Lesson plan
Superhero High
Topic
Superheroes
Aims
To develop and practise:
vocabulary: vocabulary connected with super powers and superheroes
structure: present simple for timetables
integrated skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing
Age
Older primary (9–11 years)
Time
90 minutes approximately
Materials
1. Story, activity sheet, answers and transcript: ‘Superhero High’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/superhero-high
2. Song, activity sheet, answers and lyrics: ‘Amazing superheroes’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/amazing-superheroes
3. Reading practice: ‘Superheroes’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/reading-practice/superheroes
4. Game: ‘Style-a-hero’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/games/style-hero
For a complete list of all ‘Superheroes’ content on LearnEnglish Kids, click here:
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/superheroes
Introduction
In this lesson, learners will be introduced to the popular story ‘Superhero High’. They will watch the story,
complete comprehension activities, look at lexis for super powers and review the story. Then they will do
some extension work based on the story, writing a superhero school timetable and doing a class survey.
Procedure
1. Introduce the Show a picture of Superman or another famous superhero. Elicit his name and job
topic (5 mins) (superhero). What other superheroes do they know? Who is their favourite and why?
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Lesson plan
2. Focus on Ask learners what Superman does or what special powers he has that make him a
vocabulary (10 superhero. What other super powers do they know? For example, super-strength, x-
mins) ray vision, flying, etc. Brainstorm ideas and write them on the board.
Play a game. Learners work in groups of four (or three or five). One learner mimes a
super power, the other learners have to say it. The first learner to say it gets a point.
You could provide a picture of a buzzer or bell for each group which the learners
have to touch before they can say the answer.
If you have played mime games like this with your learners before, a demonstration
should suffice. If this is the first time, play a whole round as a class before putting
learners into groups.
Monitor to praise and help with pronunciation.
3. Focus on the Play the story. Learners complete part 1 of the activity sheet: match the pictures and
story: the super power. Check answers. What super powers did they come up with in stage
comprehension 2 that weren’t in the story?
(10–15 mins) Ask learners complete as much as they can of part 2 of the activity sheet: put the
events in the story in order. Tell learners in advance that they are going to see the
story again and so they don’t need to remember everything.
Play the story again. Learners check or complete part 2. Check answers together as
a class.
4. Reviewing the Ask learners what their favourite class in the story was and hold a class vote. Play
story (5 mins) the story all the way through. Pause the story at logical points, ask questions about
what has just happened, and ask learners to tell you what happens next. You could
give points for correct answers.
5. Extension: Tell learners to imagine that they go to Superhero High. Ask them what classes they
planning a would like to have. Refer back to the list on the board from stage 2, and encourage
superhero learners to add more ideas. They can be as imaginative as they like – the classes
school (10–20 don’t have to be traditional super powers, for example the ‘How to make all the
mins) teachers be nice’ class!
If you wanted to widen the vocabulary area, you could talk about equipment. Ask
learners what equipment helps learners at Superhero High to see through walls
(glasses). Brainstorm ideas for equipment that could help learners in different super
power classes (e.g. a cape in the ‘How to fly’ class, or flowers and chocolates in the
‘How to make all the teachers be nice’ class!).
Learners complete part 3 of the activity sheet: create a timetable of super powers
classes. If you have looked at vocabulary for equipment, learners could also write
what equipment they need for each class.
Monitor to praise and help with language where necessary.
Play a game. In pairs, learners swap activity sheets. They test each other’s memory
of their timetable. The winner is the learner who can remember their timetable the
best. You might like to practise the question ‘What class do you have on…?’ before
they start.
Learners could continue the game by swapping back the activity sheets with their
partner and then testing each other on their own timetable (i.e. ‘What class do I have
on …?’).
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Lesson plan
If you wanted to take the superhero school project further, learners could plan more
about the school in small groups. Learners could draw a plan of the school on A3
paper and label the parts of the school with as little or as much detail as their level
allows. For example, learners could label the canteen and write what kind of food
there is, or label the playground and write what kind of sports are played, or label the
classrooms and write the names of the teachers (e.g. Mr Strong teaches super
strength, Mrs Fox teaches flying, etc), or label the library and write the names of
some books you can find there.
Display work around the class. Allow time for learners to look at other learners’ work.
6. Oral Do a class survey. Learners work in groups of five. Each learner takes a question
extension: class ‘What class do you have on Monday/Tuesday?’ etc. Learners mingle and ask each
survey (10–15 other their question, recording the answer in their notebooks. Learners go back to
mins) their groups and find the most popular class for each day of the week.
Alternatively, the survey could ask ‘What’s the best super power?’ or ‘Who’s your
favourite superhero?’
7. Song or If there is time and interest, you might like to listen to or sing the ‘Amazing
reading practice superheroes’ song with your learners.
(5–10 mins) Alternatively, you might like to complete the ‘Superheroes’ reading practice activity
with your learners.
8. Setting Learners can watch the story or sing the song again, or play the ‘Style-a-hero’ game
homework (5 where they can design a superhero, and even print the hero they design to bring to
mins) class next time to talk about.
Learners could also write in more detail about one of their super power classes, e.g.
about the teacher, the equipment, the exams.
Contributed by
Rachael Ro
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