This lesson is focused on expanding student’s knowledge of illnesses and practicing vocabulary associated with going to the doctors. It is a 1-hour lesson plan which doesn’t require any printing or materials from the teacher. The lesson can be done with elementary students and intermediate students. The only difference is the amount of illness related vocabulary they will be able to produce.

Students will be guided through the lesson and given plenty of activities to practice the vocabulary being taught. This lesson involves a lot of pair work and group work and, in my experience, is very enjoyable for the students as they get to speak about the topic and practice with fun activities.

The lesson plan is given below which shows all the steps in the lesson and gives sample answers to every activity. There is also an extra worksheet which can be given as homework. Enjoy!

Introduction

Brainstorm illnesses (focus on what the students know and try and
expand it with vocabulary by eliciting more illnesses). Here is an example.

1st Activity

Explain to the students the difference between illness and symptoms.
From the brainstorming done previously, separate the symptoms from
the illnesses (some can be both);
Ask students to get into pairs and pick three illnesses, afterwards they
must come up with 3 symptoms for each of the illnesses, e.g.:

2nd Activity

Transition into the topic of going to the doctor, for example, by
asking students what they might do if they are sick: “Go to the
doctor!”

For this activity students need to think what questions a doctor might
ask when trying to diagnose a problem. Ask students to give you
some examples:

1. How are you feeling?
2. How have you been feeling?
3. Do you feel any pain?
4. Have you been feeling any pain?
5. When did this start?
6. How long have you had these issues?

Feedback with the students and write all the best questions on the
board.

Speaking Activity

“Going to the doctor”:

In their pairs or in groups of three, students must secretly write down
a disease on a piece of paper.
Afterwards, the pairs or groups get together and one group must ask the questions on the board. The objective is to diagnose the illness the student “has”.
Finally, they switch; the patient becomes the doctor and vice versa.

Final Activity

Feedback with the students and ask if they all guessed each other’s
illness.
There is also the opportunity to switch groups and try to guess
another group’s illness.

Extension Activity

Discussion questions (Can be written on the board):

1. Do you like going to the doctor? Why or why not?
2. Would you like to be a doctor in the future? Why or why not?
3. What is the best way to stay healthy?
4. Do you enjoy doing sports or exercising?
5. Do you think medicine will eliminate all illnesses in the future?
   Why?

The vocabulary you get from the students will be different in every class. Have fun!

If you want more beginner/pre-intermediate lessons, click here.