How to plan an ESL/EFL (English as a Second Language) Lesson Plan

 Fourth grade ESL students working in the English classroom.

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Whether you teach English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults or children, this foolproof lesson plan template is a great base to work from. Add to it and change it as you please, or follow every bit of it (a good idea if you're a new ESL teacher planning your first ESL lesson). This Lesson plan format will also work no matter what country you’re teaching English in, be it Japan, Korea, China or the USA.

To begin, keep this in mind: It’s important that you keep your lessons fun. Remember that learning a new language, especially English, is very difficult and no matter who or where you’re teaching you need to be able to motivate your students. And really, what better way to motivate someone than with the incentive of having a good time?

Another tip for you ESL teachers is this: The less time you lecture your class, the better off you and your students will be. Let your students do most of the talking, after all, that’s what the ultimate goal is, right? 

Now on to the simple, yet very practical, lesson plan:

1- Greeting.
Always start your English class by saying hello to your students! Encourage them to tell you how they are feeling. Are they hungry? Sleepy? Hot? Cold? Happy? Sad? This is a great way to teach common, useful vocabulary. Every few weeks, feel free to mix it up. Try, “What’s up?” or “How’s it going?” or “How are you doing?”

2- Warm up/Hook
It’s important that you have your students’ attention right away. This gets your ESL class off to a great start and gets the students' minds thinking in English! One of my favorite activities to do as a warm up is a simple speaking activity. Obtain a soft die or ball and throw it to a random student. Ask a question like "What's your favorite _____?" or "Do you like ____?"  Here are a few other examples that you can employ as your warm up/hook.

• TPR: Total physical response. (ie. Have the students do what you say. Simon says is great!)
• YouTube: YouTube is especially great for any age. Find a song that relates to the subject they are learning about. Or a short drama/skit.

3. Introduce the material/new words
It’s necessary that your students have a solid foundation for the rest of the lesson. An effective way of teaching students new words is with a Powerpoint or flash cards. The more visuals you present, the better off you're students will be (and the easier it is to teach).

4. Activity/Game
As I said before, you need to make English a fun learning environment in order to increase your students' motivation. Game and activities are a great way to have fun in the English classroom and also serve as excellent learning tools. The best kind of ESL games are the ones that allow your students to speak English with each other. When you (the teacher) aren’t talking, that means the students are.

**For ideas on games, check out  the "Related Articles" portion of this article.

5. Wrap Up – evaluate understanding
After your game it's time to wrap up the lesson. You can review the various expressions and vocabulary words with yoru students with visuals, using your hands, asking questions, giving a quiz or handing out a worksheet. The purpose of a wrap  up is to check your students' comprehension of the materials they learned in that lesson. Having a solid idea of what your students picked up will help you with future lessons.

6. Assign homework
If you are teaching a class with a high level of learning, feel free to give homework that requires them to write or read, among other things. It's okay to make homework fun, as well. Try a crossword puzzle or a wordsearch, for example. If you're working with young learners (or students who are just beginning to study English), don’t go overboard, here! Assign something simple, like having them use their English at home. For example, tell them to  “Ask your parents what their favorite animal is and write it down for next class!” Or, have them say hello or nice to meet you to a passerby.