First Lesson Ideas

Here are some first lesson ideas for that first lesson of the year after the holidays and you can't remember what this teaching thing is all about....

The first lesson is all about to establishing a routine and yourself as a teacher not a friend or 'helper'. This is especially important if you are there just to teach conversation, not as a regular English teacher.

Remember to:

• get students to write their names on any books or materials. Take photos of students too young to write their names to print and stick on things later.
• learn students' names (especially the naughty ones!)
• set rules 
• establish you getting silence routine
• establish a points system or behaviour system.
• establish entering and exiting routine
• For older students:
• check/teach  classroom phrases like 'can I go to the bathroom please?' and simple instructions eg. 'read'
• check stationery and classroom vocabulary
• practice English Only routine, for older students.
• review alphabet and spelling, (especially the letters A,E, I and Y if your students are Italian)
  
  
  
  

If you have time ice breakers are fun to do with older students, but definitely need to be preceded with rules about how to participate.

• Swap business cards mingle (How are you? I'm....)
• Find someone who...
• The memory name game (I'm Laruchka the lemur, this is Eleonora the elephant...)
• Throw the ball or soft toy with questions and the student who catches answering.
• Pass the pen 'microphone' around the circle (a variation on throwing a ball or soft toy).
• Passport control roleplay. They can prepare it in pairs and at the end of the lesson on their way out they can role play with you the teacher.

Students love to learn something about their teachers:

• Spelling dictation with personal information, eg. L.A.R.U.C.H.K.A and M.I.L.A.N. Students then guess what relevance those words have for you.
• Students can write questions for you on slips of paper and you will only answer if they are gramatically correct.
  

If you want to do something crafty make mini origami 'all about me' books with an A4 sheet of paper or passports. Read them out (without mentioning the name!) and the class must guess who they belong to.