Category: General
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Standard Lesson 60 min
Stay interested, stay motivated – first lesson with new students
GeneralThis ESL worksheet can be used in the first lesson with new students. In the lesson, students discuss their interests, watch a video about motivation, and do vocabulary and grammar tasks.
Critical Reading Club 30 min
Non-native speakers or lifelong learners?
GeneralIn this lesson students discuss the accuracy of different terms referring to non-native English speakers, do a word-formation activity and talk about the article they read at home.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Life is better outdoors!
GeneralIn this lesson, students watch a video about Taiwan and practise vocabulary related to nature and free time activities.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Put a ring on it
GeneralIn this worksheet, students learn idioms and phrasal verbs with put. They also practise working out the meaning from context, and have an opportunity to use the new language in speaking activities.
Standard Lesson 75 min
There are only two things certain in life…
Business GeneralWith this upper-intermediate lesson plan students discuss the welfare state, watch a video about taxes in Sweden, and learn some useful vocabulary.
Flipped Lesson 60 min
Learning about the past for the present
General GrammarWith this lesson plan, students discuss why we need to learn history and other school subjects. They also watch a video and practise the use of conjunctions.
Standard Lesson 75 min
Sharpen your critical thinking (CAE Speaking Part 3)
General GrammarWith this lesson plan, students evaluate the validity of arguments using the information from a video about logical fallacies. They also practise conjunctions and do a Cambridge CAE Speaking Part 3 activity.
Standard Lesson 60 min
‘I owe you one!’ and other informal expressions
GeneralIn this lesson, students learn some informal expressions in English which are used instead of common phrases like ‘I understand’. They also watch two sets of short video clips, and practise using the new language.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Don’t stop talking! – A2–B1 speaking activities
GeneralThis pre-intermediate conversation worksheet consists of five speaking activities which can be used as fillers or warm-up tasks. The activities are suitable for a group of students, as well as for a one-on-one class.
Critical Reading Club 30 min
Is it easy to be kind?
GeneralIn this lesson students talk about how acts of kindness are perceived nowadays, practise some useful phrases used in the article they read at home, and discuss how kind they would be in different situations.
Flipped Lesson 60 min
Did you pass first time?
GeneralIn this lesson students learn and practise vocabulary related to cars and driving, watch a funny video and do reading comprehension tasks. They also talk about getting a driving licence in their countries.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Advanced vocabulary activities
GeneralThis is a set of ESL vocabulary activities rather than a typical ESL Brains lesson plan. Each of the activities can be used separately as a time filler, a warm-up, etc.
Standard Lesson 60 min
How many pints in a litre?
GeneralIn this lesson students practise talking about measurements in English and watch a video about some issues caused by the differences between the metric and non-metric systems. They also discuss problems that people face because of these differences.
Critical Reading Club 30 min
Are we all content creators?
GeneralIn this lesson students discuss who a content creator is and practise some vocabulary useful when defining vague terms.
Standard Lesson 90 min
Why do we like horror films?
GeneralIn this lesson, students learn vocabulary useful when talking about fear or relief, watch a video about horror films, and describe situations in which they felt uneasy or scared.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Let me tell you how I feel
GeneralWith this lesson plan, students watch a funny video about a girl who feels different emotions and learn adjectives to describe feelings. Students also get plenty of opportunities to speak about how they feel in different situations.
Standard Lesson 45 min
Slow or slowly? – adjectives and adverbs
General GrammarIn this lesson students learn the difference between adjectives and adverbs and learn how to create adverbs of manner. They also practise their use in several controlled and free activities.
Critical Reading Club 30 min
Curious questions about curiosity
GeneralIn this lesson, students discuss the topic of curiosity in humans, practise collocations from the article, and reflect on how curiosity has shaped their lives.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Chasing the birds away (phrasal verbs with away)
GeneralIn this lesson students learn and practise phrasal verbs with away, watch a video about a dog working at an airport and discuss the jobs dogs do.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Is there an ‘a’ in ‘weak’? (spelling games)
GeneralIn this lesson, students learn how to ask for spelling clarification and get a lot of practice through several spelling games.
Flipped Lesson 45 min
What’s in your calendar? (prepositions of time)
GeneralIn this lesson, students learn prepositions of time and get plenty of practice with this aspect of grammar. They use the prepositions in different contexts in both oral and written tasks.
Standard Lesson 60 min
I wish I could but I don’t want to
GeneralIn this lesson students watch a video about strategies for saying ‘no’ in English and discover some useful phrases to say ‘no’ politely. They also put them into practice through a role-play.
Standard Lesson 60 min
The things that we do when nobody is looking – defining relative clauses
General GrammarWith this lesson plan students learn and practise using defining relative clauses. They also watch a short animated video and talk about the things that people do when they are alone.
Standard Lesson 60 min
What makes you laugh? (synonyms for laugh)
GeneralIn this lesson students study advanced synonyms for laugh, watch a video about laughter and discuss different aspects of laughter.
Standard Lesson 60 min
How are new words created?
GeneralIn this lesson about the origins of new words in English, students practise their listening skills, figure out the meanings of some newly formed words and eventually create their own new words.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Are emojis making us dumber?
GeneralIn this lesson about emojis students not only learn words to describe some common features of nonverbal communication, but they also watch a video and reflect on the role of emojis in digital communication.
Standard Lesson 60 min
Could you live without your sense of smell?
GeneralIn this lesson students practise their listening skills, revise sense verbs and learn to describe objects using sense verbs and adjectives.
Standard Lesson 75 min
Kindness means everything (irregular past forms)
General GrammarIn this lesson based on a video about kindness, students revise irregular past forms, practise them by re-telling a story in the past and eventually tell their own stories.
Standard Lesson 45 min
When bad means good
GeneralIn this lesson students discover different meanings as well as expressions with good and bad. They also get an opportunity to put them into practice while reacting to some real-life situations.
Flipped Lesson 45 min
How does silence make you feel?
General GrammarIn this lesson students discover the power of silence, work on improving their listening skills and focus on reported speech practice.
Standard Lesson 45 min
A super-duper language phenomenon (reduplication in English)
GeneralIn this lesson about reduplication in English students discover the meaning of common reduplicatives and practise them in everyday conversations.
Standard Lesson 60 min
The magic of making sounds
General LifestyleIn this lesson based on a video about the art of creating sounds students learn some verbs for sounds and put them into practice through a series of creative activities.
Standard Lesson 45 min
Whodunit (practise past modals with riddles)
General GrammarIn this lesson based on whodunits, students get an opportunity to practise past modals with riddles and speculate about murder mysteries.
Standard Lesson 45 min
’You’re kidding!’ and other quick responses
GeneralThis lesson focuses on common English responses used as spontaneous reactions in daily life. Students get the opportunity to practise them through a variety of activities, including an interactive video.
Standard Lesson 75 min
Should we be faking it? The placebo effect
GeneralThis lesson plan on the placebo effect is packed with vocabulary (verb + noun collocations) and speaking activities. Students will also watch a video about placebos and their pros and cons.
Standard Lesson 45 min
A glossary of coronaspeak
GeneralThis lesson plan is built around new words coined during the coronavirus pandemic. Students will guess their meanings and have a chance to use them in speaking.
