Isaac Newton and the Apple

All levels48 minFamous PeopleLesson 1 of 6 · Free

Aims

A famous story about an apple, a garden and a big question. Simple past tense and everyday words for A2 students.

The lesson, stage by stage

  1. News10 min

    In the news: The story

    Read a 99-word news story: Why does an apple fall down?

    Isaac Newton was an English scientist. He was born in 1642. He was a quiet boy. He liked to make small machines and to sit alone and think. In 1665 a bad illness came to England. The university closed, so Newton went home to his family farm. He stayed there for about two years. He had a lot of time in the garden. One day he saw an apple fall from a tree. He asked a simple question: why does the apple always fall down, and never up? He thought about it for years. His answer, gravity, changed science.

  2. Vocabulary8 min

    Vocabulary: Words to know

    6 items

  3. Discussion10 min

    Discussion: Look at the picture

    2 discussion questions

    • What can you see in the picture? What season is it?
    • Is this a good place to think? Why?
  4. Discussion10 min

    Discussion: Your life

    3 discussion questions

    • Where do you go when you want to be quiet?
    • What fruit do you eat every week?
    • Newton was a quiet child. Were you a quiet child or a noisy child?
  5. Discussion10 min

    Discussion: Simple big questions

    3 discussion questions

    • Newton asked 'why?' about a normal thing. What normal thing do you not understand?
    • Are questions from children good questions? Why?
    • Is it good to have a lot of free time? What do you do with free time?

Target vocabulary

In a Tuton account these words become your student's vocabulary deck, so they come back in practice between lessons.

scientist
A person who studies how the world works
garden
The land with grass and plants next to a house
apple
A round red or green fruit
fall
To go down quickly to the ground
question
Something you ask when you want to know
gravity
The force that pulls things down to the ground

This plan comes from the Scientists & Inventors course in the Tuton library. Browse all free lesson plans.