Planning ESL Lessons:
the Key to Great Classes

Good ESL lessons begin with a plan. Your school district or a textbook they assign may provide plans or at least some guidance. In that case you may not need the detailed suggestions I list here.

But if you teach adults and are not given much guidance or if you teach independently, these suggestions may help you get started and avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Beginning-of-Class Planning

If the school has not done assessment testing (or you need more information on your students’ levels), you can do informal assessments in class.

(Give a quick  written assessment or just ask a few questions and note how well each student can answer.)

I also recommend a brief introductory questionnaire to learn students’ hopes for the class and their learning preferences.

For beginners you might want to accept answers in the students’ primary language if you understand it (or can get help to read and record the results.)

For intermediate students or above this questionnaire can be included as part of an introductory lesson.

For example, these questions could be part of a getting-to-know-you partner interview. Students interview each other with simple questions you supply about their interests and backgrounds. Each then introduces his partner to the class orally, and turns in the interview form so you can review the information.

(These forms will give you valuable information about the interviewer and interviewee's English skills as well as about their backgrounds, interests, and learning preferences if you plan the questions well.)

Planning Individual ESL Lessons

In addition to a curriculum with an overall idea of what students need to learn and general lesson order (so each lesson can build on and review previous learning), you need to plan the course of each individual lesson.

It’s important to have a daily plan, with a rough idea of how much time to spend on each aspect, to ensure that students have enough time to practice and adapt the new words and concepts they are learning.

It’s also a good idea to have back-up resources and activities in case there are problems in the classroom.

These can range from power or equipment failure, unusual numbers absent, or unanticipated resistance-- if perhaps you unknowingly violated a cultural norm-- to students finishing faster than expected, finding the work too difficult, or being so confused by part of the lesson that you need to find another way to present it.

Always have a Plan B, even if it’s just changing lesson order (starting in on tomorrow’s lesson early or reviewing last week's lessons). Other options are using a video or song, reading, game, or fun activity that you keep in reserve.

Basic Lesson Order

• 1st some kind of review or warm-up to activate prior knowledge,

• an introduction to interest students in the topic,

• a brief presentation/demonstration by the teacher,with a few questions to check comprehension 

• guided practice,

• communicative practice (in which students apply their newly learned vocabulary or grammar in a less controlled way, using it to express themselves on an appropriate topic or during an activity that allows lots of practice with it),

• some form of assessment or evaluation (often informal),

• and, if possible, an application activity for students to do out of class, using what they’ve learned.

Integrating Language Skills & Learning Preferences

Most ESL lessons (for literate students above the low beginning level) should integrate use of all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) as we do in daily life, though many lessons will emphasize some more than others.

Normally a lesson will begin using mainly receptive skills (listening and reading), and then proceed to practicing with their equivalent productive skills (speaking and writing.)

Good lessons need to consider different learning preferences and styles as well (especially if you have any students with difficulties in certain areas). Some students learn better by watching or reading, some by listening, some by trying things out for themselves.

Students also vary in their needs for social support or for time to think things through before participating. Some learn better working independently, others with a partner, and others with a group.

It's worth noticing (or asking) which approaches work best for different students, even though you may not be able to accommodate them all in every lesson.

Try to present new materials in several modes: say it and write it on the board or overhead projector, pass out handouts, show pictures or realia, use gestures and demonstrations, have students repeat, tap out the rhythm of expressions, chant or sing along.

Most Important of All

Build opportunities for success, and for students to see progress, into every lesson.

The kinds of assessments you use (informal, quizzes, tests, portfolio, etc.) may be set by your school, but they are also valuable for you, to see whether most students are actually learning what you planned with a lesson, and for students to recognize what they have learned and what they need to work on.

Make the classroom a welcoming, friendly place, where students feel free to participate and make mistakes, help each other, and have fun together. (Stress actually reduces the ability to learn, while interest and motivation make learning easier.)

Games and other activities aren’t just for a break, but serve very valuable purposes in language learning. See the page on ESL games for more explanation, and linked pages for lots of game ideas.

This is a very brief introduction to planning ESL lessons. You can see examples of lessons following these guidelines in ESL Lesson Plans. It shares a number of my favorite or most successful lessons, as well as other lesson sources.

Using the Internet for Vocabulary Lessons has suggestions on designing vocabulary lessons as well.

To learn more about lesson planning and classroom management skills see English Club's Teacher Guide or the books and sites mentioned in ESL Teaching Resources.

More Resources for ESL Lessons

You might start with some adaptable ESL activity ideas, from warm--ups to mingles to jigsaw readings +, or ESL conversation starters. 

You can also download lessons from many Internet sites. (See ESL Teaching Resources, which has all kinds of other useful resources as well: including the books and sites I’ve found most helpful in over fifteen years of ESL teaching and web-surfing..) Consider ways to adapt them for your students' specific needs and interests.

If you are planning a reading lesson, see Reading Comprehension Strategies. It suggests pre-reading preparation and post-reading comprehension checks. See Improve Reading Skills  for ways to help students learn specific reading skills. (Skimming, decoding, using context clues, or making inferences.) 

The ESL Games section has several pages with ideas for classroom games. There's one page specifically for teachers: Printable ESL Classroom Games

ESL Worksheets has all kinds of worksheets and other exercises for classroom use, from upper elementary to adult classes. They're useful in classrooms in English--speaking countries or in EFL classes anywhere.

Many are free. There are also some inexpensive packets. Most include lesson plans or suggestions besides the student exercises. Most include games, reading passages, or links to reading or listening activities. 

Many of them center on a specific topic (to allow repeated exposure to the main ideas and vocabulary). 

You are welcome to reproduce any of these activities or lesson plans for individual or classroom use. However, they are copyrighted and you may not sell them or use them on another website.

Are You Looking for an ESL/EFL Job? 

There are a number of good pages and sites that can help if you’re looking for a job as an ESL or EFL teacher. (ESL is English as a Second Language, and EFL is English as a Foreign Language-- taught in a country where English is not the main language.)

I want to mention two that I'm familiar with & think would be useful. I'm sure there are other excellent pages as well, but I've checked these out myself. (These aren't affiliate links-- I don't receive any payment from them, but I would have found them helpful when I was looking...)

If you are wondering about working online, check out Start Teaching English Online. It's a guest post by TEFL.org, but I've gone over it carefully and I think the information is very useful.

If you are looking for actual ESL/EFL jobs, either in your area or overseas, check out Jooble.org. The link is to tutoring jobs, but they have a variety of classroom jobs on other pages to look through as well.

Please let me know if you try either and find it helpful (or not!)

Related Pages to Check:

Home > Planning ESL Lessons.

Short activities that can serve as icebreakers, warm-ups, breaks, or end of class reviews, as well as mingles, role-plays, dictations, jigsaw reading, and games (including educational variations on bingo.) You’ll want these in your toolkit!