OVERVIEW & OBJECTIVES

This ESL lesson plan on museums offers engaging activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for pre-intermediate A2–B1 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Discuss what museums are, share personal opinions about visiting them, and explore types of museums.
• Learn and practice vocabulary related to museum exhibits, visitor experiences, and common adjectives.
• Watch a lively and engaging video tour of the Louvre museum, featuring famous works like the Mona Lisa.
• Review and practice the past simple and present perfect simple tenses through guided examples and sentence work.
• Share real or imagined cultural experiences in writing and speaking activities that connect grammar and vocabulary in a meaningful context.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

Students begin this ESL museums lesson by matching images to vocabulary words such as paintings, maps, artifacts, and more. This helps them visually connect key terms to real museum content. Then, they answer questions about what a museum is, the types they know, and whether they enjoy visiting them. In the next part, students analyze four opinions about museums, match them with vocabulary words like fun or boring, and decide which viewpoints they agree with. Finally, they discuss the world-famous Louvre museum—what they know about it, or their thoughts if they’ve visited.

VIEWING ACTIVITY

The video takes students on a quick and exciting journey inside the Louvre Museum, where the host explores iconic works like the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa while marveling at the size and beauty of the art collection. Students answer short questions about what the speaker saw and experienced, practicing listening for detail. Then, they complete a true/false/not given activity to check understanding and encourage deeper comprehension of the speaker’s feelings and reactions in the video. 

DISCUSSION & GRAMMAR

Students reflect on their own museum preferences and local museums in a discussion, building fluency with personal opinions. Then, they analyze a sample text from the video and identify the use of the past simple and present perfect simple tenses. With guided rules, they explore when and how to use each tense, including which verb forms to use and when to include words like “ever.” To reinforce grammar, students complete sentences about past cultural experiences, using both tenses correctly and naturally in context. 

CULTURAL EXPERIENCE WORKSHOP: SHARE YOUR STORY!

In the final activity, students choose or imagine a cultural experience—such as visiting a museum, going to a concert, or exploring a market—and write about it using the past simple and the present perfect simple. They describe when and where it happened, what they saw or did, and add at least one superlative adjective using the present perfect. Then, they work with a classmate or the teacher to share their experiences and ask each other follow-up questions. Alternatively, students can select and discuss talking points related to museums, cultural activities, and travel.

BENEFITS OF USING THIS MUSEUMS ESL LESSON PLAN

This museums ESL lesson plan encourages students to connect language learning with real-world cultural topics. It supports vocabulary development through visual and contextual learning. It strengthens grammar skills by providing a clear comparison between past simple and present perfect simple. It promotes active listening through an engaging and accessible video. It gives students meaningful opportunities to share personal or imagined cultural experiences. Teachers can rely on this plan to spark conversation, build confidence, and increase engagement in both one-on-one and group classes.