Shut up and take my money!

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – Teach vocabulary and expressions related to consumerism and shopping habits across cultures.

• – Practice comparing and contrasting ideas in both writing and speech using targeted linking words and phrases.

• – Build comprehension and speaking skills through readings on downshifting and Black Friday, a video on consumerism, and interactive activities comparing spending habits between cultures and generations.

In this ESL lesson, the student learns new skills and vocabulary to talk about consumer habits of different cultures. They also learn how to compare and contrast different ideas.

Introduction

The student reads a passage about downshifting and answers reading comprehension questions.

Comparing and contrasting

The student learns some useful words for comparing and contrasting in writing and speech (also, but, as well as, as opposed to, etc). To put their knowledge into practice, the student decides if the sentence examples are comparing or contrasting. The student then fills in the blanks in sentences which compare/contrast different countries.

Vocabulary: consumerism

The student learns some common words and phrases related to spending money and shopping (cost a fortune, shopping spree, window shopping, etc).

Pick a card

The student chooses three cards and uses the words on these cards to compare/contrast consumer habits of America and their own country.

Reading: Black Friday

The student learns more about Black Friday by reading a passage, which is followed by questions related to the text.

Video: Why do we have so much stuff?

After watching the video Why do we have so much stuff?, the student answers questions related to consumerism.

Next, the student sorts out shopping habits and priorities of three generations – grandmother, mother, and daughter.

Then, they try to think of synonyms of the word customer.