
endless possibilities of language tasks that you can have your students perform during this
activity, but if you are already going to have your  students practice an exercise from a
worksheet or course book, then there is a good chance you can turn this into a relay race
instead. You can even copy a page from their books (one copy per team), tape the pages on
the whiteboard, and have the teams solve the exercise by sending one or two people  at a
time.  To practice matching,  place pictures on the whiteboard and have students write  the
matching word next to the picture.  To practice  dictation, have students run across the room
where they will read a passage of text (or listen to an audio excerpt quietly repeated over and
over again) and then they will run back to their team and write on  their team's  piece of
paper whatever they read (or heard) while the next student from their team goes and does the
same thing. These activities  can be very energetic and loud, and they often require the
students to have teamwork, to strategize, and to help and encourage one another as they
solve language problems together. 


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Practice (continued)

35. Dialogue — A dialogue is a written conversation, typically including several back-and-forth

exchanges between two characters (such as "Student A" and "Student B"). Get your students
ready for a role play and other types of Production by having them Practice with a pre-written
dialogue that  models  the kind of language they will need to use later  in the lesson.  Many
course books come with dialogues that students can practice. Sometimes, these dialogues are
fill-in-the-blank listening exercises, which means you can use the same dialogue for multiple
activities in your lesson (have students  fill in the blanks  as part of the Presentation of your
lesson, then the students can  Practice their completed dialogues, before moving on to
Production in the form of a role play based on the dialogue). To use a dialogue for Practice,
have students get into pairs and take turns reading the dialogue to each other multiple times.
To keep it interesting, have students switch places and practice the dialogue as Student A and
Student B, and after a few turns encourage them to add some of their own words instead of
following the dialogue exactly. This kind of activity makes an excellent and often seamless
transition into Production, and your students will be ready to perform a role play and do other
communicative tasks.

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 Warm up >> Presentation >> Practice >> Production >> Wrap Up

P — Production
Get students to begin producing what they practiced.

This is the goal of a PPP lesson, to get your students to begin producing language without your
help. This can be done using more activities, or by having your students repeat the same activities
from the Practice section but this time without the help of as many visual aids. (Example: remove
some or all of the new material from the whiteboard, hide any helpful pictures, or tell students to
close their notes and course books before continuing.) Use real-life situations and tasks
to  help  your students produce as much real language on their own as possible instead of
producing memorized lists and phrases.  During  Production, some teachers focus on developing
Speaking skills, however many real-life situations will require the integration of Listening, Reading,
or Writing as well.


Here are some fun and communicative activities that will get your students speaking, writing, and
producing language on their own:

36. Role play  — Give students a scenario, this can be realistic  (something involving actual
places and tasks your students will relate to) or something more imaginary (such as a scenario
involving superheroes, celebrities, or far-flung destinations). This is optional, but you can also
assign specific characters or roles to play, such as "cashier at a fast food restaurant" and
"customer ordering food" (however, scenarios that are overly complex will often take  much
more planning and preparation). Give students time to think about their roles and even practice
what they need to say. When they are ready, have students act out the scenario together using
realistic speech and gestures. Have them do this in small groups or with a single partner at
first, then have some or all groups perform their role plays in front of the whole class.


37. Newspaper Role Play  —  This activity works the same as a regular Role Play, but it
uses scenarios from real-life current events, such as an article from a newspaper or magazine,
a news  clip from YouTube, or a scene from a movie. Because this is connected to real-life
events, this kind of role play can be more meaningful than one that is simply based on the
topic of the lesson. Make sure the students realize this is a real-life scenario that took
place, then have them act out their role plays using realistic speech and gestures. Turn this role
play into an open-ended simulation by only telling your students half of the story (only read the
first half of the newspaper article or watch half of the YouTube video), then let the students
work out how they think the story ended. Each group of students might come up with different
endings and solutions, and therefore might use entirely different  kinds of language  in the
process. When they are finished, reveal the actual ending to the story.


38. Write-Your-Own Dialogues  —  Before you have your students perform role plays, you
can have them create their own dialogues through this collaborative writing activity. Have
students get into pairs or groups of three (don't use groups that are too large or it will make it
hard for students to agree on what to write). Then have the groups work together to write down
a dialogue (a conversation between two or more people using  natural, realistic speech) and
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Production (continued)

give them guidelines to follow, such as "include at least 5 of our vocabulary words...and have
at least 3  exchanges per character".  —  Part 2:  Perform it  — When the groups finish  writing
their dialogues, have them practice and eventually perform their dialogues for the class.
Students doing this activity will produce language mostly through writing, since reading the
dialogues out loud is not as difficult of a task as the kind of open-ended speaking that takes
place during a role play. These dialogues can  easily turn into productive role plays by having
the students improvise a few more exchanges starting from where their dialogue left off, and by
doing this, your students will produce language on their own through both writing and
speaking. 


39. Predict the end of the story — Read a story to the class (or watch part of a video),
stopping part of the way through. Then have students say, write, or act out how they think the
story will end. After everyone has presented their own variations of the story's ending, share
the actual ending. (You can also use stories about Christmas, Easter, other bible stories, or
other cultural stories, sharing the real ending to the story after the students share their
versions.)


40. Open-ended questions — Have your students answer questions that create a lot of room
for them to dream big and give a long answer. (Examples: “If you had a million dollars what
would you buy?”, “If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?”) Look for
opportunities to work this kind of question into other activities during your Production. You can
also make  this a stand-alone activity by  writing an open-ended question on the board
for  students to discuss in groups, or hand out multiple questions and have students answer
them one at a time. Another way to organize this activity is to spread multiple questions around
the room at different stations, and then have pairs walk around the room and answer each
question.


41. Oral presentations  — Help your students practice their public speaking skills by
performing "under pressure" in front of the whole class. Give your students a topic to talk
about, then let students prepare a presentation to be given in front of the class. This can be
short and simple, or more in-depth and involving homework and extra research.  These
presentations can be done individually or in group. If your students are too nervous to perform
long oral presentations on their own, then work them up to this by having them regularly
perform short oral presentations in groups and then eventually by themselves, and slowly add
to the time requirement (Example: Week 1 of class: 1-2 minute presentations in groups, Week
2: 3-5 minute presentations in groups, Week 3: 1-2 minute presentations by themselves, Week
4: 3-5 minute presentations by themselves, Week 5: 5-7 minute presentations by
themselves...). Make oral presentations a common part of your classroom in order to build your
students' confidence in public speaking, and a great place to start this process is by regularly
ending lessons and individual activities by having students share what they did with the rest of
the class.


42. Describe your picture — This is a simple form of oral presentation. Hand out pictures
or have students look through magazines and select their own pictures, then have them

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describe the picture in their own words. You can also do this as part of your Presentation (see
page 14) or Practice (see page 17) by having vocabulary and sentence starters written on the
board as they do this activity.

43. Make-Your-Own Memes — Internet memes are usually funny photos that contain a short
caption using natural speech or slang. Get students into small groups and give each
group  several funny or interesting photos based on your lesson's topic.  Have  the groups
consider, "What do you think this person is thinking/saying?" Then have students write their
own captions and share those with the whole class. — Part 2: Dialogue — Have students turn
these memes into full dialogues by working on a writing activity next that incorporates and
adds to the language used in the memes.  After they've created their dialogues, they can
perform them in front of the class (to add extra humor to this activity, try to have them use their
new memes as funny visual aids while they perform their dialogues).


44. Newspaper Headlines and Captions — This is an example of how a simple activity
and a simple set of resources (a few photos) can turn into many layers of realistic language
production. Have students create their own realistic or imaginary headlines. To do this, find a
photo or cut one  out of a newspaper or magazine, and have students write a short headline
and a longer more descriptive caption for the photo.  Have students share their photos,
headlines, and captions with the class. From here, you can have the students create dialogues,
perform role plays, or write the rest of the story. — Part 2: Debate — You can also turn this
activity into a fun debate by telling the class they are on the editorial board of a large
newspaper (or a creative team working on a company's blog, etc.), and they need to decide on
which story to  publish on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper (or website). Have each
group present their story to the rest of the class (with a headline, cover photo, photo caption,
and text body), and let other groups ask questions and debate which story is most "interesting,
informative, inspiring," and so on. — Part 3: Vote — After presenting their stories, have each
group place their story on the wall of the classroom. Give each student a set of stickers and
have them walk around the classroom, reading the stories, and voting by placing stickers on
their favorite stories. The story with the most stickers at the end of the activity wins! — Part
4: Publish it (blog) —Take this kind of activity to the next level by allowing students to finish
and publish their stories on a simulated  platform like Google Slides, or  by  creating  an actual
blog for your class.

45. Interviews — Give students a list of questions related to the topic and vocabulary of your
lesson. Then have them  interview  their classmates by asking them questions from the list
("What is your favorite color?"), and writing down their responses. At the end of the activity, call
out the name of each student and have people share what they discovered about that person
("What is Mary's favorite color?"). — Part 2: Publish it (podcast and filmmaking) — Turn this
simple activity into a larger project by having students make audio or video recordings of their
interviews. If time allows, have your students turn these recordings into a podcast or short film
by adding background music, sound effects, and narration in order to tell a complete story. 

23
W — The Wrap Up
Bring the lesson to a close.

The simplest way to finish your lesson is to just say goodbye and let the students leave. However,
we recommend bringing the lesson to a natural close with some  kind of discussion, reflection,
application, or assessment. This might include an activity that helps students summarize or review
the entire lesson, or a discussion to help students reflect on what they've learned. You can also
assess your students by giving them a simple quiz or Exit Ticket (see Activity #50). You can also
spend a moment looking forward to the next lesson and  help your  students get excited about
what they will be learning in the future. The main goal of the Wrap Up is that we don't want to
abruptly end our lessons, instead, we want to find a natural way to end our lessons in a smart or
meaningful way.

Here are some things you can do to wrap up your lesson:

46. Think, Pair, Share — This is a great activity to get your students to summarize the lesson
on their own, while giving them one last chance to  review the vocabulary at the same time.
This is better than you simply telling everyone what they learned. Give the class one last
question to think about (such as "What are two things you learned today?" or "What is your
favorite animal and why?"), and then have them think about it quietly and individually for 30-60
seconds. (Also, awkward silences are good for people, so try to embrace them! You don't need
to fill those  silences with background music or other sounds. It's okay to let the room be
silent.) After students have reflected on the question, have them get into pairs and share their
answer to the question with their partner ("Today, I learned that..."). If you still have time after
they've had a chance to share in pairs, have those pairs get together with other pairs to form
larger groups. In their groups, have each student share what their partner talked about in the
previous step of this activity ("Today, my partner learned that...", "Mary said..." ).


47. Celebrate the lesson's goals (Learning Outcomes) — Remind the students one
final time about what they learned in class today by going over the "Learning Outcomes"
section from your lesson plan template one at a time (learning outcomes are the various goals
of your lesson, and we will show you how to design these in our TESOL course). Some
teachers like to write their learning outcomes on the board for their students to see, and some
teachers print them on colorful paper and stick them on the wall. At the end of your lesson,
point out each of these goals one at a time and celebrate whichever goals the students have
achieved, acknowledge any that you didn't achieve as a class, and reassure students with how
you will continue working toward those goals in future lessons.


48. Hint at the next lesson — Get your students to look forward to future lessons by giving
them a hint or sneak peek at what they will be learning next. Help your students see the value
in what they are learning, and celebrate the process of being learners (even if it doesn't always
feel good or if  we make mistakes along the way). You can do this as a way  to reassure
students who are struggling with certain parts of the language. Give your class something to
be excited about.

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 Warm up >> Presentation >> Practice >> Production >> Wrap Up

49. Honor a student — Pick a random student and highlight the qualities you see in them in
front of the whole class. Be specific and passionate as you do this. This will build intrinsic
motivation in your students and help them to become self-directed learners (people who love
learning just for the sake of learning), which is more powerful over time than extrinsic
motivation (getting good grades, cheap compliments, or free stickers). Find a way for the rest
of the class to participate in this honoring too. You can do this by writing one student's name
on the whiteboard and let all of the students write something encouraging about that person
on the board. You can make this a regularly scheduled part of your week, or you can find
spontaneous unscheduled moments to surprise everyone with a special time of honoring.


50. Exit Ticket — This is a simple task or short quiz that you give your class at the end of a
lesson (it can also be used  to check comprehension or summarize activities earlier in your
lesson). When students have completed the task or correctly solved the quiz, they can leave
the classroom (or move on to the next activity). Give your students verbal instructions or use
the whiteboard to explain the requirements for them to receive their "ticket" to leave. Examples
of popular Exit Tickets include: have students write 5 sentences using vocabulary from the
lesson, place photos on the board and have students write the name of the photo on a piece
of paper, or  assign a worksheet or  an exercise from a course book. When each student is
finished, have them raise their hand or bring their work to you in order to be checked for
accuracy. This is a good way to find out which students may need additional practice, and
because students will finish this activity at different paces you will have a brief moment to talk
to each student, help them find the correct answers, ask them to stay after class, or give them
extra encouragement.

Extension activities
Plan a few extra activities, just in case.

Here is a simple detail that can save you in a pinch: plan a few extra activities, just in case you
finish the rest of your lesson early and you need to fill that time. We call these extra activities
“Extensions” since you can use them to extend your lesson further. You may not need to use your
extension activities, but it’s better to be too prepared than not prepared enough. It's a good idea
to think about what resources you would need for these activities, and to either prepare those
resources just in case  you need them, or to only choose Extension activities that will use
resources that you've already prepared for another section of your lesson.

25
Other Activities — Let’s just have some fun!
Build relationships by having fun with your students.

All of the activities in this packet can be used to have fun with groups, especially with youth and
college-aged gatherings. But it doesn’t always have to be about speaking and learning English.

Here are a few activities to build relationship and have fun with anyone:

51. Ninja — Have everyone stand in a circle. Hands are placed in front of you at chest height in
a “praying” position. Everyone bows, then the game begins. The goal is to be a “ninja” and
sneakily hit the other players’ hands. Pick a starting player and then continue to go in a
clockwise direction (students must remember the order they go in, because it doesn’t take
long for them to not be in a circle anymore). The ninjas can only move when it is their turn or
when they are being attacked (and players can only move one leg at a time, pivoting on the
opposite foot like a basketball player). They can attack whoever they wish: the person on their
right, left, or across the room. The ninjas must use their hands to hit the hands of another
player, and the other player must try to dodge the attack. If the ninja is successful and hits
another player’s hand, that player’s out. If not, both players must freeze in the position they are
in, until it is their turn again or unless they need to dodge an attack. The last player who hasn’t
been hit wins. 


52. Karaoke — If you don’t have a professional Karaoke machine, search YouTube for the
“Karaoke version” of your favorite songs, with the music and lyrics already included. You can
add extra humor by giving noise-cancelling headphones to the person singing so they can’t
hear themselves very well. 


53. Air Guitar — Choose contestants that you know will really “ham it up” on stage. Find some
music that has a lot of guitar solos. Tell the contestants each will be judged (by the audience’s
applause) on how well each can play the “air guitar”. Send each contestant in one at a time, so
that “ideas” won’t be stolen! It is hilarious to see what people can come up with! 


54. Name that Movie — Divide into teams, and give each team the title of a secret movie. The
gist of the game is to have each team dramatize their movie in 5 minutes or less. They must
work together to plan a drama that captures the plot of the movie. Several members of the
team (or all, if necessary) will go up in front of the class to act out a short version of the movie.
Have a panel of judges pick the best movie rendition. The judges can base their points off of
“most accurate portrayal,” “funniest portrayal,” “most creative portrayal,” etc. 


55. Animal Pass — Similar to the popular game “big booty”, have everyone get in a circle and
share an animal gesture with the rest of the class (Example: flap your arms to be a bird) while
making a corresponding animal sound. Once everyone’s shared their animal with the class,
one person starts by doing their own animal, and then they pass to someone else by doing
that person’s animal gesture and sound. This is great fun just as is. You can make it
26
 more competitive by designating an animal as the first position (twelve o’clock, in the circle).
Speed up the game again, if someone messes up, they have to go back to the last position
(one o’clock) while everyone tries to get to the first position.


56. Sports — Playing sports is a great way to spend quality time with people, often outside. Get
a soccer ball, a hacky sack, or a frisbee…and go have some fun. You can modify a sport into a
great Practice activity (see page 17) by having students take a penalty kick, hit a ball, etc…
but only after they have correctly answered a quiz question, acted out the vocabulary, or used
it in a full sentence, and so on. 


57. Dancing – Get some music and speakers (and maybe a black light, some glow sticks, and a
strobe or two) and throw a dance party! Or if you’re teaching at a school or youth gathering,
teach them “The Interlude Dance” with these eight simple steps: 1. “Warm your hands on the
fire.” 2. “Clap your hands.” 3. “Run around.” 4. (Stop and...) “Wave your hands in the air.” 5.
“Ninja Robot.” 6. “Punch the floor.” 7. “Run around again.” 8. (Stop and...) “Point to the sky.”

27
 

Pictured:
TESOL teachers and staff at YWAM's

Youth Development Center (YDC) in

Battambang, Cambodia, 2019

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 Go and Teach

LESSON PLANS
— A ND —

ACTIVITY SHEETS

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Design Challenge
Okay. Let's get real for a moment.  Someone at a nearby school comes to you in a panic,  and
asks you to teach a one-hour English lesson. But here's the catch: you only have 20 minutes to
plan your lesson and get to class. Do you think you can do it?

Now it's time for you to practice this scenario...

Objective:

Design a 45-60 minute English vocabulary lesson using the PPP framework and the activity ideas
given in this booklet. Write a simple lesson plan using the templates on the following pages. Find
or create at least one visual aid or other resource that you could use to teach this lesson.

Instructions:
• Choose a topic that you (or your students) are interested in learning.

• Decide on a short list of vocabulary words to teach (10 or fewer words).

• Think about how you want your students to use those vocabulary words in full sentences, and
write a few sample sentences that you can model during the lesson.

• Think about what type of  Production activity  you want to end your lesson with, and decide
what you want the students to know and practice before they get to that destination.

• Then follow the examples, tips, and guidelines we've given to  plan a simple PPP lesson from
start to finish (refer to the activity lists on pages 12-25 for helpful ideas).

• Write a simple lesson plan for your lesson using the templates on the following pages, including
a Warm Up, Presentation, Practice, Production, and Wrap Up.

• In your notes, include  times  for how long each section might take (your lesson should be
somewhere between 45-60 minutes total) and a list of any resources you’ll need.

• Find or create at least one visual aid or other resource that you could use to teach this lesson
(this can be a photo, realia, a worksheet, a page from a course book, etc).

Lesson planning tip #1

Here's a helpful tip.  Don't try to "recreate the wheel"...it's okay to  adapt someone else's lesson
plan and make it fit your unique list of vocabulary. So if someone else used the activity "20
Questions" as their Warm Up, then it's okay to use it for your Warm Up too. Or if you want to get
really crazy, try to use that activity in a different part of your lesson.

Lesson planning tip #2

If you get stuck and don't know what to do or you're not feeling very creative at the moment, then
"press pause" and go do something else for a while. Go for a walk, play a game, watch a funny
movie and laugh a little, or do something mindless like washing the dishes. Give yourself time to
come up with creative ideas. Don't force it, and the fun and creative ideas will eventually come to
you. If you get really stuck, then don't be afraid to ask someone else for help or a good idea you
can borrow.

30
P P P lesson plan template

lesson Topic: Class level: NAME/DATE:

New vocabulary:

The WARM UP — Build your students' interest, and get them ready to learn (page 12). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

The Presentation — Present new material to your students (page 14). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

PRACTICE — Get students to practice using what you presented (page 17). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

PRODUCTION — Get students to begin producing what they practiced (page 21). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

The WRap UP / Extensions — Bring the lesson to a close (page 24). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:
31
P P P lesson plan template

lesson Topic: Class level: NAME/DATE:

New vocabulary:

The WARM UP — Build your students' interest, and get them ready to learn (page 12). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

The Presentation — Present new material to your students (page 14). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

PRACTICE — Get students to practice using what you presented (page 17). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

PRODUCTION — Get students to begin producing what they practiced (page 21). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

The WRap UP / Extensions — Bring the lesson to a close (page 24). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:
32
P P P lesson plan template

lesson Topic: Class level: NAME/DATE:

New vocabulary:

The WARM UP — Build your students' interest, and get them ready to learn (page 12). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

The Presentation — Present new material to your students (page 14). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

PRACTICE — Get students to practice using what you presented (page 17). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

PRODUCTION — Get students to begin producing what they practiced (page 21). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:

The WRap UP / Extensions — Bring the lesson to a close (page 24). Time:

Groupings:

Resources needed:
33
Activity Sheet — Activity #30 (page 18)

Traditional Scavenger Hunt

Complete all the items on this list with your partner.

___   Strike up a two minute conversation with someone who’s not a DTS student (if you can’t
find anyone, shout “Where is everybody!?” until you find someone. 


___   Dip your fingers or toes in the creek (or other body of water, big or small) 


___   Find a partner and skip the length of the football field 


___   Walk backward to your next scavenger hunt destination 


___   Have someone take a photo of you (Extra points if you post it to facebook or instagram
with the hashtags #citizensofhope #tesol...if you do, you may skip one task on this list) 


___   Find an out-of-state license plate 


___   Go to the Snack Bar, find our secret agent and use the codeword: “Echo-Sierra-Lima” to
receive your next assignment 


___   When you’ve completed everything above, return to the classroom while singing aloud your
favorite song. Be the first person back, and you’ll win! 


34
Activity Sheet — Activity #31 (page 18)

Digital Scavenger Hunt

Find these items and take a photo of them.
Everyone (except the photographer) must be in the photo.
Have fun and be creative.

___   Take a picture of a tree. 


___  Take a picture of a liquid. (water, juice, soda, a puddle, etc.) 


___   Take a picture of something wild. 


___ Take a picture of one of your friends being “photobombed.” 


___ Take a picture with green and yellow in it. 


___ Take a picture of something you like. 


___ Take a picture of something you don’t like. 


___ Take a picture of someone you don’t know. 


___ Take a picture of your group. 


___ Take a goofy picture. 


35
Activity Sheet — Activity #2 (page 10)

Find Someone Who

Fill in the blanks with names of people in your class.
Use sentences such as “Do you drive a red car?”

and “Have you ever been to Bangkok?”

Find someone who…

_____________________________ drives a red car.

_____________________________ likes the color blue.

_____________________________ owns a dog.

_____________________________ is left-handed.

_____________________________ has been to Bangkok.

_____________________________ reads the newspaper.

_____________________________ is scared of bears.

_____________________________ has jumped out of a plane.

_____________________________ likes cold showers.

_____________________________ reads more than two books a year.

_____________________________ speaks more than two languages.

_____________________________ has travelled to more than 2 countries.

36
Printable Resource — Activity #10 (page 12)

Questions in a Cup
Setup: Cut out the questions, then place them in a cup.
Draw a random question from the cup.

Share your answer with the class.

What is your favorite word from another language? 


What is your favorite English word?
(Not an English word.)

If you could have any job, what would it be? What is your favorite day of the year?

If you could have a special talent,


What do you like to do on the weekend?
what would it be?

If you could fly anywhere,
 If you could meet any person, living or dead, 

where would you go? who would it be?

Which do you prefer more,

What is one thing in your life you couldn’t live without?

coffee or tea?

What is the strangest animal you have ever seen? What is the scariest thing you have ever seen?

What is the thing you like the most about yourself? What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

How many people are in your family? What was the last movie you watched?

37
 Notes

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38
 E verything
y o u n e ed
to become a
professional
t e ac h e r
so you
can inspire

students in
ity
your commun
and around
the world.

Go and Teach
TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

Our new ONLINE TESOL courses are designed to train everyday people like you and me to be English teachers in any
country on the mission field. Now you can get a professional teaching certificate without stopping what you’re doing.

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• Take the course any time of day and from anywhere on the planet.

• Pack your bags now, or curl up with a blanket from the comfort of your own home.

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(Plane ticket to your favorite destination, not included.)

Travel the world.

citizenstesol.org Make a difference.
 Go and Teach

TAKE WITH YOU

ON THE GO
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