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Review: a book for every child – can and free time

This A1 ESL lesson plan reviews can and free time, closing a unit on hobbies, sports and plans.

Grammar
Can and can't with how well (I can't do voices at all.), short answers with can, do or am, the present simple for routines, and plans with Let's or How about…?
Topic
Books and reading habits, with a flyer about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a free book every month for young children, and words like picture book, bedtime and bookworm.
Activities
A library flyer to read, a dialogue and a story-time message to hear, review drills from a quiz to a memory game, a chat, a spin wheel and a post to write.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Books, books, books!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the new wordsVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a free book every month

    • Look at the photo: a new book!PictureUnlock
    • Read the flyerReal-life documentTry it
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: Leo's new book

    • Listen to Priya and TundeListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the library messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Review: what can you do now?

    • Do you remember? Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Is the sentence correct? True or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Sort the questions by their short answersSort into columnsTry it
    • Complete the group chatFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the pairs: question and answerMemory gameUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: books and free time

    • Choose the right repliesChatTry it
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Write a post: my free timeWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
    • Record yourself: what can you do now?Speaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

25 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

9 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+6 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • picture book
  • page
  • story
  • bedtime
  • baby
  • bookworm

Grammar: can, can't and free time, reviewed

As the unit's review and the last lesson of the course, lesson 32 brings no new grammar. Its grammar chapter is a can and free time review told through Leo's books: what he can't do yet, how well Tunde does a bear voice, and when the library's story time is.

Can and can't, with no to and no do

Lesson 29's point returns in Leo's story: can plus a bare verb, the same for everyone, and questions that open with can, never do.

  • Leo can't read, but he can look at the pictures.
  • Can you do a bear voice? Yes, I can.

How well, at the end of the sentence

From lesson 30, really well, quite well and at all still close the sentence, after the verb and its object, and at all stays with can't.

  • Tunde can do a bear voice really well.
  • Priya can't do voices at all.
  • Leo can ride his little bike quite well.

Short answers: can, do or am?

A sorting exercise asks which short answer fits each question, and the answer borrows the question's first verb: can, do or a form of be.

  • Can you swim really well? Yes, I can.
  • Do you read at bedtime? No, I don't.
  • Are you free on Saturday morning? Yes, I am.

Free time and plans: present simple, Let's, How about…?

Lesson 31's routines and plans meet in the house group chat: the present simple for what people usually do, then Let's and How about…?, with on before days and the weekend.

  • What do you do with Leo on Sunday evenings? We read on a video call.
  • Let's read a picture book together on the weekend!
  • How about Saturday evening, in the kitchen?

More lessons on this grammar: Modal verbs lessons and exercises

Try the can and free time review exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 10 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 2 teacher-checked tasks
  • 1 real-life document
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say what people can and can't do, and how well: Tunde can do a bear voice really well. Leo can't read.
  • choose the short answer that fits the question: Can you swim? Yes, I can. Do you read at bedtime? No, I don't.
  • talk about free time and make a plan: What do you do on Sunday evenings? Let's go to the library on Saturday morning!
  • read a flyer about a book program and find who it's for, how often and what it costs: a free book every month

Lesson 32 closes Free time, the last unit, and with it the whole of English A1.1 · Hello, World. Its review chapter brings back can and can't with hobbies from lesson 29, how well from lesson 30, and the present simple, Let's and How about…? from lesson 31, mixed in every exercise. Books suit the review: a child who can't read yet can still look at the pictures.

Students open boxes of questions about books, then learn nine words, from picture book to bookworm, with pictures and audio. They read a library flyer about the Imagination Library, a free book every month since 1995, and answer true-or-false and multiple-choice questions. They listen to Priya and Tunde talk about Leo's new book (an AI-voiced dialogue) and to a librarian's message about Saturday story time. The review chapter has five exercises across lessons 29 to 31, all checked as students answer: a quiz, a true-or-false test on which sentences are correct, sorting questions by their short answers, a group chat gap-fill and a memory game that pairs questions with answers. In the speaking chapter, they chat with Tunde and spin a wheel of free-time questions.

For homework, students unjumble sentences and unscramble words from the lesson, both self-checking. They also write a short post about their free time and record a last message on what they can do in English now, and the teacher reviews the two.

Grammar:
review · can / can't: Can you…? Yes, I can. · really well, quite well, not at all · present simple: What do you do on the weekend? · Let's…, How about…?, on Saturday morning
Topic:
books · reading · the Imagination Library · free time · review

Teaching tips

  • Read a page of any picture book with voices, as Tunde does with Leo, then ask Can you do a bear voice? How well?
  • Use the column sort to diagnose: a student who files Do you…? questions under Yes, I can needs another look at short answers before the course ends.
  • After the group chat gap-fill, ask pairs to write the chat's next message, with one more plan for Saturday evening using Let's or How about.
  • Close the course with one question from the wheel, What can you do in English now?, and collect the class's answers on the board.

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The whole course: English A1.1 · Hello, World

32 lessons for complete beginners in simple American English, from the verb to be to can and can't. Eight units cover greetings, family, numbers, home, food, daily routines, the town and free time, and each ends with a review lesson. Pictures and definitions replace translations, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Hello!

    greetings, the verb to be, countries and nationalities, yes/no questions

    1. Lesson 1Hi, hey, howdy or aloha?The verb to be with I and you
    2. Lesson 2Ellis Island: where are they from?He's, she's, they're: the verb to be
    3. Lesson 3Six languages at the UNYes/no questions with be and short answers
    4. Lesson 4Review: hello from the Statue of LibertyThe verb to be and yes/no questions, reviewed

  2. Unit 2 My people

    family members, possessive adjectives, have got, describing people

    1. Lesson 5Why is Mother's Day in May?Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her
    2. Lesson 6Best in show!Have got and the possessive 's
    3. Lesson 7National Best Friends DaySubject pronouns, possessives and describing people
    4. Lesson 8Review: Bobbie the Wonder DogPossessives, have got and 's, reviewed

  3. Unit 3 Numbers all around

    numbers and dates, a/an and plurals, phone numbers and prices

    1. Lesson 9Why is March 14 Pi Day?Numbers 0 to 100, decimals and US dates
    2. Lesson 10How old is the General Sherman tree?A, an and plurals, with big numbers and How old…?
    3. Lesson 119-1-1 and other numbers to knowSaying phone numbers, emails and prices
    4. Lesson 12Review: 102 floors and 1,860 stepsNumbers, dates, ages and prices, reviewed

  4. Unit 4 Home sweet home

    rooms in a house, this, that, these and those, furniture, opposites

    1. Lesson 13A house with 132 roomsThis is, these are and plurals
    2. Lesson 14Boston's skinny house: where's the bed?This, that, these, those and Where's…?
    3. Lesson 15Can a dorm room be cozy?Opposite adjectives and have got
    4. Lesson 16Review: homes for everyoneShowing and describing a home, reviewed

  5. Unit 5 Food I love

    likes and dislikes, present simple questions, ordering food

    1. Lesson 17Pancakes for breakfast?I like, I don't like and plural nouns
    2. Lesson 18New York pizza or Chicago deep-dish?Present simple questions and short answers
    3. Lesson 19A coffee to go, please!Ordering food with I'd like and Can I have…?
    4. Lesson 20Review: lunch from a food truckI like, Do you like and I'd like, reviewed

  6. Unit 6 My day

    telling the time, daily routines, days of the week, prepositions of time

    1. Lesson 21What time is it in Times Square?Telling the time and daily routines
    2. Lesson 22Who brings the mail?The present simple with we and they
    3. Lesson 23Is it morning in Hawaii?Prepositions of time with parts of the day
    4. Lesson 24Review: a New York morningTime, routines and days, reviewed

  7. Unit 7 My town

    places in town, prepositions of place, giving directions

    1. Lesson 25Main Street, USAPrepositions of place: near and next to
    2. Lesson 26Meet me at Union SquarePresent simple questions and negatives with we and they
    3. Lesson 27Turn left on 42nd StreetImperatives for giving directions
    4. Lesson 28Review: streets for peoplePlaces, the present simple and directions, reviewed

  8. Unit 8 Free time

    hobbies, can and can't, sports, making plans

    1. Lesson 29Can you play Scrabble?Can and can't for ability
    2. Lesson 30Can you surf?Can for ability and how well
    3. Lesson 31Saturday morning: Little LeagueFree time and making plans
    4. Lesson 32 · you're hereReview: a book for every childCan, can't and free time, reviewed

Questions about this lesson

How do you talk about reading habits in English?
Talk about reading habits with the present simple and when or where you read: I read at bedtime. I read on the weekend. I read on the bus. Ask with Do you…? or Where do you…?, as in Do you read at bedtime? Yes, I do. For skill, switch to can: Can you read in English? Yes, I can, but only a little.
How do you ask someone about their free time in English?
Open with What do you do in your free time?, then follow up with narrower questions: Do you play chess? Can you swim? What can you do really well? Questions with do ask about habits and get Yes, I do; questions with can ask about skills and get Yes, I can. A plan can follow: Let's read together on Sunday!
What's the difference between can for ability and can for plans?
Can for ability names a skill, while can for plans says something is possible. I can do a bear voice is a skill; Can we meet at ten? asks whether a time works. Both use the same pattern, can and a base verb, so only the situation tells them apart, and both take the same short answers: Yes, we can.
Is it "Can you swim? Yes, I do" or "Yes, I can"?
Yes, I can is right, because a short answer repeats the verb that starts the question. Can you do funny voices? No, I can't. Do you collect picture books? Yes, I do. Are you a bookworm? Yes, I am. On edio.ai, the A1 lesson Review: a book for every child has learners sort twelve questions like these under the three answers.
Is it "What you do on the weekend?" or "What do you do on the weekend?"
What do you do on the weekend? is correct, because present simple questions need the helper do before the person. The second do is the main verb, which is why the word appears twice: What do you do on Saturday mornings? I play video games. Questions with can need no helper: What can you do?
What free time activities vocabulary do beginners learn?
Beginners need short phrases for things people do for fun, each built on an everyday verb: read at bedtime, play video games, play chess, draw, swim, ride a bike, do funny voices, go to the library and relax. Learning each with a time phrase makes it ready to use: I play chess on Sundays. We go to the library on Saturdays.
What words do you need to talk about books and reading?
You need a handful of book nouns and the verb read: book, picture book, page, story, bedtime and bookworm, a big fan of reading. A picture book tells its story mostly in drawings, which suits very young children. Join goes with clubs and programs: Join a book club.
How do I review can and free time with beginners?
Mix points from the whole unit in every exercise, so a wrong answer shows which one needs another look. In Review: a book for every child on edio.ai, every review exercise follows one story, a three-year-old's new picture book, while mixing can, how well, routines and plans, from the opening quiz to the closing memory game.
What's a good game for reviewing can and free time?
Try a memory game of matching questions and answers, which checks short answers and time phrases together: Can babies come to story time? pairs with Yes, they can. It's free!, and When is story time at the library? with On Saturday mornings, at ten. Review: a book for every child on edio.ai closes its review chapter with this game, and its spin wheel asks What can you do really well?
How do you review can and free time one-to-one?
Answer the questions alongside the student, so each one turns into a real conversation: take turns with What can you do really well? and What do you do on the weekend?, then make a plan together with Let's. With Review: a book for every child on edio.ai, the student chats about books alone, and spin-wheel prompts such as What can't you do at all? work just as well with two people.
What's good homework for reviewing can and free time?
Good review homework is a short text that uses the whole unit: a habit, a skill, something you can't do at all and a plan, as in On the weekend, I relax. I can swim really well, but I can't ski at all. In Review: a book for every child on edio.ai, students also send a voice message answering What can you do in English now?, after unjumbling sentences and unscrambling book words.
Are there interactive exercises for reviewing can and free time?
Yes: sorting tasks and chats that check each answer suit a quick review of can and free time. Four parts of Review: a book for every child, an A1 lesson on edio.ai, play on its page without signing up: a flyer about free children's books, a dialogue about a toddler's new book, questions to sort by their short answers, and a chat about books. The memory game, the homework and the rest need an account.
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