Getting to Know You
- Aug 25, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: May 12
This ESL Lesson Plan Getting to Know You is a perfect choice for a first trial class with young learners at the A1 level. Students learn simple greetings in English and other languages, practise asking and answering questions such as “What’s your name?” and “How old are you?”, and give a short self-introduction.
📄A1 ⏱️30 min 📁14 slides
Phrases
Hello!
My name is...
Nice to meet you!
I am from...
I live in...
I am ... years old
In my free time I like...
I have a pet /I don't have a pet.
Thank you!
Lesson plan
Greetings
Students are introduced to how people say hello in seven different languages — English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, Ukrainian, and Italian — a warm and welcoming way to open a first lesson and celebrate multilingual identity.
What is your name?
Students learn and practise the two key phrases What is your name? and My name is..., along with the social expression Nice to meet you! — the most essential building blocks of any introductory conversation.
Where are you from?
Students learn to ask and answer about origin and location using Where are you from?, I am from..., and I live in... — simple but important distinctions that help learners talk about themselves right away.
How old are you?
Students practise asking about age and responding with I am ... years old, supported by numbers 4 through 9 displayed visually — keeping the language concrete and accessible for very young or absolute beginner learners.
Do you like reading stories?
Students are introduced to the Do you like...? question form with Yes, I do and No, I don't as the two possible responses — clear, binary practice that builds confidence quickly.
Do you like singing songs?
The same Do you like...? structure is repeated with a new activity — singing songs — giving students another controlled opportunity to practise the question and answer pattern with a different topic.
Do you like flying a kite?
A third round of Do you like...? practice, this time with the activity of flying a kite — continuing to consolidate the structure through repetition across engaging, child-friendly contexts.
Do you like playing sport?
A fourth and final Do you like...? question, now with sport as the topic — by this point students have heard and practised the pattern enough times to begin internalising it naturally.
Would You Rather...?
Students make a simple choice between two activities — playing computer games or building a house of blocks — an engaging and low-pressure way to personalise the language and spark interaction between learners.
What else do you like doing?
Students are introduced to four more hobby vocabulary items with pictures — cooking, drawing pictures, playing board games, and listening to music — expanding their range of personal topics beyond the structured Do you like...? pattern.
Do you have any pets?
Students learn the names of five common pets — a cat, a dog, a turtle, a fish, and a hamster — and practise asking and answering about whether they have one at home.
Game: Circle Drawing
A creative closing activity in which students draw five empty circles and have two minutes to fill each one with something different — a face, a globe, a ball, a sun, a fish, or their own idea. Students then share and describe their drawings with the group, practising the lesson's language in a playful, low-stakes way.