Lesson plans and other resources for your online beginners’ classes (CLB 1-4).
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED POST
Week of Aug. 10/26
This lesson plan offers engaging activities for your first day of class, focusing on classroom rules, introductions, and cultural exchanges.
The plan includes lesson objectives, warm-up exercises, two short videos, and a range of…
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What’s on this page?
Culture
Canadian songs
Lesson plans
“Four strong winds”: Learning a famous Alberta song
Learn about a great Alberta song.
Learning to sing “O Canada”
Learn how to sing Canada’s national anthem.
“This land is your land, this land is my land”
Learn about a Canadian version of a folk song.
Victoria Day: Learning to sing “God save the king”
Learn why Canadians celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday and how to sing our royal anthem.
Sports
Lesson plans
Introducing ice hockey
Introduce your students to some basic facts about Canada’s favourite sport.
Resources
Links to helpful external resources …
- EngVid: Learn about ice hockey from a Canadian (Video and other lesson plan activities.)
- English4Sport: Unit 14 reading, Ice battle (A passage describing a hockey game where students can get definitions of key terms by clicking on them.)
Environment
Geography
Lesson plans
Three Prairie provinces
Learn about the geography and economies of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba
Resources
Links to helpful external resources …
Weather and weather forecasts
Lesson plans
Understanding weather forecasts
Learn the basic vocabulary needed to understand a weather forecast.
Winter weather
Learn the basic vocabulary needed to describe winter weather.
Resources
Links to helpful external resources …
- Anna Dyachenko, Regina Open Door Society: CLB 2 Listening Assessment: Weather Report
- E4B Free English Course: Weather Forecast – Everyday English Essentials (Video.)
- ESOL Courses: Weather words
- Games4ESL: Weather quiz
- Learning Chocolate:
- Literacy Centre of Expertise:
- Discussion questions:
- LearnHip: Conversation cards (Scroll to “The weather.”)
- The Internet TESL Journal Archives conversation questions: Weather
Seasons
Lesson plans
Seasons and months
Identify the seasons and months (and what to expect in Alberta).
Resources
Links to helpful external resources …
- ESOL Courses: Months of the year (Click on the “Months” and “Games” tabs for more activities.)
- ESL Games Plus: Days of the week
- Games4ESL:
- Learning Chocolate: Time/date index page (Days of the week, months, seasons, reading a calendar.)
- Wordwall:
- Handanteacher: Months order
- Kseniateacher: Months quiz (Multiple-choice questions.)
- U78236381: Months matchup*
- Dates/months/seasons discussion questions:
- The Internet TESL Journal Archives conversation questions:
RELATED PAGES
Introducing Canadian citizenship
This page provides simplified and shortened lesson plans for beginner ESL students on topics related to Canadian citizenship. The page is…
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Canadian holidays
Teach your beginner ESL students about Canadian holidays using these online lesson plans and other resources. Lesson plans include opening and…
Keep readingCANADA YOUTUBE PLAYLIST
Click the small arrow at the top right of this video to play the videos or go to the YouTube Canada Playlist.
CANADA WORDWALL ACTIVITIES
Wordwall is a very useful interactive lesson-creation site. If you sign up for a free Wordwall account, you will be able to see our “Canada” folder, which includes ESL Directions activities that you can add to your lessons.
RECENTLY UPDATED LESSON PLANS
Talking about illnesses
This lesson plan focuses on teaching students about common illnesses and their treatments. Aimed at…
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Seasons and months
This lesson plan teaches ESL students the names for seasons and months, with a focus…
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ABOUT ESL DIRECTIONS
Kathy Garnsworthy, the creator of ESL Directions, is an ESL teacher, movie buff, constant reader, and former editor and communications pro. Now a graduate of the Teaching English as a Second Language program at the University of Manitoba and an ESL teacher in Edmonton, Alberta, she specializes in teaching online classes of beginner ESL students.
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