- Levels: A0A1
- Lesson Types: Lesson Plans
- Recommended for: Download and Go
- Themes: Basics
🕑 30-45 minutes
🎚 A0, A1
🎯 formalities, vocabulary, speaking
🕑 0-15* minutes
– Print one worksheet for each student.
– Print the Teacher’s Insights.
– *If you are teaching total beginners and do not speak the students’ language, prepare translations of some of the phrases.
Kickoff: students share formalities from their own language and culture
Vocabulary I: practise pronunciation and translation of common English phrases
Vocabulary II: match pictures and phrases
What’s the difference?: discuss the difference between common pairs of phrases
Grammar Focus: learn what “please”, “may I”, and “could you” mean, and how to use them
Role-Play: six situations to act out
Today, let’s teach one of the most fundamental parts of English: formalities. Students will learn how to use “please”, “thank you”, and many other expressions, finishing in role-play activities of simple situations.
Detailed Description
In today’s class, students will understand and practise vocabulary related to politeness and formalities through interactive activities and dialogues.
We kickstart with a conversation on how “please”, “thank you”, and “sorry” are expressed in different languages. This is followed by a vocabulary exercise where students listen and repeat phrases such as “May I…?”, “Could you…?”, and “Excuse me.”
Students will then engage in a visual activity, where they are to associate pictures with the appropriate phrase. Following this, they will discuss the differences between pairs of similar phrases, which is aimed at helping them understand when and how to use these expressions correctly.
The class will then focus on grammar, particularly the usage of “Please”, “May I…”, and “Could you…”. After this, they will engage in role-play activities to demonstrate how these phrases can be used in various social scenarios.
This lesson plan is appropriate for A0 beginners and A1 students and can be modified for online classes.
Free ESL and EFL teaching resources for 2026: printable worksheets and screen-share lessons for online and in-person classes. Updated September 2026.