Saying “hello”

Learn ways to say “hello” in English

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by ESL Directions

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Back to “Meeting people”

Lesson plan overview

Task	To learn ways to say “hello” in Canada and how to respond to these greetings.
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 to 3 hours (depending on how many parts of the lesson you complete).
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. Students learn some of the differences between formal and informal English. 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 will discuss cultural differences in greetings.
Specific task learning objectives	Students learn some of the many ways to greet people in English. Students learn appropriate responses to various greetings. Students learn the difference between formal and informal greetings.
ESL Directions original video (🎥) and audio (🔊) activities?	This lesson includes original 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 (about 1.5 hours) if you want to focus on:

Sentence production.

Specific lesson-related grammar points. Note: Every lesson also includes similar practice exercises for subjects, verbs, and objects — the basic building blocks of most English sentences.

Part C: Reflection Questions
These topic-related discussion questions work at the end of either part A or B.

Lesson plan

Part A: Vocabulary acquisition and practice

Warm-up: Introducing the topic and defining our terms

Today, we’re going to practice saying hello in English (and how to respond to these greetings).

What does “hello” mean?
What does “greeting” mean?
What does “response” mean?
Can anyone tell me some common greetings in English?

Skill-building activities

Put together the greeting and response:

Meeting someone for the first time* 🔊
Meeting someone again* 🔊

Skill-using tasks

Saying hello 🎥 (Watch a video using the lesson’s vocabulary.)

Listen to the greetings and responses again* 🔊
Match greetings and responses:
- Meeting for the first time*
- Meeting again*
Formal or informal greetings?* (What does “formal” mean? What does “informal” mean? Place the tiles under the “correct “Formal” or “Informal” headings.)
Greetings and responses* (Match greetings with responses.)

Assessment/review tasks

Practicing conversation starters*
Greetings conversation cards* (Respond to these open-ended greetings.)

Part B: Building sentences

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.

To help us, we’ll focus on:

Using “is,” “am,” and “are” to introduce yourself.
Answering “how are you?” questions.

Subject, verb, and object word order.

Skill-building and skill-using activities

Verb tenses: Using “is,” “am,” and “are” to introduce yourself

The present tense of the verb “to be” has various forms. Today, we’ll focus on using “is,” “am,” and “are” to introduce yourself.

Quick guide: Using “is,” “am,” and “are” to introduce yourself*
Let’s practice*
Using “is,” “am,” and “are” to introduce yourself* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)

Question and answer pattern: “How are you?”

Quick guide to answering “how are you?” questions*
Let’s practice*
Answering “how are you?” questions* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)

Word order in English sentences

Today, we’ll 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*
Create sentences in subject/verb/object order*
Subject/verb/object explainer* (A more detailed explanation that you can teach in class or send home with your students.)

Assessment/review activities

Saying hello to friends*🎥 (Watch a story using the lesson vocabulary and grammar points.)

Saying hello to friends: Reading passage and comprehension questions* 🔊 (Read the story, and identify the grammar points.)

Part C: Reflection questions

What are three words or phrases that you learned today?
Are there many different ways of greeting people in your home country?
In Canada, we usually shake hands when greeting people (although Covid made this more optional). Do you greet people another way (e.g., kissing or bowing) in your home country?
Are there formal and informal greetings in your home country?

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