Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers covers driving skills and road etiquette. This ESL class material includes vocabulary, grammar on gerunds, a video activity, and role-plays for a comprehensive English lesson on a practical, everyday topic.
This engaging ESL lesson helps students talk about driving. The class begins with a warm-up discussion about driver habits. Students then learn key vocabulary like tailgating and road rage before watching a video on defensive driving techniques. The lesson includes grammar practice on using gerunds to describe activities (e.g., "Driving at night...") and finishes with practical communication phrases and fun role-play scenarios to consolidate learning.
Activities
- Students begin by discussing personal driving experiences, qualities of a good driver, and common frustrations on the road to activate prior knowledge and introduce the topic of the lesson.
- Learners match key driving terms like defensive driving and merge, then watch a video to check predictions and answer comprehension questions about safe driving techniques like the "zipper merge."
- The lesson introduces the use of gerunds as the subject of a sentence (e.g., "Checking your mirrors is important"). Students complete sentences to reinforce this common grammatical structure.
- In a final role-play, students apply new vocabulary and phrases in realistic scenarios, such as acting as a nervous new driver or dealing with a "back-seat driver," to build conversational fluency and confidence.
Vocabulary focus
The vocabulary focuses on essential terms for discussing road safety and driver behavior. Key terms include: defensive driving, merge, distracted driving, road rage, reckless, and tailgating. Students practice using these words in matching, gap-fill, and speaking activities to ensure comprehension and confident use.
Grammar focus
The grammar section targets the use of gerunds (-ing verb forms) as the subject of a sentence to describe activities. Students learn how this structure is used (e.g., "Using your phone while driving is illegal") and complete a practice exercise to master its application in the context of driving rules and habits.
