Places and Directions ESL Lesson Ideas for Grades 3–6 (A1–A2)

For A1–A2 English learners in grades 3–6, a town unit works best when every new word is tied to something students can do: borrow books at the library, buy bread at the bakery, wait at the bus stop. Once the place words are secure, students use a simple shared map to practice location words, polite questions, step-by-step routes and opening hours. The activities below build in that order.

All of them come from In the Town, an ESL and EAL unit on places and directions for grades 3–6. It has six modules, a model-town project and a learning check, and the teacher guide suggests 8 to 12 lessons.

One map for the whole unit

Every module uses the same small map. The top row is Library, Park, School. The bottom row is Bakery, Square, Bus stop. Students always view the map from the bottom. That last detail matters more than it seems, because left and right only make sense from a shared viewpoint.

Post a large copy on the wall and mark the viewing side with an arrow or a pair of footprints. Students keep a small copy in their book. You now have a reference point for every lesson.

Module 1: Place words with a job attached

The word bank is short: the school, the library, the bakery, the park, the bus stop. Each place gets an activity: learn, read, buy bread, play, wait for the bus. Students match places to activities, then write three sentences with the frame "In the ... I can ... ." The answer page gives models such as "I can read in the library" and "I can play in the park."

Classroom idea: hand out place cards and activity cards. Students walk around and find their partner, then say the full sentence together. The further-thinking task extends this. Students make five word cards, each with an article and their own example sentence.

Module 2: Where is it?

Location words come next: left, right, next to, opposite. Ask "What is to the right of the park?" and students point before they speak. The answer is the school. "Which place is opposite the library?" gives the bakery, in the simplified map.

A good speaking activity from the further-thinking page: one student moves two places on their map and describes the new layout, and a partner draws it from the description alone. Then they compare drawings. Any difference shows which phrase was unclear.

Module 3: Asking politely

Students learn a short set of phrases: "Excuse me, where is the library?", "Please say that again slowly.", "So, straight ahead first, then left?" and "Thank you." The book gives a dialogue frame with two roles, one person asking and one explaining.

A worked classroom moment

Two students act out the dialogue at the front. The student giving directions says, on purpose, "It's over there." The asker looks confused and tries one of the follow-up questions from the answer page: "Which street do you mean?" The first student answers with a real direction and points to the map. You stop the scene and ask the class what changed. Someone says the second answer had a place name. You write "over there" and "next to the park" side by side on the board. The class then reruns the dialogue in pairs, each pair adding one unclear detail and one clarifying question. This is Task 3 in Module 3, and it takes about ten minutes.

Module 4: Routes in order

Routes use a 3 × 3 grid with the start at the bottom left and the destination at the top right. Students describe a route using four grid sections, then draw it with arrows. The sequence words are first, then, after that. One model answer: two sections straight up, then two to the right, with the orientation named.

Try this: two students find different routes of equal length and compare them. Then each student invents a detour and explains why it is longer.

The book is clear that this is a model. On real streets, students follow traffic rules and have adult supervision where needed.

Module 5: Opening hours

The sample library sign reads: Tue–Fri 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sat 10 a.m.–1 p.m.; Sun/Mon closed. Students answer "Can you go in on Tuesday at 4 p.m.?" (yes) and "When does the library close on Saturday?" (at 1 p.m.), then plan a visit and explain why the time works. The extra practice adds a bakery sign and a trick question about Saturday at 1 p.m. The times are invented, so remind students to check real opening hours before visiting a place.

Module 6 and the project

Students draw a map with six labeled places, write five sentences about places and a route, and test the description with a partner. The project pulls it together: a model town with six places, a short introduction, directions, a dialogue and an opening-hours sign, all tested with a partner.

More resources

The In the Town unit overview page explains what the teacher guide includes, with answer pages for every module. The Language and EAL Bundle with Parts of Speech, Simple Present and In the Town groups three language units in the same format. Students who need more practice with days and times can continue with Time and Calendar for English learners.