A lesson I look forward to teaching every time is my lesson on inventions. Sometimes, the title of the chapter in the textbook is “Inventions,” but sometimes it’s things like “Creativity” or “Technological Development.” This lesson is a great chance to push students to explain their ideas, discover practical vocabulary words, and also have fun and be creative. Here are 5 activities you can use for an ESL invention lesson plan!

1. Discussion Question: What is the most important invention?

I love starting with a discussion question. It helps students dip their toes into the topic, gives them a chance to share their opinion, and allows students to think about hteir own perspectives before they hear someone else’s. What’s even better about this is that there is no correct answer. Let students debate whether cell phones or the Internet was more life-changing. Or, if one student wants to wax eloquent about how chocolate is the greatest invention, let them!

2. Activity: Create your own invention

Let students pair up or group up to create an invention the world needs. Encourage students to consider a problem that needs solving, and ask them to be ready to describe their invention to someone else. For even more fun, allow them to be creative. If they want to invent a machine that washes your hair for you or a time-traveling machine, go for it!

Tip:

To help facilitate discussion, you can give them some creative or crazy ideas of strange inventions online. Rainboots for dogs, pineapple corers, or a tool to squeeze out the last bits of your toothpaste—all of these are simple, but solve a problem.

3. Activity: Present your invention

After pairs or groups have thought of their invention, ask them to share it with the class. Not only do they get to practice presenting and explaining their ideas, but it also fun for students to hear everyone’s creative ideas. For even more fun, you can ask students to vote on whose idea was best or use an applause system to choose who the winner is.

Bonus activity: Pitch your invention

For higher-level students, you can ask them to pitch their invention to others. Here, instead of just presenting their ideas, teach them a few techniques about pitching an idea. They should follow the structure of building rapport with the audience, identifying a problem, creating a need, and showing how their product can fulfill a need. If you have enough time, you can even ask students to create a marketing/production plan. How many units to they want to make in their first round of production? Where will they sell these products? How will they market them? How much of an investment are they asking for? Above all, students should show energy and enthusiasm about their product.

4. Conversation: Time Travel

In this conversation, one student will be from the present time. Another student will be from the past. Imagine you traveled back in time 200 years and are talking to someone from the past. Tell them about the future. What is different in the present day?

Before letting the students create their conversation, give them a few suggestions so they consider all the differences. What is different about technology? Fashion? Jobs? Transportation? Education? Societal expectations? It’s always fun for my college students to imagine that, if they lived 200 years ago, they probably wouldn’t be in school and would probably be working on a farm, already married with kids.

5. Discussion: AI Developments

As we talk about inventions today, one invention that has to be mentioned is AI. For higher-level students, encouraging them to discuss AI developments could be a stimulating challenge. “Should we have laws regarding AI use?” “If so, what laws?” “Is AI becoming too powerful?” “What jobs can AI replace?” “Are humans in danger of losing jobs?” “What security issues does AI impose?” “How can AI be used in student’s daily lives?”

Next time you have a topic about inventions or next time you just want to give students the chance to be creative, use some of these ideas!

Inventions ESL Lesson Plan