Let’s Talk About Selfies

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – develop advanced comprehension skills through multiple texts about selfie culture and critical thinking exercises;
• – practice reading comprehension abilities, gap-fill activities, listening skills, and analytical thinking techniques;
• – watch a video about the dark side of people who post selfies and analyze risks and social empowerment aspects.

This C2 reading practice lesson develops advanced comprehension skills through multiple texts about selfie culture, featuring critical thinking exercises, gap-fill activities, and comprehension questions that analyze both the risks and social empowerment aspects of the selfie phenomenon. 

Warm-up

The lesson kicks off with students revealing the hints to guess the word behind the associations. 

Video

Students watch a video “Is There a Dark Side to People Who Post Selfies?” After viewing, they examine a list of key points and select which ones were mentioned in the video. This task helps improve listening skills and sparks conversation.

Reading

Next, students read three articles “Selfies are more lethal than shark attacks. Should more tourist destinations ban them?,” “Why selfies can be a force for social good” and “Why are selfies so popular?”. To each of the texts there are follow-up exercises; talking about the text’s main message using prompt phrases provided, filling gaps in sentences or answering questions based on the text.

Discussion

To wrap up the lesson, students are asked to use their critical thinking skills while analyzing the selfie culture.