This year Mother’s Day is celebrated in most countries on Sunday May 12th. This activity begins with the historical background to Mother’s Day, and then explores the strain between the sentiment and the commercialization.

This is suitable for pre-intermediate to intermediate level students and will last about one hour.

Mother’s Day whole lesson click here for free downloadable pdf sheets.

Please find a snapshot of this lesson below.

Firstly a light-hearted singular/plural exercise that will introduce some of the vocabulary to come. Then a short summary of the background to May Day, before a big information gap activity. This consists of a jigsaw reading in four sections. Students in groups of four then share their information to complete a relatively simple task.

After all the intensive reading there follows a fun puzzle concerning flowers’ names, some well-known, some not so well-known (I allow dictionaries if the students are stumped).

Optional writing and discussion activities complete the lesson.

Pre-intermediate – intermediate level, taking 2 hours or more if all elements are included.

May Day whole lesson click here for free downloadable pdf sheets, including answer key.

Please find  a snapshot of part of this whole lesson below.

The symbolsong technique is an alternative to the gap-fill activity that often accompanies a song. At first the students have no idea what the symbols mean, but slowly you will hear gasps of delight as some students start to guess the words.

The students are firstly given a handout of the symbol sheet which represents the song, and after trying to decipher as much as they can, they then listen to the song and compare with their ideas. The full lyrics can be shown to the students for further comparison before they listen a second time.

The Final Countdown symbolsong click here for free downloadable pdf sheets including complete lyrics. For obvious reasons the song itself cannot be provided here, though it can easily be found through all the normal outlets.

Please find a snapshot of this symbolsong below.

This writing activity begins with an example of how one might present one’s room, then it provides a template for the students to follow a process writing technique of brainstorming, rough draft and final draft. Between the rough and final drafts are some hints for improving the text.

The final draft is then subject to a final check.

After the students have completed their writing I find it useful to have them read each other’s texts, not so much to point out the mistakes, but more for enjoyment (if possible I like to do this immediately after the writing, while the students are still ‘warm’). This can be done in reading circles, or by displaying the texts on the classroom wall. Should any students have questions about a text they can, of course, directly ask the writer.

For pre-intermediate – intermediate students, taking 60-90 minutes.

My Room, writing activity click here for free downloadable pdf sheets, including answer key.

Please find a snapshot of this activity below.

The original marathon was first run in ancient Greece, and then revived for the first Olympics in 1896 which were also held in Greece. Inspired by this the city of Boston, Massachusetts decided to stage their own marathon in 1897, and the Boston Marathon has been held every year since then, one of the world’s most iconic races.

This is a whole lesson based on the Boston Marathon. It begins with a Warm-up exercise comparing imperial and metric measurements, then there is some background to the rich history of the Boston Marathon. Finally there is a question/answer activity for the students to carry out in pairs.

This is for elementary to intermediate students, and will take about 1 hour.  An additional activity, a short Athletics puzzle, could be used in conjunction with this lesson.

Marathon whole lesson: click here for free downloadable sheets, including an answer key.

Please find a snapshot of the activity below.

Boston Marathon Finish Line.1910. Author: Unknown. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For elementary to pre-intermediate students, taking about 10 minutes.

Future ‘going to’ exercise click here for free downloadable pdf sheets including answer key.

Please find a snapshot of this exercise below.

The symbolsong technique is an alternative to the gap-fill activity that often accompanies a song. At first the students have no idea what the symbols mean, but slowly you will hear gasps of delight as some students start to guess the words.

The students are firstly given a handout of the symbol sheet which represents the song, and after trying to decipher as much as they can, they then listen to the song and compare with their ideas. The full lyrics can be shown to the students for further comparison before they listen a second time.

Mr Blue Sky symbolsong click here for free downloadable pdf sheets including complete lyrics. For obvious reasons the song itself cannot be provided here, though it can easily be found through all the normal outlets.

Please find a snapshot of this symbolsong below.

March 17th is not only a day for remembering St Patrick it also a day for celebrating Ireland and its culture, everyone is Irish on St Patrick’s Day.

This is an integrated skills whole lesson plan, consisting of a warm-up, a background reading to St Patrick, an information gap activity, a quiz, and an optional follow-up writng and discussion. It is for pre-intermediate/ intermediate level and will take about 90 minutes.

St Patrick’s Day whole lesson: click here for free downloadable pdf sheets including an answer key.

Please find a snapshot of part of the lesson below.

The book Daddy Long Legs was written by Jean Webster in 1912. It is one of those timeless classics, and also has its animated version and movie versions, one of which stars no less than Fred Astaire.

The whole lesson plan begins with a vocabulary warm-up activity, followed by some background information to both the book and the authoress. Students can then read at their leisure two extracts from the book. These extracts have been abridged and (slightly) simplified, but I believe they remain faithful to the original.

A True/False reading comprehension activity leads into a discussion of the book and related topics. After all the hard work there is a little light relief with a tricky little puzzle which will reveal the ‘identity’ of the Daddy-long-legs.

An optional writing activity completes the whole lesson.

For intermediate – upper intermediate students, taking more than 2 hours if all elements are included.

Daddy Long Legs whole lesson click here for free downloadable pdf sheets, with full answer key.

Please find a snapshot of part of this whole lesson plan below.

Cover of Daddy Long Legs

I find this puzzle best with students collaborating in groups of three, or even four, in a kind of race. There is often one member (sometimes that quiet student who doesn’t have too many opportunities to shine) who happens to know many of the answers. For this puzzle I ban the use of dictionaries and smartphones etc, but if it is proving simply too difficult then I permit them (much to the relief of the students!) and the puzzle is finished in next to no time.

For pre-intermediate – advanced students, taking about 30 minutes.

Capital City puzzle click here for free downloadable pdf sheets including answer key.

Please find a snapshot of this puzzle below.