LESSON OVERVIEW
The main objectives of this ESL lesson on social events are to:
- discuss social events, hosting and preferences for parties;
- practise useful phrases for social events;
- watch a video segment on tips for hosting a party.
Students talk about social events, explore tips for a successful party and watch part of a video (to 02:15) about hosting a party. They discuss what makes a good host and share their preferences when having an event. Students review a dialogue and work with phrases for social situations (e.g. Thanks for having me, Fancy…?, Thanks for coming). They also role-play party situations using the target phrases from the lesson.
B2 / Upper Intermediate60 minStandard LessonUnlimited Plan
WARM-UP AND VIDEO
This ESL lesson on social events starts with a warm-up. Students look at photos of different events (e.g. dinner party, potluck, hangout night) and answer questions about parties and social events. Afterwards, they read tips for hosting a successful party (e.g. Have snacks ready when guests arrive). Students choose the three they think are most important and explain why. Moving on, they watch part of a video about hosting parties and say which tips from the previous task the speaker mentions. Following that, students look at gaps in sentences and decide what part of speech (noun, verb or adjective) is missing. They then watch the video again and complete the gaps. After that, students discuss questions about party tips and hosting.
USEFUL PHRASES AND ROLE-PLAY
In this part of this ESL lesson on social events, students look at pairs of situations (e.g. cooking OR ordering food) and choose the option they prefer when they are hosting a party. Moving on, they read a dialogue between a party host and a guest. Then, students answer questions about the party context. Afterwards, they read the dialogue again and find phrases (e.g. Make yourself at home) for different categories (e.g. greeting, making and responding to compliments, offering food or drinks). Following that, students read about party situations (e.g. Some of your guests have just arrived) and choose a suitable response from the previous task. Finally, they work in pairs and imagine they are the people in the photos. Students role-play short conversations for the situations using as many phrases from the lesson as possible.
HOMEWORK/REVISION
This ESL lesson on social events also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete gaps in the lines of a conversation between a host and a guest. They then put the conversation in order. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.
WORKSHEETS
Subscribe to unlock these and many other Standalone lesson lesson plans with the Unlimited plan
Subscribe

I love the presentation and the topic, it’s fun and engaging for the class. I did spot a small typo on slide 5 (+ slide 7 and 8, the same sentence). In the last sentence, shouldn’t it be “lighting” instead of “lightning”?
Good catch! Thanks, it’s now fixed.