Learn the basic vocabulary needed to understand a weather forecast
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Week of Oct. 5/26
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Lesson plan overview
| Task | To learn the basic vocabulary needed to understand a weather forecast. |
| CLB level | CLB Stage I (CLB 1-3) |
| Delivery method | Online |
| Class size | 10-15 students (vary the number of activities according to your class size) |
| Estimated time | 1.5-3 hours (depending on whether you do all parts of the lesson) |
| CLB Skills and Competencies | Speaking: Interacting with others Sharing information Listening: Interacting with others Comprehending information Reading: Comprehending information |
| Language focus | Learn the vocabulary needed to understand this topic. Complete the optional “Part B: Building Sentences” activities below to help your students move from understanding vocabulary to using that vocabulary to create simple sentences. Use the appropriate grammar structures and vocabulary to respond personally to the reflection questions. (Encourage students to respond in full sentences.) |
| Cultural focus | Students discuss the importance of weather forecasts in Canada, especially during times of extreme weather. |
| Specific task learning objectives | Students learn basic vocabulary related to weather forecasts. Students can match weather types with symbols used in weather reports. Students create brief sentences using weather vocabulary. Students understand a basic weather forecast, including how to pronounce Canadian temperatures (e.g., 20° C). Students practice what they’ve learned using a real 7-day forecast from Environment Canada. Students discuss where to find weather forecast information and what weather conditions might be hazardous in Canada. |
| ESL Directions original video (🎥) and audio (🔊) activities? | This lesson plan includes video (🎥) and audio (🔊) activities. |
| Resource attribution | ESL Directions original resources are marked below with an asterisk (*). Feel free to use these, but please give credit to ESL Directions. |
Part A: Vocabulary acquisition and practice
This is a self-contained, complete lesson plan (about 1.5 hours) focused on vocabulary.
Part B: Building sentences
Part B takes your students further by giving them some tools to build simple sentences (using the vocabulary they learned in Part A).
Use Part B if you want to focus on sentence production, teach for a longer time (1 to 1.5 additional hours), or break your lesson into two related parts.
Part C: Reflection Questions
These questions work at the end of either part A or B.
Lesson plan
Part A: Vocabulary acquisition and practice
FEATURED CONTENT
Warm-up: Introducing the topic and defining our terms
- Today, we’re going to talk about weather forecasts.
- What is weather?
- What is a weather forecast?
- What are some words related to weather forecasts?
Skill-building activities
- Weather vocabulary: Fliptiles*
- Listen to the vocabulary again* (Think about how to say each word and what it means. This activity includes an optional grammar challenge.) 🔊
Skill-using tasks
- Match weather vocabulary and pictures*
- Match weather vocabulary with weather symbols*
- Weather symbols practice: Pair or no pair*
- Listen to a seven-day weather forecast* 🎥
- Let’s listen to a weather forecast* (Listen to and read a weather forecast. Answer questions about each day’s forecast.) 🔊
Assessment/review tasks
- Let’s go to a real forecast (Students will look at the Environment Canada 7-day forecast for Edmonton, Alberta. Notice some of the new words used, e.g., “clear” for nighttime forecasts, “showers” for light rain.)
- Weather vocabulary: Quiz*
- Win or lose quiz*
- Spin the wheel review* (Use full sentences to describe the type of day.)
Part B: Building sentences
Warm-up: Introducing the topic
In this part of the lesson, we’re going to work on creating short sentences from the vocabulary we learned in Part A.
Skill-building and skill-using activities
Verb tenses
English uses verbs (action words) to talk about the past, present, and future. Today, we’re going to talk about a verb tense that describes the future.
- Change the present tense to the future simple verb tense*
- Future simple verb tense explainer* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)
Parts of speech
- Quick definitions: Nouns and adjectives*
- Identifying weather nouns*
- Identifying weather adjectives*
- Sort weather words into nouns or adjectives*
- Nouns and adjectives explainer* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)
Word order in English sentences
Today, we’ll also look at three important parts of English sentences:
- What is a subject?
- What is a verb?
- What is an object?
Let’s practice!
- Quick definitions: Subjects, verbs, and objects*
- Unjumble the sentences* (See if you can find the subjects, verbs, and objects in the sentences. Use this information to form the correct sentence order.)
- Create sentences in subject/verb/object order* (See if you can find the subjects, verbs, and objects in the sentences. Use this information to form the correct sentence order.)
- Subject/verb/object explainer* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)
Assessment/review tasks
- The weather forecast* 🎥 (Watch a story using the lesson vocabulary.)
Part C: Reflection questions
- Where do you look at weather forecasts, e.g., Environment Canada, Weather Channel, radio, other?
- Why is it important to look at forecasts during winter? What weather can be dangerous in winter?
- Why is it important to look at forecasts during the summer? What weather can be dangerous in summer?
- Do you have a story about the weather in Canada?
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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.
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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