School subjects

Introduction

In the first lesson, learners will be introduced to school subjects. They'll consider the spelling of the vocabulary as part of learner training. Then they'll discuss their likes and dislikes. In the second lesson, learners will take part in a controlled line mingle and make a bar chart that will become part of a group poster.

Learning outcomes

• Review days of the week 
• Practise critical-thinking skills
• Use vocabulary for school subjects
• Ask and answer basic questions about school timetable/subjects.

Age and level

8–12 (CEFR A1–A2)

Time

95 minutes. This can be done over two lessons

Materials

• Lesson plan
• Presentation – this can replace the worksheet
• Worksheet – one per learner 
• Mingle – one per learner 
• Bar chart worksheet - five per group

You'll also need coloured pencils, glue and card for each group to make a poster.

Lesson one (30–45 minutes)

Review (5 minutes)

• Ask learners 'What day is it today?' Elicit or give the day.
• Display slide 2. Ask the question 'What day is it?' and point at the different days. 

Introduce the topic (10 minutes)

• Ask learners 'What lesson is this?' Elicit 'It's English.'
• Display slide 3. Say 'It's English' and point to the first image.
• Point to the second image and ask 'What lesson is this?' Elicit 'It's maths'.
• Ask a few individual learners if they like maths. You could ask stronger learners 'Why?'
• Repeat this procedure with the rest of the images. Correct and drill pronunciation as needed.
  Note: Flashcards can be used if you don't have access to a projector.

Critical thinking (10–15 minutes)

• Display slide 4. Elicit each of the subjects.
• Tell learners to copy the pictures and letters into their notebooks neatly (including dashes). 
• Display slide 5. Tell learners these are the missing letters for the words. Ask which letters are missing from English (5. nglis). Learners fill in the missing letters.
• Put learners into pairs and ask them to complete the words in their notebooks. Display slide 3 so that the pairs can check their answers.
  If using the worksheet: Ask learners to work in pairs to complete the task. Elicit the answers and write them on the board.
  Note: This activity helps learners to think about the sounds of the letters and how words are spelled. It also trains learners to think about how many letters are in a new word.  

Extension (15 minutes)

• Ask a learner 'Do you like English?' Prompt them to say 'Yes, I do' or 'No, I don't'.
• Drill the question and answer if needed.
• Put learners into pairs. Tell them they must ask their partner to ask the question about five subjects, then they change roles. 
• Ask one or two pairs to demonstrate their conversation. Stronger learners could report back on their partner, e.g. He likes English. He doesn't like maths.

Homework

• Learners could do the school subject vocabulary online game.
• Ask learners to make sure they bring their school timetable to the next lesson.

Lesson two (50 minutes)

Mingle preparation (10 minutes)

• Display slide 6 or write the question on the board: What do you study on Monday?
• Show the learners you have a worksheet.
• Drill the question with a chant that gets faster with each question:
  1.    What do you study on Monday?
  2.    What do you study on Tuesday?
  3.    What do you study on Wednesday?
  4.    What do you study on Thursday?
  5.    What do you study on Friday?
• Ask one strong learner question 1 and indicate that you want a true answer from them. Support them to say 'I study (subject)'. Indicate that you are adding ticks to your worksheet.
• Tell that learner to ask another learner question 2. Again, support the second learner to give a correct answer. 
• If needed, repeat this process until all the questions have been asked.

Line-up mingle (20 minutes)

• Tell learners that they will be asking each other the questions. 
• Give learners the worksheet and ask them to write their name. 
• Allocate each learner a day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday) and ask them to write it on their worksheet. Try to make sure there are equal numbers of learners allocated to each day.
• Ask half of the class to stand up in a line so that they are shoulder to shoulder. Tell them they are line A.
• Ask the rest of the learners to stand up and face one of the learners. So there will be two lines of learners facing each other. This is line B.
• They should all have their worksheet and pencil or pen. They may need to rest the worksheet on their notebooks.
• Tell line A they are going to speak first and ask their partner about their day. Elicit the question and answer from two or more pairs to check understanding:
      What do you study on __day? 
      I study ___________.
• Elicit that they should add ticks to their worksheet. Explain that partners should then change roles, so that B is asking the questions. 
  Note: You can encourage learners to be quiet by making this a whisper activity.
• Tell learners that when you say 'change' they take one step left, so that they have a new partner. The learners at the end of the line will move into the other line. 
• Monitor and support the learners. 
• Repeat the activity until they've spoken to all their classmates (they will arrive back at their starting point). After the first couple of changes, this should go smoothly.
• If you are ending the class here, collect the mingle worksheets and mention a few facts, e.g. ten students study science on Fridays.
  Note: depending on the number of learners and classroom layout you may need to divide the lines up into sets, rather than using one long line. Allow space so you can move around to monitor and support.

Groupwork (20 minutes)

• Redistribute the mingle worksheets if you collected these. This would be a good time to allocate groups. 
• Put learners into groups of five so that they have information on which subjects are studied on each day of the week. Smaller groups could also work. 
• Ask learners to add up their ticks for each subject.
• Display slide 7. 
• Give each group a bar chart worksheet and ask them to write their name and day.
• Give groups coloured pencils, if available, and ask learners to mark their bar charts. Each group will need card to make a poster.
  Note: If more than seven learners study the same subject on the same day, they can add the actual number to the top of the bar chart.
• Groups stick their bar charts to the card and write their names.
• Display the posters on the wall and allow groups to look at each other's work. 

Useful links and resources

• School subject flashcards: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/print-make/flashcards/school-subjects-flashcards
•  School subject vocabulary online game: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/word-games/school-subjects
•  List of all 'School' content on LearnEnglish Kids, click: 
  https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/school
• Article about using class surveys: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/knowing-subject/c/class-survey