EFL/ESL Lessons and Lesson Plans
From The Internet TESL Journal

For the First Class

• Tips and Ideas for the First Day of Classes
  By Shad Schroeder
• Getting to Know You
  By Henry Reese
• My Classmates
  By Charles Kelly & Larry Kelly
• What's the Truth?
  A good activity for the first class session.
  By Carole Allen Poppleton

Autonomy

• Two Activities for Fostering Autonomous Learning
  By Galina Kavaliauskiene
• Peer and Self-evaluation in Spoken Tests: Tools and Methods
  By Alec McAulay
• Two Activities for Raising Consciousness of Language Learners' Strategies
  By Scott Redfern and Nolan Weil

Business English

• A Simulation for Business English Students (A Six-Unit Course)
  By Heather Hanson

Conversation / Oral English

• Ten Conversation Lessons with Stories, Vocabulary Practice, Questions and Activities
  By Farzad Sharifian
• Ten More Conversation Lessons with Stories, Vocabulary Practice, Questions and Activities
  By Farzad Sharifian
• Conversation Topic: Work
  By Jack Bradshaw
• An Information-Sharing Puzzle Activity
  By Bob Gibson
• Communication in the Classroom (A 5-Lesson Unit)
  By Catherine Sasaki
• Bones of Contention: "Listed" Role Plays for Students of Oral English
  By Stewart Wachs
• Activities for Conversation Classes
  By Gerard Counihan
  • Accidents in the Home
  • An Activity for Teaching ESL/EFL Students to Make Quick Replies
  • An Activity for Teaching Intonation Awareness to ESL/EFL Students
  • Are you a Good Socializer
  • Discussion Topic: My New Home
  • Discussion Topic: The Home
  • Election Manifesto
  • Finish the Sentence
  • Generalisations
  • Giving and Accepting Compliments
  • Headline Completion
  • Life
  • Nationalities and Their Stereotypes
  • New Year's Resolutions
  • People Who Live the Longest
  • Possible Dangers Associated With Becoming a Millionaire Overnight
  • Predictions for This Year
  • Talking about the Top News Stories
  • The Environment
  • The World Ends in Two Years
  • Things That Have Changed the World
  • Times Have Changed
  • What Type of Student Are You?
  • Word Associations
• Talking Cards
  A conversation activity using a deck of playing cards.
  Michael J. Brown
• Two ESL Listening & Speaking Games
  "Name That Thought" and "What Is That Sound"
  Kimberly Davison-Fujioka
• An Activity for Teaching the Purposes of Discourse
  By Carole Allen Poppleton
• Blurring the Boundary Between Spoken and Written Language in EFL
  A Lesson Plan for Teacher Training
  By Maria Bortoluzzi
• Four Engaging Activities for Large EFL Classes
  By Eric Prochaska
• The Love Clinic: Using Advice Columns in the Classroom
  By Richard Humphries
• Activities for College Conversation Classes: The Generation Gap and Getting Along with Peers
  By Natalia F. Orlova
• Telling True Stories: Blending Multimedia in a Task-based Activity
  By Aiden Yeh
• Playing with Questions-A Game for Young Learners
  By Rania Bekiri
• Conversation Questions for ESL Students
  A list of questions that you can use for conversation practice.

Cooperative Learning

• Reaching English Language Learners through Cooperative Learning
  By Noorchaya Yahya and Kathleen Huie

Culture

• Teaching Awareness of Stereotyping
  By Asako Kajiura Goodmacher
• A Way to Teach Culture: Guns or No Guns
  By Yoshiyuki Nakata
• A Way to Teach Culture: Large cups, small cups, whose cups?
  By Yoshiyuki Nakata
• Developing Awareness: An Intercultural Communication Lesson Plan
  By Asako Kajiura
• The International Potluck: An Integrated-Skills Cross-Cultural Activity
  By Terry N. Williams
• Bringing Culture into the Classroom
  By Chad Fryer and Lily Wong
• A Fun Cultural Indoor Rally
  By Angie & Carlos Ruelas
• American Fast Food (The Hamburger): A Cultural Lesson
  By Khalid Al-Seghayer
• Examining Australian and Japanese Stereotypes Via E-mail Exchange
  By Rebecca Keogh
• Jokes for the ESL Classroom
  Jokes which work well in the ESL classroom. Find a good joke or add one to the list.
• Using Critical Incidents to Teach Cross-cultural Sensitivity
  By Julia Stakhnevich
• Table Manners
  By Shiao-Chuan Kung
• Discussing Cultural Knowledge for Life in the USA
  By Rebecca Allen
• Using Modern Art to Teach Language and Culture to ESL Students
  By Diane Watt
• Learning American Holidays Through Greeting Cards
  By Grace Chin-Wen Chien
• Flags: A Classroom Activity
  By Rebecca Belchamber

Games

• Six Games for the EFL/ESL Classroom
  By Aydan Ersöz
• Write-to-Learn: Geography Strategies
  By Daniel Teng-Lung Peng
• Using a TV Matchmaking Format in the Classroom
  By Richard Humphries
• Student Created Crossword Puzzle Exercise
  By Greg Goodmacher
• Language Learning Games: Gotcha & The Spelling Officer
  By Joan M. Diez Cliville
• Password Game
  By JoEllen Simpson and Jonathan Deer
• A Campus Scavenger Hunt for ESL Students
  By Linda Hollandsworth
• Games and Activities for the ESL Classroom
  Find one to use or add one to the list.
• Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners
  By Lin Hong
• Games and Activities for the English as a Second Language Classroom
  This is a page on which teachers can share games and activities that they have found useful in the classroom.
• Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners
  By Lin Hong

Grammar

• Grammar Teaching Plan: Real Conditional Sentences
  By Jungok Bae
• An Activity for Teaching Prepositions Associated with Time
  Lily Vered
• Classroom Handout: The Order of Descriptive Adjectives
  By Yen-Ling Teresa Ting

Internet

• CNN Interactive: Reading, Discussing and Writing
  By Amy Ogasawara
• Choosing and Summarizing Internet Resources
  By Amy Ogasawara
• Projects Using the Internet In College English Classes
  By Victoria Muehleisen
• Internet Treasure Hunts - A Treasure of an Activity for Students Learning English
  By Ian Brown
• Finding Information on the International Movie Database Website
  By Shiao-Chuan Kung
• A Virtual Visit to the Guggenheim Museums in New York
  By Shiao-Chuan Kung
• Who Wrote That?
  A lesson using the Project Gutenberg website to search for information.
  By Shiao-Chuan Kung
• Using a Modular Approach to schMOOze with ESL/EFL Students
  By James Backer
• Web-based Cultural Lesson: Restaurants & Food
  By Emma de Dios Álvarez
• Introducing EFL Students to Chat Rooms
  By Jo Mynard
• ESL Lessons Using Non-ESL Websites
  By Bruce Vorland

Listening

• The "Tuning In" Listening Activity
  An activity aimed at constructing solid bottom-up skills while developing student self-reliance and confidence.
  By Jeff Leinaweaver

Motivation

• Six Activities for Generating Enthusiasm in the Foreign Language Classroom
  By Philip Dave Ambard and Linda Katherine Ambard

Music and Songs

• Musical Activities for Young Learners of EFL
  By Abdulvahit Cakir
• Reviewing Time with the Song 'Rock Around the Clock'
  By David B. Kent
• Student Created Song Exercises
  By Paul A. Cunningham
• Digging Deeper into Songs: A Writing Activity
  By Steven Kenneth Ahola

Multi-skill

• A Four-Unit EFL Course for Adults
  A Complete Set of Handouts to Use in the Classroom.
  By Bruce Vorland

Oral Presentation

• Country Presentations
  An oral presentation assignment for second or third-year university speaking classes of 20 - 40 students.
  By Lillian Swain
• Delivering a Persuasive Speech
  By Douglas Parker
• Evaluation Sheet for ESL/EFL Speech Practice
  By Connell Wayne Regner
• Preparing EFL Learners for Oral Presentations
  By Jane King

Pronunciation

• Practicing Pronunciation through Proverbs
  By Yi Yang
• Intonation - It Does Matter!
  By Rebecca Allen

Reading

• Teaching Culture in Literature in the ESL/EFL Classroom
  By Anna Franca Plastina
• Teaching the English Newspaper Effectively
  By Kenji Kitao
• Read Aloud and Spot the Differences
  By Greg Goodmacher
• The Newspaper Scavenger Hunt
  By Greg Goodmacher
• A Fun Reading Comprehension Activity
  By Mehmet Ali Akgün
• Teaching the Short Story, "Flowers for Algernon," to College-Level ESL Students
  By Loretta Kasper
• Using University Catalogues as a Pedagogical Tool
  By Paul Borg
• Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street: Experiencing Poetical Prose
  By Carole A. Poppleton
• Chocolate - A Reading with Comprehension Questions
  By Emma de Dios Álvarez
• People Who Crossed Borders: An Interactive Reading Exercise
  By Roger Nunn
• Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-books
  By Mei-Ya Liang
• Using Advice Columns with ESL Students
  By Amy Gwen Larson

Travel Survival

• Innocents Abroad: Training Japanese for Travel
  By Eugene Trabich
• Travel Advice Bureau
  A classroom activity in which students act as travel agents.
  By Kate Allen
• A Pre-departure Program for Students Who Study Abroad
  By Marcel Van Amelsvoort
• Invitations and Requests in a Restaurant
  By David Dockhorn

Video

• Ideas on Using Videos
  By Donna Tatsuki
• Is the Movie the Same as the Book?
  A classroom activity comparing novels and movies
  By Donna Hurst Tatsuki
• Teaching the Movie "Men in Black" to ESL Students
  By Letitia Bradley
  • Teacher's Notes
  • Vocabulary List
  • Comprehension Questions
• ESL/EFL Lessons Using Movies
  By Donna Hurst Tatsuki
  • Checking into a Hotel in a Video-based Lesson
  • Politeness in Movies
  • Listening to Airplane Announcements in Movies
  • Narrating in Simple Past with Video
  • Jigsaw Reading Activity Using TV Listings
  • Quiz about the Movie "The Graduate"
• Video in the Language Lab: Teaching Vocabulary
  By Donna Hurst Tatsuki
• Developing an ESP Course Around Naturally-occurring Videotaped Medical Consultations
  By Joseph Dias
• Watching Movie Trailers in the ESL Class
  By Neil Heffernan
• Activities for the ESL Classroom Incorporating Reality-based TV
  By R. Alan Davis
• The Simpsons in Japan: A Lesson on Stereotypes
  By Rachelle Meilleur

Vocabulary

• Vocabulary Lesson: If a Runner Runs, Does a Sweater Sweat?
  By Rolf Palmberg
• The Adjective-Noun Game
  By Scott Greene
• A Man for Every Purpose - Increasing Learners' Vocabulary Awareness
  Activities for the ESL Classroom using the numerous compound words in English that end in 'man'.
  By Rolf Palmberg
• The Human Body - A Vocabulary Awareness Activity in Four Steps
  By Rolf Palmberg
• Introducing Euphemisms to Language Learners
  By Scott Alkire
• A Reading Exercise with Food Related Phrasal Verbs
  By Yen-Ling Teresa Ting
• A Lesson on Food Idioms
  By Yen-Ling Teresa Ting
• Similes in the ESL Classroom
  By Larry Pudwill
• Activities to Teach the Count and Noncount Noun Distinction
  By Ron Belisle

Writing

• Global Warming: A Cause and Effect Writing Lesson
  By Amy Ogasawara
• An Interesting Approach to Writing Introduction Paragraphs
  By Darren P. Bologna
• Tips for ESL Students on Reviewing and Improving Written Work
  By Kristofer Bayne
• Using Personal Photographs to Spark Narrative Writing
  By Steven Kenneth Ahola
• Writing with Style: Two Useful Strategies for Students
  By Steven Kenneth Ahola

Other Lessons

• The Outside World as an Extension of the EFL/ESL Classroom
  By Mark A. Pegrum
• Car Budget Activity
  By Lawrence Klepinger
• Using Posters in Content Courses
  By Michael Furmanovsky & Marc Sheffner
• Student-Led Lesson: Vacation Commercials
  By Carol Fritsch
• Lesson Plan: My Animal
  A 2nd-5th grade English/Art lesson plan for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students
  By Carolyn Radice
• A Story-Telling and Re-Telling Activity
  By Bob Gibson
• Teacher-made Activities for a Computer-based ESL/EFL Class
  By Anil Pathak
• Minister of the Environment
  By Justin T. O'Conor Sloane
• Topic Based Lesson: All Kinds of Failure
  By Rhett Merz
• A Story Building Activity Using "Not Enough" and "Too Many"
  By Michael Lovett
• Learning about Prejudice and Discrimination
  By Colleen Soares
• Gender-Based Vowel Preferences and Their Use As a Teaching Tool
  By Cheryl Caesar
• Fun Question Rounds for Children's English Classes
  By Joe Drakos
• Critical Thinking: How Much of You Is You?
  By Brent A. Jones
• Critical Thinking: What a Character
  By Brent A. Jones
• Facilitating Discussions of Newspaper Articles in the ESL/EFL Classroom
  By Brendan Daly
• A Training Lesson Plan on Virtual Communities for EFL
  By Maria Teresa Ciaffaroni
• Bronx Zoo Lesson Plan for Adult ESL Students
  By Virginia E. Clinton
• Six Group Activities for Teaching ESL Children
  By Joanne Elliott
• Discussing Your Name to Develop ESL Presentation Skills
  By Beth Clark-Gareca
• Self-introduction Lesson Plan for ESL Students
  By Stefan Chiarantano
• Teaching Abstract Concepts in the EFL Classroom
  By Lynn W. Zimmerman