Low Level High School ESL Lesson Plan - Superlatives

This is a low level high school lesson on superlatives that is great for classes that struggle to stay motivated during English. The interactive and competitive element of the main activity mean the whole class gets really involved in cheering for their team, leading to a great classroom atmosphere. I have also previously done this lesson with middle school students and whilst it worked really well with them, I was a little worried the high school students might be to shy/cool for some of the activities. However they all got really involved in everything and it has ended up being one of my most fun lessons.  

Biggest from Duncan Elder

Objectives

Students will be able to use superlatives.

Key Expressions:

Who is the fastest?

Miroo is the fastest.

Materials

PPT presentation.

Paper with the key vocab and the challenge written on them. Fold these up and put them in a place where the students can easily choose one.

Activity one.

Introduce the vocab and make sure the students understand it. Introduce the key phrases and show the students the introduction slides. Ask the students to use make sentences using the key phrases and the pictures on the slide. (10 minutes).

Activity two.

Split the class into four groups. Ask for one volunteer from each group to put their hand up and choose two of them to go first. Ask one of the students to choose a piece of paper with an activity written on it (see below for the words and their corresponding activities). Ask the class to complete the two key phrases using the two students at the front and the activity they chose. The students should them complete the activity and you once again ask the class to answer the key phrases. Now choose the volunteers from the other two groups. They will again have to complete the same task, with the winner going on to compete against the other winning group in a 'final'. The winner of the final will get one point for their group. Once all of the tasks have been completed, add up the points and that will be the 'best' group. Ask the class 'Which group is the best?' and let them answer with the winning group.(40 minutes)

The activities are:

Strongest: Pushing game. (two students stand close to each other with their hands out, palms touching. They then have to push each others palms. The first person to move their feet loses).

Weakest: Thumb war

Fastest: First to 10 star jumps.

Slowest: Pin steps race.

Tallest: Long Jump

Smallest: Limbo