As a Language Assistant, lesson planning can be a great way to prepare and create content for what your students learn. But let’s be honest, between travelling, busy weekends, and spending time with friends, sometimes we don’t have the time.
Just in case you find yourself running out of time to plan a week’s worth of lessons, here are 6 foolproof, never-fail lesson plans.
Two Truths and a Lie
This is a classic, foolproof lesson plan. Two truths and a lie is the perfect icebreaker game, giving you a chance to get to know our students during the first weeks of class. However, it is also the perfect game to revisit throughout the semester. You can change the themes, having students tell truths and lies based on themes like travel, holidays, personal experiences, skills, and fun facts. The other kids in the class will have to guess which of the three statements is a lie.
Would You Rather
Another classic game you’ve probably played before. I like this one because it allows for the opportunity for you and your students to be a little bit silly. Start by asking your students a series of questions: “Would you rather it be summer or winter all the time?” Students will then vote on their answers. Take it a step further by asking them to explain their reasoning for the answers they’ve picked. Make sure to let your students come up with some questions too – they can be hilarious!
What am I? The Yes/No Game
This one is a personal favorite of mine. Students will take turns thinking of a popular person, place, or thing. The other students in the class will ask a series of yes or no questions in order to guess what the thing is. However, there’s a catch! The student cannot answer with “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” or “I don’t know.” For example…
– «Are you a person?«
– «I might be.«
– «Do you live in the USA?«
– «Hmmm, that’s a good question.«
This game gives students a chance to be creative and find new ways of answering questions.
Scattergories!
Scattergories is another great option, and all your students need to play it is a piece of paper and a pencil. First, come up with the names of each column, for example, Animals, Jobs, Clothes, Food, and Fruit. Then, give your students a letter. for example; A. Their words could be Ant, Architect, Apron, Asparagus, Apple.
Imposter
This one is my student’s favorite. Start by coming up with a word and whispering it to each student in the group. You pick one student to be the imposter, whispering “imposter” to them rather than the actual word.
For example, if the word is coffee, students will go around and say words related to coffee, like milk, sugar, cup, and brown. The imposter must try to blend in by saying a word that is related, but cannot say the actual word. Guess what the word is and say a related word to blend in. At the end of each round, the students must vote on who they think the imposter is.
Wordle
This is a new favorite of mine, and super easy. You can introduce your students to the popular New York Times mini game, Wordle. Students start by guessing a 5 letter word in English. Then they get 5 more attempts to guess the word based on the letter placement of their guessed words. Play along on your computer, or draw it out on the whiteboard – as I do. It is fun watching the kids guess. It helps with spelling and sounding things out.
Author: Victoria T.