Time waster

In this Upper-Intermediate ESL lesson, students will acquire vocabulary to talk about time in general and the problem of procrastination.

Opening discussion

The lesson starts with a discussion related to procrastination. 

Video: Procrastination explained

Before watching the video, the student gets familiar with the vocabulary used in the video by matching it with the definitions (e.g. struggle, procrastination, breaking a habit, etc.).

The student watches the video The only way to stop procrastination and discusses questions related to it. Then, they identify the words in the word cloud associated with procrastination.

Vocabulary review

The student fills in the gaps and replaces underlined words and phrases with those used in the video and video discussion.

Reading: Perfection is procrastination

As a reading preparation, the student analyzes Salvador Dali’s quote related to procrastination.

The student reads the text Perfection is procrastination, completes it with the missing words, and answers reading comprehension questions.
After that, the student learns the meanings of the words extracted from the text through a matching and filling exercise.

Vocabulary review

In the review part, the student finds and corrects the mistakes, then replaces underlined words with those practiced earlier.

Idioms about time

The student learns six idioms related to time (e.g. in the nick of time, time flies, beat the clock, etc.) and matches them to their meanings. After that, in the wrap-up discussion, they try to use these idioms in their answers.