OVERVIEW & OBJECTIVES

This ESL lesson plan on cruise ships offers engaging activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for beginner A1 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Discuss cruise ship activities and share opinions about relaxing or active vacations.
• Learn and review vocabulary related to family activities and leisure experiences.
• Watch a light-hearted video about a cruise through a child’s perspective and complete comprehension tasks.
• Practice identifying and correcting subject-verb agreement using singular and plural subjects.
• Participate in creative speaking tasks or writing ads about about fun family events.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

Students begin this cruise ship ESL lesson by matching common leisure activities such as camping, visiting aquariums, or sunbathing to related images. They discuss which activities they enjoy and consider which can be done on cruise ships. Then, they answer warm-up questions about cruise experiences, such as whether they’ve been on one or would like to. Students also help a character from the upcoming video, Evie, create a packing list for her cruise, thinking of useful or fun items to bring. Finally, students share whether they would prefer a quiet or an active cruise and explain why.

VIEWING ACTIVITY

The video tells a short, funny story from the point of view of a young girl on a family cruise. It includes moments like her mom doing unusual things, her dad being silly, meeting a new friend, and even seeing a talking bird. In the first part of the viewing activity, students watch and tick which activities they see in the video using picture support. Next, they correct sentences with mistakes based on the video’s content, including incorrect subjects or details. In the final task, they write short answers to comprehension questions about what the family eats, where they swim, and what Evie and her friend say.

VIEWING FOLLOW-UP

Students first reflect on the video’s purpose by discussing its format and message. Then, they share their opinions about the cruise and explore other fun family activities people might enjoy. In the grammar-focused follow-up, students read three fun, short ads for family experiences — a carnival, resort, and zoo — and choose the correct verb forms, practicing third person singular and plural. A second task has students identify whether the subject of each sentence is singular or plural. This exercise includes nouns like “people,” “families,” and “children.”

FUN FAMILY EXPERIENCES: ASK & ANSWER

In Option A, students personalize the lesson by choosing three to five open-ended questions and inserting different fun family experiences into the blanks (e.g., amusement parks, planetariums, beach trips). They ask each other these questions in pairs, practicing both fluency and accuracy with subjects like “people,” “families,” and “everyone.” In Option B, students write their own simple advertisement for a family-friendly event using common third-person subjects such as “Children” or “Everybody.” This encourages creativity while reinforcing subject-verb agreement and vocabulary from the lesson.

BENEFITS OF USING THIS CRUISE SHIP ESL LESSON PLAN

This Cruise Ship ESL Lesson Plan helps students build vocabulary and fluency in a relatable context. Students get repeated exposure to important grammar like subject-verb agreement without needing difficult explanations. The video content is short, funny, and age-appropriate, so students feel comfortable engaging with it. The activation activities promote personal expression while reinforcing grammar and vocabulary in practical, real-world ways. This lesson is also highly flexible and can be adapted for pairs, small groups, or online settings.