Lesson Plans for esl kids Teachers Sign up for accompanying

3. Play "Paper, Rock, Scissors" flashcards
If your students don’t know how to play "Paper, rock, scissors" (known as jankan in Japan) start off by teaching and demonstrating the game.
Next, give everyone a job flashcard – make sure you have enough flashcards to give one to each student. Say to one student "What do you do?" and motion towards their card … elicit "I'm a (soldier)" - whatever the flashcard is that s/he is holding. Write on the board:
"What do you do?"
"I'm a ..."
Chorus each sentence three times. Then do a quick practice by asking some students "What do you do?" and have them say the job of the flashcard they are holding. Also, have students ask you and other students, until everyone is comfortable with the structures.

Now for the game. Get 2 students to stand up to model the game. Start by playing "Rock, Paper Scissors". The winner gets to ask the loser "What do you do?" and the loser must reply "I’m a ..." (saying the job on their card). Then the loser gives his/her card to the winner. Ask another student to come and model with the winner: now one student has 2 cards and the other 1. They play "Rock, paper, scissors", say the structure and the loser gives his/her card to the winner. The aim of the game is to collect as many cards as possible. If a student has no cards left, that is fine - s/he can still play: if they win a game, they get a card, if they lose they remain with no cards (and do not say the structures).
Once everyone has got the idea, have all students to stand up and hold their flashcards. Get everyone to pair up and play. As soon as they have finished they must find another person to play with. Everyone mingles around the classroom playing "Rock, paper, scissors", saying the structure and winning or losing cards. After 5 minutes stop the game. The winner is the student with the most cards. This is a really popular game with my classes!

4. Read classroom reader "The Jobs Bus"
Now that the vocabulary has been practiced we can move onto a fun, simple story which uses the target vocab. Before class, download and print off the reader "The Jobs Bus". As you go through each page, point to the different characters and ask for the students to tell you what job they have, for example:
Teacher: (pointing on page 2) Look, what does he do?
Students: Farmer!
Teacher: Yes, that's right! (reading) "I'm a farmer, Please take me to the farm". etc.
Continue through the reader, eliciting the jobs and ask lots of other questions, such as asking the students where each person works, what they are wearing, etc.
After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and read through the story one more time (without stopping for questions, etc.) as students draw the route the bus takes in the story. Then check through as a class.
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Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required):