Parts of the Body, an ESL Lesson Plan for Adult Literacy or Low-Beginning Level Students

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to identify basic body parts in English.  They will be able to answer simple questions about them.

Teacher Planning

Several days of activities are included in this lesson plan.  Activities to promote oral competency precede the activities to promote written competency.

Materials/resources

• Large plastic, cardboard, or wooden skeleton
• 4 x 6 cards with one body part written on each card
• Sets of 4 x 6 cards with one body part written on each card
• Individual whiteboards
• Materials to develop human-body-parts bingo game (not for redistribution): http://www.earlylearninghq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/parts-of-the-body-bingo.pdf

Handouts

Handout #1

  
Handout#2

Pre-activities

Students must already understand basic classroom directions ("Show me") and questions words ("Where is", "How many")

Activities

1. Students will repeat names of parts of body in unison as teacher points to those areas on the skeleton.  Teacher will pause periodically to check for understanding and to ask questions such as:  “What is this?”  “How many arms does it have?” 
2. Next, students will answer questions individually.
3. Give handout #1, with vocabulary.  Go over aloud with students repeating as they read the words.
4. Give handout #2, without vocabulary.  In pairs, have one student say “Show me the __________” (to be completed with a part of the body) and the partner must point to the part indicated. 
5. Make a set of 4 X 6 cards with one part of the body written on each card.  Set them out in the front of the class so visible to all students.  Using the skeleton, the teacher names a part of the body, and a student comes and selects the corresponding 4 x 6 card.
6. Give out sets of 4 x 6 cards to pairs of students.  Have them point to a part of the body on Handout #2, and the partner selects the corresponding 4 x 6 card.
7. To promote written competence, using the class skeleton, the teacher points to a part of the body, and the students write the name of the body part in their notebooks.  Have the students practice the words 3 or 4 times each.
8. For further writing practice, pass out individual whiteboards to the students.  Name a part of the body and have the students write the name of the body part on their whiteboard.  Upon completion, students raise their whiteboards to show the teacher and their fellow students.  This activity lends itself to friendly competition:  which student writes the correct word the fastest; or the student(s) who make(s) the least mistakes, etc.
9. Play human-body-parts bingo.  Refer to the above website for materials.

Assessment

• Students will be able to identify body parts and answer questions about them during class activities.  The teacher will give immediate feedback.
• To administer a vocabulary quiz, the teacher may use Handout #2.  

Alignment with Los Angeles Unified School District, Division of Adult and Career Education, ESL curriculum, 2015

Link to original OER Resource

“Partes del Cuerpo (Parts of the Body)” by Teresa Payne   

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3522?ref=search