Kids or No Kids: Navigating a Major Life Decision

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• • – gain and use new language about family and making decisions.
  • – discuss advantages and drawbacks through a range of exercises – word replacement, gap fill and antonym-matching activities. 
  • – practice sentence structure and vocabulary with a range of exercises.
  • – develop their listening comprehension skills with a short video called “To Have or Not to Have Children”.  Students answer questions about the short video to check and consolidate their understanding of the language and discussion in the video.

In this Advanced ESL lesson, students gain new language around the topic of making decisions and families while developing expressions and phrases to discuss advantages and disadvantages.  

Warm-Up

During the warm up, students examine a graph and respond to questions about it. 

Video

Learners view a short video called “To Have or Not to Have Children.” After watching it, students complete a question and answer section to check and reinforce their understanding of the video. 

Exercises

Students complete a range of language exercises to consolidate their comprehension of language and concepts presented in the lesson. In the first exercise, they do a sentence completion activity using language provided in a gap-fill activity. In the second practice, they do a word replacement exercise, substituting words in a sentence with their synonyms or alternatives. In the third exercise, students match words with their antonyms. 

Reading

During the reading comprehension, students read a short passage about life choices. Then, they complete a question and answer section to consolidate their understanding of the text. 

Discussion

In the last phase of the lesson, students respond to questions to start a discussion on the lesson topic.