ESL Directions

Week of Sept. 15/25

Following a recipe

Fall is soup-making weather! This lesson plan teaches your beginner ESL students some basic vocabulary used in recipes.

Activities include skill-building tasks on cooking verbs, ingredient and instruction vocabulary, and a short video. Students also discuss their favorite recipes and how their cooking might have changed since coming to Canada.

Week of Sept. 8/25

Calling 811 in Alberta

Watch this new video for your beginner ESL students on calling the Health Link line (811) in Alberta. The video is part of a full lesson plan for newcomers on this free 24/7 medical advice service.

Week of Sept. 1/25

Parent-teacher interviews

It’s back to school, and that means that parent-teacher interviews are coming up! Prepare your beginner ESL students with many of the common words and phrases used in these interviews.

This lesson plan includes warm-up discussions, skill-building and skill-using activities, video and open-ended role plays, and reflection questions.

Week of Aug. 25/25

Canada’s West Coast

Explore this simplified introduction to part of Canada’s citizenship guide. This lesson plan for beginner ESL students focuses on the history and geography of Canada’s West Coast.

The lesson includes warm-ups, vocabulary exercises, a listening and reading passage, a short video, and reflection questions.

This lesson plan is one of many new lesson plans in the Introducing Canadian Citizenship section.

Week of Aug. 18/25

Introducing Canadian citizenship

This new webpage offers simplified and shortened citizenship lesson plans for beginner ESL students.

The page will introduce your ESL students to some of the subjects covered on the citizenship test, linking to 10 new lesson plans on Canada’s history, economy, and geography (five of them including new videos).