Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers helps B1 students learn how to report software bugs. This ESL class material is perfect for teaching key vocabulary and grammar for technical communication in workplace scenarios.
This practical lesson plan guides students through the process of reporting software bugs. It starts with a warm-up discussion about tech frustrations, followed by a vocabulary matching exercise on key terms like "crash" and "glitch." Students will then complete a listening gap-fill, read a short article about a buggy app, and practice grammar. The lesson culminates in a role-play where students practice reporting a technical issue to IT support, using all the language learned.
Activities
- Students begin by learning essential vocabulary for describing technical problems, such as 'bug,' 'glitch,' and 'unresponsive.' They then apply this knowledge by reading a short news article about a faulty app and answering comprehension questions.
- The lesson includes a listening exercise where students hear a software tester describe a critical issue and fill in the gaps. This is followed by a clear grammar focus on using the past simple vs. the present perfect to report past events.
- The class concludes with a practical role-play activity. Students work in pairs, taking on the roles of a 'User' and 'IT Support' to report and diagnose a specific software bug, using a list of useful phrases provided in the material.
Transcript
00:00 I encountered a critical bug this morning while testing the new update.
00:05 The application crashed repeatedly, making it impossible to save my work.
00:10 I documented the steps to reproduce the error carefully.
00:15 Then, I submitted a detailed bug report, including screenshots and logs.
00:20 Hopefully, the development team can prioritize a fix for this soon.
00:25 Timely bug reporting is essential for software quality.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson focuses on essential vocabulary for discussing technical issues and software problems. Key terms include nouns like bug, glitch, update, and error message, as well as verbs such as to crash, to freeze, to reproduce (an error), and adjectives like unresponsive.
Grammar focus
The grammar section focuses on the difference between the past simple and the present perfect. Students learn when to use each tense for reporting problems that happened at a specific time (e.g., "The app crashed yesterday") versus recent or ongoing issues (e.g., "The app has crashed three times today").
