ESL Lesson Plan Ideas for Speaking English 1: Taking Roll (be-verbs: to be, is, am, are)

Try this simple and effective activity to teach the be verb (is, am, are) to young ESL students

In our new series, ESL Lesson Plan Ideas for Speaking English, we want to give English teachers some ideas of simple activities to use in their classrooms which focus on speaking English. They are simple and fun activities that we developed and use in our own English classes at Step by Step Eikaiwa in Japan. The best part is that they don’t require any preparation or flashcards, and can be used every lesson to give structure and familiarity to your lesson plans. Our first activity in the series is “Taking roll (be verbs: to be, is, am, are).”

Taking roll is perfect for mastering the expressions, “I am ~, You are ~, He is ~, She ~ is” along with the negative patterns, “I’m not ~, She’s not ~, etc.” Learning the be verbs (is, am, are) can be difficult for young ESL students who don’t understand the concept of verb conjugation. The best way to teach a difficult topic like this to children is to do an activity and repeat that activity often. Students will internalize without thinking, which is necessary to speak English naturally.

For our Taking Roll activity, we use the following simple routine for students to master the be verbs. After this activity becomes second nature, you can take it one step further and incorporate more advanced patterns such as, “We are ~, They are ~.”

Take roll to master be verbs. It’s that simple!

By doing this activity every lesson, students will become familiar with the patterns and be able to use them easily and naturally. Remember to always add new twists and challenges to any of our ESL Lesson Plan Ideas for Speaking English to keep the lesson fresh and exciting.

To see this activity in practice, check out the video of our students taking roll above. And be sure to check back soon to read about other ESL Lesson Plan Ideas for Speaking English by BINGOBONGO!