Countries, Nationalities &

Continents - teachers notes

Author: James Heath
Level: Starter / Elementary
Skills: Vocabulary, Speaking
Topic area: Geography
Required resources: One copy of students book for each student. (Note:
the flags work better in colour, but if this isnt possible try printing one
copy in colour and passing it around the classroom throughout question
1.)

Lead in
Ask students how many country names they know in English. Ask them to name any
animals that live in those countries. Ask them if theyve visited any other countries
and which ones they liked.

Lesson
1) Ss write the names of the countries under each of the flags. Ss can help each
other in pairs or small groups to see how many they can answer by themselves
before checking the answers as a class. Drill pronunciation of the country names
while checking.
ANSWERS

1. Brazil
2. China
3. New Zealand
4. Argentina
5. Peru
6. Canada
7. South Africa
8. India
9. The United Kingdom (UK)
10. Italy
11. Germany
12. Mexico
13. Chile
14. France
15. Australia
16. Switzerland
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17. Egypt
18. The United States of America (USA)
19. South Korea
20. Japan
21. Ireland
2) Lead in by asking the Ss to name the 7 continents, drill pronunciation of
each continent and let Ss find them on the world map.
Ss fill in the table of countries. Check in pairs or small groups, then as a class.
ANSWERS
Africa

Asia

Europe

North
America

- South
Africa
- Egypt

- Japan
- South
Korea
- China
- India

- The UK
- The USA
- Italy
- Mexico
- Germany - Canada
Switzerland
- Ireland
- France

South
America
- Brazil
- Chile
- Peru
- Argentina

Australia
(and New
Zealand)
- New
Zealand
- Australia

3) Elicit the difference between country and nationality. E.g. ask What country
are you in now? What is your nationality? (i.e. where is your passport from).
What do you call people from Australia? Australians
Ss fill in the gaps in pairs. Write answers on the board to check spelling.
ANSWERS
Ending in ~an
Country
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Egypt
Germany
India
Italy
Mexico
Peru
South Africa

Nationality
Argentinean
Australian
Brazilian
Canadian
Chilean
Egyptian
German
Indian
Italian
Mexican
Peruvian
South African

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South Korea
The USA
Ending in ~ese
China
Japan
Other
France
Ireland
New Zealand
Switzerland
The UK

South Korea
American
Chinese
Japanese
French
Irish
New Zealander
Swiss
British

4) Ss should be able to complete these gaps with their country and nationality.
Quickly fix any problems with understanding the difference, but dont spend
too long on this as it will be practiced in question 5.
5) This next part can be tailored to your class depending on what type of
questions they have been taught or what topics youve recently covered in
class. The examples given are for a very low level elementary class. Other
possible questions include:
Whats your favourite colour / sport?
Do you have any hobbies? What are they?
How many siblings do you have?
What town are you from?
(Note: the example also uses the UK spelling for favourite and colour feel
free to change this to US spelling using the editable word doc version.)
Ss fill in the questions check as a class.
ANSWERS:
1) Whats your name?
2) How old are you?
3) Where are you from?
4) Whats your favourite animal?
5) Whats your favourite food?
6) Monitor as Ss practice the conversation in pairs and help with any
pronunciation issues. (Note: if you change the questions in question 5, make
sure to edit the example conversation to include your new questions.)
7) Set the scene of a party where you are meeting new people and having a
basic conversation. You could use some background music to help set the
scene and maybe arrange some chairs around the room in different areas, or
ask Ss to stand and mingle.
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There are two options for this part of the exercise.

Option A:
If you have a multi-national class and you havent done a lot of getting to know
you type exercises yet, this can work as a good getting to know you exercise
with Ss giving real answers to the questions.
Option B:
If you have a single nationality class, or if Ss know each other quite well and
would already know the answers to the questions, use the character cards on
the following page. Split class into groups of 4 - 6 and give each Ss a
character card, asking them not to show anyone else their card. Ss pretend to
be the character on their card and speak to the other people in their group,
gathering the information required to fill in their table.
8) If you have extra time after the Ss have filled in the table you could ask
them to feedback to the class information about specific people and if they
found out any extra information. Also, if you have used Option B for question 7
you could ask Ss to answer some of the questions truly, as themselves.
EXTRAS
Countries and nationalities are good to use in spelling games in follow-up
lessons or at the end of this lesson if you have time.

How did it go?

If youve used this lesson
with your class, please let us
know how it went and any
ideas for improvement at
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Character Cards

Name: Sam
Age: 18
Country:

Name: Alex
Age: 22
Country:

Favourite animal: tiger

Favourite food: lamb chops

Favourite animal: octopus

Favourite food: fish and chips

Name: Chris
Age: 19
Country:

Name: Ashley
Age: 21
Country:

Favourite animal: elephant

Favourite food: pancakes

Favourite animal: donkey

Favourite food: pizza

Name: Tracy
Age: 20
Country:

Name: Toni / Tony

Age: 23
Country:

Favourite animal: kangaroo

Favourite food: steak

Favourite animal: cow

Favourite food: potatoes

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