Saint Patrick’s Day
Lesson plan overview
This Free ESL lesson is about St. Patrick’s Day – it’s history, traditions, the life of St. Patrick and Irish culture. For more advanced students, you can check the video-based lesson plan “St. Patrick’s Day traditions explained“, or the worksheet “Idioms: luck“.
After an initial discussion about St. Patrick’s Day and Irish traditions, students take a look at a few photos and use the words given (shamrock, bagpipe, parade, pot of gold) to talk about how St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated nowadays.
Reading and speaking: The class is divided into 2 groups. Students in each groups read different facts about St. Patrick’s Day and then ask and answer questions about what they have read.
Video: Students watch a video: “St. Patrick’s Day: Bet You Didn’t Know“. First, they identify which 2 facts from the previous activity are mentioned in the video. Next, they answer 8 questions.
Grammar: The passive voice. First, students look at different examples of the passive voice. Then they go back to the reading activity and find all the examples of the passive voice. There are 2 practice activities: first, students complete the sentences given with the correct form of the verbs, next, they correct the mistakes in 4 sentences.
Speaking and writing: Students think about a celebration from their country or city and write a short description, using the passive voice.
Speaking: Irish proverbs: Students take a look at 10 proverbs and match them to their meanings. Then they discuss the proverbs.
NOTE: The conversation cards are grammar-oriented: students need to complete the questions and then ask and answer the questions in pairs or small groups.
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:
To send the pre-class activities to your students, copy the link below.
In-class activities
Conversation cards PDF
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.
Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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