Favourite Activities Chat

Overview

This 40-minute lesson is designed for 10 Year 7 students working at a Year 1/2 level in a SEN school setting. It aligns with the National Curriculum for England’s English programme of study for KS3, focusing on speaking and listening skills, and early writing development. The lesson aims to enable pupils to talk confidently about their favourite activities, listen attentively to peers, and ask and answer simple questions, supporting personalised communication and social skills.

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National Curriculum Links

English - Spoken Language (KS3, Year 7, adapted for SEN needs)

• Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, roleplay, improvisations and debates.
• Consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others.
• Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge.
• Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising and exploring ideas.

English - Writing (KS1/KS2 adapted level)

• Write sentences by sequencing words to form short narratives or factual texts.
• Use basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops).
• Spell common words correctly and phonetically plausible attempts at unfamiliar words.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, pupils will:

• Be able to share their ideas about activities they enjoy with peers, using simple sentences.
• Listen carefully and respond to others’ ideas about their favourite activities.
• Ask and answer simple questions about different activities.
• Complete a short written task describing one activity they like.

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Resources Needed

• Visual activity cards (pictures representing simple activities such as playing football, painting, reading, dancing, cycling, cooking)
• Large colourful poster paper and markers
• Individual whiteboards with markers or lined paper and pencils
• Question prompt cards (e.g., “What do you like to do?”, “Do you like…?”, “Why do you like it?”)
• Small reward stickers or tokens

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Lesson Structure

1. Warm-Up: Activity Matching (5 minutes)

• Display the visual activity cards on a table or board.
• Teacher and class briefly name each activity aloud together. Use repetition and gestures to support understanding.
• Invite individual pupils to pick a card and say what activity it shows or mimic doing it (e.g., dribbling a ball for football).

2. Main Activity: Pair Share & Group Discussion (20 minutes)

• Step 1: Pair Work (10 minutes)
  Pupils sit in pairs. Each pair is given a set of 4 activity cards.
  Pupils take turns to select a card and say a simple sentence about it, for example:

  • “I like playing football.”
  • “I like painting.”

• Teacher models the question and answer format:

  • Teacher asks: “Do you like painting?”
  • Pupil answers: “Yes, I like painting.” or “No, I don’t like painting.”

• Encourage pupils to use sentence starters from prompt cards to ask their partner: “Do you like…?”

• Support as needed, encouraging eye contact and turn-taking.

• Step 2: Group Sharing (10 minutes)
  Bring all pairs together. Each pair shares one activity that they like or one they asked about.
  The teacher uses a large poster paper to write down favourite activities mentioned, creating a colourful class “Our Favourite Activities” poster.
  Use praise to encourage attentive listening and positive responses (smiles, nods).

3. Writing Task: My Favourite Activity (10 minutes)

• Each pupil chooses one activity they enjoy from the poster or cards.
• Pupils write a simple sentence about their favourite activity on their whiteboard or paper:
  For example:
  • “I like cycling.”
  • “I like dancing.”
• Teacher provides individual support: spelling help, prompting capital letters and full stops, encouraging finger spaces.
• If writing is very challenging, allow pupils to draw a picture and dictate their sentence to the teacher or teaching assistant to scribe next to it.

4. Plenary: Share Your Sentence (5 minutes)

• Each pupil reads or shares their sentence aloud, holding up their paper/whiteboard.
• Teacher and peers offer positive feedback and stickers or tokens for participation.

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Differentiation & SEN Adaptations

• Use highly visual and tactile resources (picture cards, gestures, props).
• Repeat sentences and questions in simplified language.
• Provide sentence starters and question prompts visually.
• Allow verbal responses or drawings if writing is too difficult.
• Pair pupils strategically to support social interaction.
• Maintain a calm, encouraging atmosphere for confidence-building.

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Assessment and Feedback

• Informal formative assessment through observation:
  • Can pupils share simple sentences about activities?
  • Do pupils ask and answer questions appropriately?
  • Are pupils listening and responding to peers?
• Review written sentences for correct basic structure and content.
• Provide immediate verbal praise and rewards to motivate participation.

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Extension Ideas (for future lessons)

• Introduce adverbs of frequency (e.g., “I often like dancing.”)
• Use photos to create a “My Weekend Activities” booklet.
• Perform a simple class roleplay on inviting friends to join an activity.

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This lesson plan supports fundamental spoken language and early writing skills aligned with the National Curriculum for KS3, tailored for SEN pupils working at a much earlier developmental level, making learning enjoyable, interactive, and accessible.