This document outlines a lesson plan for teaching 1st year ESO students about using the present continuous tense to express future plans in English. The lesson will use an upcoming school trip to Riaza, Segovia as a context for motivating students. Activities include watching a video from the previous year's trip, discussing what students will do in Riaza, doing grammar exercises and games, presenting information about Riaza in pairs, and writing descriptions of activities using the target grammar. The lesson will be assessed through oral, writing, and computer skills and will take place over four sessions.

1. A trip to Riaza
Learning more about
the Present Continuous
Mariana Morales Lobo
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2. Context and meaningful learning
1st ESO students go to Riaza (Segovia) at the
beginning of May. They stay for a week and learn
in a different way. They enjoy this trip very much
and look forward to it during the year. Therefore,
there is a high motivation towards Riaza.
In this context we are going to learn a grammar
structure. It will make sense to students as it is a
preparation for the trip: their learning will be
meaningful.

3. Objectives
In this didactical unit we are going to learn how
to communicate plans in the future, according
to the Decreto 22/2007 de 10 de mayo de la
CAM:
“1º ESO: Expresar planes e intenciones
para el futuro. […]. El presente continuo
con valor de futuro going to ”

4. Presentation: The hook
• Several strategies may be useful in order to
present the activities to students:
– Watch a video from last year
– Read the invitation letter in English
– Let an older student explain last year’s trip in
English

5. Previous questions
• What do we know about Riaza?
– Suggested answers:




It’s a place
It’s in Segovia
We are going with the school
We are going to like it
• What are we going to do there?
– Suggested answers:




We are going to have fun
We are going to be with friends
We are going to dance
We are going to play football

6. • Other questions:
– What places are we going to visit?
– How long are you going to stay?
– What objects are you going to take?
• Write on the board and underline the
expressions the students have said using the
present continuous to make a future plan.
• Ask students to find the Grammar Rule
• Fix the structure on the wall

7. Game
• Work in groups of three students
• Role-playing: a student plays an action and
the rest of the group must guess it, using the
expression “you are going to….”

8. Pair work
• Find information about Riaza and other
villages in Segovia: images, etc.
• Elaborate a pp presentation of 8-10 images
• Present the village. What you are going to visit
there and what activities are you going to do?
» Use the present continuous
» Use I and We

9. Practice
• Do some exercises from de text book: fill in
the gaps, rewriting sentences, etc.

10. Writing
• Choose a village from another group
• Describe what your fellow students are going
to visit there and what activities they are
going to do.
» Use they, he or she.
» Use the structure “going to”

11. Assessment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Oral skills
Writing skills
Grammar
Pair group
Computer literacy
Learning to learn
• Define the skills that are
going to be marked.
Choose some.
• Tell students BEFORE
doing the activity
• Give them qualitative
feedback as soon as
possible

12. High level students
• Write the Wikipedia article for Riaza in
English.

13. Calendar and place
– 1st session: Presentation (hook), previous
questions and game
– 2nd session: Pair work (and assessment) in the
School Library
– 3rd session: Oral presentations and practice (and
assessment)
– 4th session: Writing (and assessment)

14. Visualize what you have learnt
• Fix photos of Riaza on the wall
• Fix in capital letters the structure we are
learning