How to Prep Any Lesson in 10 Minutes or Less

If you’re an ESL teacher, chances are you’ve been there. Sitting at your desk, drowning in grammar charts, frantically Googling “past perfect vs. past perfect continuous” while asking yourself, “Why the 🤬 is this taking so long?!”

When I first started teaching ESL, my daily schedule looked something like this:

• 9 AM - 5 PM: Teach nonstop.

• 6 PM - 9 PM: Lesson prep until my eyes crossed.

• 9 PM - 11 PM: Question all my life choices.

I quickly understood why teachers burn out. I loved teaching—but spending my evenings buried in PowerPoint slides? Not so much.

So I asked myself: How can I cut down on my lesson prep time?

The Answer: Don’t Create Lesson Plans, Create Lesson TEMPLATES.

Instead of creating a brand-new lesson plan from scratch every single time, work smarter by following a repeatable lesson structure that you can apply to any class.

Here’s a foolproof template that works for most lesson lengths:

For a 1-hour lesson:

🔥 Warm-up → 📝 Vocabulary → 🖊️ Grammar → 💬 Speaking

For a 2-hour lesson (or longer):

🔥 Warm-up → 📝 Vocabulary → 🖊️Grammar → 📝 Practice → ✍️ Writing → 💬 Speaking → ❌ Error Correction → 🎲 Game/Activity

The key here? Have a go-to method for each section. This is where the magic happens— because, when you know how you’ll approach each step, planning becomes effortless.

How to Plug & Play Your Lesson Plan

✅ Warm-up: Start with a simple discussion question. (Need ideas? This list of 250 icebreaker questions could last you the entire year!)

✅ Vocabulary:

• Come up with a list of 20 or so terms that are relevant to the day’s lesson. (ChatGPT is great for this). Once you’ve got it, you could try the following:

• For beginners: Play pictionary, or try an acting game

• For intermediate students: Assign a discussion question for each vocab word.

• For advanced students: Try a “round robin” writing game. Divide the class into medium-sized groups, give each group a piece of paper, and ask them to create a story using the targeted vocabulary. Each person writes one sentence with a vocabulary word, then they pass the paper to the next person, who writes the next sentence.

✅ Grammar:

• If you’re REALLY short on time? Do a Google Image search for a chart or illustration that explains the grammar’s form and usage, then walk through it with your students. 

• Drill it, then complete some exercises. I love sites like Teach This, All Things Grammar and Perfect English Grammar!

• Or… if you prefer a ready-to-go grammar presentation that combines all of that and more, you could try The ESL Grammar Gallery once it comes out (ETA: March or April 2025! 🎉)

✅ Writing:

• Give your students a writing prompt that requires them to use that day’s vocabulary or grammar. Example: for a lesson on the future tense, a prompt like “What are you going to do this weekend?” works great.

✅ Speaking:

• If you did a writing prompt beforehand, simply ask your students to read what they wrote to each other.

• You could also ask discussion questions that incorporate your vocabulary or grammar point for the day.

✅ Error Correction:

• While students are speaking - monitor the room and take note of any common errors. 

• Go over them with the class as a whole, and then create additional incorrect sentences to have them correct.

✅ Game/Activity:

• There are so many possibilities for this - but here are some of my go-to’s:

• Acting games and role plays are great since they require students to practice multiple skills at once. Give them a prompt, ask them to write a script, then perform it for their classmates.

• Telephone is always great for pronunciation practice.

• Board races can be fun for more energetic classes!

And guess what? This works for any thematic lesson too!

Example: Want to teach a lesson on Easter? Ask ChatGPT for a list of relevant vocabulary and grammar points, plug them into your lesson plan template, and boom—lesson done.

Why This Works

This method slashes your prep time because you’re not reinventing the wheel for every single lesson. Instead of spending hours starting from scratch, you’re just filling in the blanks like this:

• Pick a warm-up question.

• Choose a vocab list + grammar point.

• Pick out a game or two.

✨ 10 minutes. Done. ✨

“But Won’t This Get Repetitive?”

Nope! Routine ≠ Boring. The idea is that while your structure stays the same, your chosen activities change—one day, vocab might be writing lists; the next, it’s a speed-drawing competition. One day, speaking might be small-group discussions; the next, it’s a class-wide challenge.

Having a structured framework means:
✔ Less stress for you (because you know exactly how each lesson will flow).

✔ Less prep time for you (since you’re just filling in your template).

✔ More confidence for students (because they know what to expect).

So… what do you think?

If you choose to give lesson template planning a shot, please tell me what you think! 

And - if you have any other time-saving hacks for lesson planning, you can comment on this post - I’m always looking for great new ideas!

Also, while I’m still building out the ESL Grammar Gallery, I’d love your feedback. Do you have any ideas for features that could make your lesson prep even easier? Let me know here!

Cheers to spending less time planning and more time actually teaching! 🎉

From,

Audrea 

Founder, The ESL Grammar Gallery