ESL Lesson Plan · CEFR A1

Present Simple ESL Lesson Plan (A1, 60 Minutes)

A complete 60-minute lesson on the present simple for daily routines: learners meet it in a short text about two very different mornings, work out the third-person -s themselves, practise the question and negative forms, and finish by finding out who in the class has the earliest start.

CEFR A1
60 minutes
Teenagers and adults; works with young learners too
Grammar
Present Simple

About this lesson

The lesson gives proper time to the two things beginners always drop - the -s on he, she and it, and do or does in the question - and every stage has a note for large classes.

At a glance

Level: A1, adaptable for A2
Learners: Teenagers and adults; works with young learners too
Length: 60 minutes. For a 45-minute lesson, drop the survey and set Worksheet Task 5 as homework.
Skills: Speaking, reading and writing
Language focus: Present simple for routines and habits: the third-person -s, negatives with don't and doesn't, questions with do and does, and adverbs of frequency
Framework: PPP (presentation, practice, production), with the language met first in a short text
Materials: The reading text, the worksheet, a board
Preparation: 10 minutes

Aims

Main aim. By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to describe daily routines and habits using the present simple in positive sentences, negatives and questions, with the third-person -s.

Subsidiary aim. Learners will be able to place adverbs of frequency - always, usually, often, sometimes, never - correctly in a sentence.
Subsidiary aim. Learners will be able to hear and say the three sounds of the third-person -s: /s/, /z/ and /ɪz/.

The text: "Two mornings"

Ndidi wakes up at half past four. She works in a bakery, so she starts at five. She doesn't eat breakfast at home; she eats at work, after the first bread comes out of the oven. She usually finishes at one o'clock, and she sleeps for an hour in the afternoon. Her brother Emeka never gets up early. He studies at night, from nine until two in the morning, because the house is quiet then. He gets up at eleven, makes coffee and reads for an hour before his classes. "We live in the same house," says Ndidi, "but we don't often meet!"

Gist question: Why do Ndidi and Emeka almost never see each other?

Detail questions: (1) What time does Ndidi start work? (2) Where does she eat breakfast? (3) When does Emeka study? (4) What does he do before his classes?

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.

Meaning

We use the present simple for things that are generally true, and for routines and habits - what somebody does again and again: She works in a bakery. He studies at night.

It does not mean now. For something happening at this moment we use the present continuous: She is working now is a different idea from She works in a bakery.

Frequency words say how often: always, usually, often, sometimes, never. They go before the main verb - He never gets up early - but after be: She is always tired.

Concept-checking questions

Ask	Answer
"She works in a bakery." Is she working at this moment?	We don't know - and it doesn't matter.
Is it her job every day?	Yes.
Is it a habit or one time?	A habit.
"He never gets up early." How often does he get up early?	Zero times.

Form

Sentence type	Pattern	Example
Positive	I / you / we / they + verb; he / she / it + verb + -s	They live here. She works in a bakery.
Negative	don't + verb; doesn't + verb (no -s on the verb)	We don't meet. She doesn't eat at home.
Question	Do / Does + subject + verb (no -s on the verb)	Do you work? Does he study at night?
Short answers	Yes, I do. / No, I don't. Yes, he does. / No, he doesn't.	Does she finish at one? - Yes, she does.

Spelling

Most verbs add -s (work → works). Verbs ending in -ch, -sh, -ss, -x or -o add -es (watch → watches, go → goes). Consonant + y becomes -ies (study → studies), but vowel + y just adds -s (play → plays). Two verbs are irregular: have → has, be → is.

Pronunciation

/s/ after voiceless sounds: works, starts, eats.
/z/ after voiced sounds and vowels: lives, reads, goes.
/ɪz/, an extra syllable, after /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/: finishes, watches, uses.
Does he and does she run together in speech: /dəziː/, /dəʃiː/. Learners who expect two clear words often miss the question altogether when they hear it.

Anticipated problems and solutions

Problem	Solution
The -s disappears: She work in a bakery.	This is the mistake of the lesson. Drill he/she/it sentences alone, and make a class signal - a raised finger - that you use silently every time it is dropped, instead of correcting aloud.
The -s is added twice: She doesn't works. or Does she works?	Show that do and does already carry the person: after do, does, don't or doesn't, the verb has no ending. Board it beside the positive so the pair is visible.
Frequency words in the wrong place: She goes always early.	Give one rule: before the main verb, after be. Practise with three sentences on the board and let learners place the word themselves.
Present simple used for now: Look! She works.	Contrast two pictures - a woman at work today, and the same woman's weekly timetable - and elicit which sentence fits which.

Lead-in: my morning in five verbs5 min · Whole class, then pairs

Aim: To create interest and bring out what learners already know.

Write five verbs about your own morning on the board, nothing else: wake up, drink, walk, teach, eat.

Learners guess your routine: You wake up at six? Answer briefly and let them try again.

In pairs, learners write five verbs for their own morning and their partner guesses the times.

Reading: two mornings10 min · Individual, then pairs

Aim: To meet the present simple in a context and read for meaning.

Write the gist question on the board and give two minutes: Why do Ndidi and Emeka almost never see each other?

Learners read, answer, and check in pairs. Take the answer from the class.

Learners read again for the four detail questions, then check together.

ICQ before reading: Do you need every word? (No.)

Focus on form: where does the -s go?10 min · Whole class

Aim: To clarify the third-person -s, the negative and the question, and the sound of the ending.

Learners find every verb in the text about Ndidi or Emeka and call them out. Write them in one column: wakes, works, starts, eats, finishes, sleeps, gets up, studies, makes, reads.

Ask what all of them have in common, and elicit the -s. Then write We live in the same house beside them and ask why that one has no -s.

Build the negative and the question from the text: She doesn't eat at home. Does he study at night? Point out that the -s has moved to does.

Drill the three endings with a gesture each: works /s/, lives /z/, finishes /ɪz/.

Controlled practice12 min · Individual, then pairs to check

Aim: To practise the form accurately.

Learners do Worksheet Tasks 1 to 3 alone, then compare with a partner.

Check as a class, asking for the whole sentence aloud so you hear the ending.

Put two sentences with a dropped -s on the board - your own, not a learner's - and let the class repair them.

Class survey: who starts earliest?10 min · Mingle

Aim: To ask and answer present simple questions many times.

Each learner writes three questions: What time do you get up? How do you come here? What do you eat for breakfast?

They ask five classmates and note the answers in three words each.

Find out as a class: who gets up earliest, who travels furthest, what most people eat.

ICQ: Do you write full sentences? (No, three words.)

Freer speaking: a day I would like8 min · Pairs, then whole class

Aim: To use the present simple freely for a routine of their own invention.

Learners invent a perfect daily routine - any job, any country - and make short notes.

In pairs, each describes their day. The partner asks three questions with do or does.

Two or three learners describe their partner's day to the class, which is where the third-person -s gets its real test.

Feedback and exit task5 min · Whole class, then individual

Aim: To correct the common mistakes and check the main aim.

Write four sentences you heard, two correct and two with a missing or extra -s, and let the class find them.

Exit task: three sentences about a family member - one positive, one negative, one question - all in the third person. Collect them.

Homework Worksheet Task 5: eight sentences about a person in your family, with at least two negatives.

PPP (presentation, practice, production), with the language met first in a short text. Stage times add up to 60 minutes.

Differentiation

Support: Give weaker learners a strip of paper with the three forms modelled - I work / She works / She doesn't work / Does she work? - to keep on the desk during the speaking stages.
Stretch: Stronger learners add frequency adverbs to every sentence in the freer stage, and use hardly ever and once a week as well as the five basic adverbs.

Adapting the lesson

For	What to change
A class of 40 or more	The survey becomes rows: ask the five people nearest you. Take the class results from five volunteers rather than everyone.
No photocopier	Write the text and Tasks 2 and 3 on the board before the lesson; learners answer in their notebooks. The survey needs no materials at all.
Online	Share the text on screen; use breakout rooms of three for the survey, with one learner asking and two answering, then rotate.
Young learners (8 to 11)	Replace the freer stage with a drawing: learners draw their perfect day in four pictures and say one sentence about each.

Checking learning

The exit task is written in the third person on purpose: it shows immediately who has taken on the -s and who has not.

The worksheet for this lesson

Present Simple Worksheet (A1)

Five graded tasks with an answer key and teacher's notes. Printable.

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.

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