Present Simple for fixed timetable. Lesson plan for Pre-Intermediate teens

This lesson plan is suitable for teens (5-9 classes) with pre-intermediate level. By the end of the lesson students will feel confident in their ability to use the Present Simple tense for fixed timetable in the context of traveling. They will practice grammar, do listening, reading and speaking tasks.

Lesson plan:

1. Warm-up
2. Lead-in
3. New places
4. 24 hours
5. An excursion
6. The guide
7. Grammar Practice
8. Your day in London
9. Additional Task

Task 1. Warm-up

To warm up students and revise Present Simple for daily routine prepare a few cards with different roles. For example:

Ask students to choose one of these cards without telling which they have chosen and think about some activities these people often do. Ask them a few questions and try to guess. Change the roles.  

Task 2. Lead-in

Ask students leading questions: 

1. Do you like visiting new places? 
2. What kind of places do you like to visit most of all? 
3. Do you usually read about the place which you are going to visit? Why not? 
4. Which of the people from the previous step will be good at planning a trip? Why? 

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Task 3. New places

Choose one of the videos from the playlist Vacation Travel Guide. Expedia, for example, London Vacation Travel Guide, show students the cover of the video and say:

Look at the screenshot. What is the video going to be about? (about London). Watch the video (from 0:00-0:37) and answer following questions:

1. Where is London situated? 
2. What country is it in? Is it a big city? 
3. Have you ever been to this city? 
4. Would you like to visit this place?

Task 4: 24 hours

Prepare a message from an imaginary girl who lives in London. Have students read it and choose if the sentences are True or False. 

1. David is Sara’s uncle.  
2. David and his parents have already been to London. 
3. Sarah’s relatives will have a 24-hour visit to the city. 
4. Sarah is going to the airport at the moment.

Tell students that they are going to take the role of a guide and help Sarah plan a day in London.

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Task 5. An excursion

To illustrate the usage of Present Simple for timetabled events, prepare information about two tours in London. Ask students to read and complete it.

Name: Total London Experience + London Eye, Tower of London, St Paul’s
Begins: ______
Duration: 10 hours
Finishes: 18:00

Name: Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath with Pub Lunch in Lacock
Begins: 7:45
Duration: 12h 30m
Finishes: _______

What tour is more interesting for you? Choose the tour and prepare a message for Sarah explaining your choice. 

Task 6. The guide

Tell students that Sarah has decided to book the tickets for the tour they offered to her. But she has some questions which they need to answer. Draw the student’s attention to the usage of Present Simple to talk about timetable.

You can say: Complete the dialogue between Sarah and the guide with given words. Use links to the tours to check the information about time, place and price.  

Show students this dialogue if they have chosen the tour Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath with Pub Lunch in Lacock.

Sarah: What time _____ the tour start?
Guide: The tour _____ at _____.
Sarah: Where _____ the buses leave from?
Guide: Our buses _____ from _____.
Sarah: Can we book four tickets, please?
Guide: Sure, that’ll be _____.

Show them this dialogue if they have chosen the tour Total London Experience + London Eye, Tower of London, St Paul’s.

Sarah: What time _____ the tour start?
Guide: The tour _____ at 8 am.
Sarah: Where _____ the buses leave from?
Guide: Our buses _____ from_____.
Sarah: Can we book four tickets, please?
Guide: Sure, that’ll be _____.

Have students look at the dialogue again and ask:

1. What grammar tense do we use to talk about the excursion? 
2. Do we talk about a present or a future event?

Tell them that we use Present Simple to talk about timetables and programmes.

Task 7. Grammar Practice

Ask students to look at the travel information and complete the sentences with the correct verb forms. Tell them that they may need to use the same verbs a few times.

1. The train _____ London at half past two and _____ in Edinburgh at quarter past seven.
2. — What time _____ the coach _____ in Bristol?
   — It _____ at five to twelve.

3. Attention, please. The train from Newcastle to Edinburgh _____ from Platform 3. It (not) _____ from platform 7. 
4. The plane _____ at quarter to nine. It (not) _____ at ten past seven.
5. English lessons _____ at half past eleven on Monday and Wednesday. They _____ at half past twelve.
6. The play _____ at eight and _____ at half past ten.

Task 8. Your day in London

Prepare a few pictures of London and show them to students. Check if they like this city. Have students imagine that they are going to London and you are meeting them there to show them around the city. Prepare information about flight and tours in London. Give students some minutes to look at flight details and choose the departure. Ask them questions about their flight details first.

1. What time does the flight… ? 
2. What airport does the flight… ?

Flight Details

Option 1: 

• Departure: Saint Petersburg, Pulkovo Airport, 01:05 am 
• Arrival: London, Heathrow Airport, 09:50 am

Option 2:

• Departure: Dubai, DXB Airport, 09:40 am 
• Arrival: London, Heathrow Airport, 14:25 pm

Then have them look at tours and choose the tour or tours. Discuss it by asking some questions. 

1. What time does _____ start?
2. What time does _____ finish? 
3. Where does _____ start?

• A Boat Tour (start: 2 pm at Westminster Pier; duration: 1 hour)
• A Gastro Tour (start: 11:00 am at 6 Tooley St; duration: 3 hours 30 minutes)
• A Warner Bros. Studio Tour (start: 09:00 am at 258 Vauxhall Bridge Road; duration: 7 hours)

Additional Task: Exploring London

Play the video TOP 10 things to do in London for FREE and ask students to choose the places they would like to visit in London and explain their answer. Then give 10 minutes to find tours to these places and present it to you. 

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