How to Plan an ESL Valentine's Day Lesson

Introduce your English language learners to Valentine's Day in the U.S. Here are some practical lesson plan ideas for teachers to use with beginning and low-intermediate students in ESL or EFL classes.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 

   While your students arrive and take their seats, play a favorite Valentine's Day song for the class. Repeat the song later in the class with a gap-fill lyrics handout to practice listening comprehension.

2. 

   Warm up by finding out what your students already know about Valentine's Day in the U.S. Spend the first few minutes writing their ideas on the board.

3. 

   Write important holiday vocabulary (love, like, heart, Cupid, arrow, date, etc.) on the board and reinforce these words with a worksheet tailored to your students' levels (word searches and scrambles for beginners, crosswords and riddles for intermediates). Sample worksheets appear in the links below.

4. 

   Divide the class into pairs and create dialogues based on Valentine's Day themes, using the vocabulary learned in Step 3. Assign a creative scenario to each group, such as receiving a secret valentine, being on a first date that goes awry, or having an engagement ring hidden in a dessert and accidentally swallowed.

5. 

   Ask how Valentine's Day is celebrated in your students' home cultures, if at all. Use this question to introduce or reinforce the compare/contrast formula.

6. 

   Design and decorate Valentine's Day cards! Explain that in the US, Valentine's Day is not exclusively reserved for lovers and that friends and family exchange cards, too. Offer some standard card phrases and encourage your students to think of their own.

7. 

   Strike up debates. What do your students think about Valentine's Day? Is it a holiday worth celebrating or one invented to generate money for card companies and florists? Is there such a thing as love at first sight? Is speed-dating a good idea? Do people have exactly one soul mate? Are secret admirers flattering or frightening? Depending on time constraints and ability levels, you might either let the conversation flow freely or assign students to defend a certain position.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sensitive to your students' cultural backgrounds and maturity levels and tailor the content appropriately.

Resources

• Valentine's Day worksheets, games and puzzles
• More Valentine's Day Resources

[FrazzledNanny]

on 3/3/2009 Well written. Thanks for the article. 5*

[daconn]

on 1/25/2009 Thanks for the ideas - I teach Spanish and have lots of ESL students in my classes.