St. Patrick’s Day traditions explained
Lesson plan overview
This upper-intermediate ESL lesson plan is about Saint Patrick’s Day traditions, with a focus on vocabulary about drinking and giving a toast (with examples for various occasions). Students discuss Irish history, culture, and St. Patrick’s Day and watch 2 videos. For A2-B1- level students, you can check out the lesson “St. Patrick’s Day”.
The lesson starts with a few conversation questions about Ireland, Irish history, the portrayal of Irish culture, and the significance of St. Patrick’s Day. Students also look at 2 opinions about St. Patrick’s Day, and decide which one they agree with.
Vocabulary: Students learn expressions they will later hear in the video (e.g. filled to the brim, drink the night away, booze, indulge in something). Students look at sentences containing the expressions, and match them to their definitions. To practice, they complete 5 sentences with their own ideas.
Listening 1: Students watch a video called “Why we wear green on St. Patrick’s day and other Irish traditions”, and answer 7 questions. Then, they look at extracts from the video, containing more interesting expressions, such as to sport something, to flaunt something, to be looked down on, to secede, and decide which definition is the correct one. Then, they complete 6 questions with the correct expressions, and ask and answer the questions in pairs or small groups.
Before they watch the second video, students answer a few questions related to attitudes towards alcohol in their country, and how they feel about making toasts. Then, they look at extracts from the video, and try to guess the missing words. After that they watch the video called “How to drink like the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day”, and check their answers.
Speaking: Students look at examples of toasts, and decide what is the occasion. Finally, they are asked to give a toast, using the useful expressions given.
To review the target vocabulary, and for some more speaking practice, you can use the 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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