Lesson Ideas

Halloween is a great opportunity for a themed lesson. But if you teach adults, especially at higher levels, they’ve probably seen it all, heard it all and learnt it all! After years of studying English, they’ve likely discussed the usual Halloween topics more times than they can count.

So, how about trying something different this year? In this article, we’ve put together 20 topics (with discussion questions) that are perfect alternatives to the usual Halloween themes, from strange coincidences and unsolved mysteries to the darker side of human nature.

Choose one topic as the starting point for your lesson, or explore several and let the conversations take their own direction. Who knows where they’ll lead?

When we think of summer lessons, travel, holidays, and hot weather are often the first things that come to mind. These are all useful and engaging topics, and they definitely deserve a spot in your summer syllabus. But what if you’re tired of teaching the same lessons every year?

If you’re ready to shake things up, here are seven versatile topics that work brilliantly for summer and offer plenty of scope for meaningful language practice.

We know how difficult it can be to prepare grammar revision activities without them being boring or repetitive. In this article we have 7 ideas for fun grammar revisions that don’t involve worksheets (well, except for one, but we made it fun!).

Teaching past tenses can often feel like a daunting task, but with the right activities, it can become an engaging and rewarding experience for both teachers and students. The following activities are designed to help students practise past tenses in a meaningful and interactive way.

Your students complain about doing any reading activities but you know they have to be done? You tried setting it as homework, but if only 50% of students complete it, that’s a win?

Check out these ideas on how to make your students interested in reading before you even present the text! 

International Women’s Day is just around the corner, so we’ve compiled this list of 9 ideas to help you plan lessons about women. Even if you’re not planning on covering this topic in your classes, these ideas will also work at any other time of the year. 

Is it difficult to practise speaking at the elementary level? We don’t think so! First of all, remember that at the lowest levels, speaking practice does not mean discussing complicated topics. We can establish that at this level whenever students say anything, they practise speaking. So, give them as many opportunities to speak as possible. Even if it’s only saying single sentences.

Check out our ideas for speaking activities that work with the lowest levels.

Have you got A Bunch of Humans? 

Your Valentine’s lessons are going to be a breeze! Use these zero-prep activities with the Profile Cards from A Bunch of Humans as fillers or to prepare full lessons. 

It’s time to ditch those gap-fill exercises (for the time being)! Check out our ideas for revising conditionals in speaking. 

It’s that time of year again! And if you still don’t know what to do with your students, check out our list of 15 ideas for your Christmas and New Year’s lessons.

How about making November a gratitude month? Even if you and your students don't celebrate Thanksgiving, this time of year is a great opportunity to cultivate gratitude (and practise English at the same time!). 

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of the year. It’s a great opportunity to pause and appreciate all the things we have. Even if you and your students don’t celebrate this holiday, it’s a great excuse to plan lessons on gratitude or kindness. Below, we have a few ideas for activities that you can use around this time of year.

A webquest is a lesson activity, in which students use real websites to complete a project. Check out this article for a few ideas for webquest projects, in which students have to also deal with money and budgeting.