How to Write a Lesson Plan for Teaching English As a Foreign Language to Kids

Man in black jacket sitting on chair in front of brown wooden table.jpg

Many countries from across the world place a strong emphasis on learning English. This begins at a young age and continues even through college. Teaching the language to children is a great responsibility, but don't let that bog you down. Make your lessons fun and engaging, but stick to an easy formula for your lesson plans.

1 Start with a greeting

Start with a greeting. It's important for your students to talk to you, so starting with a simple, "Hello! How are you?" can help get the communication going. Over time you can teach your students answers such as "I'm fine," "Happy," "Excellent" or "Not so good."

2 Follow your greeting

Follow your greeting with a "hook" or warm-up activity. This gets the students excited for the rest of the lesson. Try a short video pertaining to the lesson, continued dialogue between teacher/students or total physical response (TPR) activities where you tell the students to do something and they respond (i.e., show me your pencil, touch your head).

3 Introduce the topic for today's lesson

Introduce the topic for today's lesson. You can do this with a short game, a Power Point or even vocabulary flash cards. Make sure the students have a firm understanding of the topic material and give time for questions.

4 Participate

Participate in a game or activity with your students. Again, the game should pertain to the lesson at hand. The purpose is to allow your students to put to use the information they just learned. You can play a game with the entire class, split the class intro groups or do a quiet activity like a word search or work in a workbook.

5 Wrap up your lesson with a short

Wrap up your lesson with a short, informal quiz. Ask your students questions about what they learned to test their knowledge.

6 Plan out and then use it

Type your lessons plan out and then use it as a template for future lesson plans. Your typed lesson plan should include include any information you need to remind yourself about what you have planned. The amount of detail in a lesson plan varies for every teacher.

Wendy Rose Gould is a professional journalist who has contributed to "Glamour" magazine and the Huffington Post, among other publications. After internships at the "Indianapolis Business Journal," "Kiwanis International" and "NUVO Newsweekly," she earned BA degrees in journalism and philosophy from Franklin College in 2008. Gould specializes in lifestyle topics.

×