High stakes

In this Intermediate ESL lesson plan, students will enhance their English language skills through an engaging lesson centered on the topic of gambling, with a focus on its psychological aspects. This lesson aims to develop vocabulary related to games of chance and the mental processes involved in gambling behaviors. 

Warm-up
The lesson starts with an exercise where students organize words to create sentences. 

Video
Students will watch a video named “How Molly Bloom Ran Multimillion Dollar Underground Poker Games.” After viewing, they will fill gaps in sentences to check for comprehension.

Exercises
In this part of the lesson, students will complete words with the missing letters to create gambling-related phrases. In the second exercise, they will pick out phrases that describe emotional reactions. Lastly, the students will categorize phrases by meaning.

Reading
Students will read a short text about poker, followed by a Q&A session.

Discussion
To wrap up, the students will discuss a quote.