Summary
This 90-minute ESL lesson for A2 learners explores Life's adventures: discussing experiences with the present perfect through a real article. Across 10 interactive exercises, you'll develop reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, practical communication, speaking skills — all built around authentic English content.
What you'll practise:
- 5 key vocabulary items with definitions and usage notes
- Grammar focus: Present perfect for life experiences with examples and practice
- Real-world phrases for catching up with a friend
- Gap-fill and cloze exercises to test vocabulary in context
- Matching exercise to connect terms with their meanings
- Error correction to sharpen grammar awareness
Lesson activities (10 exercises)
Each exercise builds on the previous one. Work through them in order for the best learning experience.
- Warm-up — Discussion questions to activate what you already know about the topic.
- Comprehension — Answer questions to check your understanding of the main ideas and supporting details.
- Vocabulary — Learn key words and expressions from the article, with definitions and usage notes.
- Matching — Connect words, phrases, or concepts to their correct counterparts.
- Grammar — Study Present perfect for life experiences — explanation, examples, and key rules.
- Error correction — Find and fix the mistake in each sentence — a great grammar workout.
- Practical English — Learn phrases for catching up with a friend — ready to use in real conversations.
- Fill the gaps — Complete sentences with the correct vocabulary. Drag and drop or type your answers.
- Discussion — Reflect on the topic and share your opinions using the language you've learned.
Vocabulary
This lesson introduces 5 key terms drawn directly from the article:
- Try something new — to do an activity you have never done before.
- Go on a trip — to travel to a place, usually for a short time for a holiday.
- Reach a goal — to successfully do something important that you wanted to do.
- Face a challenge — to deal with a difficult situation.
- Once in a lifetime — describes a very special experience that you will probably only have one time.
Grammar
This lesson focuses on Present perfect for life experiences.
We use the present perfect (have/has + past participle) to talk about experiences in our lives. The exact time of the action is not important. We are talking about if the experience happened or not.
Examples from the lesson:
- I have visited Paris. — This means that sometime in my life, I went to Paris. We don't say when.
- Have you ever climbed a mountain? — We often use 'ever' in questions to ask about any time in a person's life.
- She has never tried Japanese food. — We use 'never' to say someone has not had an experience at any time in their life.
Key rules:
- The structure is: have/has + past participle (e.g., seen, eaten, been).
- Use 'has' for he, she, and it.
- Don't use a specific time like 'last year' or 'yesterday'. Say 'I have seen that movie', not 'I have seen that movie yesterday'.
Practical English
catching up with a friend
When you talk to a friend, you often ask about their life experiences. Use these phrases to start a conversation, share your news, and react to what they say.
Phrases you'll learn:
- "'Have you done anything interesting lately?'" — a friendly way to ask about someone's recent experiences.
- "'Actually, I've just...'" — a way to introduce your own recent news.
- "'Wow, that sounds amazing!'" — shows you are very interested and happy about your friend's experience.
- "'What was that like?'" — asks for more details about an experience.
- "'I've never tried that.'" — says you have no experience with something.
