5 TAPIF Lesson Plan Ideas for Your Second Semester
This blog post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for any purchases made through these links. Click here for the disclosure statement.
After two weeks of Christmas vacation, you might be scrambling to find new lesson plans for your second semester. I remember feeling completed unmotivated to plan my lessons for the new year even though I felt much more confident as a teaching assistant. So, if you’re struggling to get out of vacation mode and need ideas for your upcoming classes, here are some lesson plans that my students loved from the second half of the school year.
During my experience with TAPIF, I taught high school students, but you can easily adapt these lessons to any level. I had two types of classes — discussion classes for advanced students and grammar/vocabulary-focused classes for beginner to intermediate students. In the resources below you will find both types of lessons.
Looking for more TAPIF resources and tips? Check out my Ultimate TAPIF Guide!
5 TAPIF Lesson Plan Ideas for Your Second Semester
1. New Year’s
The first week of the spring semester is the perfect time to present on New Year’s. I began my lesson by having my students write down two truths and one lie about their winter break, then everyone shared their statements and guess the lie. Next I asked students to work in small groups and discuss their New Year’s resolutions. For beginner/intermediate groups, we discussed how to talk about the future and express what they will do in the new year. Then we watched a short video on New Year’s traditions and gave my students a list of questions from the video to answer in groups. Check out the PowerPoint presentation for this lesson here.
Tips for this lesson:
In order to help your students transition into school mode again, begin your lesson with a fun activity. A discussion about your students’ winter break is a great way to encourage your students to talk more since they’ll be sharing about themselves. If you play two truths and a lie, set the example by sharing about your own winter break.
If you are discussing New Year’s resolutions and want to incorporate some grammar into lesson, consider presenting on modals of advice. Have students give advice for different resolutions (ex: I will eat healthier → Eat less sugar. Avoid junk food.).
Make it a competition for students to answer the worksheet questions and declare the team with the most correct responses the winner. Turning a listening activity into a game can incentivize your students to be more engaged.
2. The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is a unique American tradition to share with your class. I started this lesson by asking my students about their knowledge of American football, the NFL and the Super Bowl. Then I presented some general information about the Super Bowl and included some questions to quiz my students about the game. Next we watched three Super Bowl commercials, and I asked students to work in small groups to answer questions about each advertisement. Then students shared their ideas with the class. I transitioned the discussion from the Super Bowl to sports. I asked students to share their favorite sport events, and we compared them to the Super Bowl. I ended the lesson by comparing the World Cup to the Super Bowl and asking students to discuss the difference between American football and soccer. Check out the PowerPoint presentation for this lesson here.
Tips for this lesson:
Include a map of the United States and the location of the game as well as the cities of the teams playing this year. This a great way to present some U.S. geography to your students and share about cities they might not be familiar with.
If you don’t want to spend the entire lesson talking about the Super Bowl, incorporate general sports into your discussions. Your students might be limited in what they can share about the subject, so allow them to talk about their own favorite sport events and compare it with the American sport. Since advertising is another major theme, consider organizing your lesson around this topic too.
Have a favorite football team? Share it with your students! They will enjoy hearing about your personal experiences. Since my team was playing in the Super Bowl the year that I gave this presentation, I shared a lot about my team and a few pictures of my family and me on game day.
3. Valentine’s Day
Your students will fall in love with this Valentine’s Day lesson. I began the class by giving my students a list of Valentine’s Day idioms without their meaning. They worked in small groups to guess the meaning of the idioms, then we discussed the answers as a class. Check out the idioms worksheet for this lesson here. Next, I prepared a deck of index cards with a Valentine’s Day idiom or word written on each card. I split students into groups of 2-3 and gave each group about 10 cards. They had to write a short story using the idioms and words on the cards. I ended the lesson by having each group share their Valentine’s Day story with the class. Check out the PowerPoint presentation for this lesson here.
Tips for this lesson:
Give your students sufficient time to write their stories. This activity can easily take up the majority of the class, so don’t plan too many extra activities. However, if your class moves quickly through the exercise, hand out extra words randomly while they are writing for an extra challenge.
If you want to spend more time discussing the idioms, add some discussion questions to your presentation that allow students to use them in context. For example, if you’ve presented the idiom a bed of roses, then ask students to discuss an experience that was a bed of roses for them.
Add a creative element to your lesson by having students write and decorate their own valentines. You can even ask some students to present theirs to the class.
4. The Academy Awards
Almost anyone can talk about movies, which makes The Academy Awards a great topic for students. I started the lesson by giving students paper slips with vocabulary words related to movies and their definitions. Students worked in groups to match each word with its definition, and then we discussed the correct answers. Next I gave students questions about their movie preferences and they discussed with a partner. I showed my students a highlight video from last year’s Academy Awards and a list of questions to answer about the video. They worked with their partner to answer the questions and then we discussed the correct answers as a group. I ended the lesson by giving students several movie synopses and had them guess the movie of each synopsis. Then they wrote a movie synopsis and had their peers guess the movie. Check out the PowerPoint presentation for this lesson here and Academy Awards worksheet here.
Tips for this lesson:
Play videos with subtitles. Ask students if they need to watch the video again — silence usually means yes. It’s usually a good idea to play a video more than one time to ensure that students understand all the information.
If you want to incorporate more activities related to the Academy Awards, charades and other acting games are perfect for this lesson.
5. Reality TV
Watching TV series is a great way for your students to learn English. You can encourage them to do so with a lesson on reality TV. I began the lesson by asking the students to brainstorm a list of reality TV shows they know about. Next I had students discuss a few questions about reality TV and their preferences with a partner. For the next activity, I gave the students a list of TV shows that we would be watching and asked them to guess the premise of each show. We discussed their ideas as a group then I showed them several short clips from different reality TV shows. After each clip, the students talked about the show, whether or not they would watch it, etc. I ended the lesson by having students agree or disagree with different statement about reality TV. Check out the PowerPoint presentation for this lesson here
Tips for this lesson:
Brush up on your knowledge of French reality TV. Many students will be familiar with French TV series, but don’t expect them to know about famous American reality TV. If you know some popular French shows, you’ll be able to share English-language versions with your students.
Many reality TV shows use informal/slang words. If you notice any slang terms in your video clips, make sure to discuss it with your students.
Which lessons are you planning for your second semester? Let me know in the comments below.
The goal of this guide is to support you during each stage of your TAPIF journey from applying for the program to departing from France. Each chapter discusses a different topic in-depth. I’ve researched everything you’ll need to know and included lots of useful information that you won’t find in the official TAPIF handbook. You’ll also discover a checklist at the end of every chapter that will help you throughout your TAPIF journey.
This guide also includes my experiences participating in the 2019-2020 program. My personal observations about the program are not universal to all assistants, schools, regions, etc., but they will hopefully give you insights into life as an assistant in France.
This Guide Includes…
How to step-by-step apply for the TAPIF program + my statement of purpose
How to successfully obtain your visa and prepare for France
How to find housing, open a bank account, and get settled in France
How to plan your lessons and be an amazing teaching assistant
How to navigate daily life in France, make extra money and make friends
How to depart from France and renew your teaching contract
