Alphabet A-Z teens lesson plan
Uppercase letters A-Z
Beginners and Early starters Teens
Alphabet mini lessons for ESL teens teachers

Alphabet a-z (uppercase)
These mini lessons focus on learning the uppercase letters of the alphabet. Students learn to [hide_on_uk]recognize[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]recognise[/hide_on_us] and write the individual letters. Phonetics are also introduced to allow students to sound out the letters correctly.
Members get accompanying flashcards and worksheets.
Materials:
Click to see lesson details, materials and supplies
Level: Beginners and Early starters (after doing all lowercase letters)
Time: 10-15 mins
Objectives: Identify and recognize 5 uppercase letters per mini-lesson.
Lesson materials
Flashcards:
- Alphabet flashcards A-Z (uppercase) – have the uppercase letter printed on one side of the flashcard and the corresponding image on the other side
Printables:
- Printing sheet for the 5 letters practiced
Supplies:
- blackboard / whiteboard with chalk / markers
Use this mini-lesson plan within your main lesson for alphabet practice – teach 5 letters each lesson. Make sure your students have studied the lowercase alphabet letters mini-lessons before doing the uppercase letters.
We strongly advise NOT dedicating a full lesson to the alphabet – we suggest including a 10-15-minute section each lesson for teaching and reviewing the alphabet. The full alphabet (lowercase first, then uppercase) should be taught over a series of lessons and reviewed each lesson. The number of letters you teach each lesson depends on the ability of your students.
Mini-lesson procedure:
1. Review the letters learned in previous lessons (lesson 2 “F G H I J” onwards))
Use your flashcards to quickly run through the letters learned in previous lessons, in alphabetical order. This should be a quick run through, eliciting each letter, sound and picture:
- Hold up the first letter and ask, “What’s this?” – elicit the letter (e.g. “A”)
- Then ask, “Is for?” – elicit the phonetic sound (e.g. “ah”)
- Finally, turn over the flashcard showing the picture and ask again, “Is for?” – elicit the word (e.g. “Apple”)
- Continue with the rest of the letter flashcards
2. Do “Match the letters” exercise with 5 new letters
Your students have already studied the lowercase letters of the alphabet, so they will find matching the uppercase letters quite easy – you’ll be surprised!
On your board, down the left-side write the 5 new letters in lowercase in alphabetical order (see image below). Then on the right-side, write the same letters in uppercase, but mix them up:

Then ask your students to match them up – first ask one student to come to the board and draw a line connecting the first two letters (a to A). Then get other students to come up and do the same until all the letters have been matched. Your finished board will look like this:

3. Introduce the 5 new letters with flashcards
For the new letters, follow this basic procedure. This section of the lesson should be fast paced and fun.
1) Hold up an alphabet uppercase letter flashcard so all students can see it.
2) Elicit the letter and chorus it 2 to 3 times. Then ask each student individually to say the letter.
3) Elicit the sound of the letter (e.g. T: “A is for ?” Ss: “ah”).
4) Provide an example of an object that begins with the letter. Double-sided flashcards with the letter on one side and a picture on the other are great for this. (e.g. “What’s this?” (elicit “A”). “And A is for…?” (elicit “ah”). “And ‘ah’ is for … (turning the card over) “Apple!”.
Therefore, a typical interaction for a single uppercase letter (covering points 2-5 above) would be as follows:
Teacher: (showing a flashcard of the letter A) “What’s this?”
Students: “A”
T: Good! Repeat “A”
Ss: “A”
T: “A”
Ss: “A”
T: “A is for?”
Ss: “ah”
T: “Good! And ah is for (turning the card over)?”
Ss: “Apple”
T: “Good! What’s this?” (showing “B”)
etc.
As you teach each letter, use a combination of the activities in 4 below to practice and reinforce each letter.
4. Review all letters with games
When you have finished teaching the 5 new letters you can play a series of games to reinforce these letters, mixed in with the letters your students have learned in previous lessons. Here are some popular games, rotate them so you have new games each week:
- Slow motion: Hold the pack of alphabet flashcards with the letters facing towards yourself. The first letter card should be turned around, so the letter is facing the students but is hidden as it is behind the pack. Slowly pull the flashcard up inch by inch so the students can only see part of the letter. As the letter is slowly revealed, students try to guess what it is. The first student to guess correctly keeps the card (for 1 point). Variation: to make it a little more difficult turn each letter flashcard upside down.
- Letter touch: Place the alphabet letter cards, face-up, on the floor. Students sit in a circle around the cards. Tell everyone to hold up their hands. The teacher then says a letter and the students must race to touch that letter first. The person who touches the letter first picks up the card and keeps it. At the end of the game, the student with the most letter cards is the winner.
- Vanishing alphabet flashcards: Place the flashcard letters in front of your students, in the correct order. Tell everyone to close their eyes. Take away one of the flashcards and then tell your students to open their eyes again. The first student to shout out the missing letter can keep that flashcard. At the end of the game, the student with the most letter cards is the winner. Variation: to make it a little more difficult, lay the letter flashcards out in random order.
- Hold it up: Give out all the letter flashcards to students. Students can have more than one letter. Say a letter and the student holding that card must hold it up in the air. Variation: say different actions as well, which the student holding the card must do, e.g. “The student with card “D”, jump 5 times!”.
- Find it: Hold up a letter flashcard and the students search around the room for an object beginning with that letter. (e.g. A – arm, B – book, C – clock).
5. Do a letter practice worksheet
Give out a printing worksheet to each student to practice the new letters (download before class). As students are doing the worksheets, circulate and ask individual students questions about the letters (what is this letter? “A”, What sound is it? “ah”. And what is the picture? “an Apple”.)
Alternatively, set the printing sheet for homework and check in the next lesson.
Mini lessons:
Alphabet a-z:
Letter clusters + phonics:
Early reading:
Reading short texts:
- I’m Tom
- Paula the penguin
- Superhero kids
- Rob the robot
- My bedroom
- Ronaldo is great
- Winola the witch
- A super tall building
Other lessons
Levels:
Beginner (A0-A1)
Elementary (A1-A2)
Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)
Intermediate (B1-B2)
Upper-int (B2-C1)
Advanced (C1-C2)
