Target Audience: High School Students (Intermediate Level)
Level: Intermediate
Subject: Esperanto Language
Duration: 45 minutes
Objective:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
Understand and use the past tense in Esperanto.
Apply possessive pronouns in sentences.
Construct more complex sentences using conjunctions.
Have a simple conversation in Esperanto using the structures learned.
Whiteboard and markers
Handouts with past tense conjugation rules
Flashcards with vocabulary and possessive pronouns
Audio clips for conversation practice
Projector (for sentence examples)
Objective: Engage students and review previous knowledge.
Activity:
Greet the students in Esperanto.
Quick review of basic vocabulary and sentence structure. Ask students to volunteer and share one sentence in Esperanto from the previous lesson.
Write a few sentences on the board, with one mistake in each (e.g., wrong verb form, missing word). Have students identify and correct the errors.
Objective: Teach students how to use the past tense in Esperanto.
Activity:
Write the rule for forming the past tense in Esperanto:
For regular verbs, add -is to the verb stem.
Example: "paroli" (to speak) becomes "parolis" (spoke).
Write a few sentences on the board in the present tense and ask students to convert them to the past tense.
Example:
"Mi ludas" (I play) → "Mi ludis" (I played).
"Li iras" (He goes) → "Li iris" (He went).
Have students practice forming the past tense for regular verbs on their own. Provide a list of verbs to change, such as:
Legi (to read)
Manĝi (to eat)
Dormi (to sleep)
Discuss irregular verbs (e.g., "esti" – "estis", “voli” – “volis”) and review their past tense forms.
Give students time to write and share their own sentences in the past tense with a partner or the class.
Objective: Teach students how to use possessive pronouns in Esperanto.
Activity:
Introduce possessive pronouns and how they change based on the subject.
Mi (I) → mia (my)
Vi (you, singular) → via (your)
Li/ŝi (he/she) → lia/ŝia (his/her)
Ni (we) → nia (our)
Ili (they) → ilia (their)
Write examples on the board using these pronouns:
"Mi havas mian libron." (I have my book.)
"Ŝi portas sian veston." (She is carrying her dress.)
"Ni ŝatas nian domon." (We like our house.)
Have students complete sentences with the correct possessive pronoun.
"Li ŝatas _____ keston." (his)
"Ni vidas _____ amikon." (our)
"Mi vidas _____ hundon." (my)
Practice through short dialogues in pairs. Students will ask and answer questions using possessive pronouns (e.g., "Kiu estas via plej ŝatata libro?" – "What is your favorite book?").
Objective: Help students use conjunctions to create more complex sentences.
Activity:
Introduce the most common conjunctions in Esperanto:
kaj (and)
aŭ (or)
sed (but)
ĉar (because)
do (so, then)
Write a few sentences using conjunctions on the board:
"Mi havas hundon kaj katon." (I have a dog and a cat.)
"Ŝi estas feliĉa, sed laca." (She is happy, but tired.)
"Mi manĝis, ĉar mi estis malsata." (I ate because I was hungry.)
Ask students to create sentences using different conjunctions. Share and correct as needed.
Create a mini conversation activity where students work in pairs. They will ask and answer questions, using at least two conjunctions in their responses.
Objective: Use the structures learned (past tense, possessive pronouns, conjunctions) in a real conversation.
Activity:
Assign students a topic for the conversation, such as:
"Describing your weekend"
"Talking about your family"
Encourage students to use the past tense, possessive pronouns, and conjunctions in their responses.
Have students practice in pairs or small groups, while you circulate to provide feedback and assist with vocabulary or structure.
Objective: Summarize the lesson and assign practice.
Activity:
Quickly review the past tense, possessive pronouns, and conjunctions.
Ask students if they have any questions about the lesson.
Homework Assignment:
Write a short paragraph about a recent event in your life (using past tense).
Include at least three possessive pronouns and two conjunctions.
Be prepared to share in the next class.
Informal assessment during the role-play conversation and sentence construction activities.
Homework will be reviewed in the next class for correct usage of past tense, possessive pronouns, and conjunctions.
Continue practicing complex sentence construction with additional conjunctions.
Introduce more irregular verbs in future lessons.
Explore the concept of adverbs and adjectives and their use in more descriptive sentences.
Teacher’s Note:
At the intermediate level, students are ready to deepen their understanding of Esperanto grammar while also improving their conversational skills. Emphasizing practice through interactive activities like role-plays and sentence construction will help reinforce these concepts.
Objective: Teach students how to use reflexive verbs in Esperanto, a common structure for expressing actions that the subject performs on itself.
Activity:
Introduce reflexive verbs, explaining that they use the pronoun "si" (himself/herself/itself/themselves) in the sentence.
Provide examples of reflexive verbs:
"banĝi" (to bathe) → "Mi banĝas min." (I bathe myself.)
"dormi" (to sleep) → "Mi dormas." (I sleep.)
Show how reflexive verbs can be used in different tenses:
Present: "Mi lavĝas min." (I wash myself.)
Past: "Mi lavis min." (I washed myself.)
Future: "Mi lavos min." (I will wash myself.)
Have students practice by converting regular sentences into reflexive ones:
"I wash my hands." → "Mi lavĝas miajn manojn."
"He shaves his face." → "Li razas sian vizaĝon."
Ask students to write 3-5 sentences using reflexive verbs in different tenses, and share them with a partner or the class.
Outcome: Students will be able to recognize and use reflexive verbs in both present and past tenses.
Objective: Teach students how to form and use comparatives and superlatives in Esperanto to describe differences in qualities.
Activity:
Introduce the structure for comparatives and superlatives:
Comparatives: Add -empa for "more" and -ol for "than".
Example: "pli granda" (bigger) → "La hundo estas pli granda ol la kato." (The dog is bigger than the cat.)
Superlatives: Add -plej for "most".
Example: "plej bela" (most beautiful) → "Ŝi estas la plej bela." (She is the most beautiful.)
Provide students with examples and ask them to create comparative and superlative sentences:
"Mi estas pli alta ol vi." (I am taller than you.)
"La muso estas la plej rapida." (The mouse is the fastest.)
Include irregular comparatives and superlatives such as:
"bone" (well) → "pli bone" (better) → "la plej bone" (the best)
"malbona" (bad) → "pli malbona" (worse) → "la plej malbona" (the worst)
Ask students to compare two people, animals, or things and describe them using both comparatives and superlatives.
Have students write a short paragraph comparing two cities, two people, or two places they know, using comparatives and superlatives.
Outcome: Students will be able to form and use comparative and superlative structures accurately in spoken and written Esperanto.
Objective: Teach students how to use indirect (reported) speech in Esperanto to relay what someone else has said.
Activity:
Introduce the concept of indirect speech: reporting someone else’s words without quoting them directly.
Show the structure of indirect speech in Esperanto, using the verb "diris" (said) followed by the indirect speech.
Example: "Li diris, ke li venos morgaŭ." (He said that he will come tomorrow.)
Example: "Ŝi diris, ke ŝi ne havas tempon." (She said that she doesn’t have time.)
Focus on how to transform direct speech into indirect speech:
Direct: "Mi amas vin." → "Li diris, ke li amas ŝin." (He said that he loves her.)
Direct: "Ni iras al la kinejo." → "Ili diris, ke ili iras al la kinejo." (They said that they are going to the cinema.)
Practice activity: Give students a list of direct quotes, and have them rewrite them in indirect speech.
Have students work in pairs to practice reporting conversations. One student will say a sentence, and the other will report it using indirect speech.
Outcome: Students will be able to convert direct speech into indirect speech and use reported speech fluently in conversations.
Teacher’s Note: These extension activities will help intermediate students build on their existing knowledge by adding more complex grammatical structures to their repertoire. Reflexive verbs, comparatives, and indirect speech will improve their fluency and make their language use more nuanced and sophisticated.