Create Fun Interactive Educational Games with Educaplay!

Note: This is a lesson plan for a Beginning Low ESL class, but the flow of the plan shows how the Educaplay quiz can be integrated into the lesson.This can be mirrored at any level of ESL.)

For this warm-up, you'll need to know in advance which fruit and vegetable terms that you plan to teach the students in the Presentation section. For lower-level ESL classes, it's a good idea not to introduce too many new words to the students in one lesson. Research shows that students will be able to retain between 5 - 15 words if exposed to them several times and are able to use them in various activities over the course of a week,

You'll also need realia (or real examples) of the chosen fruit and vegetables and a bag or box to put them in, or full-color pictures of the fruit and vegetables and an envelope or box to put them in. In addition, you'll need 3 'stations' (like tables), one for the bag, box or envelope and two more: one for the fruit and one for the vegetables.

Since this is a vocabulary lesson for a Beginning Low ESL class, students may not yet know the English terms for specific fruits or vegetables. However, you can show a picture of a bunch of different fruit with the name 'fruit' displayed at the top, and a second similar picture for 'vegetables'. Have the students repeat both words for pronunciation practice.

Hang the 2 pictures above (or on) the stations. Point to one station and say, 'fruit'. Point to the other and say 'vegetables'. On the board, write, "Fruit or vegetable?" Have students repeat the question.

Reach into the bag, box, or envelope and pull one thing out. Point to the board and ask the students, "Fruit or vegetable?" If they say the correct answer, place the item on the corresponding station. If not, hold the item near the wrong answer's picture and ask a clarifying question, like "Fruit? Like these?" When they correct themselves, place the item on the correct station.

Ask a volunteer to come up. Ask them to pull out one item and have the student ask the class, "Fruit or vegetable?" After the class answers, ask the student to put the item on the corresponding station.

Have the students form a line. One at a time, a student comes to the front, pulls out an item, asks the question to the class, and puts the item on the corresponding station.

At the end, hold up each item from the fruit station and check for assessment. "Fruit?" The students answer 'yes' or 'no'. Repeat this step at the vegetable station.

Tell the students that they will learn the names of some fruits and vegetables.

Using the realia, pictures, or digital pictures projected on a board, teach the pronunciation and spelling of the fruit and vegetables that you've chosen for the lesson.

For this segment, there are a number of activities that you could do, either with realia, printed out pictures, or digital images:

• a whole class game where you say the name of a fruit or vegetable and students come up to point
• a small group game where students look at a picture (printed or digital) of all of the fruit or vegetable vocabulary on one page (screen) and one student says the name of an item and the other students point
• a grouping game where students organize the fuit and vegetables by category and color. For example, one student picks up a lemon and says, "lemon, yellow" and puts the lemon in the yellow fruit section. A yellow squash would go in the yellow vegetable section.
• a writing game where you say a dish, like soup, and small groups work together to list the fruit or vegetables that might go into that dish.
• Etc.

Project the Educaplay fruit and vegetable matching quiz on the board. Go over the instructions and do one example so students understand how to match the words and pictures.

Students can do the activity in small groups or individually, as well as repeat the quiz if they finish early.

After class, students can go home to see if they have any of the vocabulary words at home. If they do, they can take pictures on their phone. (If the students are tech savvy and you have an LMS, they could upload the pictures or text them to you.)

The next day, the students could organize the pictures into fruit or vegetable categories and write the names of the words as a summative assessment exercise.