ESL Lesson Plans for Adults, Beginners & Advanced

Do you need help with planning ESL lessons? Then you’re certainly in the right place. Most teachers do, and unless you’ve taken a TEFL training course of some kind, you may not ever have to know the correct way to go about making an ESL lesson plan. Keep on reading for everything you need to know about adult ESL lesson plans.

Find out all the details you need to know to make a lesson plan for adults or children quickly and easily. It’s some ESL teaching awesome and you won’t want to miss this introduction to ESL lesson planning for beginners, intermediates and advanced students!

ESL Lesson Planning Introduction

If you’re looking for help with your ESL lesson plans, you’ve come to the right place. I know that many teachers first go abroad to teach English without any sort of training in teaching English. Employers, especially if you work at a private language institute are often no help. Not sure if this job is right for you? Have a look here: Is Teaching English Abroad Worth It?

They often say things like, “You speak English! Just go teach.” Teachers are often left to their own devices when it comes to lesson planning. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it. The good news is that planning a decent ESL lesson really isn’t so complicated.

Keep on reading for everything you need to know about ESL lesson planning.

ESL Lesson Plan Templates for Adults

Making an ESL lesson plan is really quite simple if you use these templates. You can use the basics and adapt them to your own purposes. Although these lesson plans are for adults, you can use the same principles as you plan your lessons for children.

I designed these lesson plan templates using the knowledge I gained while taking the CELTA and DELTA courses. Without further ado, here they are.

ESL Listening Lesson Plan Template

Check out this article for the steps you can follow for an ESL listening lesson:

ESL Listening Lesson Plan Template

Also, be sure to check out this video:

ESL Reading Lesson Plan Template

Check out this article for the steps in an ESL reading lesson:

ESL Reading Lesson Plan Template

Learn more about it in this video:

ESL Speaking Lesson Plan Template

This lesson plan is actually a grammar or vocabulary focused class disguised as a speaking one. “Speaking” alone isn’t really a great lesson objective. You should also include something more substantial such as a specific grammar point or some new vocabulary.

Speaking ESL Lesson Plan Template 

You might also want to check out this video:

How to Teach an ESL Grammar Lesson

ESL Grammar Lesson Plan for Adults

All of these EFL lesson plans are easy to adapt to just about any topic, vocabulary set, or grammar point that you want to teach which makes it super easy to get them ready to go in just a few minutes.

If you want to see a ready-made lesson plan that I use with my own students, here’s a conversation focused on the topic of technology. It’s best for intermediate-advanced level classes of teenagers or adults.

Ready-Made ESL Lesson Plans

Have a look at some of the lesson plans that I’ve created over the years.

ESL Lesson Plan: Technology.

Social Problems ESL Lesson Plan.

Google Investing in Renewable Energy

If I Had a Million Dollars (song by the Barenaked Ladies)

Best of Both Worlds

What about ESL Lesson Plans for Beginners?

If you teach beginners, you’ll probably want to know whether or not these templates will work for you. The good news is that they can be easily adapted to just about any level of student, except perhaps the absolute beginner who doesn’t know how to read or lacks a very basic working vocabulary.

For beginners, you’ll want to choose shorter, simpler reading or listening passages and of course, easier written or spoken work. Then, select games and activities with the level of your students in mind and you’ll have no problem with making your own beginner EFL lesson plans.

What about EFL Lesson Plans for Kids?

These templates are designed for teaching adults and are quite heavy on things like, “Talk to your partner for 3 minutes about XYZ.” If you teach older, more advanced children then something like this would certainly be possible. But for young learners, this can be quite difficult.

You can still adapt these templates for teaching children but please bear in mind that you’ll often need to make them more teacher-centred and incorporate more things like songs, chants, and movement into them.

Advanced ESL Conversation Lessons

I remember back when I first started teaching and I thought that higher-level students would be easier to teach than beginners. After all, we could communicate with each other easily. Over time, I found this not to be the case at all. Even though basic communication was not a problem, it’s hard to do things in class that challenge them enough.

I’ve found that it can be really useful if you use authentic material and challenge your advanced students that way instead of just relying on ESL textbooks, which are often too easy and often quite boring.

Maybe you’ve also found that these books cover the same topics, over and over, and over again? Movies, sports, family, jobs, weather (more ideas here: ESL Weather), cities, etc. Switch it up with one of these advanced English conversation lesson plans and talk about some real stuff!

You could also consider using a book like this one: Great Debates for ESL/EFL with your higher-level students. This book is guaranteed to get the conversation juices flowing!

How Do I Plan an Advanced TEFL Conversation Lesson?

If you are a little bit shaky on the lesson planning, not to worry, many TEFL teachers are until they get a bit of practice, or take a course like the CELTA.

An ESL conversation lesson plan has a few basic steps in, including the following:

• Setting the context
• Working on meaning
• Forms
• Pronunciation practice
• Controlled practice
• Freer practice
• Follow-up or homework (optional)

Or, you could consider mixing things up a little bit and trying something different. Consider planning a lesson using the test teach test approach or task-based learning.

What should I teach advanced ESL students?

Here are some of the best ideas for teaching advanced ESL students:

• Use authentic materials (those not designed for English learners).
• Debating.
• Idioms, phrases, slang, phrasal verbs, and English collocations.
• TV shows and movies.
• Academic writing assignments.

What is the highest level of ESL?

ESL levels range from absolute beginners to intermediate and then advanced. Finally, the highest level before native English speaker is proficient.

Do I need a lesson plan for ESL advanced lessons?

It’s always recommended to use an ESL lesson plan, even for advanced lessons. Start with an objective and go from there with how to present the language and then include some opportunities for practice.

How should I teach an advanced English class?

Teaching an advanced English class can be a bit challenging and will keep you on your toes! Start by doing an assessment to find out which areas students need to improve on, and ask students what they want to focus on. Then, tailor your lessons to these findings.

Tips for teaching Higher-Level English learners

More Lesson Plans for ESL Teachers

Maybe you’re kind of like me and have a lot going on and you don’t like to spend a ton of time making lesson plans from scratch. I totally get it and often feel the same way. Check out these recommendations for the best lesson plans for ESL teachers:

ESL Library

TEFL.net

ESL Authority

ESL Kids Stuff

British Council

Do you have any recommendations? Scroll down and leave a comment with your top picks.

Should I Make my Own EFL Lesson Plan or Just Follow an ESL Textbook?

A common question that many teachers have is whether or not they should make their own lesson plans or just follow the textbook that their school assigns them. In reality, I find that a combination of the two is the best approach for me.

At my university, the administration generally assigns a textbook for each class. If they don’t, I’ll usually choose one myself. Then, for each class, I’ll base my own lesson plan around a unit from the book. For example, I’ll usually use the listening or reading passage, some of the grammar or vocabulary exercises, and perhaps some other things depending on the situation.

Then, for the latter part of the class, I’ll usually use my own game or activity to reinforce the concepts in the textbook. And, it’s not like it’s one or the other. All of these lesson plan templates generally follow a similar structure to how lessons are developed in textbooks.

Enjoyed these ESL Lesson Plans? 

You’ve just checked out some of my top recommendations for ESL lesson plans for adults. And, you’ll probably need some top-quality English activities and games to go along with them, right? The book you’ll need to check out on Amazon is 101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults.

A Wide Variety of Engaging EL Activities

There are dozens of ESL activities to choose from. Mix things up a bit and keep your students on their toes. They’ll have fun, be engaged, and best of all, learn lots of English!

Well-Organized into Various Sections

101 ESL Activities is well-organized into sections: reading, writing, speaking, warm-ups and icebreakers, grammar, 4-skills, etc. to make it easier than ever to plan your lessons. Just go to the section you’re interested in, and you should be able to find what you need in just a minute or two.

Stop Wasting Time When Doing Lesson Plans

If you’re tired of wasting your time searching around on the Internet for the game or activity you need, this is the book for you! It’s only the good stuff, well-explained so you can get onto things other than lesson planning.

Available in a Variety of Formats

You can get it on Amazon in both print and digital formats. The e-version can easily be read on any device by downloading the free Kindle reading app. Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office as a handy reference guide. Or, take a copy with you for lesson planning at your favorite coffee shop.

Shop Now

Want to get yourself some ESL awesome? Yes? Thought so! Learn more about this popular ESL activity and game book here:

ESL Lesson Plan FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about ESL lesson plans for adults. Here are the answers to some of the most common ones.

How do I make an ESL lesson plan for adults?

There are a few simple steps that you can follow to make an ESL lesson plan for adults.

1. Learning objectives: make sure they are clear in your head.
2. Warmer or review activity.
3. Set the context.
4. Presentation.
5. Controlled practiced.
6. Freer practice.
7. Review.
8. Homework or extra activities.

What are the 4 A’s in a lesson plan?

The 4 A’s in a lesson plan are:

1. Activate prior knowledge.
2. Acquire new knowledge.
3. Apply the knowledge.
4. Assess that knowledge.

What are the 7 E’s of a lesson plan?

The 7 E’s of a lesson plan are as follows:

1. Elicit.
2. Engage.
3. Explore.
4. Explain.
5. Elaborate.
6. Extend.
7. Evaluate.

What makes a good ESL lesson plan for adults?

A good lesson plan for adults is student-centred, engaging, interactive and has a clear focus. Ideally, students should be talking most of the time and the teacher should act as more of a facilitator or guide.

What are the basic ESL teaching skills when teaching adults?

The basic ESL teaching skills when teaching adults are as follows:

• Excellent communication skills.
• A good sense of humour and the ability to laugh at yourself.
• Public speaking.
• Time management.
• Attention to detail with paperwork.

Is there an ESL Lesson Planning Template?

Check out this book for ready-made templates: ESL Lesson Planner.

Have your Say about ESL Lesson Planning

Do you have any go-to resources for how to plan an ESL lesson? Or, any sort of template that you like to use? Or, do you have a source of ready-made EFL lesson plans? Leave a comment below and let us know your tips and tricks. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. It’ll help other teachers, like yourself, find this useful English teaching resource. Oh yeah, and don’t set foot inside the classroom with a pair of the best shoes for teachers.

 

Last update on 2025-06-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API