St. Valentine’s Day (Worksheet for Intermediate+ level)

This lesson is designed for students of  Intermediate and further levels if they are 14 or older. With these tasks students will have an opportunity to talk about celebrating St. Valentine’s Day, learn new idioms and collocations, practise listening for gist and speaking for fluency.

• Vocabulary of the lesson
• Warm-up
• Vocabulary work
• Idioms and collocations
• Listening and Speaking
• Discussion
• Sum up
• Homework

Vocabulary of the lesson

• love at first sight
• to be head over heels in love with
• a soulmate
• a match
• a crush
• to carry a torch for

Read as well:

Warm-up

Activity

Look at the pictures of two people celebrating St.Valentine’s day and answer the questions:

• Who are these people?
• Where are they?
• How long have they been together? Why do you think so?
• Why do you think they decided to celebrate this way?

Useful phrases:

I think they might….
Probably…
They can’t be…
He/she seems….
They look ….(adjective)

Teacher’s notes

Aims: to break the ice and foster a safe environment for learning.

Procedure: draw your students’ attention to the pictures. Encourage them to answer the questions. Accept any answer, tell them that there is no correct answer. You can also ask some more leading questions: “Is the atmosphere more romantic in the mountains or in the restaurant? Do you think this couple has been together for a long time or not?”   

With individual students just make a discussion. If you work with a group of students, divide them into pairs and let them discuss the questions in pairs. If a student is without a pair, ask them to work in a trio by answering each question one by one.

Vocabulary work

Activity

Look at the underlined words and choose the correct definition.

Jenny and I met at a party and it was love at first sight for both of us.

1. To love somebody for a very short period.
2. To start loving somebody from the first time you see him/her.

It was obvious that Susan was head over heels in love with her colleague.

1. To be completely in love.
2. Not to be sure if you love a person or not.

I’m starting to think that my soulmate doesn’t exist.

1. Someone who has the same religious beliefs as you do.
2. Someone who shares your interests and understands your feelings very well.

We’ll find your perfect match.

1. A person who is suitable for you.
2. A person who is kind and loving.

I wrote romantic poems because of a teenage crush. 

1. A strong but temporary feeling of liking someone.
2. An event that happened in someone’s teens.

Harry’s been carrying a torch for Liza for many years.

1. To buy expensive presents for someone even when the person doesn’t want to accept them.
2. To love or admire somebody over a long period, even when the person does not realise this.

Think of a romantic movie and describe it without naming it. Use the new words and phrases. Your partner will try to guess your movie.

Teacher’s notes

Aims: to present new idioms and collocations on the topic “Love and relationships”.

Procedure: ask your students to choose the correct definitions. They should guess from the context. Let them work in pairs before checking as a whole group.

Key:

1. b   
2. a  
3. b  
4. a   
5. a   
6. b

After that ask each pair to think of a romantic movie and then describe it without naming. The others try to guess. If a student doesn’t have a pair, make trios. 

In individual lessons let your student guess the definitions and then give feedback about their answers. You can also use some pictures to help them.

Idioms and collocations

Activity

Complete the sentences with the correct phrases. 

match   a crush   carrying a torch for   a soulmate   love at first sight   was head over heels in love with

1. She had ___ on Matthew in sixth grade.
2. They are such a good ___ .
3. I realized that I not only loved him, but I ___ him.
4. The movie is a romantic comedy about a woman’s search for ___ . 
5. For Sarah and Samuel, it was ___ , and they have now decided to get married.
6. Terry has been ___ Sophia for years, but she seems not to notice.

Teacher’s notes

Aims: to practise the new vocabulary.

Procedure: tell your students to have a look at the meanings of the phrases if they are not sure about them and then do the exercise. If it is a group lesson, devide students into small teams, let them discuss the sentences in groups and then share the answers with their opponents. The team which gets more correct answers, wins. Individual students can try to explain their answer to the teacher.

Key:

1. a crush
2. match
3. was head over heels in love with
4. a soulmate  
5. love at first sight 
6. carrying a torch for

Listening and Speaking

Activity

Watch the extract from the video and answer the questions:

• What is the main character’s ideal girlfriend like?
• How did the date go?
• What song were Adam and Amanda discussing? 
• Do you think Amanda and Adam are soulmates? Was it love at first sight?
• What do you think of online dating?

Teacher’s notes

Aims: to provide your students with listening practice and encourage speaking for fluency. 

Procedure: set the task, ask students to read the questions below the video and then play the video. After watching let them share what they’ve seen. Then draw their attention to the questions to have discussion in detail. 

If you have time, organize debates “Pros and cons of online dating”.

More articles:

Discussion

Activity

Discuss the questions below.

1. How is St.Valentine’s Day celebrated in your country? What do people give each other?
2. How would you like to celebrate this holiday if money and time were no limit?
3. Can you remember the most romantic date in your life / in a movie / a book and describe it?
4. Have you seen any interesting films about this holiday? What were they?
5. Is romance dead in the modern, fast-paced world of today? Why/not?
6. What qualities are most important to you in a partner? For example, intelligence, sense of humour, career, beauty, money.

Teacher’s notes

Aims: to provide free speaking practice and apply new vocabulary in the discussion.

Procedure: if you work with a group of students, ask them to discuss the questions in pairs. Change partners and let them report the most interesting information which they’ve found out about their previous partners. 

With individual students you can ask these questions to each other and compare the answers to find out how different/similar they are. 

Sum up

Put the errors which are made by students during the lesson on the board or whiteboard and let them correct.

Summarise the lesson and tell students what results they have achieved: “Now you can … After our speaking lesson you will be able to …” Ask them if they have any questions. Explain what students need to do at home.

Homework

Watch the extract again and write a summary explaining why the date was perfect.

Have a great lesson!