ESL Lesson Plan · CEFR B2

Dependent Prepositions ESL Lesson Plan (B2, 60 Minutes)

A complete 60-minute B2 lesson on Dependent Prepositions, built round the theme "A Workplace Complaint".

CEFR B2
60 minutes
Teenagers and adults
Grammar
Prepositions
Dependent Prepositions

About this lesson

Who it is for. Upper-intermediate students with good general accuracy whose writing contains errors such as interested about, depends of, succeeded to pass.

Everything the lesson needs is on this page: the language analysis, the timed stages with the teacher's own words and instruction-checking questions, the differentiation, the printable handouts and the answer key.

At a glance

Level: CEFR B2 (Upper-intermediate)
Learners: Teenagers and adults
Length: 60 minutes. For 45 minutes, run "Freer practice" once through without the second round and cut "Feedback and wrap-up" to board-based error correction.
Skills: Speaking and writing
Language focus: Grammar: Dependent Prepositions (Verbs, Adjectives and Nouns + Preposition)
Framework: PPP (presentation, practice, production)
Materials: Handout 1 (complaint email), Handout 2 (reference table and dominoes, cut up), Handout 3 (practice), Handout 4 (discussion questions and email task).
Preparation: About 10 minutes: print Handouts 1 to 4, one per learner, and read the language analysis. The answer key is for you, not the class.

Aims

Main aim. To improve students' use of common verb, adjective and noun + preposition combinations, including preposition + -ing.

Learning outcome. By the end of the lesson, students can use at least 15 dependent prepositions accurately in speaking and in a formal email.

Subsidiary aim. To develop fluency in discussion.
Subsidiary aim. To write a reply to a formal email.

Language analysis

What to know before the lesson: the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language, and the problems learners usually have with it.

Common combinations

Verb + prep	Adjective + prep	Noun + prep
depend on	interested in	reason for
rely on	good / bad at	increase / decrease in
insist on	afraid of	solution to
apologise for	keen on	attitude towards
succeed in	responsible for	advantage of
accuse someone of	aware of	demand for
complain about	angry with (someone) / about (something)	lack of
consist of	satisfied with	damage to

Preposition + -ing

After prepositions we use the -ing form: She's good at managing people. He apologised for being late. She succeeded in passing the exam.

Pronunciation

Prepositions are usually weak and link to the next word: depend on it /dɪˈpend‿ɒn‿ɪt/; interested in /ˈɪntrəstɪd‿ɪn/.

Anticipated problems and solutions

Problem	Solution
L1 transfer (depends of, interested about).	Learn as chunks; dominoes game for memory.
Infinitive after preposition (succeeded to pass).	Rule: preposition + -ing.
Too many combinations to learn.	Focus on the most common; students make a personal learning list.
angry with / about confusion.	Contrast person vs thing.

Board plan

Left: vocabulary	Centre: combinations by preposition	Right: rule
complain · delay · demand · excuse · discount · customer service
ON: depend, rely, insist, keen · OF: afraid, aware, accuse sb, consist, lack · IN: interested, succeed, increase · FOR: apologise, responsible, reason, demand · AT: good, bad · TO: solution, damage · ABOUT: complain, worried · WITH: satisfied, disappointed
preposition + -ing: good at managing · apologise for being late

Warm-up5 minutes · Pairs, then whole class

Aim: To personalise the topic.

Ask: "Tell your partner one thing you are good at, afraid of and interested in."

Take two examples. Board the three adjectives with their prepositions.

Presentation20 minutes · Individual, pairs, whole class

Aim: To present dependent prepositions in context and clarify the most common combinations and the preposition + -ing rule.

Part A: Reading (6 minutes)

Give out Handout 1. Say: "Read the email. What is the customer complaining about? What does she want? Three minutes."

Pairs compare. Check the two questions as a class.

Part B: Noticing (5 minutes)

Say: "The prepositions in bold go with a word before them. Underline the word: complain about, insisted on ..." Pairs list all the combinations.

Part C: Clarification (9 minutes)

Group the combinations by preposition on the board (centre). Elicit more examples for each group.

Point out that these are learned as chunks; there is often no logical rule.

Show the preposition + -ing rule: She apologised for being late. He succeeded in passing.

Contrast angry with (a person) and angry about (a thing).

Pronunciation. Drill linking: depend on it, interested in it, good at it.

Controlled practice10 minutes · Pairs, then individual, then whole class

Aim: To practise and memorise the combinations.

Dominoes (4 minutes). Give each pair the dominoes from Handout 2. Pairs build the chain as fast as possible.

Gap fill (5 minutes). Give out Handout 3. Students write the missing prepositions alone, then check with a partner.

Check as a class.

Freer practice18 minutes · Groups, then individual, then pairs

Aim: To use the combinations fluently in discussion and accurately in writing.

Give out Handout 4. Discussion (8 minutes): groups discuss the questions (What do you rely on most? What are you worried about at the moment? What's the best solution to traffic in your town?).

ICQs: "Do you answer all the questions?" (As many as possible.)

Email (8 minutes): students write a reply to the complaint email as the company manager, using at least eight combinations.

Partners check each other's emails for prepositions (2 minutes).

Monitor and note errors.

Feedback and wrap-up7 minutes · Whole class

Aim: To give feedback and consolidate.

Board errors from the discussion and emails; students correct them.

Each student writes a personal list of five combinations to learn.

Set the homework.

Homework Learn 15 combinations and write a sentence about yourself for each.

PPP (presentation, practice, production). Stage times add up to 60 minutes.

Differentiation

Support: Give weaker students the reference table during the freer practice. Provide an email frame.
Stretch: Add less common combinations: object to, cope with, take advantage of. Students write discussion questions for other groups.

Adapting the lesson

For	What to change
A large class (40 or more)	Keep the pairwork in "Freer practice" in fixed pairs rather than a mingle, and take feedback from four or five pairs instead of the whole room. Run "Email" once, with two pairs reporting, rather than hearing every pair. Monitor one half of the room during "Controlled practice" and the other half during "Freer practice".
A class with no photocopier	Put the exercises from Handout 3: Practice on the board for learners to copy into their notebooks, and read any text aloud twice instead of printing it. Handout 2: Reference Table and Dominoes works read out from the front: learners note what they need rather than holding a card. The board plan above is this lesson's minimum - with that on the board, it runs on no paper at all.
An online class	Send Handouts 1 to 4 in the chat before the lesson and put the board plan on a shared slide. Use breakout rooms for "Email" and visit each room once. Have learners type the controlled answers in the chat, so you see every answer at once instead of nominating.
A different age group	With teenagers, shorten the analysis and get to the task sooner. With adults in a work context, keep the forms exactly as they are and swap the lesson's theme for one from their own field.

Checking learning

In the discussion, students use correct prepositions in most combinations. The email contains at least eight correct combinations. 8 out of 10 or better on Handout 3.

Teacher's reflection

Which combinations were most problematic? Did the dominoes help memory?

Handout 1: Complaint Email

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________

Subject: Delay to my kitchen order

Dear Mr Fernando,

I am writing to complain about the delay to my kitchen order. When I placed the order in May, your sales manager insisted on a delivery date of 1 July. I relied on this date and arranged for workers to install the kitchen.

It is now 20 July and the kitchen has still not arrived. Nobody has apologised for the delay or explained the reason for it. I am aware of the high demand for your products, but I am very disappointed with your customer service.

I am not interested in excuses. I would like to know who is responsible for my order and what the solution to this problem is. I also expect a discount because of the lack of communication.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely, Ms N. Perera

Questions

What is Ms Perera complaining about? ______________________________
What does she want? ______________________________

Handout 2: Reference Table and Dominoes

Reference

Dominoes (cut up along the lines)

Verb + prep	Adjective + prep	Noun + prep
depend on	interested in	reason for
rely on	good at	increase in
insist on	afraid of	solution to
apologise for	keen on	attitude towards
succeed in	responsible for	demand for
accuse sb of	aware of	lack of
complain about	satisfied with	damage to


START: depend	of / succeed	to / complain	at / afraid
for / solution	in / apologise	on / interested	about / rely
of / reason	for / END	on / aware	in / good

Handout 3: Practice

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________

Write the missing preposition.

She apologised ______ being late.
It depends ______ the weather.
Are you aware ______ the risks?
There has been an increase ______ prices.
He insisted ______ paying for dinner.
I'm not very good ______ maths.
What's the solution ______ this problem?
She was accused ______ stealing the money.
Who is responsible ______ this mess?
They succeeded ______ climbing the mountain.

Handout 4: Discussion and Email

Discussion questions

Email task: You are Mr Fernando. Write a reply to Ms Perera (120–150 words). Apologise, explain, and offer a solution. Use at least eight word + preposition combinations.

..........................................................................................

What do you rely on most in your daily life?
What are you worried about at the moment?
What are you really interested in? How did you become interested in it?
What's the best solution to traffic problems in your town?
Who should be responsible for keeping streets clean?
Have you ever complained about a product or service? What happened?

Answer Key

Handout 1

Handout 2, dominoes (correct order)

START: depend → on / interested → in / good → at / afraid → of / reason → for / solution → to / complain → about / rely → on / aware → of / succeed → in / apologise → for / END

Handout 3

Common errors to watch for

The delay to her kitchen order and the lack of communication. · 2. To know who is responsible, a solution, and a discount.
for · 2. on · 3. of · 4. in · 5. on · 6. at · 7. to · 8. of · 9. for · 10. in

Error	Correction
I'm interested about history.	I'm interested in history.
It depends of the price.	It depends on the price.
She succeeded to pass the exam.	She succeeded in passing the exam.
He apologised for to be late.	He apologised for being late.

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About this lesson plan

Written by RCF English to the RCF English international standard: levelled by the CEFR, original throughout, and suitable for classrooms in any country. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

Dependent Prepositions ESL Lesson Plan (B2, 60 Minutes)

About this lesson

At a glance

Aims

Language analysis

Common combinations

Preposition + -ing

Pronunciation

Anticipated problems and solutions

Board plan

Procedure: Dependent Prepositions, step by step

Warm-up5 minutes · Pairs, then whole class

Presentation20 minutes · Individual, pairs, whole class

Controlled practice10 minutes · Pairs, then individual, then whole class

Freer practice18 minutes · Groups, then individual, then pairs

Feedback and wrap-up7 minutes · Whole class

Differentiation

Adapting the lesson

Checking learning

Teacher's reflection

Handout 1: Complaint Email

Handout 2: Reference Table and Dominoes

Handout 3: Practice

Handout 4: Discussion and Email

Answer Key

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