Every month, I sit down and create a new Lessonarium calendar filled with lesson ideas based on international days, historical anniversaries, and interesting events. Many of you may be wondering how I come up with so many topics, so I thought that I’d show you exactly how the process works. For this example, I’ll use my September lesson calendar.
When I first started creating lesson plans for JoannaESL, most of my resources were inspired by my students’ immediate needs. At the time, I was teaching a wide range of learners, starting with Cambridge exam candidates and ending with business professionals from different industries and backgrounds. If a student needed help preparing for a job interview – I created a lesson about job interviews. If another student worked in finance – I developed materials around banking. The list goes on. This approach worked well in the beginning as it allowed me to create practical resources that solved real classroom problems and reflected the lessons I was teaching every day.
The library kept growing, but it lacked structure. The website became a collection of unrelated topics connected only by the fact that I had once needed them for a particular student. A lesson about photography sat next to a lesson about insurance. Instead of building lessons around individual student requests, I started looking at the calendar. That’s how I moved away from JoannaESL and created Lessonarium – a collection of evergreen lessons.
Let me show you exactly how I use the calendar to create a month of Lessonarium lessons, from choosing dates and brainstorming ideas to finding authentic materials and developing classroom-ready activities.
Step 1: Finding Interesting Dates
The first thing I do is research holidays and events taking place throughout the month. I go to ChatGPT and ask for a list of holidays celebrated this month.
Looking at the calendar for September, I immediately think about the following dates:
- September 01 – World Letter Writing Day
- September 03 – Skyscraper Day
- September 06 – Read a Book Day
- September 12 – Video Game Day
- September 13 – Positive Thinking Day
- September 19 – Talk Like a Pirate Day
- September 22 – World Car-Free Day
- September 27 – World Tourism Day
- September 29 – World Heart Day
I look for topics that have the potential to generate conversation rather than simply celebrating a date. I also think about my past lessons that can be improved and adapted to the new style. For instance, looking at the list of lessons for September, I can already think of at least five old lesson plans that could be adapted for 2026.
Step 2: Brainstorming Lesson Angles with ChatGPT
A holiday alone isn’t a lesson. I work alone, so this is where ChatGPT helps. I often ask it the following prompt:
I am creating an ESL lesson plan based on the holiday celebrated on X date. Please suggest 5–10 lesson ideas inspired by this holiday. The lesson should not focus solely on the holiday itself. Instead, use the holiday as a starting point for an evergreen topic that remains relevant throughout the year. The topic should be discussion-based, encourage critical thinking, and provide students with plenty of opportunities to express and justify their opinions.
This always works and motivates me to find a topic that is engaging and only loosely related to the holiday. Sometimes the first idea is boring, but the ultimate goal is to find an angle that makes students want to talk.
Step 3: Finding Authentic Materials
Once I have a strong angle, I look for authentic content. This is where ChatGPT comes into play again. I select a topic and then ask AI to find a few articles or videos that are related to this topic.
I am creating an ESL lesson plan on the topic of [TOPIC]. Please suggest 3 authentic materials (articles, videos, TED Talks, interviews, documentaries, surveys, infographics, social media posts, etc.) that could be used as the basis for a communicative lesson.
I then proceed by checking each link and seeing if there is anything useful or interesting. At times, I look at the links and enjoy them, but then I am able to find a much better source. At the end of the day, I want students to be exposed to good-quality materials, and something that they can trust and perhaps go back to in their free time.
I then copy-paste the article or the transcript of a video and ask ChatGPT to analyse the CEFR level of this text, so I can create a lesson plan for an appropriate level.
Step 4: Turning the Material into a Lesson Plan
Once I’ve selected an authentic article or video, and now its level, I go back to ChatGPT and treat as a brainstorming partner. At first, I ask ChatGPT to generate a lesson plan. The first version is rarely the final one. Instead, I use it as a source of ideas. I often repeat this process several times, experimenting with different lesson structures and activity types. One version might contain an excellent vocabulary task, while another might suggest a more engaging speaking activity or better discussion questions.
I select the activities that I like best and start building my own lesson plan. Some activities are modified, others are combined, and many are rearranged (or removed!) to create a logical lesson flow. Throughout this process, I rely on my teaching experience to decide what will work in a real classroom and what will not. Eventually, the lesson begins to take shape. Only then, I move on to creating the classroom materials (worksheet, teacher’s notes and presentation).
Step 5: Creating the Classroom Materials
This is the stage where I step away from AI and start building the actual materials on my own. I begin with the worksheet. Since the worksheet forms are the backbone of the lesson, I carefully create each activity, write the instructions, organise the layout, and make sure the tasks flow naturally from one stage to the next. I want the worksheet to be clear, practical, and easy for both teachers and students to follow.
Next, I create the teacher’s notes. While I use ChatGPT to help me draft explanations, lesson procedures, and answer keys, these notes are always reviewed and adapted to match the final version of the lesson. AI helps speed up the process, but it doesn’t know the decisions I’ve made while designing the lesson, so the notes still require editing and refinement. I also use ChatGPT to generate QR codes to link to videos and presentations. This makes it easier for teachers and self-learning students to access the resources.
Finally, I create the presentation. This is entirely my own work. The slides are designed to support the lesson, guide students through the activities, and provide visual structure during the class (online and in person, too). By the end of this stage, the lesson exists as a complete package – a worksheet, teacher’s notes, and a presentation to support classroom delivery. At this point, the lesson is almost ready to be published on Lessonarium.
Step 6: Publishing the Lesson
This step involves more than uploading a file. Every lesson needs a signature JoannaESL / Lessonarium blog post. I enjoy explaining the topic, and explaining why I decided to select a certain authentic material and activities. The blog post is often the first thing teachers see, so I try to clearly communicate what makes the lesson engaging and worth downloading or buying.
Once the blog post is ready, I add the lesson to the Lessonarium shop. This is actually one area of the business that has evolved significantly over time. When Lessonarium was still JoannaESL, I used WooCommerce to manage and sell my resources. While it worked well for getting started, unfortunately, once I changed my domain, the resources disappeared. I decided to stop paying for this service and found a cheaper and much more user-friendly one called SureCart. The good news is all new (and some old) resources are already on the new platform and ready to be bought and downloaded.
Step 7: Promoting the Lesson
Once the lesson has been published, I need to make sure teachers know it exists. The main way I do this is through social media, particularly Instagram and Facebook. For each lesson, I create a promotional post that highlights the topic and key activities. I design the graphics in Canva, and decide how best to present the lesson so that teachers can quickly understand what it offers and whether it would be useful for their classes. I also have a presence on X, and from time to time I share lesson plans or updated there. However, it isn’t my primary platform.
Final Thoughts
Every Lessonarium lesson follows a similar journey: start with an interesting idea, find authentic material, identify useful language, create a meaningful speaking task, and build the activities that support it. The process takes time, but it ensures that lessons are engaging, practical, and centred around communication. After all, the goal is not simply to teach English. It is to give students something worth talking about.
If you would like to see more Behind the Lesson posts, let me know which Lessonarium lesson you’d like me to break down next.
