Puzzles: a workout for the brain
Lesson plan overview
This ESL lesson plan is dedicated to the benefits of playing with puzzles. Students will learn vocabulary about puzzles and other mentally stimulating games, as well as idioms with “brain” and “puzzles”, will talk about ways to stay mentally active and get mental stimulation, and watch a video about the benefits of puzzles. You can combine this lesson with other video-based such as “What happens to your brain when you have a concussion”, “Meditation and the brain”, “Is technology making us dumb“, and “Do IQ tests measure our intelligence?“, as well as the worksheets “Idioms: critical thinking and analysing“, “Idioms: intelligence“, and “Idioms: talents, skills, and abilities”
Speaking: The lesson starts with a general discussion about mental stimulation, brain training apps and staying mentally active. Then students are given 6 riddles and are tasked with finding the answers.
Vocabulary: students learn vocabulary about different types of mentally-stimulating activities (jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzle, chess, sudoku, maze, Rubik’s cube) and a few adjectives. They are asked to talk about these activities and to use the adjectives to describe how they feel about each activity.
Listening: Students watch a video “The benefits of playing with puzzles” and complete 2 tasks.
Vocabulary: Students learn different expressions with the word “puzzle” and “brain” (to be puzzled, find the missing piece of the puzzle, pick someone’s brains, rack one’s brains, etc.) by looking at 2 groups of sentences and matching the expressions to their definitions. Then, they complete 6 short dialogues with the correct expression. Finally, they discuss a few conversation questions given.
Vocabulary review: As a last activity, students are given a crossword puzzle to solve with vocabulary from this lesson.
You can use the conversation cards to further practise the expressions from this lesson.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
All video-based ESL lesson plans include online pre-class activities, which are FREE and can be completed without registration. Perfect for teachers who wish to embrace the blended learning approach. By providing students with resources and engagement opportunities before the actual class session, educators can foster active participation, enhance comprehension, and optimise in-class discussions.
The pre-class activities are optional: if you choose not to assign them, or your students don’t complete them, it will not disturb the flow of the class. You can find and review the pre-class activities for this lesson plan here:
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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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