What the daily life lessons cover
Daily life is the topic students can always talk about, because they have just lived it. The lessons on this page fall into four groups:
| Topic | Lessons to start with | Levels |
| Routines and time | A Day In The Life, What Time Is It?, Morning Person, Bedtime Routine | A1 to B2 |
| Home and housing | Room Makeover, Smart Home, Interior Design, Microliving | A2 to B1 |
| Habits and self-care | Breaking the Habit, Miracle Morning, Slow Living, Analogue Living | A2 to C1 |
| Chores and errands | Spring Cleaning, Fridge Restock, Household Staples, Manage Your Life | A1 to B1 |
The groups overlap on purpose. A morning routine lesson such as Miracle Morning is also a lesson about habits, and Spring Cleaning teaches housework vocabulary while students argue about who should do it. So you can stay with one theme for a month and still change the angle every week. Most daily routine ESL lesson plans here also practice time expressions and adverbs of frequency without turning into a grammar class.
Daily routine lessons for adult beginners
Daily routine is usually the first real topic in a beginner course, and adults need it without the cartoon clocks. Start with the worksheet Daily Routine Vocabulary, which takes students from wake up to fall asleep. It is free, and it also works as one of the daily routine ESL adults worksheets you can send home.
Then move to A Day In The Life, where students describe routines with natural pairs such as get ready, have lunch and do the cleaning. What Time Is It? adds real-life time phrases, and One Of Those Days shows how to talk about a day when everything goes wrong. Routines are where students meet the present simple, so if the verb endings need work, the present simple page has worksheets for exactly that.
Home, housing and renting lessons
An ESL lesson on house and furniture can start at A1 with the worksheet House and Furniture Vocabulary, from the sofa to the bathtub. Dorm Room and Cottage Life use short vlogs to show real homes and the routines inside them, and Sell it! practices adjective order through furniture ads.
For adults who move, the three-part renting series follows a real search for an apartment. Understanding a listing decodes property ads, Viewing a flat prepares questions for the landlord, and Reporting a problem asks for repairs politely. If you need a household chores ESL lesson plan, Spring Cleaning and Manage Your Life cover the jobs students hate and how they would delegate them.
The renting lessons are B1-B2 and work best in order, because each one uses the vocabulary of the one before. They suit students who are about to move abroad, and they give everyone else a practical reason to learn words such as listing, hidden costs and landlord. Home From Home adds the feelings side of moving: what it takes to make a new place feel like home.
Habits and routines at B1 and above
At higher levels the same topic turns into a discussion about change. A habits ESL lesson plan such as Breaking the Habit practices used to, be used to and get used to through real stories. Healthy Lifestyle reads an authentic article on bad habits, and Butterfly Effect asks how one small change can reshape a life. Living Seasonally and Slow Living suit students who want to talk about doing less.
These lessons are a good next step for students who did the beginner routines a year ago. They meet the same topic again, but now they compare lifestyles, give advice and defend a choice, which is what daily routine ESL lesson plans at B1 and above should ask for.
Questions about daily life for any lesson
These ESL questions about daily life go from A1 to B2. Use them as a warm-up or as daily routine ESL conversation questions at the end of a lesson:
- What time do you usually get up?
- What do you have for breakfast?
- How do you get to work or school?
- Which household chore do you hate most?
- What do you do on a typical Sunday?
- Are you a morning person or a night owl?
- What is your favorite room in your home, and why?
- What would you change about your daily routine?
- Which habit would you drop first if you could?
- Would you live in a tiny apartment if it were in the city center?
For more, see our daily routine conversation questions.
Daily life lessons FAQ
Do these lessons work for complete beginners?
Yes. Daily Routine Vocabulary, A Day In The Life, What Time Is It? and Bits And Bobs are all A1-A2 and written for adults.
Are any of the lessons free?
Yes. New Year's Resolutions, Household Staples and Daily Routine Vocabulary are free. More are on the free lessons page.
How long is one lesson?
Most lessons are planned for about 60 minutes. Worksheets are shorter and also work as homework.
Can I teach these lessons online?
Yes. Each lesson has a printable PDF that you can also share on screen, and many lessons are built around a short video that works well in online classes.
Every lesson on this page comes with a teacher subscription, together with the rest of the library.