Why do Americans smile like they mean it?

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – Explore smile types and emotional vocabulary including terms like “wry smile,” “smirk,” and personality traits like “contemptuous” and “flirtatious” through definition completion and cultural reading activities.
• – Master inverted word order for emphasis using expressions like “not until,” “so,” and “only when” through sentence rephrasing exercises in this advanced lesson.
• – Discuss cultural differences in smiling by watching videos about American smiling habits, comparing international attitudes, and exploring how different cultures express emotions through facial expressions.

In this Advanced ESL lesson, students will discuss cultural differences between countries in terms of smiling, as well as discover different types of smile.

Warm-up

The lesson starts with a topic-related riddle the student tries to solve.

Vocabulary: Different types of smile

They learn about different types of smile by completing the definitions (wry smile, smirk, grin, etc.). Then, they match the type of smile with a situation.

Video: Why do Americans smile so much?

The student watches a video aiming to explain why Americans smile so much. They answer the questions based on the video, fill in the gaps using video-related vocabulary, and check if the video statements are true or false. Then, the student matches countries with their nations’ smiling habits.

Vocabulary: Adjectives related to personality traits and emotions

The student reads about smiling across cultures and highlights the adjectives related to personality traits and emotions (contemptuous, smug, flirtatious, cynical, etc.). Next, they match them with their meanings and sort them out as positive or negative.

Grammar: Inverted word order for emphasis

The student learns how to use inverted word order for emphasis (not until, so, only when, never before, etc.).The practice applying different rules about inversion by rephrasing sentences.

The lesson ends with a brief review of the lesson.