A typical day

Present simple & frequency adverbs

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Time 60-90 min
Type Standard
Level Beginner

Overview

This lesson focuses on daily routines. Students will learn to describe their typical day using the present simple, adverbs of frequency, and basic conjunctions like and and because. The main objective is for learners to accurately use the third-person singular when talking about other people's routines, focusing on the addition of -s or -es to the verb.

The students will watch a video of a woman describing her day, which they can use to identify key routine vocabulary. After a grammar focus on the third person, students move into practice activities where they rewrite present simple sentences. The lesson finishes with a few speaking activities where students write about their own day, bluff a partner, and interview each other about their daily routines.

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Our standard lessons follow a consistent six-stage flow: warm-up, a presentation based on real content (video, text or images), a contextual language focus stage, controlled practice, a free practice session, and a final homework task.

Each lesson includes a printable student worksheet and teacher’s guide with answer keys. For digital classrooms, we provide an editable Google Slides e-lesson, that is also compatible with PowerPoint.

The warm-up stage of our ESL conversation/speaking lesson plans

Warm-up

The purpose of this stage is to activate your students' existing knowledge and prepare them for the lesson's theme.

Activity 1: Students discuss various daily activities represented by images and then practice asking and answering simple questions about these habits with a partner.

The presentation stage of our ESL conversation/speaking lesson plans

Presentation

During this part of the lesson, we will introduce the main content, presenting new language and concepts through video, text or images.

Activity 2: Students match common daily routine verbs and phrases from the video to their definitions to prepare for the video task.

Activity 3: Students watch the video and number the daily activities in the order they occur.

Activity 4: Students identify and correct factual errors in statements about the video.

The deeper look stage of our ESL conversation/speaking lesson plans

Language focus

This stage of of the lesson includes a contextual, interactive activity designed for presenting the target language.

Activity 5: Students examine sentences from the video and compare them to 3rd person descriptions to identify the patterns of the present simple.

The controlled practice stage of our ESL conversation/speaking lesson plans

Practice

To reinforce their understanding of the new language or concepts introduced in the lesson, the students will work on a couple of controlled practice activities.

Activity 6: Students complete a gap-fill exercise about a character's routine to practice applying third-person singular verb endings to base forms.

Activity 7: Students rewrite complex first-person sentences about a routine into the third person to practice verb conjugation alongside adverbs of frequency and conjunctions.

Activity 8: Students write a short description of their own daily habits.

The free practice stage of our ESL conversation/speaking lesson plans

Let's talk

We move into free practice for this stage, where the students apply the language in more open-ended, communicative activities.

Activity 9: Students work in pairs to read their routine sentences aloud. Their partner must listen and identify which statement is the lie.

Activity 10: Students interview a partner about their daily habits and share a few details with the class.

The homework stage of our ESL conversation lesson plans

Homework

Finally, we'll encourage students to extend their learning outside of the classroom to reinforce the language and concepts covered during the lesson.

Homework task: Students read a short narrative about a character named Finn and fill in the blanks using the correct form of the verbs provided.

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