Early birds vs night owls
Lesson plan overview
This intermediate ESL lesson plan deals with the topic of sleep patterns. Students will discuss early birds and night owls, and whether you can become a morning person. You can combine it will the lessons: “Healthy habits while traveling“, “Phrasal verbs: sleep” and “Phrasal verbs: daily routines”
Speaking and vocabulary: The lesson starts with a survey students do in pairs about their morning routines. This activity also introduces sleep vocabulary (e.g. sleep in, oversleep, snooze, stay up). Students match the words to their definitions, and then complete 5 sentences with the correct word. After that students look at different activities, and say whether they prefer to do them in the morning or in the evening.
Listening: Students watch a video called “What happens when a night owl wakes up early” and complete 2 activities: a True/False activity, and a gap-fill activity. After that students engage in a post-listening discussion.
Vocabulary: Students learn expressions with “get” related to routines (e.g. get ready, get to work, get off work, get through the day, get back home). To practise, they write 5 questions, using 5 of the expressions, and interview each other in pairs.
For some more speaking practice, try the printable conversation cards.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
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In-class activities
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Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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