Time around the world

Kinga | Jul 29, 2026Jul 29, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on time zones are to:

• talk about time zones and their impact around the world;
• watch a video about the division of time zones;
• discuss daylight saving time and explore curious time zone facts.

In this lesson, students work with a map of the world’s time zones, watch a video about how they are divided and debate how time zones shape daily life, culture and global connections. They discuss solutions for issues caused by time differences, explore daylight saving time and talk about various perspectives. Students share opinions and play a guessing game where they examine curious facts about multiple time zones. They can also do an extra vocabulary task to review useful vocabulary (e.g. local time, time zones, jet lag).

WARM-UP AND VIDEO

Before this ESL lesson on time zones begins, students can do an extra vocabulary activity to revise useful vocabulary for the discussion. In the task, they read sentences (e.g. My hometown and New York are five hours apart.) and match words for discussing global time (e.g. time difference, local time, time zones) with their definitions. Then, students replace parts with their own ideas. Afterwards, they do a warm-up. Students look at a map of the world’s time zones and complete missing times. They then answer questions about it. Moving on, students look at the map from the previous exercise and say why they think time zones are not divided by straight lines. Next, they watch a video and check their answer. After that, students discuss questions about the practical, cultural and historical impacts of time zones. 

MORE DISCUSSION

In this part of this ESL lesson on time zones, students do tasks where they share personal experiences and solve challenges caused by time differences. Afterwards, they read information about daylight saving time. Students choose five people (e.g. parents with young children, farmers, pilots) and think of the arguments they might have for and against daylight saving time. Moving on, they read statements about the impacts of time zones and global schedules and say whether they agree or disagree. Next, in pairs, students take turns reading cards with facts about time zones and clocks. Student A reads a fact and Student B tries to explain how it’s possible. Student A checks the explanation on their card, shares the correct answer and then they swap roles. Finally, students discuss questions about the facts from the previous task and their relevance.

WORKSHEETS

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