Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers explores the history of how colors got their names. This ESL class material, based on a short video, is perfect for lessons on etymology, culture, and the evolution of language. This lesson helps students explore the origins of color names through engaging activities. It begins with a warm-up on color idioms, followed by a video comprehension task. Students will practice key vocabulary in context, study the **Past Simple Passive** for describing historical events, learn useful phrases for explaining etymology, and conclude with a guided discussion. This complete lesson plan provides a structured and interesting way to discuss language and history in the ESL classroom.
Activities
- Students begin by matching common English idioms based on colors, such as 'to see red' and 'feeling blue', to their correct definitions. This is followed by a short discussion comparing these expressions to idioms in their own languages.
- The core of the lesson is a listening comprehension task based on an engaging video. Students watch the video to determine if a series of statements about the history of color names are true or false, correcting the false ones.
- A grammar exercise focuses on the **Past Simple Passive**, a structure commonly used to talk about historical events. Students practice by transforming active sentences about the video's content into the passive voice.
- The lesson concludes with speaking practice, where students discuss questions about color perception, cultural superstitions (like the origin of the word 'bear'), and the etymology of other common words, using phrases from the lesson.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson introduces advanced vocabulary related to history, perception, and language. Key terms include: perceive, gradation, chronological, dichotomy, euphemism, proficient, and hierarchy. Students practice using these words in a contextual gap-fill exercise based on the video content.
Grammar focus
The primary grammar focus is the **Past Simple Passive** (was/were + past participle). The lesson explains why this structure is useful for discussing historical events where the agent is unknown or unimportant and provides a targeted exercise for students to practice its formation and use.
