ESL Lesson Plan · CEFR B1

Reported Speech ESL Lesson Plan (B1, 60 Minutes)

A complete 60-minute lesson on reported speech for B1: learners carry real messages around the room, then work out for themselves what changes when we report what somebody said.

CEFR B1
60 minutes
Teenagers and adults
Grammar
Reported Speech

About this lesson

It covers statements and questions, the difference between said and told, and the changes to pronouns and time words that most textbooks rush - and it ends with a task where reporting is genuinely necessary, not an exercise.

At a glance

Level: B1, with a B2 extension in the notes
Learners: Teenagers and adults
Length: 60 minutes. For a 45-minute lesson, teach statements only and leave reported questions for a second lesson.
Skills: Speaking, listening and writing
Language focus: Reported speech: statements with said and told, reported questions with asked, and the changes to tense, pronouns and time words
Framework: Guided discovery: learners find the changes in an example themselves before the rule is named, then practise and use it
Materials: The worksheet, a board; slips of paper for the message game
Preparation: 10 minutes, including cutting slips

Aims

Main aim. By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to report statements and questions that other people made, changing the tense, the pronouns and the time words correctly.

Subsidiary aim. Learners will be able to choose between said and told according to whether the listener is named.
Subsidiary aim. Learners will be able to form a reported question without do, does or did, and without question word order.

The text: "Three messages"

At break, three people spoke to the teacher. Sara said, "I can't come to the trip on Friday." Karim said, "I finished the project yesterday, and I gave it to my sister to check." Then Lucia asked, "Where does the bus leave from?" and, a moment later, "Have you seen my bag?" - The teacher wrote it all down for the class teacher, like this: Sara said that she couldn't come to the trip on Friday. Karim told me that he had finished the project the day before, and that he had given it to his sister to check. Lucia asked where the bus left from, and whether I had seen her bag.

Gist question: Which words changed when the teacher wrote the messages down? Find three kinds of change.

Detail questions: (1) Who could not come on Friday? (2) When did Karim finish the project? (3) What did Lucia want to know first? (4) Why is it "her bag" and not "my bag"?

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

Reported speech tells somebody what another person said, at a later moment and often in another place. Because the moment has moved, the words that point to a time, a person or a place move with it.

The tense usually steps back one: present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could. This is called backshift, and it happens because the speaking is now over.

If the thing said is still true - She said she lives in Kandy - fluent speakers often keep the present. Teach the backshift as the safe form, and accept the unshifted one when the fact still holds.

Concept-checking questions

Ask	Answer
"Sara said she couldn't come." Are these Sara's exact words?	No.
Did Sara speak before or after this sentence?	Before.
"I finished it yesterday" becomes "the day before". Why not "yesterday"?	Because we are reporting it on a different day.
"Lucia asked where the bus left from." Is that a question?	No - it is a sentence about a question, so there is no question mark.

Form

Sentence type	Pattern	Example
Statement	said (that) + clause; told + person + (that) + clause	She said that she couldn't come. He told me that he had finished.
Wh- question	asked + (person) + question word + subject + verb	She asked where the bus left from. (Not where did the bus leave.)
Yes/no question	asked + (person) + if / whether + subject + verb	She asked whether I had seen her bag.
Tense steps back	present → past; past → past perfect; will → would; can → could	I am tired → he said he was tired.

Spelling

Nothing unusual to spell, but two pairs of words decide the sentence: said takes no person after it (said that ...), told must have one (told me that ...); and in a reported question there is no do, does or did, and no inversion.

Pronunciation

that is nearly always weak and is often dropped altogether: She said (that) she couldn't come - /ðət/, never /ðæt/.
told me links into one piece: /ˈtoʊldmi/.
The reported clause keeps normal statement intonation, falling at the end, even when it reports a question. Learners who keep the rising question tune give themselves away.

Anticipated problems and solutions

Problem	Solution
Question word order kept in the report: She asked where did the bus leave.	This is the mistake of the lesson. Show the two sentences one above the other and cross out the did: a reported question is a statement inside a sentence.
said and told swapped: He said me that ... / He told that ...	One line on the board: tell needs a person, say does not. Drill four quick pairs.
Time words left alone: He said he finished it yesterday reported a week later.	Make it real: report something a classmate actually said last lesson, and ask whether yesterday is still true.
Backshift applied where it is not needed: She said the earth went round the sun.	Teach the safe rule first, then show this exception once. It rewards the strong learners without confusing the rest.
Pronouns not changed: He said I was tired meaning the speaker was tired.	Ask who is tired? every time until the class hears the ambiguity themselves.

Lead-in: the message chain6 min · Two teams in lines

Aim: To create a real need to report what somebody said.

Two lines. Whisper a sentence to the first learner in each: My cousin is moving to Dubai next month and she has sold her car.

Each learner whispers it to the next. The last one says it aloud.

Compare the two endings with the original. The class will laugh; that is the point.

Ask: when you tell somebody what another person said, what has to change?

Three messages: noticing the changes12 min · Pairs, then whole class

Aim: To let learners discover the changes for themselves before any rule is given.

Learners read the text and answer the gist question in pairs: which words changed, and what kind of change was it?

Take the three kinds from the class and put them on the board as headings: tense, pronouns, time words.

Work through the four detail questions, especially the last one - why her bag and not my bag.

Only now give the name: this is reported speech.

Clarify: said, told, and reported questions8 min · Whole class

Aim: To make the form clear, including the question without do and without inversion.

Board the two statement patterns side by side: said (that) and told + person + (that). Drill four short pairs.

Write Lucia's two questions in direct speech, then the reports underneath, and cross out does and the inversion in front of the class.

Elicit the tense ladder onto the board: present → past, past → past perfect, will → would, can → could.

Ask the CCQs to check that a report is a statement, not a question.

Controlled practice14 min · Individual, then pairs to check

Aim: To practise both patterns accurately.

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

Check as a class, asking each time which word changed and why.

Any sentence with asked should be read aloud, so the falling intonation is heard.

Freer task: the interview relay15 min · Groups of three

Aim: To use reported speech where it is genuinely needed.

In each group of three, A interviews B with four questions of A's own while C sits with their back to them and cannot hear.

A then reports the whole exchange to C: I asked her where she was born, and she said that ...

C writes down what they are told, then checks the facts with B: Is it true that ...?

Rotate roles once if time allows. Two groups report one interesting fact to the class.

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 right and two with question word order or the wrong verb, and let the class repair them.

Exit task: report one statement and one question that you actually heard in this lesson. Collect them.

Homework Worksheet Task 5: report five things somebody said to you today.

Guided discovery: learners find the changes in an example themselves before the rule is named, then practise and use it. Stage times add up to 60 minutes.

Differentiation

Support: Give weaker learners the tense ladder and the two patterns on a slip of paper for the freer stage, and let them report statements only.
Stretch: Stronger learners use a wider range of reporting verbs - explained, admitted, complained, promised - and notice that some take a person and some do not.

Adapting the lesson

For	What to change
A class of 40 or more	The message chain runs in four lines at once. In the freer stage, groups of three work simultaneously; hear two groups, not twenty.
No photocopier	Write the three messages on the board before the lesson. The interview relay needs nothing but the learners themselves.
Online	Use breakout rooms of three for the relay, with C turning their camera and sound off during the interview. It works better online than in a noisy classroom.
Exam classes	Point out that reported speech appears in most B1 exams as a sentence-transformation task, and that the marks go for the tense and the word order, exactly what Task 3 drills.

Checking learning

The exit task asks learners to report real speech from the lesson, so it cannot be answered from memory of a rule. Look for question word order, which is the thing that fails first.

The worksheet for this lesson

Reported Speech Worksheet (B1)

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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