In this lesson, pupils celebrate friendship. First, learners are introduced to the topic of friendship through simple drawings. Then they join in a teacher-led discussion about what makes a good friend. They do a wordsearch to find keywords and use these to complete a gap-fill text about what makes a good friend. Finally, learners work in groups, using the ideas from the lesson to make classroom posters celebrating friendship.
This lesson can be used to celebrate the International Day of Friendship or at any time of the year. The United Nations declared 30 July as the International Day of Friendship with the idea that 'friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.'
Lesson outcomes
- Practise speaking skills
- Review vocabulary related to friendship
- Learn about the importance of friendship
- Use English creatively
- Celebrate the International Day of Friendship
Materials
The materials can be downloaded in PDF format below.
- Lesson plan
- Worksheet 1 - Vocabulary activities
- Worksheet 2 - Poster
You will also need:
- large sheets of paper or card
- colour pencils or crayons
Procedure
Introduce the topic of friendship on the board using some simple drawings.
- On the board, draw yourself as a stick person. Ask ‘Who’s this?’ Elicit an answer (It’s you!)
- Then draw another stick person next to you. Ask ‘Who’s this?’ Elicit an answer (It’s your friend.)
- Explain that this lesson is all about friendship. If appropriate explain that July 30th is The International Day of Friendship.
For higher levels:
Conduct a classroom discussion about what makes a good friend.
- Write the following question on the board: What makes a good friend?
- Ask learners to put up their hands to suggest ideas. Accept any reasonable ideas and make notes on the board, e.g. a good friend is kind to you. Encourage all learners to participate by sharing their ideas.
For lower level learners
- Ask learners to write a list of all the words or phrases they associate with friendship. If necessary, let them write in their own language. Give them a time limit of 2 minutes. When they have finished, write the words on the board and go through translations and/or meanings.
Give each learner a copy of Worksheet 1.
- Put learners into pairs and ask them to complete Activity 1 to find the words in the grid. If necessary, go through the words and explain the meanings.
Answers: See Appendix 1 at the end of the downloadable lesson plan. - Ask your learners to complete Activity 2. They should use the words from Activity 1 to complete the sentences. Check the answers: A jokes, B homework, C favourite, D lies, E shares, F problems, G lends, H finds, I angry, J kind
- Then ask them to complete Activity 3. They should tick the sentences that they agree with.
Note: This could be the end of lesson 1.
- Put learners into small groups to make a poster celebrating friendship.
- Give each group 1 copy of Worksheet 2. Check the instructions with the whole class. Monitor and support as needed.
Make a classroom display of the posters for parents to see when they visit the school.
Thanks a lot for the article and the lesson plan.
My classes will return on July 30th and I will implement this activity with my students, I think it will be very interesting, and then I will comment on how the class went.
thanks.