The school where I taught for 14 years has a "Swap Day" for grade 8 students. If the student can convince one of their parents to come to school in their place, they get to help out in the Junior School, in the grounds or at the farm. The parents have to go to classes, find the right classrooms on time and bring the right books etc.

As a teacher, we face a class, half of which is our normal students, and half of which is parents. We have to teach something meaningful that fits in with our standard curriculum and yet is accessible for parents and won't disadvantage the students who are out for the day. For language classes, this is a particular challenge, because most of the parents don't know German.

My 75 minute lesson plan solution:

1. Introduce myself and mark roll.
2. Teach numbers 1-10 and play a round of 'Elf', holding up my chart of numbers to help the parents.
3. Teach numbers 11-10 and play a game of Bingo based on the numbers so far. I use a simple piece of Bingo software to create unique game cards.
4. Teach numbers 21-30 and give the class a simple Maths quiz.
5. Teach words related to telling time: past/to, half/quarter/o'clock etc.
6. Do a puzzle to match up clock faces and the time written out as words.
7. Do interactive exercises about telling time on the Internet selected from my index.

I've had great feedback from parents, and I enjoy seeing the students and parents working together. It is a fast-paced and fun lesson.