Would you like to visit London? That’s what we’ll be doing today in this London EFL ESL lesson plan for children. It’s a lesson plan that will last about one hour to one and a half hours and is suitable for older primary age children although you could probably adapt it for teenagers too. We’re going to be practicing using the present continuous tense to talk about what we are doing, how we are traveling and what we are visiting. We’ll use some fun games and songs to really get your class speaking English and learn all about London. So get ready to go, find a guidebook and a map, we’re off to London!
For this London EFL ESL lesson plan for children, you will need:
- London monument flashcards – use something like this or make your own
- a map of London – this is a good one but anything that shows the main monuments will be fine. Or draw a huge map on the board.
- a whiteboard or blackboard and markers or chalks
- paper, coloring pens
London songs and videos:
You could use any of the songs in my Top 10 London songs if you want but I’ve chosen two songs in particular to use in this lesson.
- Fly to London | Travel Song for Kids by Pancake Manor
- London Song Big Ben Rap by EnglishThroughMusic Madrid
Introduction
Start your class with your usual Hello routine or use one of my favorite ways to start a lesson which you can find here. Watch, learn and try to sing the Fly to London song together a couple of times. Then tell the students that today you are all traveling by London. Ask them to think of ways you can travel in London and draw them on the board as they come up with them. Make sure you have train, bus, underground, taxi, boat and on foot. Use plenty of TPR to drill the different methods of transport.
Play a very simple game to practice London transport
Ask the class, “How are you traveling?” and get one student to pretend to be on a train or a bus and then reply, “I am traveling by train”. Put the kids in pairs and let them practice asking and answering the question. Swap pairs a few times so they can try asking and answering the question with a few different people.
What are we visiting in London?
Ask the students if they know what they can see in London. Drill the London monument flashcards and make sure everyone knows what they are. Point them out on the map so everyone can see where they are and what they look like. Listen to and watch the Big Ben Rap song and see if you can all find the places mentioned in the song. Ask the kids, “Where are you going?” and give them a flashcard or let them choose a place and answer “I’m going to ….” or “I’m visiting …..”. Then go around the class in a circle and let each kid take turns asking the question to his or her neighbor. If you’ve got time, ask them how they are travelling too.
Play a Cannons, Hearts and Bombs game
I’ve talked about this game before and included in in my favorite games for primary/elementary classes. It works perfectly for this London EFL ESL lesson plan and is a really good way to practice forming phrases with the present continuous. You’ll need to prepare a sheet before the lesson with your grid and the placing of the cannons, the hearts and the bombs. Don’t let the kids see it! You can adapt the places or transport methods you use but generally, it should look something like this:
Draw an empty grid on the board and fill in the places and transport but not the hearts, cannons or bombs. Divide the class into two teams and give each team 3 points to start. Then let everyone take turns forming sentences. As they do, draw in the corresponding symbol from your pre-prepared grid and see if they find a heart (+1 point), a cannon (-1 point) or a bomb (+1 point to the other team). Whoever has the most points when the grid is completed is the winner.
Draw London maps
Give out paper and pens to everyone and ask them to make their own very simple map of London with the monuments they want to visit. If you still have time once these are finished, the kids can work in pairs and, using their maps, practice asking and answering the questions again: “Where are you going?” “How are you travelling?”.
Conclusion
When everyone has finished, sing the London songs again if you have time and then end the class with your normal routine. If you want to try something else, you can use one of my favorite Goodbye songs. Then send them home with their maps and lots of plans for future trips to London.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this London EFL ESL lesson plan for children. If you want to see some more of my lesson plans, you can find them all here. To keep up to date with new lesson plans and teaching ideas, you can follow the GoogooEnglish Facebook page. Alternatively, sign up for email updates by filling in the form below.
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