Fast Life

Start the lesson with the lead-in, where students describe their own habits using usually, sometimes and never. This gets everyone speaking in the first few minutes and sets up the theme of being in a hurry before you teach a single new word. Follow it with the five free minutes speaking task, a light warm-up that gets students naming what they actually do with spare time, phone in hand or not.

Move into the eight time expressions next. Teach be in a hurry, rush, be late, wait, waste time, save time, take your time and slow down through the matching activity, then check understanding with the first practice exercise. At A2 level, keep meaning clear with quick example sentences on the board before students work through the choices on their own or in pairs. Students often mix up wait and take your time at first, so a few extra examples on the board help.

Before reading Life Was Slower, use the preview questions to activate ideas about how life has changed in the last 30 years. Read the text together or let students read silently, then work through the true or false and comprehension questions, including the quote that asks students to react personally. This is where the lesson’s real content sits, so give it enough time and do not rush the discussion.

Finish with the second practice, mistakes correction, personal questions, and the situations activity, where students decide whether to rush or take their time in six everyday scenes. These final stages let students produce the target language freely, which is the best sign the lesson worked. New teachers should not worry about covering everything in one class. Cutting the second practice or one set of situations still leaves a complete, well-paced A2 lesson.