Bringing nature to the classroom – Ideas for a TEFL lesson do not need to be strictly restricted to only paper and technology based materials.

Not too long ago, I was out for a walk in a forest, marvelling at the beauty of the autumnal colours when, below a fir tree, I caught sight of some cones in the grass. On paying closer attention, besides cones I found twigs, pieces of bark, chestnuts, acorns, ferns and dead leaves all lying on the ground.

As I was wondering how many of these words my students were familiar with in English, almost immediately an idea for a simple, fun and useful lexis lesson naturally presented itself to me. I gathered enough of the items mentioned above (only what I found on the ground) for my students to be able to work in pairs or small groups in a B1 class.

Back to the classroom

1). To set context, I played forest sounds as background music, and asked my students to stand up, walk around the room and imagine they were walking in a forest while discussing with their classmates what they could see, hear and feel. After a 2-3 minute discussion and short feedback, I arranged the students into pairs and small groups. (setting the context, personalising the topic).

2). Each group got a sample or two of the seven various items (cones, twigs, pieces of bark, chestnuts, acorns, ferns and dead leaves) I had collected.

3). Students had a minute to discuss what the items were and what all the seven items had in common (they can all be found in a forest). This informed me about my students’ current level of knowledge and the depth of lexis presentation needed. (using realia to assess students’ knowledge and pre-teach what is required)

4). To check students’ understanding of the new language, students did a sentence completion task using the new lexical items. After checking the task in pairs and then as a group, students were regrouped. (controlled practice)

5). In their new groups, students were asked to create a poster and a minute long, mini presentation to draw people’s attention to the importance of protecting nature. This stage involved a lot of discussion and negotiation between students. (collaborative freer practice)

6). To finish the lesson, all the groups presented their posters and gave a mini-presentation to the class, making sure all the members were involved in the speaking.
To ensure each group was listening to the other groups, students were asked to list any words related to nature that they learnt throughout that week, together with the key ideas from each presentation. (presentation stage)

This lesson was incorporated into a series of lessons about the living planet.
You can find out more about how to plan lessons in the Gallery Teacher’s TEFL certificate course.