How to plan an ESL lesson in 30 seconds

Planning a one-to-one lesson by hand often takes longer than teaching it. You look for a text, write questions, make exercises and check the answers. With SnappySchool, your part takes about 30 seconds: choose the kind of lesson, type the topic and pick the level. A short lesson in Turbo mode is then ready in about ten seconds. A full lesson, from the warm-up to the wrap-up, usually takes under a minute.

Here are the steps, and what to check before you teach.

Step 1: Choose the kind of lesson

Open Create a lesson and pick one of four kinds:

• Topic: the student reads about a subject, learns its words and talks about it.
• Conversation: mostly speaking, with questions, useful words and a role-play.
• Grammar: one grammar point, with the rules, a text and lots of practice.
• Vocabulary drill: practice for the words in one of your word sets, or the words of a topic.

Pick the kind for what your student needs this week. A student who freezes when speaking needs a conversation lesson. A student who keeps making the same mistake needs a grammar lesson.

Step 2: Type what it's about

For a topic lesson, type the subject, for example The history of ice cream. For a conversation lesson, type what your student should talk about, for example Working from home. For a grammar lesson, pick the grammar point from the list. For a vocabulary drill, pick a word set or type a topic.

Specific topics make better lessons. Working from home gives a clearer lesson than Work, and Moving to a new city gives a clearer one than Life.

Step 3: Pick the level

Choose a level from A1 to C2. If you're not sure, go one level lower than your student's reading level. Most of a one-to-one lesson is speaking, and most students speak a little below the level they read at.

Lessons can be built in 14 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, Dutch and Polish.

Step 4: Choose the extras, or skip them

All of these are optional:

• Grammar focus: a topic lesson can practice one grammar point too, for example the past simple in a lesson about a trip.
• Turbo mode: for a topic lesson, a short lesson in seconds. It has words, exercises and a short text, with no fact check of the text, no grammar and no video.
• Slide count: more slides for a longer lesson, fewer for a shorter one.
• Include homework: homework slides at the end of the lesson.
• Add a YouTube video: a video on the topic.

Step 5: Build the lesson

Press Build the lesson. The slides appear one by one as they are built. A Turbo lesson is usually ready in about ten seconds. A full lesson usually takes under a minute, and a grammar lesson can take a little longer.

If you don't like a slide, press Redo under it and it is built again. When you're happy, save the lesson.

Step 6: Check it before you teach

A lesson built in a minute still needs your eye. Five minutes of checking before class is worth it:

• The level. Read the text and the questions as your student would. Are there words or structures they don't know yet?
• The facts. Check names, dates and numbers in the reading text, especially in a Turbo lesson, which has no fact check.
• The answers. Do every exercise yourself once. If an answer could be argued, change the question.
• The time. Count the slides. In a 60-minute one-to-one lesson, a long discussion can take 15 minutes on its own.
• Your student. Change one or two warm-up questions so they're about your student's own life.

You can edit, reorder, duplicate or rebuild any slide, and add your own pictures, audio, video and YouTube links.

Step 7: Teach it, send it, print it

• Teach it live. Press Teach this lesson and send your student the link. They join from the browser with no account and nothing to install. Video, screen sharing and a whiteboard are built in.
• Send homework. Send any slide home with one tap. Your student does it on their phone, and you see who handed it in and how they scored.
• Print it. Download the lesson as a PDF with every slide, a homework sheet and an answer key.

An example

Your student is a B1 nurse who is about to start a job in another country. In the last lesson she kept saying "I work here since 2019." Here is a lesson for her:

1. Kind: Topic.
2. What's it about: Starting a new job abroad.
3. Level: B1.
4. Grammar focus: the present perfect with for and since.
5. Include homework: on.

That's the 30 seconds. While the lesson builds, write two warm-up questions about her real plans, such as "When do you start?" and "What are you most nervous about?" Then read through the slides, fix anything that doesn't fit her, and swap your questions into the warm-up.

In class, the topic keeps her talking and the grammar focus gives her the structure she was missing. After class, send the homework slides, and start the next lesson with them.

Tips for planning fast

• Keep a list of topics your student likes. Ask in the first lesson, and add to the list whenever a topic comes up in conversation.
• Plan the grammar across weeks. Use the grammar focus to bring this week's grammar point into a topic lesson.
• Start from a ready-made lesson when it fits. The lesson library has hundreds of ready-made lessons in nine courses from A1 to B2, for example Life in a new country (B1) and For and since (B1 grammar).
• Save time after class too. Send the homework right after the lesson, while you remember what the student found hard.

SnappySchool is free right now, and signing up doesn't ask for a card. Start teaching

Questions

How long does it take to build a lesson?

Choosing the kind, the topic and the level takes about 30 seconds. After that, a Turbo lesson is usually ready in about ten seconds, and a full lesson usually takes under a minute. Grammar lessons can take a little longer.

Can I change the lesson after it's built?

Yes. On the build page you can redo any slide. After you save it, you can edit, reorder, duplicate or rebuild any slide, and add your own pictures, audio and video.

Does my student need an account?

No. They open your link or class code, type their name and join. After the lesson they can make an account, which keeps the lesson and its words for them and lets you send them homework.

What's the difference between Turbo mode and a full lesson?

Turbo mode makes a short topic lesson in seconds, with words, exercises and a short text. A full lesson takes about a minute and adds more: grammar if you choose a focus, a fact-checked text, a video if you turn it on, and more kinds of practice.