Support for teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic

To support teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic, there are two versions of this lesson plan – the original lesson plan for face-to-face teaching and an adapted lesson plan for teachers providing online classes.

Face-to-face classroom lesson

In this lesson learners learn about life under the sea. They are introduced to different sea animals through flashcard games, then they complete a worksheet to invent their own sea creatures, which they present to their classmates. At the end of the lesson they listen to a fun song.

Aims

• To learn about some of the animals that live under the sea
• To practise talking about sea animals (big, small, long, colours, it's got/it hasn't got, it can/can't, etc.)
• To give learners an opportunity to create their own sea creature and present it to their classmates
• To provide listening practice with an ocean-themed song

Online classroom lesson

In this lesson learners learn about life under the sea. They introduce each other to different sea animals through a pre-lesson task, then they are exposed to language to describe sea animals with a focus on body parts. Then they share their favourite sea animal and practise describing it. Individually they imagine a version of a new sea animal and they compare their versions in small groups. Finally, they brainstorm some ideas in preparation for their homework to create and describe their own new sea animal.

Aims

• To learn about some of the animals that live under the sea
• To practise talking about sea animals (it's got/it hasn't got, it eats/it doesn't eat, it can/can't, etc.)
• To give learners an opportunity to imagine a sea animal and compare it to others
• To enable learners to create and describe their own sea animal as a homework task in preparation for the following lesson

Age group

Primary

Level

CEFR level A1–A2

Time

50–60 minutes (face-to-face) or 60 minutes (online)

Materials

The lesson plans and materials can be downloaded below. In addition, for the face-to-face classroom lesson, you will need:

• flashcards: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/flashcards/sea-animals-flashcards
• song: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/songs/everything-beneath-the-sea
• sticky tack
• colour pens or pencils

Important: Please read

Included in the teachers' notes for the online classroom lesson, you will find guidance and advice for what teachers need to know and do before and at the beginning of an online class. Please read the lesson instructions carefully before using them. They are for guidance only, and designed to be used with the most common online platforms. You may need to adapt the lesson to the format and online platform you are working with.

A combination of the lesson plan for online teaching and the lesson plan for face-to-face teaching can be used in 'hybrid' situations, where some students in the class are studying from home and others are physically in the classroom. Classroom material for the online lesson is provided as a PDF.