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My best friend, the dog | ESL/EFL Lesson Plan

Level: Intermediate
Topic: Pets, dogs
Aim of the lesson: Talking about your pet
Length of the lesson: 45 minutes

Content:

Lead-in (5 minutes)

Do you have a pet at home?
What do you like the most about it?
Do you play with your pet?
What pet would you like to have but you can’t have?

Reading (7 minutes)

Read the paragraph about dogs and underline three words that you don’t know.

Dogs are the most popular pets and they have earned the nickname “man’s best friend”. It is said that dogs were domesticated more than 15,000 years ago. There are around 400 million dogs in the world classified in hundreds of different breeds such as: German shepherd, Collie, Labrador, Boxer etc. Among them, the Labrador is the most popular breed in the world because it is said that they are very obedient and very intelligent. This is the reason why police uses them for different kinds of jobs and they are a common choice as guide dogs. Dogs are capable to hear sounds that humans can’t. They also have a remarkable sense of smell; differentiating odors in concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can. A dog usually lives 10 to 14 years.

Vocabulary (5 minutes)

Match the words with their definitions.

Domesticated – to live close to human beings
Breed – a group of individuals of the same kind
Obedient – someone who listen and do what others tell him to do
Intelligent – same as smart
Guide dog – assistance dogs for blind people
Remarkable – worthy of notice or attention

Multiple choice exercise (3 minutes)

Complete the exercise by marking the correct answer with “C”.

What are the most popular pets?
Birds
Dogs (C)
Cats

When were dogs domesticated?
1500 years ago
150 years ago
15000 years ago (C)

How many breeds of dogs are there in the world?
400 million
Millions
Hundreds (C)

What is the most popular breed of dogs?
German shepherd
Boxer
Labrador (C)

Select the adjective that describe Labradors the best.
Dangerous
Smart (C)
Fast

How long does a dog live?
10 years
10-14 years (C)
14 years

Speaking (25 minutes)

Tell your partner about your pet or about the pet you wish you have. Use the questions below for help.

Do you have a pet?
How old is it?
Where did you get it from?
Who takes care of it?
What does it look like (color, breed, etc.)?
What do you feed it?
Do you play with it?
What is it’s name? How did you choose this name?
If you don’t have a pet, why not?
Would you ever consider getting a pet?
Did you grow up with pets in your home?
What are the pros and cons of keeping a pet?
What is the best pet to own?

FOR TEACHERS

Lead-in

Introduce the topic of the lesson by asking a few questions about pets. Many of your learners have a pet or wish to have one. For those who don’t like pets you can ask them to give arguments on why they don’t like pets.

Reading

Ask students to read the paragraph and underline three words that they don’t know. Possible words are shown in vocabulary task. At intermediate level, they shouldn’t have any problem understanding the text. Of course, there are many things to be said about dogs so the paragraph can be adapted for advance learners as well.

Vocabulary

It is just a matching exercise which shouldn’t create any problem for the learners. In addition you may want to teach learners how to pronounce the words correctly.

Multiple choice

This is a task that checks the understanding of the paragraph in details. It contains just six questions and shouldn’t be spent more than 3 minutes on it.

Speaking/Writing

Ask learners to tell their partners about their pets or about the pets they wish to have. Some questions are provided for help only so they will know what they should talk about. If you wish to transform it in a writing task then ask them to write about their pets or about an imaginary one.


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