How to sound smart

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – focus on strategies for appearing intelligent through effective communication, critical thinking, and personal presentation;
• – practice listening comprehension through gap-fill exercises, sentence improvement focusing on clarity and concision, and discussion skills;
• – watch an educational video about how to sound smart in TEDx talks and develop reading comprehension through intelligent communication strategies.

This Intermediate ESL lesson focuses on strategies for appearing intelligent through effective communication, critical thinking, and personal presentation.

Warm-Up

Begin with a game in which students will guess which statistics are true and which are not.

Video

Play a short educational video titled “How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk.” After watching, students fill gaps in sentences based on the video watched.

Exercises

In this section, students will complete the gaps in a story using the words given. In the second exercise, they will improve the flow of the sentences, focusing on clarity, concision, and logical progression of ideas.

Reading

Students will read a short story about how to appear smart and answer questions to the text.

Discussion

By the end of the lesson, students will answer questions in order to spark a discussion.