Getting young students, especially children too young to read or write, to have a full conversation in English can be tough. Use this 60-minute lesson to give your students plenty of speaking practice! All you need is a single worksheet.

This lesson is excellent “There is/are…” practice, but it can be changed to practice lots of different sentence patterns.

Before class: Print a drawing of a house/backpack/bedroom.

Before class, print out a worksheet for each student with an empty house, backpack, or bedroom on it. 

For the following lesson, I’m going to use an empty backpack as my example.

Step 1: Draw a big backpack on the board.

When you get to class, draw a big backpack on the board. Take out your own backpack, look inside, and without showing students the contents of your backpack, begin drawing the items inside the backpack on the board. Let students guess what’s in your backpack based on your drawings. (10 minutes)

Step 2: Drill the sentence pattern(s).

After you’ve drawn what’s in your backpack and drilled the vocabulary a few times, write a sentence pattern (or a few) on the board that you want the students to use. For example, “What’s in your backpack? In my backpack there is/are…” or “Do you have a ____ in your backpack? Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.” Practice whatever sentences you think are appropriate for your students.

If your students have never studied “There is/are…” before then be sure to demonstrate several examples and ask lots of questions to make sure they understand. Also, listen out for the plural s at the end of “There are…” sentences. A lot of students struggle pronouncing ending sounds.

Drill the sentences that you want the students to use later. Practice saying the sentences together and calling on individuals to say the sentences too. (5-10 minutes)

Step 3: Drawing time!

Now tell students that they are going to draw what’s in their backpacks. Tell them not to show their classmates their drawings. They need to keep it a secret. Pass out the worksheets, set a timer, and let students draw/color their backpacks. A timer is important otherwise some students will spend the rest of class drawing. (10-20 minutes)

Step 4: Model the conversation.

When the timer goes off, everyone stops drawing. Call one student to the front of the class and practice the sentence pattern with the student. The student can ask you what’s in your backpack and you can ask what’s in theirs. After that the student has said a few sentences, call another student up to demonstrate and repeat. Finally call 3-5 students up! Ask and answer using the sentence pattern, then demonstrate switching partners and asking and answering again. (5-10 minutes)

Step 5: Speaking time!

Now explain to students that they are going to stand up and speak using the sentence pattern, asking and answering about each others’ backpacks. Tell them to try to remember their classmates’ backpacks’ contents because you’ll quiz them at the end. Tell them to switch partners every time they finish asking about a friend’s backpack. Now let them go talk! (10-20 minutes)

Step 6: Feedback/Questions/Corrections

After everyone has had plenty of time to ask about and show off the drawings of their backpacks, tell them to go back to their seats. Use the rest of your time in class to correct any mistakes you heard by drilling the sentences again. Remember to ask students what was in their friends’ backpacks. Students can get high-fives for remembering their friends’ backpacks correctly. (5-15 minutes)

Great speaking!

And that’s it! This lesson can be modified depending on what vocabulary or sentence pattern your students are studying in class. Feel free to use with kindergarten, first grade, or any lower-level classes to give them lots of opportunities to have a conversation and build confidence.

If you want more young learners lesson ideas, try 10 Time-Killer Games for Kindergarten and VYL.