"I can’t think of any English lesson topics . . ." Lesson Plan Topics List For New Foreign English Teachers In Korean Public Schools

The list below is from an orientation program I put together.

Again, if you copy this and use it please cite the source: Jason Ryan. I do not claim to have created and authored all of the ideas and topics below, and for topics, ideas, and lessons I did not create I cite the website . . . but I did take the time and energy to put it together, and post it. There may be some repetition or small variations in the topics, but I don't have the time to edit it right now . . .

Anyways, I hope some people find it useful.

Thanks,
J

1. Introductions

2. Classroom English: Basic Commands, Expressions, Questions and Answers

3. Family

4. Interview English: Getting to know you

5. Debate English: Plastic Surgery, Artificial Beauty vs. Natural Beauty

6. Math in English

7. Game English: expressions and vocabulary

8. Five Important Questions:

1. Can you repeat that SLOWLY please?

2. How do you spell ________________?

3. What does _______________ mean?

4. Can you give an example?

5. I don't understand ________________. Can you please try again?

9. Uno English

10. Interview-first-encounter English: What’s your name? Where are you from?

11. Blind-mini-golf: Giving Directions in English

12. Jenga: Balance and Warning/Caution Language

13. Scavenger Hunt

14. Cultural Differences Part I: Personal Space

15. Cultural Differences Part II: Table Manners

16. Christmas Culture: Dear Santa Letter, and Christmas Cards

17. Christmas Carols and making Christmas Decorations (making a human Christmas Tree competition)

18. Christmas Movie about Xmas Culture: The Santa, Tim Allen

19. Chusok and Thanksgiving Culture

20. Taegukgi: Korean National Flag, and National Anthem in English

21. English Diary

22. Deserted Island Survival List

23. Music Part I: different genres of music. many students don't know different kinds of music. pick 8-10 genres per lesson, give basic definitions, etc.

24. Music Part II

25. English Verbs and Bingo

26. Trip to the Doctor

27. MacDonald’s Lesson: Fast Food and Ordering in English

28. Four Seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer

29. Kimchi Ice-cream: Cooking and Recipe English

30. Fashion Magazines

31. Shopping In English

32. Win, Lose, or Draw (TV Show): Daily Activities, i.e. brushing your teeth

33. Telling the Time in English

34. Puppet Show: Fashion Show using puppets

35. Halloween Culture

36. Peppero Day and Remembrance Day: cultural differences lesson about what many countries around the world do on November 11th.

37. What would you do if . . . .

38. Why/Because Lesson

39. Soccer-baseball: Hybrid Sports

40. Parts of the Body

41. Stretching in English: Body parts and stretching commands

42. Bowling

43. Spelling Bee: Explain concept of this North American competition, and then have a spelling bee

44. Mini-Golden Bell Review

45. Spray-bottle Review Testing

46. Geography Part I: World Flags

47. Geography Part II: Around the world . . .

48. Geography Part III: World Time Zones

49. Reality vs. Illusion: What is the Matrix?

50. Ghost Stories

51. Dreams, hopes, and goals for the future. When I grow up I want to be/want to have/want to travel to . . .

52. Tongue Twisters and Pronunciation: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Sally sells seashells down by the seashore . . .

53. Family Tree: Different kinds of trees, different kinds of families

54. Fairy Tales: Once upon a time .. .

55. Planning a Trip

56. Banks and Finances

57. Signs, Notices, and Warnings in English

58. Supermarkets and Grocery Stores

59. How to read a Newspaper: different sections, etc

60. Major Historical Figures in Western Culture: Martin Luther King, Jr

61. Major Historical Figures in Western Culture: Shakespeare

62. Science in English: egg in a box drop and physics

63. History of Flight, making paper airplanes

64. Comic Strips: Design your own comic book in English

65. Group Broadcasting: Weather Report, Celebrity Interviews, News Headlines

66. Ice-Breaking Games: Hello, my name is, Her name is, His name is (balloon is popped every time there is a mistake)

67. Newspaper: Make your own Headline in English, and draw the pictures for the story you write

68. Famous Women in Korean History Part I

69. Famous Men in Korean History Part II

70. Puppet Fashion Designing clothing class, students design new versions of traditional Korean costume

71. Poem by Bernard Shaw from TEFL Unit on Pronunciation and words that sound the same but are spelled differently in English

72. Mini-Olympic Games

73. Body Art (tattoos) and Subcultures

74. World Religions

75. Holiday Culture: Easter: egg painting . . .

76. Holiday Culture: New Year’s Eve: New Year’s Resolutions

77. Holiday Culture: Valentine’s Day

78. Basics 101: alphabet (and consonants/vowels pronunciation) seasons, months of the year, days of the week, numbers, colours

79. Phone conversation

80. Idioms

81. Konglish and English: make a list of Konglish, and English expresions. The students have to figure out which expressions are Konglish, and which are English.

82. Careers/Jobs

83. Personality Types: What’s your personality type? Get a survey from the internet, maybe do the colours and personality type survey. (Explain that the blood type and personality theory in Korean popular culture has no scientific basis of truth or validity.)

84. Feelings and Emotions

85. Grammar Rules: must and musn’t, or, can and can’t

86. Bingo and Irregular Verbs

87. Simon Says and Body Parts

88. TV Game Show: Blind Date, three boys and a girl, three girls and a boy, questions and answers . . . . have a host, etc.

89. Nature Part 1: Animals

90. Nature Part 2: Environment

91. Nature Part 3: Weather

92. Popular Culture: learn a song

93. Jeopardy

94. Wheel of Fortune

95. The Price Is Right

96. C.P.R. Part 1

97. C.P.R. Part 2

98. Emergency First Aid Part 1

99. Emergency First Aid Part 2

100. Hygiene: Viruses, Bacteria, and Germs

100. Treasure map . . . .

101. Twister Game . . .

102. Robot: Giving directions in English. Students have toilet paper, string, markers, and tape. Make one student in their group into a "robot"and then they practice giving the robot orders in English.

103. Scrabble.

104. English Diary

105. Writing post cards and letters.

106. How to write a paragraph.

107. How to write an essay.

108. Flags and countries

109. Art and different styles of art.

110. Planning a Trip

111. Politics . . . voting, elections . . . .

112. Love Songs

113. Olympics: go over brief history, and get students to make a new olympic sport, and then demonstrate it. Or make a HYBRID SPORT of two or three existing events. WINTER OLMPICS AND SUMMER OLYPICS

114. Cooking in English

116. Insects and Bugs . . .

117. Airport English

118. Hotel English

119. Taxi English

120. Traveling by Bus or Subway

121. Making reservations at a hotel or restaurant.

122. Fantasy and the future: design a city of the future, school . ..

123. Space Explorers: Trip to Mars . . .

124. Time Capsule Project

125. Superheroes

126. Design a new model for the family home that is not based on the traditional family home design.

127. Memory Game . . .

128. Time Machine . . .

129. The Korean School of the future . . . what would they change, and keep? How many school days, hours per day, uniforms???

130. If was Principal for a day, I would . . .

131. If I were invisible for a day . . .

132. Genie and 3 Wishes . . .

133. Mad Scientist Experiment . . . Kimchi Ice-cream lesson combo

134. Homemade Rocket Experiment . . .

135. Nature: if you were God for a day, what kind of world would you create?

136. Murphy’s Law: conditionals (bogglesworld.com)

137. Aliens

138. Genetics

139. Deadly Reptiles: The world’s most poisonous animals

140. 7 Wonders of the World

141. Cooking in English: Harry Potter: Magic Potion Recipes (bogglesworld.com)

142. Solar System and planets, Astronomy and Astrology

143. Psychology 101

144. Cyborgs . . .

145. Design your own family crest, coat-of-arms, etc

146. Fortune Telling: palmistry, tarot cards, oracles

147. How to make balloon animals.

148. How to use a map and compass.

149. Emergency Wilderness Survival 101

150. Laws: make new laws that you would like to see in your society. Explain why. And explain how they would be enforced, and what penalties you would choose.

151. Men and Women: Gender Equality Debate, and Differences . . .

152. Violence and popular culture, http://esl.about.com/od/conversationlessonplans/

153. Life Then, Life Now: Traditions and Change

154. Stereotypes

155. ‘Human Nature’: Debate in English: Tabula Rasa vs. Original Sin, provide students with model scripts of different styles of logic/argument phrases, expressions/questions/rhetorical questions . . .

156. Tag: Freeze Tag, Blob Tag, etc.

157. Jenga: roll the dice, different colours require different spoken English in order to take your turn pulling out the block. Red: say a verb using a sentence, Blue: use a noun, Yellow: . .. . . Pick a TOPIC to guide the students in their selections.

158. Speed Limit card game from www.englishtiger.com, each card has a different vehicle of kind of transportation on it. Instead of saying "____ plus/minus _____ equals _____," when the student plays a card, they look at the picture on the card of a mode of transportation, and the student says "A ____ goes _____ km/miles per hour."Teach speed expressions, and language related to vehicles and transportation.

159. TV Commercial: design a new product, and then make a TV commercial for the product. I.e., Kimchi tooth paste.

160. If I won a million dollars I would buy, go to . . . .

161. Make your own English t-shirt. Students bring a plain white t-shirt to class. Supplies: markers, glue, stickers, etc. Provide sample slogans of t-shirts.

162. Sock-Puppet Theater: Students bring one or two white socks from home, and make their own puppets. Consider the supplies needed and what students might be able to bring themselves. Use cardboard to make a stage that sits on top of the teacher’s desk. The students can use markers, and construction paper and glue, to make sets and different locations.

163. Archetypes, Myths, Heroes and Heroines. Students make up their own 1-4 topic depending on lesson topic . . … . .

164. CSI TV show lesson . . .. . have no idea how that would work, but it could be cool.

165. Year Book Project . ..

166. Class or School Blog Project/Club . . . . with pics from classes, and more advanced students could write entries for it . . .

167. Family Feud Game Show, need Korean statistics for that . . .

168. Boy Bands and Girl Bands

169. Pop songs: learn a song that has everyday English expressions it, If I Had A Million Dollars, Barenaked Ladies, etc

170. Shakespeare: Take a 12-20 line dialogue from, i.e. Romeo and Juliet, show students a video clip of the dialogue segment, teach the vocabulary and expressions, drill the dialogue, and then they perform the scene in pairs . ..

171. Movie/TV show script from online sites: make copies for students. Underline key words and phrases and idioms they may not know, go over them, CT explains them, and then drill pronunciation, explain things about body language and cultural rules for the scene/people/situation, and then role play practice, then volunteers perform the script==use a video camera if your school has one . . . . then watch the tape after and coach students on what they can improve upon in their English speaking—plus it would be fun to watch too.