Would you like to study at Hogwarts? (no-prep lesson plan)

When I started teaching, back in 2004, I made a T-shirt with Alan Rickman as Severus Snape and a simple text my favourite teacher – so that my students would be forewarned. They chose to ignore the warning, but that’s a different story – anyway, for most of them it was unusual for a teacher to refer to Hogwarts, wizards and witches etc. Nowadays Harry Potter and his adventures are at the core of current pop culture, and nobody would be surprised by a teacher claiming he chose the profession to honour Professor Snape.

I thought about a nice lesson idea that will be a real treat for all your students who want to experience some magic in the classroom – and for you it will be a great experience, as always, when you don’t have to do lesson preparation, and leave all the work to your students who will happily do all the stuff.

Ah… education.

Lesson: Would you like to study in Hogwarts?
Time: 45 mins
Age: 12+
Level: B1+
Areas covered: 2nd conditional, vocabulary revision (home, school, everyday life, hobbies etc.)

Introduction (5 min)

You know, I was thinking, what would I do, if I saw an owl trying to deliver a letter – that’s a good beginning to the lesson, as you will see who is really into HP lore, who is more creative and engaged, this will help you divide your class into groups. Ask your students whether they would like to study at Hogwarts? If they want to, you all have the same problem because, well, you can’t transfer to Hogwarts… but you can bring its magic to your classroom!

Groupwork: Hogwarts – hot and not (10 min)

Divide your students into smaller groups and ask them to make a list of 20 cool things connected with Hogwarts (food maybe?), and 20 things that are far from lovely (no Internet connection?). This will help them focus on what a daily routine in Hogwarts looks like. Encourage your students to focus not only on bright sides of living in Hogwarts, but also some less enjoyable points (no electricity! what about hair dryers!).

Group project: Magical daily routine (20 min)

Ask your students to work in the same groups and imagine they stay in the same dormitory and attend the same classes – give them 20 minutes to make a draft of a weekly routine they would experience at Hogwarts.
If you want to challenge your students, make each group focus on a different aspect, e.g. magic/ lack of smartphones etc. Imagine a typical Big-City-Life Girl staying in an old castle far from the world she knows – her initial enthusiasm might be fading quite soon!

Project presentation (10 min)

Ask your groups to share their ideas and together make a list of the funniest and most inspiring ideas – write them on the board as they can be a great source of ideas for creative writing!

Homework

Ask your students to either write a diary entry or record a short audio/video where they describe their first impression of Hogwarts, be it positive or negative. Read and watch it together in the classroom, and share some supportive feedback (What I liked here is… or I’d like to read/hear more about…).

Hope you like this short and simple plan – would you be interested in developing the idea of bringing Hogwarts into your classroom? If yes, let me know in the comments!